Wai? Indigenous Words and Ideas

Arcia Tecun
  • 5.0 (9)
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Hosted by an urban and mobile Wīnak (Mayan) with roots in Iximulew (Guatemala), an upbringing in Soonkahni (Salt Lake Valley, Utah), and in relation with Tonga, Aotearoa (New Zealand), and Te Moana Nui a Kiwa (The Great Pacific Ocean). Wai? [pronounced why] (W.A.I.: Words and Ideas) is a podcast based on various issues, topics, and perspectives including critical analysis, reflection, dialogue, and commentary on culture, society, education, history, Indigeneity, and more. The purpose of this project is to share words and ideas that are locally meaningful, globally relevant, and critically conscious.

  1. Aug 22

    Ep. 61: Spatial and Community Planning with Joaquín Lopez-Huertas

    Am'aj Q'in, Dr. Joaquín Lopez-Huertas joins this episode to discuss Indigenous planning. He is a K’iche’ scholar from Xelajuj No’j, Iximulew who begins by sharing some of his background in architecture and urban planning. Lopez-Huertas adds insights on identity and global Indigeneity as it relates to spatial relationships with land, pushing beyond a technical field of planning with an Indigenous futurity lens. He challenges dominant frameworks of research and community engagement, amplifying how Indigenous communities already plan and design space for themselves based on values that prioritise well-being. He shares experience with Mayan communities including K’iche’-Maya in Xelajuj No’j, as well as Ixil-Maya in Chajul, in order to highlight alternative governance systems that advocate for land/nature and Indigenous rights. Additionally, this is put into conversation with contexts such as Diné Bikéyah or Navajo Nation and its constitution and land policies. We discuss different theories that appear simultaneously when working with a global Indigenous lens like settler-colonialism and coloniality. This provides an opportunity to expand how we think and govern by considering multiple complex settings, identities, and experiences. Lopez-Huertas offers a rich critical reflection on Indigenous ways of being and knowing in relation to place and community that thrive in the decolonial cracks of re-existence. Notes on Terms: K’iche’ means many trees when literally translated, and it is also an ethnolinguistic community, and a highland Maya group that is prominent in Iximulew; Xelajuj N’oj literally means ten wisdom and is derived from ‘xe’ meaning ‘under/beneath’ and the number ten (lajuj), and the nahual or calendrical totem ‘no’j,’ which refers to wisdom, ideas, thought, intelligence. Xelajuj N’oj can be interpreted symbolically as beneath ten wisdom/mountain because it is surrounded by mountainous and volcanic peaks and is temporally located to a sacred calendar date. Alternatively, there are also some other interpretations like the ten thoughts, ten mountains, ten wise-persons, ten domains, or ten guardians/deities. Xela (pronounced Shell-ah) is a common shorthand for the contemporary town that has the colonial name of Quetzaltenango that comes from Nahuatl speaking allies of the Spanish conquistadores. The Pop Wuj also records Xelajuj K’ej as the ancestral name of this place referring to the nahual or calendrical totem of ‘K’ej’ or deer, meaning Ten Deer or Under Ten Deer, perhaps in reference to a foundation date; ladino is a Guatemalan term for mestizo or mixed race person but often delineates a class-culture ontological identity rather than a strictly ancestral or racial one; Iximulew is a Maya term for Guatemala that literally translates to corn earth, but can symbolically refer to the land of corn or the world of the corn people; Diné Bikéyah refers to the homeland and territory of Diné or Navajo peoples; Tółikan refers to sweet or pleasant water, which is also a community near the four corners region on Navajo Nation; Alcaldías indigenas refers to the Indigenous mayoralities or mayor offices in Guatemala; Pop Wuj or Popol Vuh is a text that contains a K’iche’ version of Maya cosmogony recorded in Latin characters in the 16th century, which means the book/paper of the mat/woven mat/council in the K’iche’ language. References: Joaquín Lopez-Huertas – Beyond Refusal: Balancing Colonial Land Ownership in Planning; Planning in Re-existence: Decolonial Cracks and Indigenous Futurities; ‘We don’t believe they are dead, they are just resting’: Indigenous knowledges as epistemological reclamation in planning. Joaquín Lopez-Huertas, Maggie Low, James Miller, and Michelle Thompson-Fawcett – Indigenous Planning: Cracking Coloniality Through Everyday Practices Audra Simpson – Mohawk Interruptus: Political life across the borders of settler states Adolfo Albán Achinte – Prácticas creativas de re-existencia: más allá del arte… el mundo de lo sensible. Adolfo Albán Achinte – Pedagogías de la re-existencia: Artistas indígenas y afrocolombianos. Catherine E. Walsh – Rising Up, Living On: Re-Existences, Sowings, and Decolonial Cracks Walter D. Mignolo and Catherine E. Walsh – On Decoloniality: Concepts, Analytics, Praxis.

