#15 Frontlines Are Everywhere | Chris Teuton and Roger Fernandes, Stories as Transformation

featuring Chris Teuton (Cherokee Nation) and Roger Fernandes (Lower Elwha S’Klallam Tribe)

In this episode, Jeff is joined by Chris Teuton from the Cherokee Nation and Roger Fernandes from the Lower Elwha S’Klallam Tribe. They discuss storytelling as a powerful tool for transformation, childhood education, and connecting with community teachings – while sharing a few stories along the way!

#14 Frontlines Are Everywhere | Vivian Garner Cottrell, Weaving a Rivercane Resurgence

featuring Vivian Garner Cottrell (Cherokee Nation)

Vivian Garner Cottrell, Cherokee National Treasure and basket maker, is leading the rivercane basket weaving resurgence. In this episode, she joins Jeff to discuss the significance of basket-weaving and her early challenges making baskets out of rivercane. Deeply connected with her mom and ancestral practices, Vivian describes the process of making a basket, from harvesting and dying to the intensive weaving patterns. The basket is a statement of Indigenous resilience, and Vivian continues to share her knowledge with younger generations so that rivercane basket-weaving extends into the future.

#13 Frontlines Are Everywhere | Chad Corntassel Smith, Planting Seed Corn for Our Children’s Future

featuring Chad Corntassel Smith (Cherokee Nation)

In this episode, Jeff is joined by former Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad “Corntassel” Smith. They discuss Smith’s time as Principal Chief from 1999-2011, and delve into topics such as the importance of perpetuating cultural practices for future generations, the impact of the landmark McGirt Supreme Court decision (2020), and Smith’s previous books including “Leadership Lessons from the Cherokee Nation.” Smith also reflects on influential figures in his life, the Cherokee approach to adversity, and his hope for the Nation to become a “happy and healthy people,” emphasizing the importance of engaged citizens so that future generations will thrive.

#12 Frontlines Are Everywhere | Sleydo’ Molly Wickham and Jennifer Wickham, Protecting the YINTAH for Future Generations

featuring Sleydo’ Molly Wickham and Jennifer Wickham (Gidimt’en Clan, Wet’suwet’en)

Sleydo’ Molly Wickham and Jennifer Wickham are on the frontlines of Wet’suwet’en land defence. They joined Jeff Ganohalidoh Corntassel for the season 1 finale of Frontlines Are Everywhere to discuss topics including the criminalization of Indigenous land defenders, building resilient communities on the frontlines, and their film YINTAH (2024), a documentary covering a decade of Wet’suwet’en resistance.

Sleydo’ Molly Wickham is a wing chief of the Cas Yikh people of the Gidimt’en clan. Molly is actively involved in land defense and reoccupation of traditional territories. She previously worked as Governance Director at the Office of the Wet’suwet’en.

Jennifer Wickham is a Gidimt’en clan member of the Wet’suwet’en people. Jennifer has been the Media Coordinator for Gidimt’en Checkpoint since 2018 and is co-director and producer of “YINTAH.”

UPDATE: After this interview took place, a judge ruled that Sleydo’ Molly Wickham and two land defenders arrested during the 2021 raid of Wet’suwet’en land defence camp were targets of racism, but that their convictions of contempt for court would stand–with reduced sentences. Sentencing decisions for all three land defenders will take place in the fall of 2025.

#11 Frontlines Are Everywhere | Kolin Sutherland-Wilson, Governance and Land Defense on the Frontlines

featuring Kolin Sutherland-Wilson (Gitxsan Nation – Fireweed Clan, from the village of Anspayaxw)

In this episode, Kolin and Jeff discuss Gitxsan governance and land defense on the frontlines.

Kolin Sutherland-Wilson (Gitxsan Nation – Fireweed Clan) is a land defender, storyteller, and video-maker from the village of Anspayaxw.

Globalization, Security, Sustainability

Simon Dalby | trans. Adela Despujol Ruiz-Jiménez

With the new geological age known as the Anthropocene heralding dramatic disruptions in the earth system, geopolitics needs to be fundamentally reconsidered to deal with these new circumstances. Planetary boundaries and ecological change are now the key contextualization for considering future global political arrangements.

We now find ourselves in a new geological age: the Anthropocene. The climate is changing and species are disappearing at a rate not seen since Earth’s major extinctions. The rapid, large-scale changes caused by fossil-fuel powered globalization increasingly threaten societies in new, unforeseen ways. But most security policies continue to be built on notions that look backward to a time when geopolitical threats derived mainly from the rivalries of states with fixed boundaries. Instead, Anthropocene Geopolitics shows that security policy must look forward to quickly shape a sustainable world no longer dependent on fossil fuels.

A future of long-term peace and geopolitical security depends on keeping the earth in conditions roughly similar to those we have known throughout history. Minimizing disruptions that would further put civilization at risk of extinction urgently requires policies that reflect new Anthropocene “planetary boundaries.”

About the Author – Simon Dalby

Originally from Ireland, Simon Dalby is Professor Emeritus at Wilfrid Laurier University, where he teaches classes at the Balsillie School of International Affairs. He has been one of the key authors in the development of critical geopolitics, and his research interests include climate change and environmental security. In these fields, he has recently published works such as Pyromania: Fire and Geopolitics in a Climate Disrupted World (2024), Rethinking Environmental Security (2022), and Reframing Climate Change: Constructing Ecological Geopolitics (2016).

