"Unblocked," produced by Florida International University’s Mellon-funded ‘Commons for Justice’ project, explores disaster exposures, vulnerabilities, and resilience in and around South Florida from Indigenous perspectives.
How do Indigenous South Floridians envision a world that is liberated from these constraints and grounded in communal values of caretaking the earth? Each episode highlights an “unblocked” aspect of an Indigenous praxis, helping us imagine a new world that addresses race, risk, and resilience in South Florida.
Disclaimer: This podcast does not reflect FIU policy.
(3/3) Unblocked Food Sovereignty: Indigenous Community Gardens for Healing the Risks of Laboring in Rising Heat **SPANISH**
For this podcast, we visited a community garden at Misión Peniel, a Presbyterian mission in solidarity with farmworkers. We met with a group of Indigenous, farmworking women from across Latin America who are part of a dynamic community garden.
We had the opportunity to meet Lupita Vazquez Reyes, the Garden Outreach Coordinator. Lupita is the daughter of farmworkers and activists. She was born and raised in Immokalee but left to serve in the Army. She returned to Immokalee and began volunteering with Misión Peniel, shortly thereafter, was hired to work at Cultivate Abundance.
These three episodes are hosted by Nicaraguan-born photojournalist Lisette Morales, who is based in South Florida and focuses on visual narratives highlighting Latin American communities. In particular, she has a strong connection to a group of farmworkers based in Immokalee.
She possesses a unique ability to capture migrant stories, particularly as an Indigenous woman herself. She recognizes the significance of their narratives and employs a gifted visual translation method to convey the vibrant knowledge-making about resilience, community building, and ecological healing to an audience that may require cultural interpretation to fully comprehend these concepts.
Listen to these women navigate stories of community building, seed exchange, and indigenous medicinal knowledge as a means of combating the adverse effects of labor in the rising heat of South Florida. They also explore the concept of food sovereignty through the cultivation of their own foods.
The podcast is structured into three parts:
Part I: Introduction to the community garden
Part II: Climate change and its impacts on labor in the heat in Immokalee; Indigenous medicine as a means of healing and protection; finding resilience in food deserts; and the role of community gardens in empowering women through aspects of the violence and isolation associated with forced migration.
Part III: Diversity within the community garden; Indigenous languages and excerpts from the life stories of the women.
Producer: Mitzi Uehara Carter
Podcast host and organizer: Lisette Morales
Podcast co-host: Lupita Vazquez Reyes
Audio and post-production editing: Sebastian Rocha Alvarez
Associate producer and audio editor: Diane Benitez
Disclaimer: This podcast does not reflect FIU policy.
21 Dec 2024
(2/3) Unblocked Food Sovereignty: Indigenous Community Gardens for Healing the Risks of Laboring in Rising Heat **SPANISH**
This episode was recorded in Spanish. English captions are available on our Youtube Channel! Please visit https://www.youtube.com/@UnblockedIndigenousPodcast for the English translation.
For this podcast, we visited a community garden at Misión Peniel, a Presbyterian mission in solidarity with farmworkers. We met with a group of Indigenous, farm working women from across Latin America who are part of a dynamic community garden.
We had the opportunity to meet Lupita Vazquez Reyes, the Garden Outreach Coordinator. Lupita is the daughter of farmworkers and activists. She was born and raised in Immokalee but left to serve in the Army. She returned to Immokalee and began volunteering with Misión Peniel, shortly thereafter, was hired to work at Cultivate Abundance.
These three episodes are hosted by Nicaraguan-born photojournalist Lisette Morales, who is based in South Florida and focuses on visual narratives highlighting Latin American communities. In particular, she has a strong connection to a group of farmworkers based in Immokalee.
She possesses a unique ability to capture migrant stories, particularly as an Indigenous woman herself. She recognizes the significance of their narratives and employs a gifted visual translation method to convey the vibrant knowledge-making about resilience, community building, and ecological healing to an audience that may require cultural interpretation to fully comprehend these concepts.
Listen to these women navigate stories of community building, seed exchange, and indigenous medicinal knowledge as a means of combating the adverse effects of labor in the rising heat of South Florida. They also explore the concept of food sovereignty through the cultivation of their own foods.
Part I: Introduction to the community garden
Part II: Climate change and its impacts on labor in the heat in Immokalee; Indigenous medicine as a means of healing and protection; finding resilience in food deserts; and the role of community gardens in empowering women through aspects of the violence and isolation associated with forced migration.