  2. Jul 14

    Ep.60: MMIR Utah with Tammy Dee Platero

    Tammy Dee Platero joins this episode to share her background in computer science and her current work as the executive director of MMIR Utah (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Utah, non-profit organisation). Platero introduces some of her tech interest, explains terms, shares stories growing up in Utah, and the call to do Indigenous community work full-time. MMIR Utah is working on a community database that responds to gaps from under-reporting based in a lack of trust, which stems out of a history of colonial violence that extends into the present. We discuss several topics including Indigenous data sovereignty, historical contexts, the founding of the MMIR Utah non-profit org, and the complexity of intersecting social and ecological issues. Platero demonstrates an interconnected consciousness along with a message of rematriation that is embedded in campaigns to repair relationships, reclaim narratives, assert sovereignty, and proactively create.   References: MMIR Utah The First Nations Principles of OCAP Animikii U.S. Indigenous Data Sovereignty Network Lamanite Program Utah legislative MMIR task force report Colorado Office of the Liaison for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Playing Indian by Philip J. Deloria The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism by Gerald Horne Urban Indian Health Institute Report Mychaela Parrish Medicine Forward Project UN declaration on the rights of Indigenous peoples

  3. May 30

    Ep. 59: Indigenous Time and Space Part 2 – Neo/Niu/Knew Tā-Vā

    This episode engages with both the thought and practice of interconnectivity and collective consciousness in Indigenous theory. Niu/Knew/Neo Tā-Vā is framed as a talanoa/tzijonïk/storying conversation between Tāvāism, critical and global Indigenous theory. Mayan philosophy of time space is introduced and demonstrated to have overlaps with ideas of reality and life in Tā-Vā, which is explored along with critical thought. Some themes include: apocalyptic thought and response to change; cross cultural connections of shared social values; temporality beyond linearity; and calibrating actions. The role of sacrifice in sharing time-space is also considered in this emerging project, which is one of shifting the hoa (pairing) of Tā-Vā from dominant to global Indigenous philosophical traditions.   References: Giovanni Batz. The Fourth Invasion. University of California Press, 2024. Floridalma Boj Lopez. Indigenous Archives. Duke University Press, 2026. Octavia E. Butler. Parable of the Sower. Four Walls Eight Windows, 1993. Octavia E. Butler. Parable of the Talents. New York: Warner Books, 1998. Lewis Gordon. A philosophical look at Black music. Quinnipiac University (26 Sep 2019). Epeli Hau‘ofa. We are the ocean: Selected works. University of Hawaii Press, 2008. Tēvita Kaʻili. “Ancestral Voices of the Sea: Hearing the Past to Lead the Future.” In Anne Perez Hattori and  Jane Samson (Eds.), The Cambridge History of The Pacific Ocean Volume II: The Pacific Ocean Since 1800. Cambridge University Press, 2023. Miguel León-Portilla. Time and Reality in the Thought of the Maya. University of Oklahoma Press, 1990. Alexus McLeod. Philosophy of the ancient Maya: Lords of time. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017. Manulani Aluli Meyer. “Holographic epistemology: Native common sense.” China Media Research, 9(2), 2013. Victor Montejo. Mayalogue: An Interactionist Theory of Indigenous Cultures. State University of New York Press, 2021. Arcia Tecun, ‘Inoke Hafoka, Lavinia ‘Ulu ‘ave, and Moana ‘Ulu ‘ave-Hafoka. "Talanoa: Tongan epistemology and Indigenous research method." AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples 14, no. 2 (2018): 156-163. Teresia Teaiwa. “On analogies: Rethinking the Pacific in a global context.” The Contemporary Pacific 18 (1), 2006: 71-87. Victor Turner. The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure. Aldine Publishing, 1969. Sione Vaka. A Tongan approach of integrating mental health care. TedxNuku’alofa (2 Dec 2021).

