Episode Details

The discussion features guests Jules McCusker, Liz Fox, Gabrielle Weasel Head, and Tara Weaselhead Running Crane, who explore the concept of decolonization. They discuss the historical and ongoing impacts of colonization, the importance of reconnecting with indigenous culture, and the challenges of decolonization. The conversation highlights the need for love, understanding, and connection in overcoming the violence and disconnection caused by colonization. The guests share their personal and professional efforts towards decolonization, emphasizing the importance of education, cultural preservation, and community building. The episode underscores the significance of collective action and the power of storytelling in creating a more inclusive and understanding society.

Welcome and Introductions to Gabrielle, Lizabeth, Jules, and Tara

Alex:

Welcome to The Gravity Well Podcast with Alex and Jenny, Here, you break down heavy ideas with us to understand their complexities and connections. Our mission is to work through your dilemmas with you in conversation and process making our world a better place for all.

Jenny:

We acknowledge that we live on the traditional territories of treaties, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 10. The ancestral homelands of diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Metis Peoples whose ancestors have walked this land since time immemorial and whose histories, languages, and cultures continue to influence our vibrant communities. We pay respect to Indigenous people through our ethical relationship-building efforts. Our community agreement asks for genuine conversations, real hearts, open minds, and different perspectives in conflict. Let’s rely on our six W system and live participant feedback. What matters most is finding common ground.

Alex:

We dedicate this podcast to our children, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and all future generations. The Gravity Well is on YouTube and streaming wherever you get your podcasts. Join us at thegravitywell.net.

Jenny:

Thank you all for being here. We have Jules McCusker, Liz Fox, Gabrielle Weasel Head, and, of course, Alex is back with us. I’m thrilled to say that we may have a couple of others join us today, but we’ll proceed for now and see how it lands. Just reintroduce everyone briefly and then I’ll give you feedback on the last conversation we had and then introduce today’s topic as well. And then we’ll just go in a circular fashion for everyone to weigh in. I’ll start with Jules. Jules is a creative director, writer, and Indigenous educator. Gabrielle Weasel Head is a professor at the MRU in indigenous studies and from the Kinai First Nation, Lizbeth Fox is working in many areas, one of which is to bring together three groups, the Wayfinders Group, the Natero, and the Blackfeet Eco Knowledge Groups.

There is a movie she is premiering we’re going to hear about. That’s where we’re at. Everybody knows Alex. We’ll let Alex do a little introduction for himself. I just want to reflect a little bit on the last conversation I had with the two of you, Jules and Gabrielle. One of the things that stuck with me is speaking about misrepresentation being a form of violence. I think something that I carried forward from that, and I read your article, Jules, and it’ll be a part of our blog posts when we launch the new website right away here. Finally, everybody can see what Alex and Andy have been working on. But anyway, I just wanted to say I had a conversation right after that one about greenwashing. We (us three) [spoke] about this a little bit in our meeting, about greenwashing and I realized that that is al