Indigenous Insights: An Evaluation Podcast

Corrie Whitmore, Associate Professor of Health Sciences at University of Alaska Anchorage, served as 2023 President of the American Evaluation Association and founding president (2012) of the Alaska Evaluation Network (AKEN). She is a lifelong Alaskan who returned to the state after completing an M.S. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology and Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology at Virginia Tech to help Alaska "grow our own" workforce and support the health of our community in the Division of Population Health Sciences at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Her current work centers around exploring the role of trust in a patient-provider relationship and evaluating programs designed to build and support community wellness, particularly in tribal contexts. Dr. Whitmore's teaching invites story into the health policy classroom, partners evaluation students with community programs where they can apply their learning to support operations, and introduces students to what public health looks like in Alaska.
Overview 
In this episode Dr. Gladys Rowe and Dr. Elizabeth Carlson-Manathara are joined by Dr. Corrie Whitmore, Associate Professor of Health Sciences at the University of Alaska Anchorage, former President of the American Evaluation Association, and founding President of the Alaska Evaluation Network. Corrie shares her journey as an “accidental evaluator,” tracing how her lifelong relationship to Alaska, her academic training in psychology, and her work within Alaska Native–led health systems shaped her understanding of evaluation as a deeply relational and community-rooted practice.
The conversation explores the role of trust, story, and cultural humility in evaluation, particularly within Indigenous and Tribal contexts. Corrie reflects on learning to move beyond Western notions of professionalism and expertise, emphasizing the importance of showing up as a full human being in relationship with community. She shares lessons from her work in Alaska Native health organizations, her experiences building local evaluation capacity, and her leadership within AEA—including her decision to center story as the 2023 conference theme. Throughout the episode, Corrie speaks candidly about mistakes, learning, and growth, offering grounded insights into land acknowledgements, Indigenous sovereignty, evaluation ethics, and the responsibility evaluators hold to listen, witness, and translate community knowledge without extracting it. The episode closes with a powerful reminder that evaluation, at its best, is not about distance or neutrality but about relationship, accountability, and honoring the stories communities entrust us to carry forward.
Resources 
Article: Teaching Evaluation Through Community-Engaged Learning Courses
Article: Making Land Acknowledgements in the University Setting Meaningful and Appropriate
Article: Facilitating Culturally Safe Conversations Around Substance Use Disorder and Contraception to Provide Inclusive Care for Neurodiverse and Neurotypical Populations
 
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Bio
Hafsa Mustafa – Decolonial MEL Strategist - is a researcher, writer, and data expert with more than 20 years of experience in the field of learning and evaluation. Hafsa's perspective is rooted in both professional expertise and personal history.
Her career spans grassroots movements, philanthropy, impact investing, and academia, where she has helped organizations turn complex information into actionable insights and impact strategies that are grounded, equity-driven, and built to endure.
Informed by mentorship across global movements and a family legacy rooted in justice, she is committed to making research and evaluation non-extractive, relational, and a driver of transformative change.
 
Overview
In this thought-provoking episode, hosts Dr. Gladys Rowe and Dr. Elizabeth Carlson-Manathara are joined by Hafsa Mustafa, a decolonial monitoring, evaluation, and learning strategist whose 20+ years of work span grassroots movements, philanthropy, impact investing, and academia.
Hafsa shares her evaluation origin story, weaving together her family’s history of displacement under British colonialism, her experience growing up in Karachi’s dual education systems, and her awakening to how colonial frameworks shape knowledge, language, and data. In this episode, the conversation moves through the many ways Hafsa is reimagining evaluation as a liberatory and justice-oriented practice. She shares how her partnerships with global social movements have reshaped the meaning of impact - centering collaboration, relationship, and shared power rather than compliance or control. Hafsa reflects on the principles of trust-based giving, which challenge traditional philanthropy by emphasizing long-term, relationship-centered approaches grounded in mutual accountability. Drawing inspiration from solidarity economies in Mexico, landless worker movements in Brazil, and women’s cooperatives in Nepal, she highlights how collective power and intergenerational learning create sustainable change. Finally, Hafsa introduces her “liberatory evaluation” tools - the diagnostic and champion’s map - that help individuals and organizations locate themselves within systems of power and envision tangible pathways toward equity and transformation.
 
