DOCSLIB.ORG

White Settler Colonialism and (Re)Presentations of Gendered Violence in Indigenous Women’S Theatre

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
White Settler Colonialism and (Re)Presentations of Gendered Violence in Indigenous Women’S Theatre White Settler Colonialism and (Re)presentations of Gendered Violence in Indigenous Women’s Theatre Sarah Emily MacKenzie Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Doctorate in Philosophy Degree in Women’s Studies Institute of Feminist and Gender Studies Faculty of Social Sciences University of Ottawa ©Sarah Emily MacKenzie, Ottawa, Canada, 2016. Abstract Grounded in a historical, socio-cultural consideration of Indigenous women’s theatrical production, this dissertation examines representations of gendered violence in Canadian Indigenous women’s drama. The female playwrights who are the focus of my thesis – Monique Mojica, Marie Clements, and Yvette Nolan – counter colonial and occasionally postcolonial renditions of gendered and racialized violence by emphasizing female resistance and collective coalition. While these plays represent gendered violence as a real, material mechanism of colonial destruction, ultimately they work to promote messages of collective empowerment, recuperation, and survival. My thesis asks not only how a dramatic text might deploy a decolonizing aesthetic, but how it might redefine dramatic/literary and socio-cultural space for resistant and decolonial ends. Attentive to the great variance of subjective positions occupied by Indigenous women writers, I examine the historical context of theatrical reception, asking how the critic/spectator’s engagement with and dissemination of knowledge concerning Indigenous theatre might enhance or impede this redefinition. Informed by Indigenous/feminist poststructuralist and postcolonial theoretical perspectives that address the production and dissemination of racialized regimes of representation, my study assesses the extent to which colonialist misrepresentations of Indigenous women have served to perpetuate demeaning stereotypes, justifying devaluation of and violence – especially sexual violence – against Indigenous women. Most significantly, my thesis considers how and to what degree resistant representations in Indigenous women’s dramatic productions work against such representational and manifest violence. ii Acknowledgments Firstly, I want to extend heartfelt thanks to my supervisor Dr. Cynthia Sugars. Without Cynthia’s precise editing skills, constructive criticism, and thoughtful guidance, this thesis would not have been possible. I was extremely fortunate to have such an attentive, approachable, and brilliant supervisor to assist me with this journey and I’m very appreciative of her consistent and continued support of my research and career goals. Regardless of the situation, I was always confident that Cynthia would guide me in the right direction. This surety has provided me with heightened confidence in my work and helped me to accomplish what might have otherwise seemed impossible. Our shared love of theatre has made for a wonderful working relationship and I’m genuinely going to miss our meetings. I hope that, in the future, we find other reasons to get together and talk about plays. Cynthia, thank you for your attention to detail, for your academic rigour, and for reading numerous drafts of my (occasionally longwinded) chapters! I extend a huge thanks to my committee members: Dr. Georges Sioui, Dr. Kathryn Trevenen, and Dr. Claire Turenne-Sjolander. Thank you to Georges for your kindness and encouragement. Your advice – concerning both life and writing – has always been invaluable to me. Kathryn, your positivity and empathy have not only improved my scholarship, but also made me feel like I’m an important part of the academic community. Thank you for your help and friendship! Claire, I have always found your understanding and advice incredibly helpful. Whether as much-missed Director of the Institute of Feminist and Gender Studies, or as Vice- Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, your willingness to offer feedback and direction is greatly appreciated! I would like to thank my external examiner, Judith Leggatt, for her careful reading, thoughtful feedback, and kind encouragement. I was very fortunate to have had Judith join my committee. Her contribution to my work has been outstanding. I’m also particularly iii thankful to Dr. Dominque Mason, who, after the completion of my Masters degree, first encouraged me to apply to the Institute of Feminist and Gender Studies’ doctoral program and to Dr. Christabelle Sethna, whose involvement in my academic life has assisted to make me a better scholar and person. Christabelle played a critical role in shaping my feminist theoretical perspective/s. I would like to thank the faculty and staff at the Institute of Feminist and Gender Studies at the University of Ottawa, past and present. Thanks to Margot Charbonneau for all the organizational