2014: Native Modernities: Histories, Politics, and Arts of Indigeneity

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://digital.lib.washington.edu/handle/1773/34290

Against ideas that Native people are “out of place” and “out of time” in the modern world, Indigenous peoples of all the continents, from the Arctic to Patagonia and Cascadia to Tanzania, have developed a rich set of strategies, practices and narratives of resistance, governance, and sovereignty. This Summer Institute in the Arts and Humanities invites students to explore rich histories of Native struggles, contemporary (trans)national Indigenous social movements, and repertoires of decolonizing artistic, cultural, and intellectual production. Students will also explore the long-standing double-bind that Indigenous peoples face: their practices are seen as out-of-place (or dangerous) by the rules of settler-societies and “inauthentic” when they employ the logics and languages of dominant markets and states. As Native peoples have contributed to contemporary political, literary, cinematic, economic, scientific, and ecological debates, students from across the arts, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences are invited to apply. We welcome student projects that explore topics that include (but are not limited to) Indigenous social movements, encounters between European and Native epistemologies (in debates over archaeology, genetics, nature, and religion), contrasting colonial and Native temporalities, and Native artistic production (including literature and the visual, plastic, and performing arts).

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Where the Wild Horses Roam: The Cross-Cultural Debate over the Fate of Wild Horses on Yakama Tribal Lands
(University of Washington Undergraduate Research Program, 2014) Smith, Jennifer
The horse has been recognized as an integral part of the Yakama people‘s culture for the better part of the last two centuries. However, in recent decades, the wild horse population on Yakama tribal lands has significantly increased, leading to a polarizing debate over their management. The debate over the management of wild horses on Yakama tribal lands provides a useful lens through which to examine the current state of Native-Settler interactions. In this essay, I draw on the works of scholars Rifkin, Wolfe, Furness and Rosaldo to examine the complexity of enacting Native sovereigntyin the presence of animal advocates motivated by imperialist nostalgia thatemploy repressive authenticity grounded in the larger frontier narrative. Through the analysis of scholarly work and public commentary, I show how animal advocates use these ideas cumulatively as means to justify the persecution of the Yakama people by imagining themselves as the protagonists in the struggle of civilization vs. savagery. Finally, I weave in my own personal experiences with horses and suggest that we explore multiple perspectives that take seriously the agency of the horse, while considering our relations with non-human animals.
Pulling Together: Indigeneity, Masculinity and Allyship
(University of Washington Undergraduate Research Program, 2014) Wrubleski, Tahoma
Pulling Together: Indigeneity, Masculinity and AllyshipWith the colonization of the Americas, traditional gender relations were thrown out of balance as communities were displaced and patriarchal social structures were imposed. While increasing attention has been given to the negative impacts on women and transgender peoples, little has been said about the ways in which colonization disrupted the roles and responsibilities of men. However, many communities are today working to revitalize the traditional values associated with Indigenous masculinities and gender relations as one part of a greater decolonial movement of cultural revitalization. The positive outcomes of this revitalization are not only beneficial for Indigenous men, but also for the healing of families, communities and the environment. Using the Tribal Canoe Journeys as a point of departure, this essay examines the interconnections between indigeneity, masculinity and allyship. Applying Dian Million’s concept of “felt theory” and embracing Taiaiaki Alfred’s notion that transformation begins within each one of us, I write this essay “from within change” as a way to explore the possibilities of decolonizing myself, the academy and the process of research itself.
