Research avenues for amplifying Indigenous radio.

Abstract

In this article,I discuss Indigenous radio's ongoing importance for tribal communities in the US from my perspective as a settler scholar, drawing on multifaceted research into Indigenous radio'sprogrammecontent and production practices before and during the pandemic.For this research, 'Indigenous radio' refers to radio produced, managed, presented and/ or owned by tribal communities. Other terms in use to describe Indigenous radio include Native American, Indian, or tribal radio, demonstrating that there is not a singleuniversalisingterm and reflecting a diversity in tribal cultures, languages and practices more generally. Building on this understanding of the inherent diversity of Indigenous radio, I describe the ways in which my overarching research project investigates Indigenous radio holistically, via critical outputs combining a literature review of Indigenous theoretical approaches, an online interactive map of tribal stations and in-depth case studies of tribal stations.Through these, I explorecommunity-building practices of Indigenous radioasproduced through whatIndigenous theorists Glen Coulthard and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson (2016) termgrounded normativity. Building on thisavenue ofexploration, I suggest the place-based values embedded in Indigenous radio production practices and content can function aseverydayacts of resurgence, following Jeff Corntassel's (2012)conceptualisationof ways in which Indigenous resurgence can reinforce a project ofdecolonisation. Toexemplify andsituate these arguments, Idraw on examples of radio production and practitioner insights from selected tribal stations embodying diversetribal production practices and content, before turning to focus on pandemic practices in Indigenous radio.When the pandemic emerged, myresearchfocusnecessarily widenedto includeand examine COVID-related practices and programming in tribal radio, enablingreflectionon these in the context of a paradigm shiftin which the value of tribal radio's community-building work has become acute.