assistance over the years! I don’t know what I would have done without you. Thank you to our current departmental director, Dr. Michael Orsini, who has worked hard to construct an amazing feminist work environment. Thank you also to Dr. Corrie Scott and to Dr. Mythili Rajiva, for your open-mindedness and integrity. It was a pleasure working with (and getting to know) both of you. Thanks to my colleagues at the Institute of Feminist and Gender Studies, for your kind words, great ideas, and inspiration. I would like to extend special thanks to Dr. Heather Hillsburg, Dr. Sasha Cocarla, Patricia Wawryka, Samantha Feder, and Celeste Orr, for your humour, support, and general belief in my work. You helped to make this fun. Finally, I want to thank my friends and family, near and far. You have all been incredible sources of reprieve from the seriousness of my work. Thanks to my roommate Adam Kates for the long talks, for your patience with my perpetual nervousness, and for your ability to make the terrifying seem trivial. Thank you to my dear friend, Anna Sharrett. Your serenity and warmth have always helped to ground me and diminish my anxiousness. When things became difficult, I always knew who to call and I’m forever thankful for your friendship. I cannot possibly thank my Mum and Dad enough. I don’t think I would have made it through without you. This dissertation is dedicated to both of you iv Table of Contents Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii Table of Contents v Introduction: Violence against Indigenous Women and Dramatic Subversion 1 Decolonization through Dramatic Resistance: Framing the Discussion 1 The “Discovery” Myth: Colonial Misrepresentations and Violence against Indigenous Women 6 (Post)Colonial Drama: Misrepresentations of Indigenous Women 15 Interpellation, Stereotyping, and the Perpetuation of Gendered Violence 22 Reverse Interpellation, the “Decolonial Imaginary,” and Resistance 29 Identity Politics and “Intercultural” Commensurability: The Ethics of Criticism 32 Indigenous Women’s Drama: Decolonization and Recovery 39 Chapter 2: Reclaiming Our Grandmothers in Monique Mojica’s Princess Pocahontas and the Blue Spots and Birdwoman and the Suffragettes: A Story of Sacajawea 47 Reimagining “Indian Princesses” in Princess Pocahontas and the Blue Spots 50 La Malinche/Malinalli Malintzin/Doña Marina 54 Deity/Woman of the Puna/Virgin of Colonial Peru 61 Marie/Margaret/Madeline: The Mothers of the Métis Nation 67 Princess Pocahontas 75 Reimagining Sacajawea in Birdwoman and the Suffragettes 83 Reviving Sacajawea: Transforming History 90 Recuperating Our Grandmothers and Reconfiguring Sexual Violence: “Una Nación” 96 Chapter 3: Community and Resistance in Marie Clements’ The Unnatural and Accidental Women and Now Look What You Made Me Do 100 Marie Clements: Performing “Interconnected Subjectivities” 100 Revisiting and Revising Violence in The Unnatural and Accidental Women 105 v Revenge, Reclamation, and Remembrance: The End of the Story 118 (Re)presenting Victimhood in Now Look What You Made Me Do 122 Sisterhood, Sex-Work, and Self-Representation: The Women’s Group 124 Cultural Impunity and the “Abused Abuser”: Narrating Resistance 132 Breaking “Cycles of Violence”: The End of Madonna’s Story 142 Chapter 4: Media, Gendered Violence, and Dramatic Resistance in Yvette Nolan’s Annie Mae’s Movement and Blade 147 Anna Mae Pictou Aquash: “Warrior”/Activist 155 (Re)membering Anna Mae in Annie Mae’s Movement 162 Masculinism, Maternalism, and Feminine Resistance 168 Heroism vs. Martyrism: The Rape and Murder of Anna 172 Blade: Identity Politics and Reception 176 Race, Representation, and Coalition Across Difference 178 Stereotyping, Sexualization, and Communal Resistance 186 Conclusion: Indigenous Women’s Theatre: A Transnational Mechanism of Decolonization 193 Decolonization, Collective Creation, and Dramatic Subversion 193 The Transnationalization of Indigenous Feminisms 200 Spiderwoman Theatre: Enacting Intercultural Resistance 204 Bibliography 209 vi Chapter 1 Introduction: Violence against Indigenous Women and Dramatic Subversion The truest poetic function of the theatre – to invent metaphors which poignantly suggest a nation’s nightmares and afflictions. – Robert Brustein (qtd. in Harbin et al. 359) If theatre is a tool of transformation, which we know it to be, then we have a responsibility that the stories that we tell will be stories of our becoming, of our becoming whole. – Monique Mojica (“Creation” 6) Decolonization through Dramatic Resistance: Framing the Discussion The violent conquest that facilitated the settlement of White settler societies has been well documented not only in the North and South American contexts, but in literature from Australia and New Zealand.1 So, too, is
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Multiple Injustices Critical Issues in Indigenous Studies
