In Episode 103 of “Red Hoop Talk,” host Jennifer welcomes Dr. Luhui Whitebear, a citizen of the Coastal Band of the Chumash Nation, with Huastec and Cochimi Ancestry, whose work is grounded in staying close to culture. Rooted in her Chumash homelands in Santa Barbara and her life in Oregon, she carries that responsibility into every space she moves through. As an Assistant Professor of Indigenous Studies at Oregon State University—where she earned all four of her degrees as a first-generation college student—she centers Native Nations, land, and lived experience in her teaching and research, with a focus on Indigenous feminisms, rhetorics, land and water rights, and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples.

Throughout the conversation, Dr. Whitebear challenges Western academic systems that separate emotion from knowledge, emphasizing that Indigenous ways of knowing require both. She speaks to reclaiming space within institutions—especially land-grant universities—as a practice of sovereignty, pushing beyond surface-level acknowledgments to address treaty violations, constitutional fragility, and resistance to movements like Land Back. She also reflects on the misappropriation of Indigenous knowledge and the responsibility to protect what is sacred while sharing knowledge appropriately within Native contexts.

Grounded in lived experience, Dr. Whitebear shares growing up in an activist family where Native history was openly discussed, in contrast to its erasure in public education. She describes discovering Native Studies in college as transformative and reflects on navigating higher education spaces that often pressure Native scholars to conform, choosing instead to remain fully herself while creating pathways for Native students. This episode highlights what it means to stay connected to culture across systems that often attempt to create distance, and reminds listeners that advocacy is a lifelong responsibility grounded in relationship and accountability. Each episode of Red Hoop Talk connects listeners with powerful Native voices, and by supporting the Association on American Indian Affairs, you help ensure those voices continue to be heard.