Resources 
Just Insights – https://justinsights.org
 
Email: indigenousevaluationpodcast@gmail.com 
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Bio
What happens when Black identity is loved, protected, and defended as we collectively learn about process and change in communities, organizations and programs? This is the question that dr. monique liston unapologetically built a community-engaged intellectual and regenerative life practice around. She is the founder, chief strategist, and joyful militant at UBUNTU Research and Evaluation, an undisciplined learning organization in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As the daughter of Ursula, granddaughter of Gracie J. and Bernice, pet-mom of Simone, a mini Goldendoodle, and Franklin, a Russian Box Tortoise, she asks that you send her recommendations of bookstores, restaurants, and beaches to help her find joy while surviving the end of a white supremacist heteropatriarchal queerphobic world.
Overview
In this powerful episode, Gladys and Liz are joined by Dr. Monique Liston — Founder, Chief Strategist, and joyful militant at Ubuntu Research & Evaluation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Monique centers Black liberation, joy, and collective thriving in her evaluation practice and invites us to imagine — and measure — toward the worlds our communities deserve. 
Monique invites us into a bold reimagining of evaluation as a liberatory practice rooted in Black joy, dignity, and possibility. She describes her approach to Black liberatory evaluation as one that rejects deficit-based narratives and instead insists on measuring progress toward the thriving futures Black communities deserve. Together, the conversation explores how solidarity requires what Monique calls “minding your business deeply”—grounding ourselves in our own histories, responsibilities, and communities so that cross-movement alignment is built with intention rather than assumption. They also dive into Ubuntu’s Afrofuturist Evaluation and Beloved Community frameworks, which evaluate present-day efforts based on their ability to move us toward worlds free from oppression. Throughout, Monique speaks candidly about the tensions evaluators face when working inside systems that don’t always reflect our values, and emphasizes the role of joy, curiosity, and writing as essential acts of resistance, mentorship, and future-building.
Resources
Check out Fractals here.
AEA GEDI Internship
 
Email: indigenousevaluationpodcast@gmail.com 
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Bio
Louise Adongo was born and mostly raised in Kenya but has also lived in various parts of Southern Africa. A bold and grounded leader with close to 20 years' experience in systems change, policy and evaluation, Louise runs the inclusive engagement consultancy, Caprivian Strip Inc (CSI) and is a co-steward in systemic mediation with the Transition Bridges Project collective *https://www.transitionbridges.net 
Drawing lessons and wisdom from her heritage, faith, creativity as well as assorted personal & professional experiences, she brings care and intention to uncovering the roots of tangled problems; enabling shifts to greater resilience, sustainability and impact. 
She believes that co-creating more nimble, transparent and creative institutional spaces is key to the reinvention that we have learned through our most recent pandemic that we all need. She also understands that connection in communities can be made possible quite unexpectedly one conversation at a time. 
 
Overview 
In this episode, hosts Dr. Gladys Rowe and Dr. Elizabeth Carlson-Manathara sit down with Louise Adongo, a systems change leader, evaluator, and founder of Caprivian Strip, an inclusive and empathy-based consulting firm that uses facilitation, research, and evaluation to support clients in their change work. Louise shares her origin story from Kenya to Nova Scotia, exploring how love, courage, and truth-telling shape her approach to systems transformation and evaluation.
Together, they explore what it means to say the things—to have the courage to name what is often left unspoken within systems of power, oppression, and policy. Louise reflects on how unaddressed grief and trauma can keep systems stuck, emphasizing that witnessing and naming these truths is essential for transformation. The conversation moves into a reflection on dignity in transition, inviting a reimagining of leadership and organizational change as opportunities for healing rather than moments defined by burnout or shame. They close by turning toward creativity and joy, considering how art, play, and embodiment can restore a sense of wholeness, imagination, and connection in decolonial and systems change work.
 