    MULTIPLE INJUSTICES CRITICAL ISSUES IN Indigenous STUDIES Jeffrey P. Shepherd and Myla Vicenti Carpio series editors advisory board Hokulani Aikau Jennifer Nez Denetdale Eva Marie Garroutte John Maynard Alejandra Navarro-Smith Gladys Tzul Keith Camacho Margaret Elizabeth Kovach Vicente Diaz R. AÍDA HERNÁNDEZ CASTILLO MULTIPLE INJUSTICES Indigenous Women, Law, and Political Struggle in Latin America TUCSON The University of Arizona Press www.uapress.arizona.edu © 2016 The Arizona Board of Regents All rights reserved. Published 2016 Printed in the United States of America 21 20 19 18 17 16 6 5 4 3 2 1 ISBN-13: 978-0-8165-3249-0 (cloth) Cover design by Leigh McDonald Cover illustration produced in Pilar Hinojosa’s Sumi-e workshop in the Feminine Prison of Atlacholoaya, Morelos. Publication of this book is made possible in part by the proceeds of a permanent endowment created with the assistance of a Challenge Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, a federal agency. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data [to come] This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper). CONTENTS List of Illustrations vii Acknowledgments ix Introduction 3 1 Activist Research on Justice and Indigenous Women’s Rights 33 2 Multiple Dialogues and Struggles for Justice: Political Genealogies of Indigenous Women in Mexico, Guatemala, and Colombia 67 3 Indigenous Justices: New Spaces of Struggle for Women 123 4 From Victims to Human Rights Defenders: International Litigation and the Struggle for Justice of Indigenous Women 163 5 From the Multicultural State to the Penal State: Incarcerated Indigenous Women and the Criminalization of Poverty 190 Final Thoughts 229 Appendix 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Protecting Native Mothers and Their Children: a Feminist Lawyerin
    William Mitchell Law Review Volume 40 | Issue 3 Article 4 2014 Protecting Native Mothers and Their hiC ldren: A Feminist Lawyering Approach Joanna Woolman Mitchell Hamline School of Law, [email protected] Sarah Deer Mitchell Hamline School of Law, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr Recommended Citation Woolman, Joanna and Deer, Sarah (2014) "Protecting Native Mothers and Their hiC ldren: A Feminist Lawyering Approach," William Mitchell Law Review: Vol. 40: Iss. 3, Article 4. Available at: http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr/vol40/iss3/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews and Journals at Mitchell Hamline Open Access. It has been accepted for inclusion in William Mitchell Law Review by an authorized administrator of Mitchell Hamline Open Access. For more information, please contact [email protected]. © Mitchell Hamline School of Law Woolman and Deer: Protecting Native Mothers and Their Children: A Feminist Lawyerin PROTECTING NATIVE MOTHERS AND THEIR CHILDREN: A FEMINIST LAWYERING APPROACH Joanna Woolman† and Sarah Deer†† I. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................... 944 II. BACKGROUND: NATIVE AMERICAN EXPERIENCES WITH CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ................................................ 947 A. Precolonial Native Motherhood .......................................... 947 B. Colonization and Native Mothers ....................................... 950 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Ohitika Chade Wiya
    Running head: OHITIKA CHADE WIYA Ohitika Chade Wiya – Brave Hearted Woman: A Narrative of Recovery, Reclamation and Renewal of an Indigenous woman’s body image by Toni Sparkling Eyes Letendre A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation University of Alberta © Toni Sparkling Eyes Letendre, 2016 OHITIKA CHADE WIYA ii Abstract Body image research with Indigenous women typically focuses on the concept of health and their understandings of health. However, it is necessary to acknowledge how Indigenous women’s body image has been shaped through heteropatriarchy and settler colonialism. The purpose of this autoethnography was to understand Indigenous women’s body image. This study has been guided through an Indigenous perspective that draws from my own Indigenous background as a Nakota and the theoretical framework of Indigenous feminism(s). The guiding research question was ‘how can we create a safe space for Indigenous women to seek empowerment and find opportunity to share their own body image narratives of heteropatriarchal colonial and sexual violence?’ Typically, in our society when individuals speak up about the violence they experience, they are victim-blamed and shunned. When Indigenous women experience colonial or sexual violence (e.g. missing and murdered Indigenous women), they are silenced. I used epiphanies to capture these experiences and to challenge the conceptualization of Indigenous bodies within the biomedical and mainstream media discourse. I drew from remembered moments that have significantly impacted my body image experiences. I created a three-part collection of poetry and prose to capture my thoughts, feelings, and emotions from racism, sexism, and discrimination growing up in Edmonton, Alberta.