Part III: Diversity within the community garden; Indigenous languages and excerpts from the life stories of the women.
Producer: Mitzi Uehara Carter
Podcast host and organizer: Lisette Morales
Podcast co-host: Lupita Vazquez Reyes
Audio and post-production editing: Sebastian Rocha Alvarez
Associate producer and audio editor: Diane Benitez
Disclaimer: This podcast does not reflect FIU policy.
20 Dec 2024
(1/3) Unblocked Food Sovereignty : Indigenous Community Gardens for Healing the Risks of Laboring in Rising Heat **SPANISH**
This episode was recorded in Spanish. English captions are available on our Youtube Channel! Please visit https://www.youtube.com/@UnblockedIndigenousPodcast for the English translation.
For this podcast, we visited a community garden at Misión Peniel, a Presbyterian mission in solidarity with farmworkers. We met with a group of Indigenous, farm working women from across Latin America who are part of a dynamic community garden.
We had the opportunity to meet Lupita Vazquez Reyes, the Garden Outreach Coordinator. Lupita is the daughter of farmworkers and activists. She was born and raised in Immokalee but left to serve in the Army. She returned to Immokalee and began volunteering with Misión Peniel, shortly thereafter, was hired to work at Cultivate Abundance.
These three episodes are hosted by Nicaraguan-born photojournalist Lisette Morales, who is based in South Florida and focuses on visual narratives highlighting Latin American communities. In particular, she has a strong connection to a group of farmworkers based in Immokalee.
She possesses a unique ability to capture migrant stories, particularly as an Indigenous woman herself. She recognizes the significance of their narratives and employs a gifted visual translation method to convey the vibrant knowledge-making about resilience, community building, and ecological healing to an audience that may require cultural interpretation to fully comprehend these concepts.
Listen to these women navigate stories of community building, seed exchange, and indigenous medicinal knowledge as a means of combating the adverse effects of labor in the rising heat of South Florida. They also explore the concept of food sovereignty through the cultivation of their own foods.
Part I: Introduction to the community garden
Part II: Climate change and its impacts on labor in the heat in Immokalee; Indigenous medicine as a means of healing and protection; finding resilience in food deserts; and the role of community gardens in empowering women through aspects of the violence and isolation associated with forced migration.
Part III: Diversity within the community garden; Indigenous languages and excerpts from the life stories of the women.
Producer: Mitzi Uehara Carter
Podcast host and organizer: Lisette Morales
Podcast co-host: Lupita Vazquez Reyes
Audio and post-production editing: Sebastian Rocha Alvarez
Associate producer and audio editor: Diane Benitez
Disclaimer: This podcast does not reflect FIU policy.
18 Dec 2024
Unblocked Preservation: What Conservationists Get Wrong about Protecting the Land
In this episode, Betty Osceola, a Miccosukee leader and environmental advocate, delves into the proposed Wilderness Designation that will significantly impact the tribe and the proposed area to be closed off to humans. She sheds light on the ongoing displacement of indigenous communities in the region and challenges the conservationist notion that wildlife preserves devoid of human contact are inherently healthier.
Osceola asserts that the original stewards of the land should not be locked out of the lands on which they have cared and their presence is essential in the healing process of this damaged ecosystem. She proposes active involvement of indigenous communities in developing sustainable solutions for preservation.
Producer: Mitzi Uehara Carter
Audio and post-production editing: Sebastian Rocha Alvarez
Associate Producer and Audio Editor: Diane Benitez
Disclaimer: This podcast does not reflect FIU policy.
17 Dec 2024
Unblocked Vibrations: Art and Indigenous Environmental Advocacy in the Everglades
Samuel Tommie, a member of the Seminole Tribe of Indians and a Miccosukee Native American, was born on an island in the Everglades and grew up in various regions of the Florida Everglades.
In this episode, Tommie discusses his artwork and how his experiences on tree islands shaped his advocacy work and his understanding of resilience.
Producer: Mitzi Uehara Carter
Audio and Post-Production Editing: Sebastian Rocha Alvarez
Associate Producer and Audio Editor: Diane Benitez
Disclaimer: This Podcast does not reflect FIU policy.
