Donate to WERU Today!Producers/Hosts: Maria Girouard, Esther Anne
Production assistance: Jeffrey Hotchkiss
Critical conversations of truth, healing, and change in the Dawnland: Indigenous Knowledge of Love
This unique talk show highlights indigenous topics not immediately represented in mainstream media, and features guests involved in various aspects of decolonization work. This month we will be talking about Indigenous Love with special guest and dear friend Dr. Rebecca Sockbeson of the Penobscot Indian Nation.
A political activist and scholar, Rebecca graduated from Harvard University with a master’s degree in education. Her research focus is Indigenous knowledge, Aboriginal healing through language and culture, anti-racism and decolonization. Her doctoral study engages with how Indigenous ways of knowing and being can inform policy development. Rebecca is an Associate Professor for the Indigenous Peoples Education Program at the University of Alberta.
Also, a powerful and expressive writer, Rebecca’s poem, “Hear me in this concrete beating on my drum,” was a winning entry in the Word on the Street Poetry Project in 2018 and is sandblasted on a downtown Edmonton sidewalk as part of a permanent public art installation. Rebecca recently served as Libra visiting scholar for the University of Maine College of Education to support their efforts to educate Maine pre-service teachers toward compliance with Maine Wabanaki studies law.
Dawnland Signals holds space for critical conversations of Truth, Healing, and Change in the Dawnland. This is a conversation you don’t want to miss!
Guest: Dr. Rebecca Sockbeson, Penobscot
About the hosts:
Esther Anne, Passamaquoddy from Sipayik, joined the Muskie School of Public Service in 2003 where she works on projects that engage and benefit tribal communities including facilitating the Maine tribal-state Indian Child Welfare Act workgroup and creating child welfare resources with the Capacity Building Center for Tribes. She had a primary role in the creation and establishment of the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Maine-Wabanaki REACH. Esther now serves as secretary for the REACH Board of Directors and on the REACH Communications Committee. Esther lives on Indian Island and her family includes adult children and a grandbaby.
Maria Girouard, Penobscot from Indian Island, is Executive Director of Maine-Wabanaki REACH, a statewide organization working toward truth, healing, and change in the Dawnland. Maria is a tribal historian with a Master’s Degree in History from the University of Maine and a special interest in the Maine Indian Land Claims. Maria has devoted years to community organizing, environmental stewardship and activism, and growing food in tribal communities.
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