Email: indigenousevaluationpodcast@gmail.com 
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Toni (she/her) is a descendant of white settlers, mostly from Britain, Ireland, Wales who was born and raised here, in Treaty One territory, in the heart of the Metis nation in Winnipeg MB, Canada. She is a daughter, sister, wife, parent, friend, community member, and a member of the 2SLGBTQQIA* community. Toni has a deep love for animals and the beauty of Mother Earth. She is committed to dismantling the systems, structures, and processes of colonization, oppression and injustice that cause harm, imbalance, and injustice. This must be work focused on the personal, organizational and systems levels. She believes we all have the capacity to heal ourselves, Mother Earth and continue to flourish as communities. She also believes on this journey, we need others -always - to walk with. All that we do is relational. Toni has a Master of Social Work from the University of Manitoba with a specialization in Leadership/Social Policy/Administration in not-for profits and over 25 years of experience working with people, communities, systems, and organizations. She has spent over 20 years providing direct clinical services, works in the not-for-profit sector at the executive level and is the owner and primary operator of Resurgence Consulting & Counselling
Overview
In this second episode of this spotlight series, hosts Dr. Gladys Rowe and Dr. Elizabeth Carlson-Manathara sat down with Toni Tilston-Jones—a leader, community advocate, and executive director—whose career has been rooted in dismantling systems of oppression and reimagining organizations through anti-colonial and decolonial practices.
Toni shares her origin story, growing up in white settler spaces, navigating queerness in a society that denied belonging, and early experiences working with Indigenous youth in the justice and child welfare systems. These moments sharpened her understanding of oppression and fueled her lifelong commitment to system change, healing, and justice.
In this episode, the conversation explores how decolonizing organizations must begin from the inside out—addressing racism and oppression before inviting Elders or community knowledge keepers into the work. Toni shares how she has used policy as a lever for change through a staff-led committee and analysis tool, leading to transformative shifts such as a compassionate leave policy and space for ceremony. Together, Gladys, Liz, and Toni reflect on evaluation as a practice of transformation, highlighting the development of a youth-led wellness card deck and staff reflection tools that center belonging, connection, and relationship as measures of well-being. At the heart of it all is Toni’s leadership philosophy—grounded in love, humility, and vulnerability—shaping a path away from hierarchy and toward shared leadership and relational accountability.
 
Email: indigenousevaluationpodcast@gmail.com 
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Dr. Elizabeth Carlson-Manathara is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at Laurentian University. She is a non-Indigenous scholar whose work focuses on the roles of non-Indigenous peoples in decolonization, reconciliation, Treaty, and LANDBACK; and on anti-colonial methodologies and decolonial change through public education and film. She is the author of the book Living in Indigenous Sovereignty and a filmmaker with the Stories of Decolonization Film Project. 
 
Overview
In this first episode of Season 4, host Gladys Rowe is joined by co-host Dr. Elizabeth Carlson-Manathara for the launch of a special spotlight series on anti-colonial and decolonial evaluation. Together, they explore the practices, tensions, and responsibilities of reimagining evaluation as a site of transformation rather than extraction.
Elizabeth shares her origin story—from her upbringing in white communities in the U.S., to her early experiences working in an Indigenous school in Minneapolis, to her deeper learning through gatherings at Turtle Lodge in Manitoba. She reflects on her journey into anti-colonial praxis, the responsibilities of non-Indigenous peoples in decolonization, and the concept of living in Indigenous sovereignty.
This conversation sets the stage for the season ahead—one that will feature Indigenous and non-Indigenous evaluators, scholars, practitioners, and knowledge keepers walking the path of decolonial and anti-colonial evaluation in different ways.
Resources 
Book: Living in Indigenous Sovereignty
Film Series: Stories of Decolonization Film Project
Turtle Lodge, Sakgeeng Manitoba: Turtle Lodge 
 
Email: indigenousevaluationpodcast@gmail.com 
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In this season 3 finale, Gladys pauses in gratitude and looks back across a season filled with stories of disruption, creativity, and community-rooted evaluation. Drawing on the night sky as a guiding metaphor, she reflects on how each conversation this season has been a bright star in a larger constellation of Indigenous resurgence and systems change.
Gladys shares what she has learned about holding space as a host, artist, and relative—how art and joy deepen evaluation, how protocol and relationship guide the work, and how community knowledges continue to root evaluation practices. From canoe journeys and star stories to poetry and collective reflection, this episode invites listeners to see evaluation as a living practice of wayfinding and belonging.
 
