Join us as we sit down with Melinda Adams, a cultural fire practitioner and scholar from the N’dee San Carlos Apache Tribe and the Tohono O’odham Nation.

Melinda brings together ecology, ceremony, and Indigenous science in her work. As an Assistant Professor at the University of Kansas, she studies and practices the revitalization of cultural fire — working alongside Tribal nations in California, the Great Plains, and beyond. When we recorded this conversation, wildfires burned across the region — a reminder of both the urgency and the wisdom in Melinda’s work. In this episode, she helps us understand solastalgia — the grief we feel for lands in distress — and reminds us that fire is not only renewal but relational. She teaches that we must burn the things we want back, doing so slowly, intentionally, and together.

Interested in learning more after the conversation? Check out more of Melinda’s work.

Tending Our Roots is co-hosted by Drs. Miigis Gonzalez (Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe) and Jill Fish (lineal descendent of the Tuscarora Nation).

This podcast was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and supported by the CIRCLE P50 Center of Excellence funded through the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health (Award Number P50DA058619). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Production was completed by Solar Powered Studios in St. Paul, MN.

Podcast artwork was completed by Marlena Myles, a Spirit Lake Dakota, Mohegan, Muscogee artist.

The song, “The Best of Me” is used with the permission of Anishinaabe and First Nations singer-songwriter, Leonard Sumner.

On this week’s episode of Tending Our Roots, we sit down with Māori scholar, Linda Tuhiwai Smith (Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Porou) — the grandmother of Indigenous research.

Linda’s guided generations through her groundbreaking book Decolonizing Methodologies. In conversation, she speaks with warmth, humility, and humor — reminding us that revolution begins in how we live our everyday lives. Rather than chasing grand gestures, she teaches us to nurture our relationships with family, land, and community, and to let our Indigeneity breathe through daily practice. Looking ahead, she imagines the next twenty-six years of Indigenous research shaped by care, balance, and joy.

Interested in learning more from Linda? Purchase Decolonizing Methodologies.

Tending Our Roots is co-hosted by Drs. Miigis Gonzalez (Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe) and Jill Fish (lineal descendent of the Tuscarora Nation).

This podcast was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and supported by the CIRCLE P50 Center of Excellence funded through the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health (Award Number P50DA058619). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Production was completed by Solar Powered Studios in St. Paul, MN.

Podcast artwork was completed by Marlena Myles, a Spirit Lake Dakota, Mohegan, Muscogee artist.

The song, “The Best of Me” is used with the permission of Anishinaabe and First Nations singer-songwriter, Leonard Sumner.

This week we’re Tending Our Roots with Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, a Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg writer, musician, and scholar.

Leanne teaches through story, song, and movement — reminding us that knowledge lives in relationships. In her newest book, Theory of Water, she writes through creation and grief, showing how both are part of life’s continuous flow. Our own conversation with her moved like water — joyful, nurturing, and deeply rooted in Anishinaabe thought and Anishinaabe way of life. Leanne calls on us to skill up in care, accountability, and conflict resolution, teaching that deep care is a precursor to world-making. For her, creation and grief coexist, guiding how we build, live, and love together.

Interested in learning more after our conversation? You can purchase Leanne’s latest book Theory of Water at Haymarket Books and listen to her latest album Live Like the Sky on Bandcamp or any streaming service.

Tending Our Roots is co-hosted by Drs. Miigis Gonzalez (Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe) and Jill Fish (lineal descendent of the Tuscarora Nation).

This podcast was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and supported by the CIRCLE P50 Center of Excellence funded through the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health (Award Number P50DA058619). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Production was completed by Solar Powered Studios in St. Paul, MN.

Podcast artwork was completed by Marlena Myles, a Spirit Lake Dakota, Mohegan, Muscogee artist.

The song, “The Best of Me” is used with the permission of Anishinaabe and First Nations singer-songwriter, Leonard Sumner.