Relational Science

Remaking Glaciology: Indigenous Science and Biocultural Ethics

What if glaciology — a field built on “untouched” landscapes and extractive exploration — could be remade through relationality? This episode of Relational Science takes listeners into a conversation rarely heard in the geosciences: what Indigenous values can teach a discipline shaped by colonial logics, and what it means to practice science ethically in places where communities have been displaced, erased, or were never recognized in the first place. Sierra sits down with glaciologist Keeya Beausoleil (Métis) to explore the tensions, possibilities, and responsibilities of doing research on ice. Together, they trace the history of glaciology as a field rooted in conquest narratives... from “unruly” glaciers to national parks built on stolen land... and ask how Indigenous researchers navigate a discipline that often separates physical science from social context, ethics, and community. Keeya reflects on her experience in the Heartwork Collective and the challenge of bringing relationality, reciprocity, and humility into a field where community partnerships are not always possible, and where graduate students face structural pressures to “get in and get out.” The conversation moves from the ethics of working in places like Svalbard and Antarctica, to the complexities of conducting research on Indigenous homelands where communities may not want to participate, to the need for systemic change in how glaciology trains, mentors, and evaluates scientists. Across the episode, Sierra and Keeya explore how non‑Indigenous scientists can embody relational values without appropriating Indigenous knowledge, and how both Indigenous and Western sciences are dynamic, evolving systems capable of maturing toward more accountable, land‑honoring practices. They ask what it would take for glaciology to become relational — not as a metaphor, but as a method. This episode invites listeners to imagine a future where science is not only rigorous but also responsible; not only technical but also ethical; not only about ice but also about relationality.

Voices from the Tribal Leaders Forum - US Indigenous Data Sovereignty Summit

What if Data Sovereignty is not a technical problem, but an over 200‑year story of return? A story of land, language, and the long arc of Indigenous occupation. That question anchors this conversation, which was recorded live at the US Indigenous Data Sovereignty & Governance Summit. WarīNkwī K. Flores is joined by Joseph Yracheta and Tribal Council member Raphael Wahwassuck of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation to shift the lens from academia to the ground: to governance, to community, to the lived realities of tribal nations navigating digital sovereignty. Together, they trace how data moves through systems of power and how Indigenous Peoples are reclaiming it through treaty rights, cultural teachings, and sovereign design. Raphael recounts the nearly 200‑year struggle to reclaim stolen homelands in Illinois, a victory made possible only by pairing ancestral knowledge with the colonizer’s legal language. The conversation moves from land back to data, back again: how digital information crosses borders without consent, how language revitalization tools can both heal and harm, and how communities must educate their own citizens to navigate an era in which a single upload can echo across the world. When Indigenous nations build policy from culture rather than fear, they refuse the cat‑and‑mouse game of chasing extractive technologies. When youth approach AI grounded in identity, land, and kinship, they become the architects of Indigenous futures. And when sovereignty is understood as sustainability... as a way of living, not a legal category... the path forward becomes clear. This episode asks: Are we shaping technologies to serve Indigenous futures, or are we letting technologies shape us into replicas of the mainstream?

Part 2 of Day 3 - End of the US Indigenous Data Sovereignty Network Summit

What if IDSov coming home is a return of direction? A method? A governance framework? Over the three days on O’odham lands, that idea kept surfacing: Indigenous Data Sovereignty is not only about protecting data but also about returning responsibility to the peoples and places from which that data comes. Recorded live on the final day of the US Indigenous Data Sovereignty & Governance Summit, WarīNkwī is joined by Joseph Yracheta, Stephanie Carroll, and Mary Hulbutta... leaders who have shaped this movement since its earliest days. Together they reflect on what unfolded: intergenerational learning in the Masterclass and Tribal Leaders Forum; the surge of youth leadership; the grounding presence of Elders; and the collective insistence that data governance must begin at home, in community, in culture. They trace the shift from theory to practice: tribal nations building their own stewardship offices, crafting their own AI and IP policies, and asking not just *what* data sovereignty means, but *how* to do it... in the middle of climate crisis, political instability, and everyday obligations like keeping Elders warm and families fed. They explore the need for regional networks, cross‑border collaboration across the Americas, and reparative work that reconnects data to land, water, and relation. When tribal leaders ask, “How do we do this?”, they are naming the work ahead. When communities define data on their own terms, they refuse the colonial assumption that data is only digital. And when Indigenous nations build governance from their own languages, laws, and responsibilities, they are not just preparing for AI. They are preparing for the next seven generations. This episode asks: If home is where governance begins, what will Indigenous Data Sovereignty look like when all our nations come home to themselves?