Why Campesinos Sometimes Win: Leadership, Organization, Strategy and Indigeneity in the Western Washington Farm Worker Movement
(University of Washington Undergraduate Research Program, 2014) Sánchez-Torres, Johanna
There is a revolution against oppression occurring on this side of the Cascade Mountains. An epic struggle for farmworker justice in Seattle’s backyard. Indigenous Mexican farmworkers from Western Washington’s Whatcom and Skagit Valley have had enough maltreatment from the Sakuma Brothers and have taken it upon themselves to change the current structure. They have requested for wages that are above the current underpaid position of 30 cents per pound, better living conditions and basic human rights. Farm work is incomprehensible difficult to understand for many people. Personally I have seen the struggle and have lived in the situation of many people who make a living off of this decent livelihood. My parents have made it possible for me to be where I am today because of their hard work as campesinos (farmworkers) and being one takes a strong soul. Agriculture work is “one of the most dangerous jobs in the United States, with a mortality rate more than eight times the average of all other industries”1. This job is truly hazardous and unwanted by many people in America but someone has to do it and trust me the risks are high. In fact, one of my friends recently chopped off her finger while working on a machine that dispensed bags of a vegetable product. Coming from a family that has always been supported by the hard work and sweat of farm work, I understand the struggle on living off of the minimum wage and taking on the hardest of jobs. My dad has supported himself and my family, along with my mother, on this type of labor, in fact he has lost teeth because of his job and suffers from terrible hearing because there is a misconception that farm work involves only field work which in fact is a wide ranging occupations. They are just different stages that lead to the final product of food everyone consumes at breakfast, lunch or dinner. In this article I plan on examining why is it that this campesino, farm worker, which may be my dad, my mom, my neighbor, myself or anyone in my community, sometimes is victorious. I will briefly examine the farm worker in the Pacific Northwest as not only being the standard “face of field work” but in fact the large presence of indigenous Mexicans in the region. Furthermore, I will provide a framework using Marshall Ganz’ concept of strategic capacity that occurred during the California Farm Worker Movement. Then I will proceed with examining the farm worker labor movement occurring in Western Washington’s Whatcom and Skagit Counties to prove the impacting role of indigeneity in each section of strategic capacity that has enabled the campesino to win.
We Became the Cavalry: The Transformation of Native American Warrior Identity During the Vietnam War
(University of Washington Undergraduate Research Program, 2014) Nguyen, Gia-Quan Thi Anna
This project explores the complicated and distinctive relationship that Native veterans had with the U.S. military-industrial complex during and after the Vietnam War. Although veterans of all racial groups were forced to witness and perhaps even participate in atrocities against the Vietnamese population, Native veterans felt a strong racial, cultural, and historical connection with the Vietnamese people, which stemmed from the recognition that the way in which the Vietnamese were being racialized and colonized by the U.S. paralleled the experiences of Native communities. Through a close reading of autobiographies, film, and other sources, this paper argues that the tribal warrior identity that Indigenous veterans embodied in tandem with their identity as U.S. soldiers became increasingly problematic as they realized that they were becoming the foot soldiers of the very imperialism that subjugated their communities: they were becoming the "cavalry." The experiences of Native soldiers in Vietnam had a profound effect on both the warriors sent to Southeast Asia and on the communities they came home to, forever changing their relationships with the U.S. government and military.
“After All This Becomes Lit”: “Becoming” and Performativity in Contemporary Native Poetry
(University of Washington Undergraduate Research Program, 2014) Meng, Dandi
In contemporary struggles for Indigenous sovereignty, language use is a consistent point of contention. The technology of writing is currently being used as a weapon to erase Indigenous peoples from dominant narratives and out of existence, following in the steps of a long history of linguistic colonialism. As Muscogee writer Joy Harjo states in the introduction to Reinventing the Enemy’s Language: Contemporary Native Women’s Writings of North America, “To write is often still suspect in our tribal communities, and understandably so. It is through writing in the colonizers’ languages that our lands have been stolen, children taken away.”1 How, then, do Indigenous writers negotiate the complex implications of writing in the words and grammar of the settlers? What does it mean to “reinvent the enemy’s language,” to twist the tongues of an oppressor for one’s own creative and political purposes?
