Hóčhoka Podcast
The Lakota word Hóčhoka means the center of the camp circle. The name speaks to the actual location of the recording studio, the centrality of the mission of St. Joseph’s Indian School to all that we do, the role of the podcast to be at the center of the Native American educational conversation and gather others around that conversation.
Episodes

6 hours ago
6 hours ago
“Ceremony is a vehicle for belonging – to a family, to a people, and to the land,” says Robin Wall Kimmerer, Potawatami botanist and author of “Braiding Sweetgrass.” Today we turn to how First Nations Christians relate to their cultural traditions through ceremony. Why is this important? Let's learn with Dr. Chris Hoklotubbe

Monday Mar 24, 2025
Monday Mar 24, 2025
In 2013, Botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer published “Braiding Sweetgrass.” It took seven years for the book to inch its way up the New York Times bestseller list, but since then, this book of Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the teaching of plants has been hard to keep in stock. Let’s talk to Monique Gray Smith whose adaptation of the book, “Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults,” makes this valuable text more accessible to countless readers.

Monday Mar 17, 2025
Monday Mar 17, 2025
Native American elders advise, “Go among the standing people.” This is a reminder that plants can be our caretakers, healers, teachers, and guides. There are intelligences other than our own. Imagine how less lonely the world would be if we knew and believed that we didn’t have to figure everything out by ourselves.

Monday Mar 10, 2025
Monday Mar 10, 2025
“You are dust and unto dust you shall return,” admonishes the Christian Church each Ash Wednesday. What happens not only to the fear factor but also to our understanding of what it is to be human when we look at our relationship to creation through an indigenous lens? Let's talk with Dr. Chris Hoklotubbe.

Monday Mar 03, 2025
Monday Mar 03, 2025
To some, Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, who chose the pen name Zitkala-Šá, might be a study in contradictions. How did the woman who authored “Why I am a Pagan” also embrace Catholicism? Who better to help us explore the topic than Dr. Damian Costello?

Monday Feb 24, 2025
Monday Feb 24, 2025
“My country! ‘tis of thee, Sweet land of Liberty, My pleas I bring. Land where OUR fathers died, Whose offspring are denied, The franchise given wide, Hark while I sing.” This stirring takeoff on Samuel Francis Smith’s “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” begins our conversation on the final two decades of the life of Zitkala-Šá.

Monday Feb 17, 2025
Monday Feb 17, 2025
The 2024 Zitkala-Šá Quarter is the 15th coin in the American Women Quarters Program. Who is this woman minted by the United States Treasury, and why does that matter to all of us?

Monday Feb 10, 2025
Monday Feb 10, 2025
What is a Buffalo Harvest and what is the significance of the buffalo to the Lakota people? Let’s learn from two people who recently participated in a harvest.

St. Joseph’s Indian School's video podcast series showcases the people and ideas that make our school the special place it is.
Watch, listen and learn more about what the school has to offer. Listen to the wisdom of thought-leaders on Native American education today. Laugh, hope, warm your heart and sharpen your mind at the center of the school’s camp circle.