Dr. Tink Tinker is the Clifford Baldridge Emeritus Professor of American Indian Cultures and Religious Traditions at Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado. He is a citizen of the Osage Nation (wazhazhe) and has been an activist in urban American Indian communities for four decades. He joined the faculty at Iliff School of Theology in 1985 and brought an American Indian perspective to this predominantly euro-christian school. 

Dr. Tinker is committed to a scholarly endeavor that takes seriously both the liberation of Indian peoples from their historic oppression as colonized communities and the liberation of euro-christian (White) Americans, the historic colonizers and oppressors of Indian peoples, whose self-narrative typically avoids naming the violence committed against Indians in favor of a romance narrative that justifies their eurochristian occupancy of Indian lands. 

Dr. Tinker is the author of “American Indian Liberation: A Theology of Sovereignty” (Orbis Press, 2008); and is author or editor of several other volumes; and has written nearly a hundred journal articles and chapters for edited volumes. He has served on the Leadership Council of the American Indian Movement of Colorado and was active in the 30-year project to rid Colorado of its state proclaimed columbus day holiday, which was finally successful in April 2020.

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Music selection

 

1. Song Title: Tahi Roots Mix (First Voices Radio Theme Song); Artist: Moana and the Moa Hunters; Album: Tahi (1993); Label: Southside Records (Australia and New Zealand); (00:00:44)

2. Song Title: Warrior; Artist: Xavier Rudd and the United Nations; Album: Nanna (2015); Label: Nettwerk; (00:22:40)

3. Song Title: In the Blood; Artist: Robbie Robertson; Album: Contact from the Underworld of Redboy (1998); Label: Capitol Records; (00:52:20)