Reading Recommendations

"A complex look at California Native ecological practices as a model for environmental sustainability and conservation.” (Purchase here)

"Required Reading is a roadmap that hones in on why Indigenous peoples must lead through the heart of the climate crisis." (Purchase here)

"A movement-oriented document for climate justice and grassroots reform and revolution.” (Read here)

"A sweeping history--and counter-narrative--of Native American life from the Wounded Knee massacre to the present." (Purchase here)

"An Indigenous environmental scientist breaks down why western conservationism isn't working--and offers Indigenous models...” (Purchase here)

"The story of Native peoples’ resistance to environmental injustice and land incursions, and a call for environmentalists to learn from the Indigenous community’s rich history of activism." (Purchase here)

Short but unforgettable, Nature Poem is “a book-length poem about how an American Indian writer can’t bring himself to write about nature, but is forced to reckon with colonial-white stereotypes, manifest destiny, and his own identity as an young, queer, urban-dwelling poet” (Purchase here)

The book “traces traditions of Indigenous resistance that led to the #NoDAPL movement. Our History Is the Future is at once a work of history, a manifesto, and an intergenerational story of resistance.” (Purchase here)

An iconic leader of the movement for Hawaiian sovereignty, Haunani-Kay Trask was also a talented poet. This is her second and final book of poems, “a haunted and haunting love song for a beloved homeland under assault.” (Purchase here)

“The first intersectional history of the Black and Native American struggle for freedom in our country,” the book explores the relationship between Black and Native liberation movements, and the powerful possibilities of solidarity. (Purchase here)

Janet Mock is a Black and Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) writer, director, and producer best known for her work on Pose. The sequel to Mock’s bestselling memoir of her youth and coming out, Surpassing Certainty is a memoir of her twenties - leaving her home in Hawai’i, beginning her career, and building her life. (Purchase here)

The podcast explores “our relationships as Native peoples - to land, ancestors and to each other.” They just started their 4th season, so there are plenty of episodes; start with one that catches your interest. (Listen here)

"With recipes as varied as the peoples that inspired them, New Native Kitchen celebrates the Indigenous heritage of American cuisine." (Purchase here)

Filled with beautiful, watery art, Caldecott Award-winner We Are Water Protectors is a perfect introduction to environmental justice! (Purchase here)

In 4 parts, Standing on Sacred Ground follows Indigenous peoples around the world as they stand up for sacred lands and defend cultural survival, human rights, and the environment. (Watch here)

An incisive book on Hawaiian  history, sovereignty, and organizing in the face of colonialism, racism, and patriarchy. (Purchase here)

"Aguon grapples with one heart-breaking loss after another by immersing himself in the beauty of his island, the magic of Micronesia, and the wisdom of his favorite books and elders." (Purchase here)

"We Are the Ocean is a collection of essays, fiction, and poetry by Epeli Hau‘ofa, whose writing over the past three decades has consistently challenged prevailing notions about Oceania and prescriptions for its development."

"A sweeping and overdue retelling of U.S. history that recognizes that Native Americans are essential to understanding the evolution of modern America." (Purchase here)

"Intellectually audacious and emotionally compelling, Whitehead shares his devotion to the world in which we live and brilliantly--even joyfully--maps his experience on the land that has shaped stories, histories, and bodies from time immemorial."  (Purchase here)

With an all-Indigenous writers room and Native folks on both sides of the camera, Reservation Dogs follows the lives of 4 Native teens through joy and heartbreak in rural Oklahoma (Watch here)

Starting in 2012, Wilbur traveled to all of the (at that time) 562 federally recognized Native American Tribal Nations. Project 562 contains the portraits and stories of the people and places that she visited.  (Purchase here)

A member of the Karuk tribe, Pike spent 2 years in Bolivia with the Peace Corps; this memoir of her time shares the questions, tensions, and reflections of her experience. (Purchase here)

A podcast with new episodes every month, LANDBACK is "looking towards the future of Indigenous liberation where everyone has a place in the circle to bring their gifts, skills, and their love for people and the land."  (Listen here)

"An electrifying memoir that braids together the urgent issues of Indigenous rights and environmental policy, from a nationally and internationally recognized activist and survivor." (Purchase here)

"A powerful, intimate collection of conversations with Indigenous Americans on the climate crisis and the Earth's future." (Purchase here)

"Meaning “Let’s eat!” in the Karuk language, Chími Nu’am shares the author’s delicious and inventive takes on Native food styles from across California." (Purchase here)

"An illustrated book profiling 50 notable American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian people, from NBA star Kyrie Irving of the Standing Rock Lakota to Wilma Mankiller, the first female principal chief of the Cherokee Nation." (Purchase here)

Combining her scientific expertise as a botanist with the traditional teachings of her culture, Kimmerer examines our relationships to the earth, and envisions a just and beautiful future for us all - plants, humans, and beyond. (Purchase here)

