Volume 2 Issue 2 , Work of Journalism
Tome 2 numéro 2, Travaux portant sur le journalisme

Meg Wilcox, Kyle Napier, Gabrielle Pyska, Eric Tanner, and Ethan Ward

Land Acknowledgements and Knowledge Rematriation: Considerations of Place, and Respecting Indigenous Intellectual Property in Podcasts

Since its third season, the Canadian Mountain Podcast has strived to share perspectives of both Ancestral Indigenous Knowledge Holders and settler-science research conducted through the Canadian Mountain Network. This podcast episode stories the journey a team of undergraduate researchers undertook to prepare a land acknowledgement, and the reflexive steps they maintained throughout. Around the land acknowledgement discussion, both producers for the podcast discuss the roles of intellectual property and copyright as it applies to Indigenous intellectual property in audio production, and discuss their goals for the show’s fifth and final season.

Keywords: podcasting, undergraduate research, knowledge mobilization, Indigenous knowledge, land acknowledgment, decolonization, mountain ecosystems

Reconnaissance des terres et réappropriation des connaissances : Considérations sur le lieu et le respect de la propriété intellectuelle autochtone dans les podcasts

Depuis sa troisième saison, le Podcast sur les montagnes canadiennes (Canadian Mountain Podcast en anglais) s’est efforcé de partager les perspectives des détenteurs du savoir autochtone ancestral et de la recherche scientifique des colons menée par le Réseau des montagnes canadiennes. Cet épisode du balado raconte le voyage que une équipe de chercheurs de premier cycle a entrepris pour prépar- er une reconnaissance de territoire, et les étapes de réflexion qu’ils ont maintenues tout au long du processus. Autour de la discussion sur la reconnaissance des terres, les deux producteurs du balado discutent des rôles de la propriété intellectuelle et du droit d’auteur en ce qui concerne la propriété intellectuelle autochtone dans la production audio, et discutent de leurs objectifs pour la cinquième et dernière saison de l’émission.

Mots clés : baladodiffusion, recherche de premier cycle, mobilisation des connaissances, connaissanc- es autochtones, reconnaissance des terres, décolonisation, écosystèmes de montagne

Land Acknowledgements and Knowledge Rematriation: Considerations of Place, and Respecting Indigenous Intellectual Property in Podcasts

Meg Wilcox, Kyle Napier, Gabrielle Pyska, Eric Tanner, and Ethan Ward

BACKGROUND TO THE WORK

The    Canadian    Mountain   Podcast    is    a project that combines audio production, knowledge mobilization, and the weaving of knowledges from Indigenous and settler research collaborators.   A    team   of    six    undergraduate research assistants and two faculty supervisors at Mount Royal University in Treaty 7 territory worked together to research, record, produce, and disseminate 40-minute panel interviews that include Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers, academics, and experts on Canada’s mountain ecosystems. These episodes, funded by and distributed through the Canadian Mountain Network, have reached thousands of listeners in more than 100 countries worldwide (Canadian Mountain Network, 2022).

While part of the training and practice for the research assistants focuses on journalistic practice and audio production, another key focus is for the team to learn more about collaborating with Indigenous knowledge holders from Indigenous communities. For the research assistants, this meant researching Indigenous histories, pluralities of Indigenous cultures, and multiple ways of knowing. They learned this through experience, working with diverse Indigenous subject-matter experts while actively considering the roles of reciprocity and respect in their conduct as journalists and community members. Podcasting is an inherently transitional form of media that lives at the nexus of radio, digital storytelling, and oral storytelling. Its holacratic structure, as opposed to a hierarchical one, is reflected in both its mode of production and its consumption. The foundations of settler research, particularly within context of working with Indigenous communities, have been exclusionary in dissemination, often leaving out the very people and places that shared knowledge in the first place; podcasting provides an alternative to share this knowledge openly, publicly, and, most importantly, with and within the communities contributing to the research. It also allows for experts to be properly credited while sharing information in their own voice, rather than a reductive academization of their words and knowledge.

The podcast team members are encouraged to challenge assumed journalistic norms alongside other qualities of podcasting and sound recording which work within community-first approaches to Indigenous and non-Indigenous knowledge dissemination. This is particularly true when representing such dynamic knowledge systems. During the process, the research assistants consider processes of decolonizing media, and tangible steps toward creating more equitable spaces and outcomes in their practice. For example, the team’s student researchers chose to pursue a research project on land acknowledgments and their role in podcasting; as a new yet decolonial media practice, the Canadian Mountain Podcast is committed to reflexive engagement in the development of such land acknowledgements. We recognize that land acknowledgements are more than a recognition—they are a commitment. For this work to remain true, this commitment must include continually revisiting the commitment to ensure we are effectively working and relating with the very communities we’re including as guests, addressing through discussions, and speaking to as an audience. It was this work and these discussions that led to the team shifting how we approached guest introductions, framed interview questions and shared information with our podcast guests (Pyska et al., 2022).

In this podcast interview, principal investigator Meg Wilcox facilitates a round-table conversation with program lead Kyle Napier, as well as three of the senior team members who are graduating and leaving the team after two years of podcasting: Gabrielle Pyska, Eric Tanner, and Ethan Ward. In this discussion, the team reflects on the technical and editorial skills learned in developing and producing a podcast, the role of podcasting in knowledge mobilization, and how learning more about Indigenous knowledges and cultures has influenced their journalistic practice.

The podcast was published on February 1, 2023 by the Community Podcast Initiative at thepodcaststudio.ca.

PUBLISHED VERSION

https://thepodcaststudio.ca/podcast/the-canadian-mountain-podcast-considering-place-and-respecting-indigenous-intellectual-property-in-podcasts/

You can find the Canadian Mountain Podcast series at

https://thepodcaststudio.ca/show/canadian-mountain-network/

Meg Wilcox is an assistant professor in the School of Communication Studies at Mount Royal University and co-director of the Community Podcast Initiative. Email: mwilcox@mtroyal.ca.

Kyle Napier is a Dene/nêhiyaw Métis university instructor, media-maker, researcher and PhD student from Tthebacha, Denendeh beyé (Fort Smith, Northwest Territories). Email: knapier@ualberta.ca.

Gabrielle Pyska is a graduate of MRU’s Journalism and Digital Media program and is currently working as MRU Library’s Podcasting and Media Support Specialist.

Eric Tanner is a graduate of MRU’s Journalism and Digital Media program, currently freelancing in journalism and audio production.

Ethan Ward is a graduate of Mount Royal University’s Journalism and Digital Media program and currently working as a research assistant at MRU, investigating COVID-19’s influence on Canada’s park systems.

REFERENCES

Canadian Mountain Network (2022) The Canadian Mountain Podcast. The Canadian Mountain Network. https://www.canadianmountainnetwork.ca/podcast

Pyska, G., Tanner, E. & Ward, E. (2022, February 22). Pushing past the empty rhetoric: The Canadian Mountain Podcast and its approach to land acknowledgments. J-Source. https://j-source.ca/pushing-past-the-empty-rhetoric-the-canadian-mountain-podcast-and-its-approach-to-land-acknowledgments/