“There’s many ways that human beings around the world have not just not hurt, but have actually been a beautiful gift to the Earth, a keystone species that actually has become a linchpin in the healthy functioning of the ecosystem. And we treated the Earth so good, that She would actually miss us if we left. That’s what I’m encouraging people to try to become again.”
— Dr. Lyla June Johnston – Flourish Systems Change
For this episode of the Flourish Podcast, co-host Sarah Ichioka interviews Indigenous musician, scholar, and community organizer Dr Lyla June Johnston, in an extended version of a conversation originally recorded as part of Sarah’s Designing Cities for All Fellowship at Pakhuis de Zwijger in Amsterdam.
Dr Lyla June Johnston (aka Lyla June) is an Indigenous musician, scholar, and community organizer of Diné (Navajo), Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) and European lineages. Her messages focus on Indigenous rights, supporting youth, traditional land stewardship practices and healing intergenerational and intercultural trauma. She blends her study of Human Ecology at Stanford, graduate work in Indigenous Pedagogy, and the traditional worldview she grew up with to inform her music, perspectives and solutions. Her doctoral research focused on the ways in which pre-colonial Indigenous Nations shaped large regions of Turtle Island (aka the Americas) to produce abundant food systems for humans and non-humans.
Connect with Dr. Lyla June Johnston and dozens of other Indigenous speakers at the 7-Day The Eternal Song Gathering hosted live by SAND.