"A collection of Indigenous poetry, artwork, and essays specific to what is now known as Southern California." (Purchase here)

A "tour de force in feminism and Indigenous studies," where "whiteness is made visible in power relations, presenting a dialogic of how white feminists represent Indigenous women in discourse and how Indigenous women self-present."  (Purchase here)

"Readers of all ages are invited to celebrate traditional North American Indigenous innovation, and to embrace the mindset of reciprocity, environmental responsibility, and the interconnectedness of all life." (Purchase here)

KOTW is an incredible grassroots coalition in Canada working to protect sacred waters - their podcast shares Traditional Ecological Knowlege, stories of repression & resistance, and hope in the face of climate disaster. (Listen here)

Weaving together her family history, childhood memories, meditations on identity and Native political history, and tribal histories and myths, Taffa explores the personal, the political, and the connections between them. (Purchase here)

Sharing the profound wisdom of the Anishinaabeg/Ojibwe people, The Seven Generations uses ancestral knowledge to guide  readers toward Mino-bimaadiziwin - "the good life" (Purchase here)

Named for a superstition  that many Indigenous cultures share, “these stories are a celebration of Indigenous peoples' survival and imagination, and a glorious reveling in all the things an ill-advised whistle might summon.” (Purchase here)

This debut story collection is “both a fierce love letter to Hawaiian identity and mythology, and a searing dispatch from an occupied territory threatening to erupt” (Purchase here)

CHamoru climate activist and human rights laywer Julian Aguon's collection of essays centers on “resistance, resilience, and collective power in the age of climate disaster; and a call for justice—for everyone, but in particular, for Indigenous peoples.” (Purchase here)

A poetry collection reflecting on "“how to write while colonised”—how to write in English as a Māori writer; how to trace links between Aotearoa and wider Pacific, Indigenous and colonial worlds; how to be the only Māori person in a workplace; and how—and why—to do the mahi anyway." (Purchase here)

"A dazzling epic of betrayal, love, and fate that spans five generations of an Indigenous Chicano family in the American West” (Purchase here)

There’s truly nothing I can say about this story that will do it justice - you just have to click through and see what it’s about! (Purchase here)

Fancy Dance follows Lily Gladstone as Jax, in the wake of her sister’s disappearance, facing losing custody of her niece and trying to prepare for an upcoming powwow.

Follows the coming of age of a 15-year-old Indigenous girl and her dragon, trying to succeed in a colonizer-run dragon school. (Purchase here)

Named one of the “Great American Novels” by the Atlantic, Perma Red follows Louise White Elk in her quest for independence and a new life, even as she’s pursued by 3 powerful men and a bitterly cold winter descends on the Flathead Indian Reservation. (Purchase here)

“A Chickasaw woman who can’t catch a break serves up a little white lie that snowballs into much more in this witty and irresistible rom-com” (Purchase here)

"Before there was such a thing as "California," there were the People and the Land." Damon B. Akins and William J. Bauer Jr.'s text is required reading for anyone who's spent any time in the Golden State - and it's one of Co-Director Lyn's favorite books of all time! (Purchase here)

“A haunting novel spanning several generations, The Seed Keeper follows a Dakota family’s struggle to preserve their way of life, and their sacrifices to protect what matters most.” (Purchase here)

The first book of an “epic series weaving the people, cultures, and history of Pre-Columbian and Indigenous society into the astounding fantasy world of Meridian where matriarchal clans vie for power as a dead god rises.” (Purchase here)

“YINTAH - meaning “land” - is a feature-length documentary on the Wet’suwet’en resistance to Canadian colonialism and the Coastal GasLink pipeline.” Watch on Netflix.

“Gather is an intimate portrait of the growing movement amongst Native Americans to reclaim their spiritual, political and cultural identities through food sovereignty." Available on Netflix. (Watch the trailer)

“A thrilling heist gives way to a complex and compelling mystery, effortlessly exploring themes of identity, family, and reclamation in a Native community.” (Purchase here)

“A “kunik” is a traditional Inuit greeting, often given to loved ones, in which a person places their nose on another’s cheek and breathes them in. Where the Sea Kuniks the Land extends that gesture of love to the Arctic landscape, in a suite of poems that celebrates the interconnectedness of people and place, past and present.” (Purchase here)

Our first academic article recommendation! Decolonization is Not a Metaphor is one of those articles that is so foundational that once you read it, you'll see its insights everywhere (Read here)

“A wondrous and shattering award-winning novel that follows twelve characters from Native communities: all traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow, all connected to one another in ways they may not yet realize.”  (Purchase here)

What began in spring 2020 as the 2 authors wrote letters back and forth, grew into a book of “Black and Indigenous perspectives on our unprecedented here and now, and the long-disavowed histories of slavery and colonization that have brought us to this moment in the first place,” - as well as our collective path forward. (Purchase here)