Email: indigenousevaluationpodcast@gmail.com 
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In this episode, Gladys is joined by Natalie Nicholson, Pearl Walker Sweeney, and Roxanne Johnson—leaders and practitioners at Mewinzha Ondaadiziike Wiigaming, an Anishinaabe-led women’s and family wellness clinic in Northern Minnesota. Together, they reflect on their journey of building a culturally grounded evaluation practice rooted in Anishinaabe values and relationships.
From the origin story of Mewinzha, founded by Natalie's mother Millicent, to the development of a collaborative, community-centered evaluation approach, this conversation highlights the importance of being led and rooted within community priorities. Stories shared demonstrated the power of relational accountability, creativity, and reciprocal learning in designing programming that centers relatives' experiences. The guests share stories of how evaluation at Mewinzha isn’t about checking boxes—it’s about reflecting on their bundles, centering community wisdom, and continuously nurturing the spirit of the work.
We share elements of the evaluation bundle, including the reflective and arts-based methods that have supported the team to walk in a good way, and how this Anishinaabe evaluation approach might offer lessons in leadership and transformation for the field.
Bios
Natalie Nicholson DNP, APRN, CNP, ILC is Arikara/Anishinaabe, Board Vice President, Clinical Director, DNP, APRN-CNP, OLY. She is enrolled in The Three Affiliated Tribes, Fort Berthhold, ND (Arikara), descendant of Red Lake Nation (Ojibwe) and Danish ancestry. Natalie has over 23 years of nursing/clinical experience in maternal infant women's health serving American Indians in northern Minnesota. She received my Doctorate in Nursing Practice from John's Hopkins School of Nursing in 2022, preparing me to lead in establishing our clinic and changing how healthcare is offered in our community. She leads the clinic administratively and provides medical/cultural care focusing on prenatal, postpartum, lactation and women's healthcare integrating spiritual, social, emotional and physical health. Fun note, she’s an Olympian!
 
Pearl Walker-Swaney, MPH, CD, CLC, ILC, RYT, is Lakota/Dakota/Anishinaabe enrolled in Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and from White Earth Nation. Pearl is a certified doula, yoga teacher, and student of energy therapy with a passion for lactation education. She has been in birth work for almost a decade and carries a deep appreciation of our cultural practices that support overall well being. Pearl is a mother, crafter, earring maker, enjoys family walks, poetry, children’s books, and loves dogs. 
 
Roxanne Johnson, RDN, CDCES, CLC, ILC, is Anishinaabe enrolled in the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Tribe in Belcourt, ND. She is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist for over 20 years working for tribal communities in Minnesota and California. She is passionate about ancestral foodways and American Indian wellness teachings. She enjoys teaching about making healthful changes starting in the kitchen. Roxanne is mom of 3 children, self-taught chef, crafter, and enjoys walking and traveling. 
 
Email: indigenousevaluationpodcast@gmail.com 
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In this episode of Indigenous Insights, host Gladys Rowe welcomes Dr. Carolee Dodge Francis, Joseph Jean, and Linnea Hjelm for a conversation on kinship, mentorship, and the role of culturally responsive Indigenous evaluation. Together, they share how evaluation is more than a technical process, it is a relational practice that centers community, reciprocity, and the responsibilities evaluators carry in honoring Indigenous ways of knowing.
Dr. Dodge Francis shares insights on Indigenous kinship as a framework for evaluation and mentorship, while Joseph and Linnea reflect on their experiences as emerging evaluators navigating academia and community-based research. The conversation highlights the importance of intergenerational knowledge-sharing, humility in evaluation, and the need to challenge extractive research practices.
Tune in for a rich discussion on transforming evaluation through Indigenous values, fostering mentorship rooted in care, and ensuring that evaluation serves as a tool for strengthening relationships and building decolonial futures.
 
Dr. Carolee Dodge Francis is a Native American (citizen of Oneida Nation) qualitative social behavioral researcher, Chair of the Civil Society and Community Studies Department and Endowed Lola Culver Professor within the School of Human Ecology, University of Wisconsin - Madison. She strives to intertwine community engagement, research scholarship and student mentorship as a reflection of her cultural understanding within a contemporary context that is focused upon the well-being of Indigenous populations. Dr. Dodge Francis has over 30+ years’ work experience in public health/community wellness, Indigenous evaluation & program development, and community-based participatory research. She intersects curriculum adaptation and culture to create culturally responsive educational materials for urban and rural Native American communities. Dr. Dodge Francis is a published author and has been a Principal Investigator with federal and foundation funding entities for the past two decades.
Joseph Jean (He/Him) is a mixed Dinè (Navajo) queer Ph.D. student in Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research aims to address social injustices and improve community health for Indigenous and Queer communities with whom he identifies with. He holds an M.P.H. from the University of Nevada Las Vegas, where he specialized in social and behavioral health and biological sciences. He has held various positions, including lecturer, teaching assistant, program assistant, and research assistant for numerous University-affiliated centers, institutes, and laboratories. His experiences include designing, collecting, and reporting on qualitative and quantitative research methods. His academic and professional interests include public health, evaluation, Indigenous frameworks, and health behavior theories. Email: jdjean@wisc.edu 
 