A People’s Martial Art: Filipino Martial Arts and Decolonial Praxis
(University of Washington Undergraduate Research Program, 2014) McClung, John
Beginning in April of 2013 I began apprenticing and collecting ethnographic data about a topic of deep personal significance, the indigenous martial arts of the Philippines as practiced by Filipino Americans in Seattle. Filipino martial arts (FMA) are a collection of Indigenous martial arts that have existed in the Philippine archipelago since pre-European contact up to the present. Over the centuries, these arts have distilled into various systems, each with their own styles, rituals, ceremonies and codes, including my specific system, Balintawak Cuentada Eskrima. Because of the Spanish colonial outlawing of blades and swords, our ancestors transitioned to training with fire hardened rattan sticks in secrecy to preserve the art. My pivotal argument is that for people of Filipino descent, FMA goes beyond a pastime avocation, but is a cardinal component to decolonial praxis. I am utilizing literature and theory alongside interviews with practitioners to drive a discourse around the question, how do Filipino practitioners see themselves both as Americans, and culturally maintain a practice that embodies an identity that is the outcome of the mixed blood of conquest? My findings reveal a notion that FMA translates into a desire for an ancestral habitus that embodies a physical critique to domination. This desire to inhabit a cultural meaning that stems from a situation of colonial resistance I argue, inhabits a cultural meaning that offers a decolonial praxis. My ethnographic methods have been direct participant observation and performance, shadowing, interviewing, literature review, video recording, journaling and self-reflexive analysis. The base of my theoretical framework echoes Pierre Bourdieu’s habitus theory and Frantz Fanon’s philosophy on the use of violence. I am also utilizing numerous Indigenous, non- Indigenous and Filipino anthropologists, scholars and psychologists synthesized together to build a ground theory of ancestral habitus, blood memory and non-discursive sites of tacit knowledge transference. The findings uncovered thus far in the work reveal that in an attempt to reconnect with our ancestors, we found connections with one another that strengthen our community bonds.
Blurred Lines: A Personal Exploration of Identity, Alaska Native Corporations and Going Beyond the 'Incidentally Indigenous'
(University of Washington Undergraduate Research Program, 2014) Gunther, Molly
At it’s passage in 1971, the Alaska Native Claims and Settlement Act (ANCSA), was viewed as the most liberal and generous settlement ever achieved between the United States government and an Indigenous peoples. Forty-three years later it is evident that the ANCSA, though promising at the time, was intended to be yet another extension of colonialism. The ANCSA’s provisions seek to control Alaska’s indigenous peoples and their lands by denying their rights to hold title to their own lands. One such provision imposes regional and village formed corporations rather than peoples hold this right. In this paper I explore how these corporations have complicated notions of Alaskan Native belonging and identity through the formation of an entirely new classification of Alaskan Native: the corporate shareholder. Through an analysis of my own personal experience and Taiaiake Alfred and Jeff Corntassel’s concept of the “incidentally Indigenous” person, I analyze the production of the corporate Native shareholder. I argue that the formation of such an identity comes with many complications for Alaskan Native peoples dividing communities based on colonial constructions of “authenticity.” While such identities may pose problems, such a category also presents a unique opportunity for increased cultural awareness and support of Alaska Native’s decolonization and cultural revitalization projects. By confronting these identity issues, I hope to “blur the lines” of political-economic categories of identity and help others remember that for Alaska Natives, culture is not remembered but lived; and is not expressed through genes but through action.
Sharing the Knowledge: The Discourse and Practice of Indigenous Food Sovereignty in British Columbia and Washington
(University of Washington Undergraduate Research Program, 2014) Halls, Cassie
Food sovereignty is defined as a universal right to have control over the source and content of one’s sustenance. The principles of food sovereignty are integral to Canadian First Nations and Native American tribe’s health, wellness, economic stability, and environmental consciousness. Cross-cultural knowledge sharing has been instrumental between native and non-native communities in defining food sovereignty. Here I address how the discourse and practice of food sovereignty has influenced the efforts of Native communities to reestablish their traditional food systems, and what role cross-cultural, participatory engagement and political alliance has within the food sovereignty movement. I argue that food sovereignty is a spatial and epistemological “contact zone” with points of commonality and contention. Through cross-cultural ethnographic accounts of scholars engaged with food sovereignty in Washington and Canada, I compile case studies of allyship and mentorship within specific communities. I develop guiding principles for "relational thinking" across boundaries of culture and ways of knowing. This response provides opportunities for productive and meaningful partnerships as well as ways to redefine and decolonize the language of the Food Sovereignty movement.
Indigeneity in Mauritius, Réunion and Seychelles: Legacies of Métissage and Colonial Rule
(University of Washington Undergraduate Research Program, 2014) Farah, Iman
The word "indigenous" continues to evoke discussion and scholarship throughout the ages as a highly culturally and politically loaded term that has gained global importance. The Islands of Mauritius, Réunion and the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean are fascinating examples of the changing uses of the notion of “indigeneity” because although there are no known “indigenous people” that resided on the land, there is still a distinct hierarchy of privilege that continues to reinforce colonial ideals of indigeneity onto those of Creole or African backgrounds. How do Creole peoples view themselves? Do they see Creole identities as “more indigenous” than Indian or White settlers? How does their relationship to a complex Métissage (mixed heritage) relate to global discourse of indigeneity? In this paper, I plan to use the above island nations to explore notions of indigeneity in a global context and to understand how many residents define themselves within this framework. I argue that the indigenous-settler binary is deeply rooted in colonial discourses and that it has not simply disappeared but evolved through the legacy of Creole people (Métissage) and the complex relationship that they have with France, their former colonizer.
Breaking the Fourth Wall: Filipino Indigeneity in the Diaspora
(University of Washington Undergraduate Research Program, 2014) Cambronero, Lauren J.
This paper contributes to the literature of Filipino indigeneity in the diaspora, by examining the participation of Filipino American students on the University of Washington campus from the 2013 Philippine Culture Night, (colloquially referred to as “Filnight” or “PCN”). I will draw upon my own working theory and visually represent a roadmap similar to the Borromean rings, which are designed as three inseparably and interlocked rings. I will introduce my own Borromean-inspired analytical lens to re-conceptualize the three relationships between storytelling (both fiction and nonfiction), visual performances, and the spectator-performer relationship to complicate the narratives on Filipino indigeneity within the performing arts. My research includes both on and off stage perspectives, to capture the experience of performers and spectators, both Filipinos and non-Filipinos alike. I will also draw upon Virgilio Enriquez’ groundbreaking research “Sikolohiyang Pilipino” (Filipino Psychology) to ground my study on Tagalog-based terms and explanations, for a comprehensive understanding of cultural performance. Then, this paper will shift the direction towards critiques on the Indigenization movement as it relates to Sikolohiyang Pilipino. The Indigenization movement began in the spaces of academia as Philippine scholars sought to raise national consciousness and “liberate” Filipinos from the colonial mentality that permeated the educational institutions. The paper will also discuss critiques on the PCN culture that makes indigeneity complex for culturally hybrid students. Overall, I argue that despite the complexities and struggles for indigeneity within the PCN, the 2013 Filnight play accomplished a feat that brought together multiple storylines that are culturally indigenous to the Filipino peoples and historically relevant to multiple ethnic communities through the three interconnected rings: storytelling, visual performance, and a dynamic spectator-performer relationship.
Serving up the “Other”: Representations of Indigeneity in Popular Culture
(University of Washington Undergraduate Research Program, 2014) Butterfield, Elise
Through a critical engagement with the television show Jonah from Tonga, in this paper I attempt to address representations of indigeneity in popular culture in popular culture. Created by Australian comedian Chris Lilley, Jonah from Tonga is a mockumentary starring the white actor in brownface as Jonah, a young boy whose only attribute is his (mild) aptitude for break dance. By complicating notions of indigenous peoples as unintelligent, hyper-sexualized, and violent I attempt to unravel the show’s prevalent stereotypes that dis-empower indigenous people. As a dancer myself, I explore how movement and dance is linked to these stereotypes. I find that dance is indeed another mechanism for reproducing stereotypes of indigenous peoples as more connected to physical, rather than mental, capabilities. Alternatively, I examine how Jonah from Tonga opens up space for the production of counter-narratives about, and alternative representations of, indigenous peoples in the popular mass media. Through humor and viewer response, both indigenous actors and audience members exercise “visual sovereignty” that challenges stereotypical tropes in this problematic medium. By critically analyzing the show Jonah from Tonga and its viewer response, this paper explores the complex and often paradoxical intricacies of indigenous representations in mainstream popular culture.

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