Relations of Salt and Stars

Our ancestors traveled through salt and stars, and so do contemporary Pacific Islander communities today. Relations of Salt and Stars is a new podcast produced by the Pacific Islands Studies program at the University of Utah, and hosted by faculty members Dr. Angela Robinson (Chuukese) and Dr. Maile Arvin (Native Hawaiian). In this podcast, we consider how to build good relations - with the communities we come from in Oceania, the communities we live with here in the Salt Lake City area, and especially the Indigenous communities whose lands we live on. As Pacific Islander people who live in Utah, we are nourished by the lands of the Ute, Goshute, Shoshone, and Paiute peoples. We are far from the ocean, but close to the salt water of the Great Salt Lake. We are far from the night sky over our home islands, but can look up and see the same stars. With the name “Relations of Salt and Stars,” then, we invoke the ties historically forged between the Pacific Islands and Utah, as well as the ones still in formation. Join us as we explore and build relations of salt and stars.