Part 1 of Day 3 - US Indigenous Data Sovereignty Network Summit

What if Indigenous Data Sovereignty is not about the data at all — but about the story? The voice? The face? The obligations that bind us to one another across generations? That question sits at the center of this conversation, recorded live from the US Indigenous Data Sovereignty & Governance Summit. WarīNkwī and Sierra are joined by Angelo Baca (Diné/Hopi) to explore the frontier where Indigenous storytelling, media, and AI collide. Together they trace the genealogy of data: who it comes from, who it belongs to, who is responsible for it, and what happens when technologies sever data from its relationships. From deepfake harms to collective IP, from podcast ethics to tribal policy, this episode sits at the intersection of creation and custodianship. Angelo recounts the Navajo Nation’s work toward an Indigenous IP and AI policy, and the moment an Elder’s daughter stood before an AI conference holding her mother’s photograph, confronting a deepfake that spoke words her mother never said. Her testimony reframed the room: AI is not neutral, and generative systems do not merely “hallucinate.” They reinscribe stereotypes, distort ancestors, and drag stories through the digital town square. Sierra brings the conversation home to media data sovereignty: who owns an interview, a photograph, a recording? The person in the frame, the person behind the camera, the community that holds the story... or no one at all? And if no one, then who carries the obligations? Together, they reflect on how AI has diluted the reverence once held for images and video and how Indigenous creators must rebuild meaning, trust, and relational accountability in a landscape where anything can be faked. When Indigenous nations articulate their own policies, they reclaim the right to define consent as dynamic, not one‑time. When youth approach AI grounded in culture, language, and land, they become the next generation of tech custodians. And when storytellers refuse extractive media practices, they are not just protecting data; they are protecting their relatives. This episode asks: If AI can imitate our voices and faces, what does it mean to protect the story of who we are, and who decides how that story is told?

Part 2 of Day 2 - US Indigenous Data Sovereignty Network Summit

What if data is not a resource to be managed, but a relative to be returned home? Across the Indigenous Data Sovereignty Summit, that question kept resurfacing. In plenaries, in hallways, in unconference circles, in the quiet moments when people admitted they were exhausted because this work is spiritual, emotional, intellectual, and ancestral all at once. Recorded live on O’odham lands, this episode gathers the threads of Days One and Two: WarīNkwī K. Flores and Sierra Hicks are joined by Joseph Yracheta and guest Angelo Baca (Diné/Hopi) to trace what emerged when Indigenous Peoples came together in an Indigenous‑only space. Together, they explore the sharpness of governance questions, the rise of sovereign AI, the resurgence of relational philosophies, and the future of immersive storytelling as a site of data sovereignty. They move from plenary visions of Indigenous‑designed computational systems to the Fire Keepers Initiative’s practical steps for community governance, to augmented‑reality reconstructions of suppressed histories, to the urgency of the Navajo Nation’s forthcoming IP and AI policy. Across every conversation, one theme returns: coming home. To culture. To land. To responsibility. To the relationships that make data into data. All in a time when US politics do not seem conducive to risky moves. When tribes build their own infrastructure, they reject the extractive logic of open‑by‑default systems. When youth teach elders to navigate AR, they enact intergenerational governance. When Indigenous nations design policy from their own philosophies (not from federal templates or tech‑industry defaults), they are not just protecting data. They are rebuilding worlds. This episode asks: If data is part of us, and we are part of home, what does it mean to build technologies that know how to come home too?