Have you ever wondered why—and when—dreams stopped being treated as an important source of knowledge in Western societies?

In this episode, host Sharon Sliwinski speaks with Edward McGushin, Professor of Philosophy at Stonehill College, about how dreaming became devalued during the Age of Reason. McGushin discusses the influence of René Descartes’s philosophy as well as the French historian, Michel Foucault, who revived the importance of dream life in his own late work. Foucault returned to the ancient idea of dreaming as a privileged ethical disclosure that holds a special relation to truth.

Season 2 of Guardians of Sleep is written and hosted by Sharon Sliwinski and edited by Erin MacIndoe Sproule, Mikayla Gallo, and Victoria Li, with music by Andrew Braun.

This episode features Abigail Echo-Hawk, an international leader in Indigenous public health research and the decolonization of data.

In this episode, Echo-Hawk speaks with Dr. Sofia Locklear about how her trailblazing work on Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls was inspired by a dream.

A member of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, Echo-Hawk is the Executive Vice President at Seattle Indian Health Board and the Director of the Urban Indian Health Institute.

This season of Guardians of Sleep is written and hosted by Sharon Sliwinski and edited by Erin MacIndoe Sproule, Mikayla Gallo, and Victoria Li, with music by Andrew Braun.

Season 2 of Guardians of Sleep delves into the colonial history that devalued dream life and highlights contemporary Indigenous methods for attending the knowledge offered in these experiences. Guests include Abigail Echo-Hawk, Edward McGushin, Lewis Williams, Kite and Alisha B. Wormsley, among others.

Guardians of Sleep is hosted by Sharon Sliwinski and edited by Erin MacIndoe Sproule, Mikayla Gallo, and Victoria Li, with music by Andrew Braun.