Linnea Hjelm, MS, is a PhD Candidate in the Civil Society and Community Research department in the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Human Ecology. Linnea is a mixed, Hispanic woman who has a rich cultural background that merges her Swedish and Mexican roots. As a graduate student, she has received a comprehensive training in community-based participatory research methods and transformative evaluation design, and has applied these approaches in projects with many unique community partners. Building from her experiences as a peer educator and crisis advocate, Linnea’s dissertation research explores the impacts of youth leadership and engagement in sexual violence prevention, specifically in the context of a county-level sexual violence resource center, with whom she has been a collaborator for 4 years.
 
Show Notes
Articles 
Kinship pathways: Nurturing and sustaining resilient, responsible, and respected indigenous evaluators, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ev.20537
Rooted in perpetuity: Weaving grandfather teachings as an ongoing journey for CRE, IE, and evaluators, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ev.20567
Email: indigenousevaluationpodcast@gmail.com 
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In this heartfelt episode of Indigenous Insights, host Gladys Rowe sits down with An Garagiola, an evaluator, researcher, writer, and PhD student. An shares her remarkable journey from overcoming personal and systemic challenges to becoming a passionate advocate for Indigenous research sovereignty. She reflects on her work with CEDAR (Community Engagement for Decolonizing and Advancing Research) and the Truth Project, discussing the importance of building trust, centering community voices, and challenging colonial frameworks in evaluation and research.
An offers powerful insights into the role of Indigenous evaluation in healing and empowerment, posing thought-provoking questions about shifting from deficit narratives to strength-based approaches. She also highlights the importance of relationships, cultural frameworks, and grounding research and evaluation in Indigenous ways of knowing.
This episode is a call to action for evaluators, researchers, and institutions to embrace transformation and honor the wisdom of Indigenous communities.
 
An Garagiola, Bois Forte Band of Chippewa, MPP is a mother, PhD student, researcher, and writer born and raised in the Twin Cities. An’s dissertation focuses on Indigenous research sovereignty. She serves as the Research Manager at CEDAR (Community Engagement for Decolonizing and Advancing Research) a community-based research center at the Native American Community Clinic and GRA in the School of Family Medicine at the University of Minnesota. She works to Indigenize wellness research, identify sources of holistic well-being, and influence systems change through a cultural framework. As a mixed-race Anishinaabekwe of Ojibwe and European descent, An’s work blossoms from relational and place-based roots. An was UMN’s coordinator for The TRUTH Project  and co-author on Misplaced Trust where her research unearthed Minnesota’s system of land speculation and wealth transfer from Native Nations that continues to this day. 
As an Organizational Development Consultant and founder of Echo Maker Consulting, An works primarily with Indigenous practitioners to rematriate Indigenous management, development, research, evaluation, and data sovereignty into internal and external partnerships. She is passionate about designing plans which help systems become more equitable, sustainable, and accessible for people who institutions continue to marginalize. She frames her work in the following: “How might systems maximize equitable transformation for Indigenous and communities of color, and how might relational ways of knowing and being merge with anti-colonial efforts that transform systems into ecosystems of holistic well-being?
 
Show Notes
NACC’s website: https://nacc-healthcare.org/
Towards Recognition and University-Tribal Healing (TRUTH)
Minnesota Indian Affairs Council (MIAC) TRUTH Project Page:  https://mn.gov/indian-affairs/truth-project/
UMN TRUTH Project Page: www.z.umn.edu/truthproject  
https://www.firstnations.org/gallery/misty-blue-audrianna-goodwin-and-an-garagiola/
A link to our most current research with Grist: https://grist.org/project/indigenous/land-grant-universities-indigenous-lands-fossil-fuels/ 
 
An’s Personal websites:
EchoMaker Consulting:https://sites.google.com/view/echo-maker-llc/about 
Poetry and creative works: https://sites.google.com/umn.edu/an-gb/home
 
Email: indigenousevaluationpodcast@gmail.com 
To be added to the mailing list when this is announced please send an email with the subject line: SUBSCRIBE to: indigenousevaluationpodcast@gmail.com 
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If you are loving this podcast please leave a five star review on your favourite streaming service.