    [Show full text]
  • Yvette Nolan [email protected] _____
    Yvette Nolan [email protected] _____ Playwriting (selected) The Birds Gateway Theatre (Richmond) 2013 The Unplugging Arts Club (Vancouver) 2012 Toronto Rex Mixed Blood Theatre (Minneapolis) 2008 The Starlight Tour Mixed Blood Theatre (Minneapolis) 2008 Scattering Jake Diaspora Dialogues 2008 Savage Native Earth Performing Arts 2007 Faithless Festival Antigonish 2003 Traps Live Bait/Maritime Conference United Church 2003 Owen CBC Radio – Outfront 2002 Finish Line Hardly Art 2000 Hilda Blake (libretto) Brandon University Music/Theatre 2000 Annie Mae’s Movement Hardly Art/Red Roots 1998 Shakedown Shakespeare Nakai Theatre (Whitehorse) 1997 A Marginal Man Popular Theatre Alliance of Manitoba 1994 Six Women Popular Theatre Alliance of Manitoba 1993 Video Manitoba Association of Playwrights 1992 Job’s Wife Theatre Projects Manitoba 1992 Everybody’s Business Popular Theatre Alliance of Manitoba 1990 BLADE Hardly Art 1990 Directing (selected) Café Daughter Gwaandak Theatre (Yukon) 2011 Tombs of the Vanishing Indian Native Earth Performing Arts 2011 Salt Baby Native Earth Performing Arts 2009 The Ecstasy of Rita Joe National Arts Centre/Western Canada Theatre 2009 A Very Polite Genocide Native Earth Performing Arts 2008 Death of a Chief Native Earth Performing Arts 2008 The Only Good Indian Turtle Gals Performance Ensemble 2007 Annie Mae’s Movement Native Earth Performing Arts 2006 Death of a Chief Native Earth Performing Arts Weesageechak 2005 The Triple Truth Turtle Gals 2005 The Unnatural and Accidental Women Native Earth Performing Arts 2004
    [Show full text]
  • Download The
    SEE[K]ING ABORIGINAL MOTHERS: REPAIRING COLONIAL DISRUPTIONS THROUGH MARIE CLEMENTS‟ THE UNNATURAL AND ACCIDENTAL WOMEN by Laura Lynne Johnston B.A., Malaspina University College, 2003. A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in The Faculty of Graduate Studies (English) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) August 2010 © Laura Lynne Johnston, 2010 ii ABSTRACT Attempting to understand mainstream dismissal and degradation of missing and murdered Aboriginal women, this thesis investigates Marie Clements‘ The Unnatural and Accidental Women. Retelling the story of Gilbert Paul Jordan‘s murder of ten women, predominantly Aboriginal, from Vancouver‘s Downtown Eastside, The Unnatural and Accidental Women exposes racist media representations that tell little of the women, emphasizinig instead their high levels of alcohol and Aboriginal background. Perpetuating stereotypes of Aboriginal women as promiscuous and alcoholic, such representations overlook Jordan‘s methods of poisoning his victims with alcohol. Central to this thesis is the mother/daughter relationship within the play. Abandoned by her mother at age four, Rebecca begins to search for her mother on the drug- addiction riddles streets of Vancouver‘s downtown ―Skid Row.‖ Asking the question: Why do high numbers of Aboriginal women leave their families to live impoverished and often addicted lives full of danger and isolation?, this thesis explores governmental policies disenfranchising Aboriginal women and enforcing the removal Aboriginal children into residential schools and white foster homes. Within this context, this thesis argues that Aunt Shadie acts as a maternal metaphor, reflecting Aboriginal philosophies that honour the significance of the mother/child bond.
    [Show full text]
  • The Olympic Industry ______
    ANTI-2010 Information Against the Olympic Industry _________________________________________________________ No Olympics on Stolen Native Land 1 Anti-2010: Information Against the Olympic Industry Introduction Welcome to Anti-2010; Information Against the Olympic Industry, a special report by No2010.com based on over two years of research and maintenance of the No2010.com website. It is designed as a print publication to be distributed to those without access to the internet, or who prefer printed material to computer screens. Despite this, it is only a fraction of the information now available on the website (so check it out!). Some parts are designed as 2-4 page leaflets of their own for specialized distribution (or low budgets). No2010.com was established in the spring of 2007 to provide information for anti-Olympic resistance, to educate and inspire others, and to post regular updates for the movement. It is maintained by Indigenous rebels in occupied Coast Salish Territory. Thanks to a comrade in Montreal, 100,000 stickers were printed with the slogan 'No Olympics on Stolen Native Land' & the website address. These stickers have been distributed across Canada. In addition, a 'Militant Merchandise' section has been added to the site, which has t-shirts, patches and stickers for sale. You can support No2010.com by purchasing these products (via Paypal). On the website there are also PDFs that can be downloaded and copied that you can distribute in your area, including SportsAction (direct actions against 2010 chronology) and this publication. We are currently working on a special print edition/PDF focusing on the 2010 Torch Relay.
