`-HÓHTA’HANÉ: MAPPING GENOCIDE & RESTORATIVE JUSTICE IN NATIVE AMERICA By ANNITA SOPHIA LUCCHESI A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN AMERICAN STUDIES WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY Program in American Studies DECEMBER 2016 © Copyright by ANNITA SOPHIA LUCCHESI, 2016 All Rights Reserved © Copyright by ANNITA SOPHIA LUCCHESI, 2016 All Rights Reserved To the Faculty of Washington State University: The members of the Committee appointed to examine the thesis of ANNITA SOPHIA LUCCHESI find it satisfactory and recommend that it be accepted. ___________________________________ Linda Heidenreich, Ph.D., Chair ___________________________________ Nishant Shahani, Ph.D. ___________________________________ Ray Sun, Ph.D. ii -HÓHTA’HANÉ: MAPPING GENOCIDE & RESTORATIVE JUSTICE IN NATIVE AMERICA Abstract by Annita Sophia Lucchesi, M.A. Washington State University December 2016 Chair: Linda Heidenreich This thesis explores critical decolonial cartography as a possible language for communicating and better understanding complex, intergenerational experiences of genocide and colonialism among Native American peoples. Utilizing a self-reflexive methodology, this work makes interventions in Native American and indigenous studies, comparative genocide studies, historiography, and geography to argue for more expansive languages with which to grapple with Native experiences of genocide. In so doing, this paper also asserts the need for indigenous narrative self-determination, development of decolonial epistemologies and praxes on genocide, and languages for violence that are specifically designed to facilitate dialogue on healing. For that reason, this work not only positions cartography and maps as a particularly useful language for understanding indigenous experiences of genocide, but documents the development of this language, with the intent of supporting and guiding others in creating alternative languages that best fit their nation, community, family, and selves. Finally, the larger aim of this work is to make the case for languages on genocide that heal, rather than re-traumatize, and give a more iii holistic understanding of the ways in which genocide ‘takes place’ spatially and temporally, with the hope of creating a larger, more inclusive, less violent space for imagining and crafting restorative justice. iv CONTENTS Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... iii Preface .............................................................................................................................................. 1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 2 The Language: Maps ................................................................................................................... 5 The Methodology: Self-Reflexive Learning & Sharing ................................................................ 9 Structure & Outline of the Thesis .............................................................................................. 14 “Our Sovereignty Starts in Our House, Not the White House:”Treaty Rights, Sovereignty, & the Erosion of Nationhood ................................................................................................................................ 16 I Did Not Sign Up For This: Treaties & the Breakdown of Tsėhéstáno .................................... 20 (In)Justice in Indian Country ..................................................................................................... 37 “I will tell you one of the things we remember on our land. We remember that our grandfathers paid for it—with their lives:”Mass Death & Destruction ............................................................................ 46 Our Grandfathers Paid for It: Land-Based Violence on the Plains .......................................... 46 It’s Easier to Not Be Indian: Stories of Relocation, Removal, & Death ................................... 64 “Indigeneity is meant to self-destruct, not to love or be loved:”Trauma & Colonial Love ........... 78 Failures in Decolonial Love: Navigating Mazes of Trauma ..................................................... 82 Locating Genocide in the Present & Personal: Trauma & Survival in the Lives of 21st Century Natives .................................................................................................................................................... 93 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 101 Works Cited ................................................................................................................................. 104 v For my ke’éehe, who waited 150 years to start this journey with me. vi Preface My Indian name is Hetoevėhotoke’e, which translates to Evening Star Woman. I am of the wolf warriors, from the band of Cheyenne that made their home where the Plains meet the Rocky Mountains, in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming. When settlers arrived in Cheyenne country, my grandfather was a chief, and a member of the Council of 44; I am the seventh generation descended from him. I introduce myself in this way not only because cultural protocol requires it, but also because I believe this information is a critical piece of the work in this thesis. My Indian name, for example, was given to me in honor of a deep connection to the ancestors, who live among the stars. That connection to the ancestors was made even stronger when I was told I was of wolf people; I was told I am never alone, because I run with an unseen pack behind me. Many know that Crazy Horse, one of our most revered Plains Indian leaders, had a vision that the seventh generation of Indian people (born after that time) would be the ones to revitalize our nations and bring healing to the world. As a member of that seventh generation, I take the responsibility to see that vision through very seriously. By attempting to create space for new languages with which Native people can grapple with trauma, and retelling stories that have been excluded and absent from academic narratives, I also attempt to honor Crazy Horse’s vision and the prayers of my ancestors, by living up to my Indian name and shining light where there has, for so long, been darkness. 1 Introduction In the Cheyenne language, the verb “to tell a story” (-hóhta'hané) can also mean “to testify.” Indeed, that word is often used to refer to someone who is providing testimony in court, and the Cheyenne word for “courthouse” directly translates to “story-house.” In the age of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and Declaration of Indigenous Rights, more and more indigenous leaders and activists are stepping to the podium to provide testimony on the struggles their people have faced and continue to face at the hands of settler regimes. These testimonies range from formal documentation of breach of (inter)national law, to heartfelt personal commitments to defend indigenous nationhood and lifeways. They are given in English, Lakota, Spanish, Guaraní, Saami, Masaai, Portuguese, and hundreds of other languages spoken across the globe. Some speakers wear business attire, others don traditional regalia. And yet, despite the incredible diversity among these testimonies, the general structure and expectations remain the same. A lone indigenous person or two, in front of a podium or a camera, talking for a few minutes. They must back up whatever they say with footnotes, citations, and statistics—anecdotal evidence is allowed but compelling to settlers only when it makes it to the press, and there is an army of lawyers, bureaucrats, and corporations who are waiting to discredit and dismiss them. If the press even attends the event, the only photos that will be published are of a chief crying, traditionally-clad Indians on the metro, and maybe a stock photo of decontextualized brown children on an unnamed dirt road. Some forums are a little more forgiving than others, but activists are painfully aware of the limitations to what they are allowed to say or do and still be 2 taken seriously. For example, in preparing testimony with a group of Alaska Native activists, I was told it was a terrible idea to use the “s-word” in testimony for the Alaska state government— it would be thrown out as too radical. The “s-word” was sovereignty. All this is not to say that testimonies provided in legal and political forums are not absolutely critical, incredibly brave, and extremely powerful. But they have limitations, and, to be effective, are often required to suit the tastes of mainstream media and governmental bodies that could be described at-best as conservative when addressing indigenous rights. For that reason, they cannot be the primary or sole source of indigenous testimony on colonialism and settler occupation. There are real, raw truths and heartache and triumphs that cannot be adequately communicated in compliance with settler expectations couched in ignorant and outdated knowledge of indigenous peoples and notions of respectability. Due to these limitations, political legal testimonies alone do not honor the realities of past or ongoing colonial occupation and genocide, and thus cannot lead us to restorative justice on their own. They may grant us a victory in a courtroom,