Episode 8: Indigiqueer Futures with Joshua Whitehead

 

 

In Episode 8, Doris invites Joshua Whitehead, Oji-Cree/nehiyaw, Two-Spirit/Indigiqueer member of Peguis First Nation (Treaty 1) to the table to share what underpins his writings and their connections to Indigenous Futurisms. While studying at the University of Winnipeg as a youth and beginning to contemplate writing, he recalls how very little representation there was of two-spirit characters in books and wanted youth to see themselves depicted, “I wanted Indigenous readers, specifically Indigenous youth to see themselves represented”, and says that they were not being fully represented in that contemporary/urban way. He pays homage to what he calls the first wave of Indigenous authors and positions himself as part of a second wave of Indigenous authors. He says he was drawn into the romance of language but wanted to write about the grit rather than write about romanticizing the land which he inadvertently did do with his book, a memoir titled, Making Love with the Land. What he really wanted to write about was “the healthy, powerful and sometimes hurtful beautiful queer Indigenous relationships.” He also unpacks the usage of the term Indigiqueer and acknowledges the youth legacy that underpins what we are currently seeing with Indigiqueer/Two-Spirit Indigenous youth who are blazing a trail forward to the future. Joshua Whitehead is Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary and is housed in the departments of English and International Indigenous Studies. 

 

We would like to acknowledge the following for their contributions towards Episode 8 of Indigenous Sexual Futures  
  

Special Guest(s)  

Joshua Whitehead - Oji/Cree   

Host Storyteller/Producer  

Doris Peltier  
  

Technical Producer 

Paula Burrows - Jupiter Productions  

  

ISF Theme Music and Creative Sound 

Cozmic Cat, Classic Roots, Elder Gayle Pruden  

  

Indigenous Knowledge Advisory  

Feast Centre Council of Elders and Gathering Lodge Committee   

 

Executive Producer  

Feast Centre - Randall Jackson  
   
   

Feast Centre Staff  

Will Gooding (National Director), Justin Macdonald (Research Assistant), Jordan Carrier (Research Assistant), Sabina Rajkumar (Research Assistant) and Doris Peltier (Community Engagement Coordinator) 

 
Podcast Branding Design  

Compassion Creative  

 

Podcast Web Development  

Jordan Carrier 

  
  
We acknowledge our funders:  

Canadian Institutes of Health Research   

 

 

Indigenous Sexual Futures is produced on the ancestral lands of the Mississauga and Haudenosaunee nations within the lands protected by the “Dish with One Spoon” wampum. We acknowledge the ancestors of this territory, and we also acknowledge the lands and territories of all our guests.