    [Show full text]
  • Storying Gendered Violence: Indigenous Understandings of the Interconnectedness of Violence Josie Nelson [email protected]
    Wilfrid Laurier University Scholars Commons @ Laurier Social Justice and Community Engagement Laurier Brantford Fall 2017 Storying Gendered Violence: Indigenous Understandings of the Interconnectedness of Violence Josie Nelson [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/brantford_sjce Part of the Civic and Community Engagement Commons, Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons, and the Race and Ethnicity Commons Recommended Citation Nelson, Josie, "Storying Gendered Violence: Indigenous Understandings of the Interconnectedness of Violence" (2017). Social Justice and Community Engagement. 24. http://scholars.wlu.ca/brantford_sjce/24 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Laurier Brantford at Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Social Justice and Community Engagement by an authorized administrator of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 1 Storying Gendered Violence: Indigenous Understandings of the Interconnectedness of Violence By: Josie Nelson Completed in Partial Fulfillment for the Masters in Social Justice and Community Engagement at Wilfrid Laurier University Dr. Tarah Brookfield Dr. Vanessa Oliver 2 Abstract The research and scholarship of gendered violence on university campuses is growing; however, there is currently limited to no research exploring the experiences of Indigenous peoples, particularly women and two-spirit, non-binary and transgender students. To advance the knowledge of the interconnectedness of violence, I conducted two focus groups with six Indigenous women staff at Wilfrid Laurier University. This research, informed by Indigenous feminism and storytelling methodologies, shares their understandings of how colonial and gendered violence cannot be understood independent from one another.
    [Show full text]
  • Post Cards: Performing Turtle Island by Anne Smith
    Post Cards: Performing Turtle Island by Anne Smith 1 October 2015 PSi#21 Fluid States – Canada: Performing Turtle Island The Performing Turtle Island Conference was held September 17, 18, 19, 2015, conjointly at the University of Regina and the First Nations University of Canada, on adjoining campuses in Regina, Canada, located on Treaty Four land, of the Starblanket First Nation. The name, “Turtle Island”, referring to North America, comes from the Iroquois Creation Story; Sky Woman falls to the ocean and the animals work together to make a place for her on the back of Turtle. This story is shared by many Aboriginal peoples from the east coast woodlands of North America. It is now a commonly used term by Aboriginal peoples across North America. The conference has brought together Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal artists and researchers who are exploring how idigeneity has been performed over the past four or so decades, how indigenous artists are expressing themselves now, at the beginning of the 21st Century, and how indigeneity will be performed in the coming decades. Where does Indigenous identity and community fit in to the construction of the country’s identity? Indeed, what do we mean by Indigenous identity, and, given the proliferation of newcomers, what do we mean by Canadian identity? In the face of growing international mobility and a radically changing Canadian demographic, it is important to take another look at how identity is constructed on Turtle Island within the ideational borders that designate Canada. While we are concerned with traditional performance, we aim our focus more on contemporary forms that express Indigenous identities across diverse cultural and social contexts.
    [Show full text]
  • Yvette Nolan: Playwright in Context
    University of Alberta Yvette Nolan: Playwright in Context bY Valerie Shantz A thesis submitted to the Facultv of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the recpirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Drama Edmonton, Alberta Spring, 1998 National tibrary Bibliothèque nationale du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 335 Wellington Street 395. rue Wellington Ottawa ON KIA ON4 Ottawa ON KIA ON4 Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantid extracts fiom it Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. This thesis is concerned with providing a critical context for my work with Yvette Kolan, a Winnipeg based playwright. I chose to pursue this topic because as a drarnahirg and academic 1 have found few models on which to base our relationdup. My underlying assumptions were that in approachmg a dramatic text, a writer and her drarnaturg represent an ongoing histon of sirnilar relatiowhips.