  4. Apr 22

    Ep. 58: Indigenous Time and Space Part 1 – A Review of the Tā-Vā Theory

    This episode dives into some of the background and context that influenced 20th century transformational thinking in critical Oceanic thought. Palofesa I. Futa Helu’s intellectual background is explored including realism and panta rhei. The role of critical education, classics, questions of permanence, and the ‘Atenisi legacy are reflected on as significant in understanding the formation of the Tā-Vā theory by Hūfanga-He-Ako-Moe-Lotu (Dr. ‘Okustino Māhina), which is an indigenous Tongan philosophical project. Themes include intersections between realism and Tongan views of tempo-spatiality or time-space through various arts and social values. Maui-Tā-Vā-He-Ako (Dr. Tēvita O. Ka‘ili) has expanded access and development of this theory through works that examine relational ethics like tauhi vā and tauhi fonua, while responding to criticisms to account for western influences and distinguish similarities with other theories. Ending with some of the more recent literature on hoa/soa within Tā-Vā theory, this episode sets up part two which will delve into Tā-Vā expansions that connect with global Indigenous analyses of tempo-spatiality and critical theory.   Terms: Tā (beat, tap, rhythm; time-temporality), Vā (point between, relational space, relational connecting point; space-spatiality), Mālie (Bravo! Exclamation of harmony), Faka‘ofo‘ofa (beauty, beautiful), talanoa (talking critically yet harmoniously, relational mindful critical oratory/dialogue, talking story), Fuo (form, shape), Uho (content, core, umbilical cord), Māfana (generated warmth, heat/warm, exhilaration, spiritual phenomena), Vālelei (balance, harmony, positive social relational space/connection), Vākovi/Vātamaki (imbalance, disharmony, negative asymmetrical social space or relation), Tauhi Vā (performance art of socio-spatial relations; maintaining and nurturing social relational space or connection), Tauhi Fonua (performance art of socio-place relations; caring for land, place, heritage), Hoa/Soa (pair, companion, partner, connected-with).   References: Albert L. Refiti, A.-Chr. Engels-Schwarzpaul, Lana Lopesi, Billie Lythberg, Arielle Walker, and Emily Parr. Vā Moana. Australian National University. Albert Wendt. “Towards a new Oceania.” Mana: A South Pacific Journal of Language and Literature. Epeli Hau‘ofa. “Pasts to Remember” in Remembrance of Pacific Pasts edited by Borofsky, University of Hawaii Press. Epeli Hau‘ofa. “Our Sea of Islands” in A New Oceania: Rediscovering Our Sea of Islands edited by Waddell, Naidu, and Hau‘ofa, University of the South Pacific. Hūfanga, ‘Okusitino Māhina: “Ta, Va, and Moana: Temporality, spatiality, and indigeneity." Pacific Studies; “Time, space, and culture: A New tā-vā theory of Moana anthropology.” Pacific Studies; “From Vale (Ignorance) to ‘Ilo (Knowledge) to Poto (Skill) the Tongan theory of Ako (Education): Theorising Old Problems Anew.” AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples. Hūfanga He-Ako-Moe-Lotu Dr. ‘Ōkusitino Māhina, Māui-Tava-He-Ako Dr Tēvita Ka‘ili, and Kolokesa Uafā Māhina-Tuai. Sio FakaTonga ‘ae ‘Aati FakaTonga Faivā, Tufunga & Nimamea‘a FakaTonga - Tongan Views of Tongan Arts Tongan Performance Arts, Material Arts & Fine Arts. Kula-‘Uli Publishing. ‘Inoke Fotu Hu‘akau and Lo‘au Publication Research Team Report. “Chapter 1: Time and Space”, Tā & Vā Conference, Mangere Arts Centre. Maui-Tāvā-He-Ako Tēvita O. Ka‘ili, Hūfanga ‘Ōkusitino Māhina, and Kula-He-Fonua Ping-Ann Addo. “Introduction: Tā-Vā (Time-Space): The Birth of an Indigenous Moana Theory,” Pacific Studies. Pā‘utu-‘O-Vava‘u-Lahi, Adriana M. Lear, Kolokesa U. Māhina-Tuai, Sione L. Vaka,  Maui-TāVā-He-Akó, Tēvita O. Kaʻili, Hūfanga-He-Ako-Moe-Lotu, ‘Ōkusitino Māhina. “Tongan Hoa: Inseparable Yet Indispensable Pairs/Binaries,” Pacific Studies. Siosiua F. P. Lafitani: “Autonomy and Creativity in ‘Epeli Hau ‘ofa and the Lo ‘au University Philosophy of Education for Thinking,” Pacific Studies; “Arts of tattoos, lashing, house and boat buildings: Māhina’s Moanan theory of ta and va (time and space).” National Museum of Australia (16 June 2009); The Contemplative Pathway for Humanity: Moanan-Tongan “Vavanga.” Teaiwa, Teresia. "On analogies: Rethinking the Pacific in a global context." The Contemporary Pacific. Tēvita O. Ka‘ili: “Tavani Intertwining Ta and Va in Tongan Reality and philology.” Pacific Studies Journal; Marking indigeneity: The Tongan art of sociospatial relations. University of Arizona Press.