14 Dec 2024
Unblocked Translations and Epistemologies: On Learning How to Listen to Indigenous Stories and Knowledge
Today’s guest is Dr. Simone Athayde, a researcher with the World Resources Institute. She was formerly an Associate Professor in the Department of Global Studies and the Latin American and Caribbean Center at FIU. An interdisciplinary Environmental Anthropologist, Athayde has conducted extensive research in the Amazon on indigenous issues. She was also a key member of the Global Indigenous Forum at FIU.
This is her second appearance on this podcast. We invited her to return and discuss her experiences as a translator and cultural mediator for our listeners. She also shared her research on Indigenous epistemologies and the importance of listening to Indigenous knowledge for climate change solutions.
Producer: Mitzi Uehara Carter
Audio Engineer: Gabriel E. Marchisio Jr.
Audio and Post-Production Editing: Sebastian Rocha Alvarez
Associate Producer and Audio Editor: Diane Benitez
Disclaimer: This Podcast does not reflect FIU policy.
13 Dec 2024
Unblocked Healing: Sharing Stories about Encroachment
This episode features a conversation between Arassari Pataxó, an indigenous leader and spokesperson for the Pataxó People from the Barra Velha Territory in Bahia, Brazil, and Betty Osceola, a leader and spokesperson for the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida (Panther Clan). Betty Osceola is also an internationally recognized environmental advocate, educator, and defender of the Florida Everglades.
Both leaders emphasize the importance of indigenous frameworks of healing rather than restoration in addressing the threat of encroachment and environmental damage in their homelands. They argue that Indigenous concepts of resiliency must be taken seriously when designing solutions.
In this episode, Dr. Simone Athayde graciously volunteered to serve as translator. She is a former Associate Professor of Environmental Anthropology at FIU and has conducted extensive research in the Amazon on indigenous issues. She is currently a researcher with The World Resources Institute.
**Special Acknowledgments and Thanks**Inma Cortes, Beatriz P. de Carvalho, and Estela Nickerson are greatly appreciated for their efforts in facilitating Arassari Pataxo’s visit to Florida International University.
Producer: Mitzi Uehara Carter
Audio Engineer: Gabriel E. Marchisio Jr.
Audio and Post-Production Editing: Sebastian Rocha Alvarez
Associate Producer and Audio Editor: Diane Benitez
Disclaimer: This podcast does not reflect FIU policy.
12 Dec 2024
Unblocked Rhythm: Cultivating Cross-Racial Resilience through Aztecan Rhythms in South Florida
Today’s esteemed guests are Cecilia Ortega and Francisco Marin, the dedicated members of the organization Ameyal. We graciously relinquish hosting duties to Dr. Chrissy Arce, an Associate Professor of Modern Languages and Director of American Studies at the University of Miami.
A Chicana scholar originally from Los Angeles, Dr. Arce has forged a strong connection with Ameyal and is well-versed in the remarkable work of Cecilia and Francisco.
Dr. Arce draws upon her intimate knowledge of the organization’s mission and activities in Miami. She will illuminate their strategies for transmitting and fostering cultural pride among our youth, emphasizing the significance of Indigenous identity and community engagement.
Cecilia and Francisco share their insights into locally and globally framed perspectives of resilience.
Producer: Mitzi Uehara Carter
Podcast host: Chrissy Arce
Audio and post-production editing: Sebastian Rocha Alvarez
Associate producer and Audio Editor: Diane Benitez
11 Dec 2024
Unblocked Indigenous Methodologies: Staying Rooted and Resilient to Fight for Climate Justice in Miami
Today’s guest is Brenna Kays, an interdisciplinary environmental researcher, urban social ecologist, educator, abolitionist, and creative based in Miami, Florida.
As a Brazilian-American with roots in the Ribeirinho communities of Amazonian Brazil and descendant of enslaved peoples from Brazil’s plantation culture, she brings a unique perspective to her work. Inspired by her kinship to the natural world and the mysteries it holds, she seeks to illuminate the intricate relationships between humans and nature within urban ecosystems.
In this episode, we will discuss the critical indigenous methodology she brings to her research on heat, how her indigenous worldviews have shaped her love for the city, and the importance of staying rooted and radical in order to be resilient.
Disclaimer: This podcast does not reflect official FIU policy.
Producer: Mitzi Uehara Carter
Audio Engineer: Gabriel E. Marchisio Jr.
Audio and Post-Production Editing: Sebastian Rocha Alvarez
Associate Producer and Audio Editor: Diane Benitez
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
935
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 45 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
61
Social presence
0
YouTube
72
Engagement
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