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La elevación del nivel del mar, las alteraciones agrícolas, los incendios desmedidos, las sequías y las temperaturas extremas están cambiando las relaciones internacionales. Esto es geopolítico en el sentido de que las decisiones políticas sobre las modalidades de economía y las fuentes de energía están configurando las circunstancias futuras de la humanidad, reconvirtiendo partes sustanciales del geo. Las decisiones sobre si potenciar la capacidad para extraer combustibles fósiles frente a la mayor producción de placas solares, o si utilizar procedimientos para regenerar los bosques en vez de talarlos, ahora tienen consecuencias de una magnitud tan grande que están alterando el funcionamiento del Sistema Tierra. Este es el nuevo contexto de la geopolítica.

Geopolítica del Antropoceno sugiere que las nociones tradicionales de geopolítica, y la supuestamente inevitable rivalidad de las grandes potencias y sus ambiciones territoriales, tienen que trascenderse si se quiere lograr un mundo habitable para la mayoría de la humanidad en las próximas décadas. Para ello, el libro revisita debates centrales de la geopolítica sobre seguridad, soberanía, fronteras, territorio y poder teniendo en cuenta las actuales amenazas a la integridad ecológica. Al adoptar una perspectiva de la ecología política en una escala global, busca superar las ideas tradicionales de protección y seguridad medioambiental, invitándonos a repensar nuestra imaginación geopolítica para que la protección del planeta en el Antropoceno sea efectiva.

Sobre el Autor – Simon Dalby

De origen irlandés, es Profesor Emérito en Wilfrid Laurier University (Canadá), donde imparte clases en The Balsillie School of International Affairs. Ha sido uno de los autores clave en el desarrollo de la geopolítica crítica, y sus intereses de investigación incluyen el cambio climático y la seguridad medioambiental. En estos campos ha publicado recientemente obras como Pyromania: Fire and Geopolitics in a Climate Disrupted World (2024), Rethinking Environmental Security (2022), o Reframing Climate Change: Constructing Ecological Geopolitics (2016).

Indigenous Internationalism and Kinship Diplomacy: The Relational Dimensions of Indigenous International Law

Andrew Ambers and Jeff Corntassel | Rooted: A Publication on Indigenous Law

Published in Rooted: A Publication on International Law, Vol. 3 No. 2

Enactments of Indigenous internationalism, which entail honoring relationships between nations (including plant and animal nations and other more-than-human relations) and are initiated, recalled, and reaffirmed through treaties, alliances, rights, territorial ownership and access, trade relations, and other webs of relational affiliations, contribute to and indeed constitute a diplomatic kinship meshwork. Our engagement with Indigenous internationalism is concerned with theory-building as it relates to conceptualizing kinship as a critical source of Indigenous international law and articulating how we can identify these laws and ethics in expressions of internationalism to uplift, honour, and perpetuate Indigenous sovereignty and self-determining authority. We examine how kinship meshworks order and are ordered by Indigenous international law through expressions of Indigenous internationalism, which exist beyond state borders and are functions of Indigenous diplomacies that honor Indigenous legal orders within a multiplicity of lawful and rights-bearing relations. We identify how understanding Indigenous internationalism requires overturning statist, patriarchal, and extractive visions of diplomacy, sovereignty, and international relations.

Andrew Ambers is from the Kwakwaka’wakw Nation, specifically the ‘Namgis and Ma’amtagila First Nations. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) from the University of Victoria, and he is currently a Juris Doctor (JD) and Juris Indigenarum Doctor (JID) Candidate at the University of Victoria’s Faculty of Law. Ambers contributes to various Indigenous research projects on Indigenous law, sovereignty, and Aboriginal rights, and he holds advisory role  with Indigenous organizations in British Columbia. Ambers is currently working on topics related to Indigenous international law, aquatic Aboriginal Title, coastal Indigenous trade and diplomacy, Indigenous intellectual and real property rights, and the international dimensions of Indigenous rights in Canada, the United States, and beyond.

Jeff Corntassel is a writer, teacher, and father from the Cherokee Nation. As Professor and Acting Director in Indigenous Studies at the University of Victoria, his research and teaching interests focus on “Everyday Acts of Resurgence” and the intersections between Indigenous internationalisms, resurgence, climate change, gender, and community well-being. Jeff situates his work at the grassroots with many Indigenous led community-based programs and initiatives ranging from local food movement initiatives, land-based renewal projects to gendered colonial violence and protection of homelands. He is currently completing work for his forthcoming book on Sustainable Self-Determination, which examines Indigenous climate justice, food security, and gender-based resurgence.

#10 Frontlines Are Everywhere | Janelle Niles, Decolonizing…One Joke at a Time

featuring Janelle Niles (Sipekne’katik Nation, Black – Mi’kmaq)

BIG Podcast #37 & #38 — Borders and Gender Studies in North America

featuring Andréanne Bissonnette (Postdoctoral Fellow at Border Policy Research Institute (WWU) and Associate Researcher at the Chair Raoul Dandurand (UQAM))

In this episode, our host Ben Perrier is joined by Andréanne Bissonnette, Political Science Researcher, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Border Policy Research Institute (WWU) and Associate Researcher at the Raoul Dandurand Chair (UQAM). What are the relationships between Gender Studies and Border Studies? What does the prism of Gender Studies contribute to better understanding border policies and the effects of borders on border areas and marginalized people? In this interview, we will better understand that the relation between these two academic fields is based on the idea that borders, particularly political ones, are gendered and shaped by power dynamics. The intersection of these fields allows us to explore how borders affect individuals differently depending on their gender and identities. This podcast is divided into two parts. The first part is a General overview on Gender and Border Studies. The second part focuses on the relations between Gender Studies and Border Studies in the North American Case Study.

Listen to Part One – Episode #37 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube!

Listen to Part Two – Episode #38 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube!