Niicugnissuun/Tuu'awinpi: Tribal Radio as a Unique Community Medium and a Source of Health Information for Rural Indigenous Communities

• Main Author: Wilbricht, Jana
• Other Authors: Van Den Bulck, Jan, Momper, Sandra Lee, Douglas, Susan J, Sandvig, Christian E, Vaillant, Derek W
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: Radio; Indigenous Studies; Public Health; Indigenous Media; Community Media; Health Education; American and Canadian Studies; Anthropology and Archaeology; Communications; Education; Information and Library Science; Population and Demography; Social Sciences (General); Social Work; Sociology; Social Sciences; Yukon; Kuskokwim; Alaska
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/163290

Indigenous peoples in the United States experience some of the most severe health inequities out of any racial/ethnic group, and are simultaneously affected by significant barriers to accessing information. This dissertation presents a community-based participatory research project on the role of tribal radio as a unique community medium and a source of health information for rural Indigenous communities. In addition to learning about tribal radio as a health information resource, this study also characterizes tribal radio in detail, a severely understudied medium that remains vital for its audience. The very small body of research that exists on tribal radio has focused on its role in revitalizing Indigenous languages. While this is an important contribution that is also discussed here, this study revealed a multitude of other functions and characteristics of tribal radio that set it apart from other community media. The project was conducted in partnership with two prominent tribal radio stations: KYUK in Bethel, Alaska, the oldest continuously operating tribal station in the U.S., serving a rural population of predominantly Yup’ik subsistence hunters and fishermen in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, and KUYI, located on the Hopi Reservation and serving the Hopi and Tewa people living in the 12 rural villages on the reservation. This is a qualitative study comprised of 12 individual, in-depth interviews (5 with KUYI staff and 7 with KYUK staff) and 7 focus groups (4 with KUYI listeners and 3 with KYUK listeners), totaling 66 participants overall. Using interview data, I first consider the historical ties of tribal radio with the Indigenous activism of the 1970s and the relevance of these historical origins for its functioning today, how station managers and employees aim to realize their missions, how they share health information on their station, as well as the self-concept of Indigenous media practitioners. Findings reveal that tribal radio practitioners view themselves as more than journalists; they have a ...