This two-part series of the Toward Inclusive Excellence (TIE) Podcast features Jordan Clark, Assistant Director of the Harvard University Native American Program (HUNAP) and an enrolled member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah. Joined by TIE’s Editor-in-Chief Alexia Hudson-Ward, this series touches on Martha’s Vineyard’s Afro-Indigenous history, adopting a decolonial mindset in higher education, and how Native American history can be integrated into artificial intelligence tools to avoid bias while also protecting Native communities and knowledge.

In this first episode, Jordan shares how in his role he plans to uplift Native voices, platform Native history, and engage with Native communities through the university. Next, Alexia and Jordan discuss the intersections between African American and Native American history, examining enslavement in early America and the US government’s practice of defining racial groups through “blood quantum laws” and the “one drop rule.” Further, they highlight the anti-Blackness perpetuated against the Wampanoag Tribe and how Afro-Indigenous intersections connect to Martha’s Vineyard’s history.

Last, Jordan walks through the difference between “decolonizing” an institution and adopting a decolonial mindset. A collective decolonial mindset—which includes centering new voices, challenging Western values, and updating language—can help break down colonial structures that limit our thought processes, resources, and solutions. Episode one of this enlightening discussion ends with Jordan’s thoughts on how academia can embrace knowledge-sharing that goes beyond the written word.

Episode theme music: Black is the Night by Jeris (c) copyright 2014 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. Ft: DJ Vadim (djvadim), NiGiD

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