This episode of the NAJA “Covering Indian Country” Roundtable series will feature Indigenous experts who will discuss and examine the complexity of Indigenous identity, kinship, and community.
The Native American Journalists Association recognizes that media professionals are confronted with unique challenges when covering Indigenous people and communities. The NAJA Roundtable series aims to examine the challenges and best practices to empower and support journalists to report with accuracy, nuance and context.
NAJA will develop additional roundtables focused on challenges and best practices for reporting on Indigenous people, communities and issues. Members may pitch roundtable suggestions through the online form here.
This roundtable is intended to help non-Indigneous editors and producers understand the nuance and complexity of Indigenous connections to better examine Indigenous claims by sources and authors. Join moderator Gabe Galanda (Round Valley Indian Tribes), attorney at Galanda Broadman, to hear expert Indigenous perspectives on aspects of identity including citizenship, enrollment, descendancy, kinship, blood quantum, DNA testing, federal and state recognition, and fake tribes. The moderator will take questions from the audience.
The roundtable panelists include:
- Twila Barnes (Cherokee Nation), Genealogist specializing in Cherokee genealogy and author of the “Thoughts from Polly’s Granddaughter” blog.
- Deb Krol (Xolon Salinan Tribe), Indigenous affairs reporter for The Arizona Republic, and award-winning journalist with an emphasis on Native, environmental and science issues, and travel.
- Kim Tallbear (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate), Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience and Environment, Faculty of Native Studies, University of Alberta. She is the author of Native American DNA: Tribal Belonging and the False Promise of Genetic Science.
NAJA will host the roundtable and live Q&A at 4 pm CT on Thursday, June 10, via Zoom. Participants may register in advance here. After registering, attendees will receive a confirmation email with information about how to join the webinar.
The recording will also be available on the NAJA website and NAJA YouTube channel.
The roundtable series is supported by the following sponsors:
- Democracy Fund
- Ford Foundation
- Gannett Foundation
- Google News Initiative
- Knight Foundation
- TEGNA Foundation
- Walton Family Foundation
About NAJA
The Native American Journalists Association serves more than 800 members, including media professionals working in tribal, freelance, independent and mainstream news outlets, as well as academia and students covering Indigenous communities and representing tribal nations from across North America.