  5. Feb 14

    Ep. 57: Indigenous Archives with Floridalma Boj Lopez

    Dr. Boj Lopez is a Maya-K’iche’ Assistant Professor of Chicanx and Central American Studies at UCLA. We discuss her academic journey and early interests in the project of ethnic studies, as well as in building Maya community spaces in diaspora. Boj Lopez works in the growing field of Critical Latinx Indigeneity which she approaches as a bridge of conversations between Latino/Chicano Studies and Native American and Indigenous Studies. This approach interrogates the complicated relationships with categories like ‘Latin,’ which some refuse. Yet, at the same time also leaves room for Maya diaspora communities who may adopt or use the ‘Latin’ category for survival. The book Indigenous Archives recently released and we explore some of its premise which responded to questions of why displaced Maya diaspora communities look for each other and how they find one another. Boj Lopez shares an introduction to her book that confronts the dominant function of archives of upholding hegemonic narratives located in centers of power, and shifts to archives beyond dominant institutions, such as the mobile and living ones found in inter-generational ancestral clothing and textiles.   References: Floridalma Boj Lopez, ‘Naming, A Coming Home: Latinidad and Indigeneity in the Settler Colony’, The Funambulist, 41 (2022). Floridalma Boj Lopez, Indigenous Archives: The Maya Diaspora and Mobile Cultural Production (Duke University Press, 2026)   Notes on Terms: Xela/Quetzaltenango (Xela is shortened from Xelajú N’oj, which is an Indigenous Maya name for this place. Whereas Quetzaltenango is the official national place name derived from Nahuatl); Tongva (Indigenous people and place name for Los Angeles, California); Soonkahni (Indigenous place name for the Salt Lake Valley in the Newe/Shoshone/Goshute language); Maya-K’iche’ (K’iche’ refers to an ethno-linguistic group of diverse Highland Maya peoples and communities, and Maya is a post-colonial term that has been adopted by many, which contemporarily refers to the Mayan culture and people in Mesoamerica); Corte (A skirt that is typically made and worn by Guatemalan Mayan women often featuring ikat or jaspe patterns. Corte is derived from Spanish and it is also known as Uq or Uk in the K’iche’ language). Huipil (A generally loose-fitting feminine blouse worn by Indigenous Mesoamerican women, which in Guatemala are often lineage-based and regionally distinct, identified by their unique patterns, colours, and styles; huipil is derived from Nahuatl, but this garment is also known as p’ot in the K’iche’ language). Kab’awil (Maya concept for duality or pairing of oppositional or complimentary forces; etymologically it is a compound word expressing the number two and face, which means to see with multiple visions or faces or a double view; philosophically linked with interconnectedness, complexity, and plurality, which is often depicted in textiles as mirrored images such as two exact birds facing different directions).

