KFAI's MinneCulture Presents

Understanding the 1862 Dakota War from Ampers In the summer of 1862, a group of four young Dakota men on a hunting expedition killed five settlers who lived along the Minnesota River. The event came after years of treaty violations by the United States creating dire circumstances. Increasing hunger and hardship for their families were rapidly growing. Frustrations were at a tipping point among Dakota people and this provided the spark that flared a wide scale decision to try to drive whites out of the area. Despite their depleted numbers and resources, over the next several months the Dakota attacked white settlements. It became a series of deadly battles  with devastating consequences. In the terrible aftermath,  U.S. Army soldiers took more than a thousand Dakota captive. On December 26, 38 Native American men were hanged -- the largest mass execution in American history. The United States Congress abolished their already meager reservations and the Dakota people were expelled f

The Sweetgrass Road   by David Kattenburg Industrialized societies have much to learn from the  First Nations  of the world. In this episode from the  Earth Chronicles  documentary series, North American Native people share their wisdom and perspectives on life and what it means to be on - and a part of - this earth.  Stop and listen . Try to learn to look at the land as a bible, at the woods as full of spirits, at animals as your brethren, and at time as a circular phenomenon.

Episode One: Kelly Reichardt from The Drunk Projectionist Kelly Reichardt ’s films are full of pregnant pauses and extended silences. In fact, her movies often lack a musical score. They’re shot in the American West, filled with open skies and people living on the margins. In this conversation with The Drunk Projectionist 's Todd Melby , Reichardt discusses why she substituted train sounds for songs in both " Wendy and Lucy " and " Certain Women " as well as why she often shoots outdoors in natural light. Episode Two: Barbara Kopple from The Drunk Projectionist When Barbara Kopple made her 1976 documentary regarding a Kentucky coal miner's strike, she was unproven as a director. It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. In this interview with The Drunk Projectionist about Harlan County, U.S.A. , Kopple describes her nervy confrontations and violence on the picket line while filming. “I was told that if I ever was alone at night, they w

Hark!  from Battery Radio Inspired by Bruce Smith's book The Acoustic World of Early Modern England , producers Chris Brookes, Paolo Pietropaolo, and Alan Hall set out to investigate an acoustic world of four centuries ago. They track down some ancient sounds that still exist and evoke others which have become extinct, to imagine the noises as once heard by Elizabethan ears . We'll also travel back to present time, where listeners are forced to consider our soundtrack of today and the noise pollution which  now  surrounds us at every moment.

Hospice Chronicles from Long Haul Productions November is National Hospice and Palliative Care Month and 2017 marks fifty years since the opening of the world's first modern hospice. St. Christopher's Hospice opened in London in 1967 and since then, millions of people around the world have used hospice at the end of their lives. Over the course of eight months, producers Dan Collison and Elizabeth Meister followed hospice volunteers in southwest Michigan through their training and again on assignments. We'll hear the volunteers set out on their first trip into patients' homes to provide respite and give family members a break from their caretaking responsibilities. As one aid has chance to reflect on her patient’s life in a intimate setting, another explores death in a rather unexpected way -- one which training never could have prepared him for.