Native America

Culture Series / 2 Seasons

Season 2 of Native America is a groundbreaking portrait of contemporary Indian Country. This four-part Native directed series reveals the beauty and power of today’s Indigenous world. Smashing stereotypes, it follows the brilliant engineers, bold politicians, and cutting-edge artists who draw upon Native tradition to build a better 21st century.

3m 45s

Episode 2 Preview | Nature to Nations

30s

Explore the rise of great American nations, from monarchies to democracies. Investigate lost cities in Mexico, a temple in Peru, a potlatch ceremony in the Pacific Northwest and a tapestry of shell beads in upstate New York whose story inspired our own democracy.

Extended Interview: Leigh Kuwanwisiwma on Corn as Teacher

2m 30s

Hopi elder Leigh Kuwanwisiwma has learned many life lessons from corn. These lessons are so important that he believes it is the duty of every Hopi person to be a farmer.

Extended Interview: Jim Enote on Lessons from Farming

1m 57s

Zuni elder Jim Enote reflects on lessons learned from farming and each person’s responsibility to take care of the earth. While science is important, he argues there is another complimentary way to look at the world.

Extended Interview: G. Peter Jemison on the Longhouse

4m 41s

Seneca faithkeeper Pete Jemison speaks on how the longhouse was constructed and what it means to the Haudenosaunee people. The longhouse in which he is interviewed is a reconstruction based on an 17 or 18th century building that was excavated nearby. It is a home and also a place to house councils and ceremonial events.

Season 1 Official Trailer

30s

Native America explores the world created by America’s First Peoples. The four-part series reaches back 15,000 years to reveal massive cities aligned to the stars, unique systems of science and spirituality, and 100 million people connected by social networks spanning two continents.

Episode 1 Preview | From Caves to Cosmos

30s

Combine ancient wisdom and modern science to answer a 15,000-year-old question: who were America’s First Peoples? The answer hides in Amazonian cave paintings, Mexican burial chambers, New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon and waves off California’s coast.

Extended Interview: The Earliest Cave Paintings in America

2m 58s

Archaeologist Anna Roosevelt dates the cave paintings in Brazil's Amazon jungle to 13,000 years ago. Her discovery rewrites the traditional history of the peopling of the America and who those people were - not just big game hunters but also artists and scientists.

Extended Interview: The Importance of Names

2m 36s

Zuni elder Jim Enote speaks on why knowing Native names is an important source of information. Native names often reflect information about a place that is based on thousands of years of observation.

Extended Interview: David Carrasco on Shared Beliefs

4m 24s

David Carrasco illuminates the similarities of the religious beliefs shared by indigenous peoples across the Americas. These similarities include sky worship including the sun and moon, the power of water, sacrality of trees, and human relationships to animal spirits.

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