About this Series
Greg Sarris and Obi Kaufmann are storytellers for whom the chaos of the modern world is tempered by a deep connection to land, home and community.
In this ground-breaking, 12-part, video-podcast, these two esteemed chroniclers of California’s ancient wonder, explore the deepest questions of hope, culture, beauty, justice, time, and ecology. Recorded and broadcast live once per month, themes of the series revolve around the passing seasons and reflect on whether or not so many patterns of the past are unraveling in wake of a fast-approaching future. Recognizing that we live in a society that seems as challenged to remember the things it should as it is to let go of the things that no longer serve, Place & Purpose considers the greatest challenges and opportunities of our day. You are invited to join the discussion with Greg and Obi as they engage this search for meaning from the premise that the remedy to these conundrums exists inside the wisdom of the ancestors, that our collective recovery is written across the land, and lives inside the stories that are still to be told.
GREG SARRIS
Greg is currently serving his fifteenth term as Chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, his tribe which was formerly known as the Federated Coast Miwok. Greg holds a PhD in Modern Thought and Literature from Stanford and worked as a full professor of English at UCLA, teaching American and Native American Literature, and Creative Writing from 1989 until 2001. The author of many books including Keeping Slug Woman Alive: A Holistic Approach to American Indian Texts (University of California Press: 1993), Grand Avenue (Hyperion: 1994—Greg’s highly acclaimed and awarded collection of short stories that was adapted for an HBO Miniseries of the same name, co-executive produced by Robert Redford), Watermelon Nights (Hyperion: 1999), Greg most recent books including the award winning How a Mountain was Made (Heyday: 2017), and Becoming Story, a Journey among Seasons, Places Trees, and Ancestors (Heyday: 2022). Greg now lives and works in his beloved Sonoma County.
OBI KAUFMANN
Obi Kaufmann is known for his Field Atlas series of books that present the natural world from a unique, multi-disciplinary perspective, boldly blending science and art to explore and present a broad and deep understanding of California’s ecological philosophy. His best-selling and award winning books include The California Field Atlas (Heyday: 2017), The State of Water: Understanding California’s Most Precious Resource (Heyday:2019), The Forests of California: A California Field Atlas, California’s Lands Trilogy Vol.1 (Heyday: 2020), and The Coasts of California: A California Field Atlas, California Lands Trilogy, Vol. 2 (Heyday: 2022). He is currently working on his next book, The Deserts of California: A California Field Atlas, California Lands Trilogy, Vol. 3 (Heyday: 2023), and then his final book in the series, The State of Fire: Understanding How, Where and Why California Burns, will round out the collection. When he is not backpacking, you can find the painter-poet at home in the East Bay tucked in the shadow of his beloved Mount Diablo.
Produced by
The Graton Rancheria community is a federation of Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo groups recognized as a tribe by the US Congress. The Miwok of west Marin County have, through the years, been referred to as Marshall Indians, Marin Miwok, Tomales, Tomales Bay, and Hookooeko. The Bodega Miwok (aka, Olamentko) traditionally lived in the area of Bodega Bay. The neighboring Southern Pomo Sebastopol group lived just north and east of the Miwok. The town of Sebastopol is located about one mile midway between the north boundary of Miwok territory and the southern edge of Southern Pomo territory.
“Wildbound” reflects what we’ve come to love about working with talented storytellers: Their tireless drive to venture into the wilderness of the mind, always on the precipice of the unknown, always daring to meet their limits in worlds both real and imaginary. They move us, shake us, humanize us, and brings us stories that explore, entertain, edify, and transform.