  6. 10/06/2025

    Ep. 56: Talking Kava with 'Ulise Funaki

    Dr. ‘Ulise Funaki (Kakai Tonga, Kanaka Maoli) is featured in this episode and shares a breadth of insights having recently completed a doctorate in anthropology at the University of Hawai‘i and as an instructor at Brigham Young University – Hawai‘i. Topics covered in this episode include: Navigating research and study as a grounded family person; Kava protocols in academic spaces; Historical and shifting kava perceptions among Latter-day Saints (Mormons); The continuation and adaptation of kava for a new generation of Tongans and Native Hawaiians in O'ahu to connect to fonua; Ali‘i Kaua – Chief of War commentary and insights on contemporary and future kava practices within and outside of Oceanian communities. Terms: TRA (Tonga Research Association), member (referring to being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, mainstream Mormon, or Brighamite Mormon), Kava/‘Awa (Piper Methysticum), Kakai Tonga (People of Tonga), Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian), Fonua (Land, Heritage, Land-connected People), Cobo (iTaukei/Fijian expresson for deep clap to indicate a call for kava to be served and to show respect), Lāhui (Hawaiian community/nation/people).   References: Historical and Contemporary Representation of Kava by Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Sione M. U. H. Funaki in Pacific Studies Doctoral Research on Contemporary Kava Practices in Hawai‘i featuring ‘Ulise Funaki Dr. Funaki’s thesis/dissertation, "Ko 'Emau Nofo Pē 'Eni la 'O Pukepuke Fonua" We Are Sitting Here, Tightly Holding Onto the Land: Kava and Fonua in Ko'olauloa

  7. 08/05/2025

    Ep. 55: Reflections on Culture and Place with Isiah and Samoana

    Isiah Cambridge (Ute/Núuch and Diné/Navajo) and Samoana Matagi (Tagata Sāmoa and Papalagi) join this episode to discuss culture, language, and relationships to place. We reflect on work we have done at the Nature Center at Pia Okwai where Isiah has taught Diné Bizaad (Navajo language) classes and Samoana continues to run a monthly Friday Fono (Faikava workshop) and regular Umu (underground earth oven cooking) demonstrations. We reflect on Indigenous knowledge projects as they introduce themselves and some of their background and experiences. Topics include communal lessons and collective insights within the worldviews we practice as well as critically engage with mainstream and Indigenous conservation perspectives. Themes include Indigenous relational consciousness, leave no trace, community, and meaningful relationships to place from across our unique positionalities and ancestries. Diné Bizaad (Navajo language) Terms: Leets’aa’ (Leezh = sand + ts’aa’ = bowl); Yíiyá (Fear); Naadą́ą́ʼ (Naa = enemy/constant + dą́ą́ʼ = it is eaten); Leeshibéézh (Leezh = sand +shibéézh = it is cooked, to cook under the sand/earth); Chʼil doo chójoołʼįįhígíí (The plant that one doesnʼt use, La planta que no se usa). Nuu'apagay/Nʉmʉ Tekwapi/Núu-'apaghapi̱/ Núuchi (Ute language) term: Tuuspani (Hurry). Gagana Sāmoa (Samoan language) terms: ‘Iate – (transliteration of yard, ‘Iate Truck = landscaping work truck); Umu – (underground earth oven, to cook with heated stones). Maya T’aan/Maya T’aam (Yucatec-Maya language) term: Píib (underground earth steam oven/sweat-steam bath or ceremony). Katzihob’al/Qatzijob’al/Kach’ab’al/Qach’ab’al (K’iche’-Maya language) term: Tuj/Tuh (underground earth steam oven/sweat-steam bath or ceremony). Runasimi (Quechua language) term: Pachamanka (underground earth steam oven). Newe Taikwa (Shoshone/Goshute) term: Pia Okwai – (big flow/river, Utah’s Jordan river).   References C.R.E.A.M by Wu-Tang Clan An Indigenous Perspective on the Global Threat of Invasive Species by Nicholas J. Reo and Laura A. Ogden Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous Science by Jessica Hernandez Sovereign Embodiment: Native Hawaiians and Expressions of Diasporic Kuleana by Kēhaulani Vaughn Charles Sepulveda

