Hosted by an urban and mobile Wīnak (Mayan) with roots in Iximulew (Guatemala), an upbringing in Soonkahni (Salt Lake Valley, Utah), and in relation with Tonga, Aotearoa (New Zealand), and Te Moana Nui a Kiwa (The Great Pacific Ocean). Wai? [pronounced why] (W.A.I.: Words and Ideas) is a podcast based on various issues, topics, and perspectives including critical analysis, reflection, dialogue, and commentary on culture, society, education, history, Indigeneity, and more. The purpose of this…
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Tammy Dee Platero joins this episode to share her background in computer science and her current work as the executive director of MMIR Utah (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Utah, non-profit organisation). Platero introduces some of her tech interest, explains terms, shares stories growing up in Utah, and the call to do Indigenous community work full-time. MMIR Utah is working on a…
This episode engages with both the thought and practice of interconnectivity and collective consciousness in Indigenous theory. Niu/Knew/Neo Tā-Vā is framed as a talanoa/tzijonïk/storying conversation between Tāvāism, critical and global Indigenous theory. Mayan philosophy of time space is introduced and demonstrated to have overlaps with ideas of reality and life in Tā-Vā, which is explored along…
This episode dives into some of the background and context that influenced 20th century transformational thinking in critical Oceanic thought. Palofesa I. Futa Helu’s intellectual background is explored including realism and panta rhei. The role of critical education, classics, questions of permanence, and the ‘Atenisi legacy are reflected on as significant in understanding the formation of the…
Dr. Boj Lopez is a Maya-K’iche’ Assistant Professor of Chicanx and Central American Studies at UCLA. We discuss her academic journey and early interests in the project of ethnic studies, as well as in building Maya community spaces in diaspora. Boj Lopez works in the growing field of Critical Latinx Indigeneity which she approaches as a bridge of conversations between Latino/Chicano Studies and…
Dr. ‘Ulise Funaki (Kakai Tonga, Kanaka Maoli) is featured in this episode and shares a breadth of insights having recently completed a doctorate in anthropology at the University of Hawai‘i and as an instructor at Brigham Young University – Hawai‘i. Topics covered in this episode include: Navigating research and study as a grounded family person; Kava protocols in academic spaces; Historical and…
Isiah Cambridge (Ute/Núuch and Diné/Navajo) and Samoana Matagi (Tagata Sāmoa and Papalagi) join this episode to discuss culture, language, and relationships to place. We reflect on work we have done at the Nature Center at Pia Okwai where Isiah has taught Diné Bizaad (Navajo language) classes and Samoana continues to run a monthly Friday Fono (Faikava workshop) and regular Umu (underground earth…
This episode begins by attempting to tackle some bigger questions about religion, belief, and spirituality. I share some different approaches to analysing religion using thinkers like Talal Asad and Émile Durkheim , in order to explore concepts like ‘religion’ itself and the ‘sacred’ and ‘profane’. I also consider Indigenous Reflections on Christianity to explore the tensions and compromises with…
This episode features poet, author, and intellectual Moana ‘Ulu‘ave-Hafoka. The catalyst for this discussion was a recently released YouTube video by former Mormon author and YouTuber Alyssa Grenfell, titled Tonga is 60% Mormon?????? , which has currently been viewed more than 200k times since being posted. This video references one of Moana’s articles , so as nerds of Tonga, Indigeneity, and…
Dr. Kehaulani Fagatele-Folau joins this episode to introduce her doctoral research. We begin with Indigenous concepts and methods she used from the Madau-Moana to make sense of some of the colonial contexts Indigenous women of Oceania traverse in the academy. Some themes we discuss include Indigenous feminism, interconnectivity, sharing space, and relational ethics by using Niu/Neo/Knew Tā-Vā.…
This episode introduces an idea Dr. Hafoka and I have been working through and developing, inspired by and extending out of the undercommons. We reflect on intellectuals that remain connected to home communities or who emerge organically from communities. We also consider the re-framing of study as common knowledge or as a shared and subversive project grounded in the Black Radical Tradition,…
