MVSKOKE RESERVATION – A new web series called “Sovereign Innovations” explores the everyday innovation of Indigenous people. The show’s host and video producer, Cheyenne Bearfoot (Chiricahua Apache), spoke with Mvskoke Media about the show’s concept, production, and reach.
With a roughly 10 minute runtime and educational format, “Sovereign Innovations” aims to not only showcase Native innovation, but also correct misinformation and misrepresentation about Native communities. Bearfoot explains, “We try to uplift and highlight Native people today and showcase really what they’re doing. I’ve spoken with Native fashion designers, filmmakers, artisans, chefs, just a whole wide array of different Native folks from different Native tribes.”
Bearfoot noted that each episode tries to hit several goals. She explained, “It’s got a little bit of history, it has a little bit of science, it’s got some contemporary pop culture musings in there, lots of humor, and lots of educational payoff.”
Production Process and Research
The entire production for the show is undertaken with a spirit of collaboration. While there are three main writers, everyone on the team takes part in writing, researching, and fact checking. Bearfoot explained that the rigorous fact-checking process ensures the show is accurate and it also gives the team plenty of room for learning.
The process also enables the production to weave Indigenous ways of knowing into the research process and the structure of the show. Bearfoot said, “We really try to uphold and value traditional Indigenous knowledge ways versus grabbing a scholarly article or pointing people to that direction… there’s so much oral history that doesn’t necessarily get translated into larger pieces of academia.”
Bearfoot explained that this process enables lots of learning on the job. While researching the show’s third episode, “Celebrating the Diversity of Native Homes,” she was blown away by the technological advances in architecture and irrigation techniques in Chaco Canyon, often left out of history books. “It’s just really fascinating how that gets ignored or subverted in history but in this show we’re really taking that back and we’re reclaiming some of this knowledge and these histories and we’re spreading it out to the world.”
Tackling Identity and Connection
From the beginning, working on “Sovereign Innovations” has also been a personal undertaking for the production team and has led to an understanding of Native community connections. The very first episode, “What does ‘authentically’ Indigenous look like?”, delves into misconceptions and misrepresentations on what it means to “look” Native. With a discussion over the ideas of “authentic”, the episode had personal connections for Barefoot and others on the production team.
It was also important for Bearfoot, she explained, to tackle that question head on. “There’s no one way to look like a Native, there’s no one way to look Indigenous. I look very white passing, but I’m half Chiricahua and I’m half white. It was really important for the first episode to talk about that and really just upheave all of those misconceptions of what it means to look Native.”
Because the research process for the show uses Indigenous knowledge as its primary source, it’s important to connect to Native communities. Either through personal contacts or networking, Bearfoot shared that Native communities really show up.
She stated, “That’s the part I treasure so much about interviewing. This show has actually been really healing for me and really affirming as well. Even though it hasn’t been easy, it’s been so great to be in community and talk to different Native folks and especially Native women… We’ve never met each other before in our lives, no from the same tribe, have had different lives, but have had similar shared experiences. It’s so affirming.”
While there is no news yet on a season two for the show, the current seven episodes can be found on the PBS Voices Youtube page and at PBS Digital Studios, which features original education web-based content.
