In this episode we spoke with Joseph M. Pierce, a writer and professor at Stony Brook University, where he is the founding director of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative. We talk about his new book, Speculative Relations: Indigenous Worlding and Repair. Joseph is a citizen of the Cherokee nation and he shares his personal journey in relating to his heritage, from discovering his Cherokee roots later in life, to remembering Cherokee myths and teachings as tools to process some of the violence and dispossession his family has experienced.

Guest Bio:

Joseph M. Pierce is Associate Professor in the Department of Hispanic Languages and Literature and the Founding Director of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative at Stony Brook University. He is the author of two books, Argentine Intimacies: Queer Kinship in an Age of Splendor, 1890-1910 (SUNY Press, 2019) and Speculative Relations: Indigenous Worlding and Repair (Duke University Press, 2025). He co-edited Políticas del amor: Derechos sexuales y escrituras disidentes en el Cono Sur (Cuarto Propio, 2018) as well as the 2021 special issue of Gay and Lesbian Studies Quarterly, “Queer/Cuir Américas: Translation, Decoloniality, and the Incommensurable,” and has published work in Revista Hispánica Moderna, Critical Ethnic Studies, Latin American Research Review, and Art Journal, as well as in popular outlets such as Hyperallergic, TruthOut, and Indian Country Today. Along with S.J. Norman (Wiradjuri) he is co-curator of the performance series Knowledge of Wounds, and in 2024-2025 he was a Ford Foundation Scholar in Residence at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). He is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation.

Show Notes:

Buy your copy of Speculative Relations from Duke University Press

RSVP to the “Imagining Indigenous Futures” talk at MoMA, taking place on October 7th, 2025. This panel will also feature Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg writer Leanne Simpson and curator Candice Hopkins (Carcross/Tagish First Nation).

Indigenous collaborators Joseph mentions:

• SJ Norman
• Kai Recollet
• Emily Johnson

Critical black studies/critical fabulation connections Joseph mentions:

• Saidiya Hartman
• Christina Sharpe
• Tavia Nyong’o

Pictures we talk about from the book:

• The photo of four women is Figure 2.2 in the book on page 64
• The photo of Julius Popper is Figure 2.3 on page 76

Other references:

• Read more about the Dayunisi creation myth here
• Eve Tuck’s writing about “damage-centered research” vs. “desire-based research” in her open letter “Suspending Damage: A Letter to Communities“
• Joseph mentions Turtle Island, the name for “earth” used by some Indigenous peoples
• Saki mentions P.E. Moskowitz’s article “We Must Refuse a Forced Grieving”
• We talk about a Billy-Ray Belcourt poem, “Regarding Death, I Turn to the Photon” from his book NDN Coping Mechanisms

Credits:

• Edited by Alie Kilts and mastered by Cedric Wilson.
• Theme music by The Necklace, a project by Taylor Shields and Morgan Võ.

Sound Credits:

• synth rotating speaker.flac by Timbre — https://freesound.org/s/201551/ — License: Attribution NonCommercial 4.0
• Wind Chimes.wav by MrCisum — https://freesound.org/s/336664/ — License: Creative Commons 0
• Mechanical Sea Monster_1 by MichaelMalong — https://freesound.org/s/360429/ — License: Creative Commons 0
• 20131202_plate rotating on the floor_ZoomH4nXY.wav by Soundscape_Leuphana — https://freesound.org/s/210444/ — License: Creative Commons 0