Sacred Land Speaks

Onondaga elder Oren Lyons is one of the “big thinkers” we interviewed for our four-part series, Standing on Sacred Ground. Now in his 90s, Lyons is a chief, a faithkeeper, and a long-time messenger for the Haudenosaunee people. He calls himself “a runner.” Throughout the interview, Oren shared his life lessons and insights through long stories that we could never include in their entirety in the film.

Onondaga elder Oren Lyons is one of the “big thinkers” we interviewed for our four-part series, Standing on Sacred Ground. Now in his 90s, Lyons is a chief, a faithkeeper, and a long-time messenger for the Haudenosaunee people. He calls himself “a runner.” Throughout the interview, Oren shared his life lessons and insights through long stories that we could never include in their entirety in the film.

In Part One of this two-part...

In part two of our interview with Anishnaabe activist, environmentalist and writer, Winona LaDuke, we focus on her economic analysis of settler colonialism, the ecological impacts of consumer demand in the United States, and the rippling effects of the oil industry from the tar sands of Alberta to the shores of Lake Superior.

This episode was produced and written by Fiona McLeod, Callie Shanafelt Wong and Toby McLeod. 

Our intervie...

Over a career spanning 40 years of activism, Winona LaDuke, an enrolled member of the Mississippi Band Anishinaabeg in Minnesota, has led movements for climate justice and indigenous rights. Over the years she published ten books, ran for vice president, led innovative grassroots environmental movements, fought and delayed the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline from the Alberta tar sands through northern Minnesota. In this Audio Archive epis...

In this second part of our 1997 interview with legendary lawyer, theologian and scholar, Vine Deloria Jr., the renowned author breaks down national policy in relation to native people, discusses his cultural identity, and makes predictions about the future of technology.

This episode was produced and written by Callie Shanafelt Wong and Toby McLeod, and recorded by Isaac Butler-Brown at Dirt Studios. Audio sweetening by Leroy Clark...

Legendary author, legal and religious scholar, professor and activist, Vine Deloria, Jr. shares profound insights into the function of ceremony in community, the meaning and importance of sacred places, the dangers of New Age appropriation, the environmental impact of Western religions, and the urgent need to re-weave spirit and matter if we hope to avert catastrophe.

This episode was produced and written by Callie Shanafel...

Native California healer Florence Jones (1907-2003), was the top doctor of the Winnemem Wintu and a fierce protector of Mt. Shasta, known to the Winnemem as Buliyum Puyuk—the Great Mountain. In 1994, Florence gave the Sacred Land Film Project unprecedented access to film her conducting ceremony, healing her people and protecting her territory. In this episode we return to that footage to tell the story of this powerful medicine wom...