Rita Walaszek Arndt: Representation in History

Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine – Weekly Radio Show

Native Lights is a weekly, half-hour radio program hosted by Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe members and siblings, Leah Lemm and Cole Premo. Native Lights is a space for people in Native communities around Mni Sota Mkoce -- a.k.a. Minnesota -- to tell their stories about finding their gifts and sharing them with the community.

Today Leah and Cole chat with Rita Walaszek Arndt (White Earth Nation). Rita is the program and outreach manager of the Native American Initiatives department at the Minnesota Historical Society. She’s also the curator of the Our Home: Native Minnesota exhibit at the historical society.

Through her work, Rita is focused on Indigenous representation in the historical society and encourages people to think differently about the land now known as Minnesota. She tells Leah and Cole about the challenges of cataloging MHS’s Indigenous object archive, examining the history of this land beyond statehood, and how Indigenous art is inseparable from culture and Indigenous ways of living.

Chi Miigwech to Rita for sharing her story and work with us today!