Podcasting Indigenous Land Connections in Stories from the Land

Land connection is foundational to Indigenous identity and cultural sustenance but has been threatened during Canadian colonization. Colonization has, in many cases, displaced Indigenous communities from their lands, attempting to destroy the reciprocal relationship between humans and nature physically and epistemologically. Indigenous education and generational teachings about land connection therefore become critical to resisting settler practices and sustaining Indigenous knowledge and identities. Podcasting is one storytelling tool that people have used to communicate knowledge and identity in a legally unregulated and creatively unrestrictive industry. This chapter asks if podcasting is a storytelling tool for Indigenous peoples in Canada to self-represent, and educate about, Indigenous land connection in their own ways. The chapter textually analyzes episodes and additional online materials from the Indigenous-produced podcast Stories from the Land (Indian & Cowboy, 2014–2018). Stories from the Land is chosen because its mandate promotes Indigenous worldviews in experiential audio formats and its episodes invite special guests to share their stories about physical presence and more-than-human interactions on the land. All episodes amalgamate into an Indigenous-controlled, self-representative and educational podcast catalogue for future generations to learn about what it means to be Indigenous and how identities are constructed on the land through traditional practices.