  8. 07/22/2025

    Ep. 54: Thoughts on Religion and Indigeneity

    This episode begins by attempting to tackle some bigger questions about religion, belief, and spirituality. I share some different approaches to analysing religion using thinkers like Talal Asad and Émile Durkheim, in order to explore concepts like ‘religion’ itself and the ‘sacred’ and ‘profane’. I also consider Indigenous Reflections on Christianity to explore the tensions and compromises with religion (Christianity) and Indigenous peoples, including ideas from Vine Deloria Jr. and John Trudell. The second half of this episode focuses in on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mainstream Mormonism; Latter-day Saints) and Indigenous peoples. This section is a response and extension to the Red Nation’s Unsettling Mormonism’s episode from a few years ago. I seek to highlight Indigenous scholars who have been and continue to interrogate questions at the intersection of Mormon and Indigenous Studies (see list below). I conclude with an introduction to some of my own analyses of “Lamanites” (Mormonism’s category of 'New World' Indigeneity). I position Mormonism and Indigeneity within larger structures and colonial contexts drawing from the articles A Divine Rebellion, and Pedro and Pita Built Peter Priesthood’s Mansion and Now They Work the Grounds.   Terms: Religion, Spiritual, Cult/us/ure, Collective Effervescence, Profane, Sacred.   Intellectuals who explore Indigeneity, race, and 'Lamanites' in Mormon Studies: Elise Boxer, Farina King, Gina Colvin, P. Jane Hafen, Angelo Baca, Hokulani Aikau, Hemopereki Simon, Robert Joseph, Darren Parry, Moroni Benally, Ignacio Garcia, Armando Solorzano, Cynthia Connell, Sujey Vega, Eduardo Pagan, Stephanie Griswold, Lacee Harris, Sarah Newcomb, Monika Crowfoot, Michael Ing.   Additional References: Rastafari as a Counter-Hegemonic Social Movement by Lianne Mulder Roots, Reggae, Rebellion by BBC Look to the Mountain by Gregory Cajete Why do people join cults? By Janja Lalich Music and Identity by Simon Frith In the Light of Reverence Film Transit of Empire by Jodi Byrd Lamanite Generations by Farina King

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About

Hosted by an urban and mobile Wīnak (Mayan) with roots in Iximulew (Guatemala), an upbringing in Soonkahni (Salt Lake Valley, Utah), and in relation with Tonga, Aotearoa (New Zealand), and Te Moana Nui a Kiwa (The Great Pacific Ocean). Wai? [pronounced why] (W.A.I.: Words and Ideas) is a podcast based on various issues, topics, and perspectives including critical analysis, reflection, dialogue, and commentary on culture, society, education, history, Indigeneity, and more. The purpose of this project is to share words and ideas that are locally meaningful, globally relevant, and critically conscious.

Information

  • Creator
    Arcia Tecun
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    61
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2019 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Wai? Indigenous Words and Ideas