    [Show full text]
  • Confronting Convention: Discourse and Innovation in Contemporary Native American Women's Theatre by Tiffany Noell a Dissertati
    Confronting Convention: Discourse and Innovation in Contemporary Native American Women's Theatre by Tiffany Noell A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Approved April 2011 by the Graduate Supervisory Committee: Tamara Underiner, Chair Bryan Brayboy Stephani Woodson ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY May 2011 ABSTRACT In this dissertation, I focus on a subset of Native American theatre, one that concentrates on peoples of mixed heritages and the place(s) between worlds that they inhabit. As it is an emergent field of research, one goal of this project is to illuminate its range and depth through an examination of three specific points of focus – plays by Elvira and Hortencia Colorado (Chichimec Otomí/México/US), who create theatre together; Diane Glancy (Cherokee/US); and Marie Clements (Métis/Canada). These plays explore some of the possibilities of (hi)story, culture, and language within the theatrical realm across Turtle Island (North America). I believe the playwrights' positionalities in the liminal space between Native and non-Native realms afford these playwrights a unique ability to facilitate cross-cultural dialogues through recentering Native stories and methodologies. I examine the theatrical works of this select group of mixed heritage playwrights, while focusing on how they open up dialogue(s) between cultures, the larger cultural discourses with which they engage, and their innovations in creating these dialogues. While each playwright features specific mixed heritage characters in certain plays, the focus is generally on the subject matter – themes central to current Native and mixed heritage daily realities. I concentrate on where they engage in cross-cultural discourses and innovations; while there are some common themes across the dissertation, the specific points of analysis are exclusive to each chapter.
    [Show full text]
  • Land of the Red Giants of Ixtlan
    LAND OF THE RED GIANTS OF IXTLAN Chapter 19 - Anna Mae & Leonard: "In video-theatre 'FREE PELTIER'" The funniest thing I ever saw was a little old lady laughing so hard at my play that she fell off her folding chair and was actually rolling around on the floor choking. The situation was nearly tragic, about like the play, as her sons or granddaughters frantically pounded her on the back to get her breathing again, while we on stage had to stop our own crazy antics for a minute to watch the performance in the audience. Reality blurred until I never did know when we were doing the play and when I was living it out on the streets, or in the Oyate Community Center in the Lakota Homes ghetto where we had set up our improvised excuse for theatre. Just when they had gotten the old Lakota Gramma back to some form of normalcy and back in her chair, Jay Hart, a handsome Mohawk woman who was playing Custer in a grotesque mask with long blonde hair, stepped across the borders between art and gender and snuck around behind the Gramma and whispered, "Are you dead yet, Ciye?" Upon which the poor old lady really lost it and screamed and fell off her chair again! Chaos erupted, as all of us poured off the commedia dell'arte platform and chased the evil whiteman around the room and out into the street. Kids and dogs chased after us and we just kept going with it, running around the parking lot as the audience ran after us, and passing cars stopped to gape in wonder at the surreal scene of clowns and devils in fantastic costumes screaming, falling down, throwing confetti-bullets like Jerry Lewis or Harpo Marx wrecking the fabric of society.
    [Show full text]
  • The American Indian Movement's Strategic Choices
    The American Indian Movement’s Strategic Choices: Environmental Limitations and Organizational Outcomes Timothy Baylor Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania The roots of modern Indian protest reach backward in history and forward into the future. Modern protest developed out of specific historical contingencies. For many protesters, the immediate concerns of housing shortages, police brutality, poverty, unemployment, and similar issues existed along side other issues such as identity and status within the American mosaic. Did Indians represent just another ethnic group bound to be assimilated by American society, or did Indians embody something different and far more significant – nations? As modern Indian protest escalated, the question increased in salience. Nancy Lurie explained that “Indian distinctiveness ... stressed culturally and historically” included an “emphasis on treaties rather than judicial recourse in obtaining perceived rights of Indians,” “an attitude that all other Americans are ‘immigrants,’” and that Indians as the “‘First Americans’ deserve special consideration (1972:308). In this sense, Native Americans were different than Blacks and other ethnic minority groups; they were the only ethnic group the U.S. Supreme Court had defined as “domestic dependent nations” in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831). Just what this meant and the degree of tribal sovereignty this status conveys has continued to be a matter of political and judicial wrangling. Regardless of the Indians’ status as “domestic dependent nations,” the overall American policy was one of assimilation in which reservations were seen as a temporary necessity until Indians had gained the necessary cultural, educational, and technical levels of competence necessary to participate in American life. Central to accomplishing this end was the boarding school system.
    [Show full text]