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    • MN Native News
    • Native Lights
      • Biidaapi
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    • DeCoded: Native Veterans Who Helped Win World War II
    • A Mile in My Moccasins
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    • Native Lights
      • Biidaapi
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      • COVID-19
      • Helpful Links about COVID19 in Minnesota
    • DeCoded: Native Veterans Who Helped Win World War II
    • A Mile in My Moccasins
  • About Us

Eileen Bass: Preserving Indigenous Narratives and Working to Revitalize Language

Native Lights December 7, 2023

Eileen Bass

Native Lights is a weekly, half-hour radio program hosted by Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe members and siblings, Leah Lemm and Cole Premo. Native Lights is a space for people in Native communities around Mni Sota Mkoce — a.k.a. Minnesota — to tell their stories about finding their gifts and sharing them with the community.

On today’s episode, Leah and Cole speak with Eileen Bass. Eileen is Hunkpapa Lakota, Mvskoke Creek, and a citizen of the Sac & Fox Nation of Oklahoma. She’s currently an undergraduate student at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.

In the summer of 2023, she was accepted into the Minnesota Historical Society’s Native American Undergraduate Museum Fellowship program. She is also part of the Dakota Language Nest at the university’s Child Development Laboratory School.

Eileen speaks about her passions at the intersection of Indigenous narratives, language revitalization, tribal histories, supporting Native youth and more.

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More from Native Lights

  • Michael Kurtz: Tales of a Wildlife Photographer
    Our guest today is a photographer who takes some stunning photos of wildlife. We’re very excited to speak with Michael Kurtz (Tasunka Opi). He’s Sicangu Lakota, enrolled in the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe. He runs Lakota Photography, blending wildlife photography, tracking, and cultural education. He’s also a naturalist and has volunteered with groups like the National Park Service and Project Coyote. He has spent countless hours across the Dakotas, Minnesota, and beyond, capturing wildlife in its natural habitat. Currently, he’s supervisor of programming and interpretation with Hoċokata Ṫi Cultural Center at the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux community.
  • Kent Estey: The Art of Survival
    On this episode, we speak with contemporary artist and White Earth Nation citizen Kent Estey. Kent paints at his home studio in Naytahwaush, in the heart of the White Earth Reservation. He’s known for really bold abstract landscapes, acrylic, oil, ink, and metal. He’s also an author. In 2025, he released the children’s book Picking Sweetgrass. His latest exhibit, “Mino-Bimaadiziwin: The Good Life” runs through Labor Day weekend in Detroit Lakes.
  • Rafael Gonzalez, aka, Tufawon: How a Minneapolis Rap Artist Learned How to Sing and Make a Difference
    We are very excited to speak with Rafael Gonzalez, aka, Tufawon. He is a Mdewakanton Dakota and Boricua (Puerto Rican). He’s a rapper, singer-songwriter, and producer who calls South Minneapolis home. In addition to his music making, he’s an educator. He teaches youth music production, songwriting, and recording through his music production program “.WAVWARRIOR”.
Previous Post: « “In Our Hands” Exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts Focuses on Indigenous Photography
Next Post: Headlines 12/14/2023 »

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