Death Ethics’: Antecedents and Impacts of Western Expansion As War in the Northern Plains, 1820 – 1880

Contemporary Modernity and ‘Death Ethics’: Antecedents and Impacts of Western Expansion as War in the Northern Plains, 1820 – 1880 By Leece Michelle Lee A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Ethnic Studies in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Patricia Penn Hilden, Co-Chair Professor Nelson Maldonado Torres, Co-Chair Professor Paola Bacchetta Professor Shari M. Huhndorf Spring 2013 Abstract Contemporary Modernity and “Death Ethics”: Antecedents and Impacts of Western Expansion as War in the Northern Plains, 1820 – 1880 by Leece Michelle Lee Doctor of Philosophy in Ethnic Studies University of California, Berkeley Professor Patricia Penn Hilden, Co-Chair Professor Nelson Maldonado-Torres, Co-Chair In the broadest sense, the dissertation identifies the "death ethics of war" during Western expansion of the United States, its claims to exceptionalism, and its enduring legacies in Native American contexts historically and today. The logic of Western European expansion in the Americas can be argued to have exemplified the theory the “death ethics of war”. I engage Nelson Maldonado-Torres’s articulation of the "death ethics of war" to identify the political logics behind the normalization of genocide in western expansion. I argue that its gendered dimensions engendered violence against Native Americans and fostered an anti-“Indian” logic that traversed the historical boundaries of its inception and became embedded in American institutional and social imaginaries. As one of the most enduring legacies of colonialism, anti- “Indianism” was enabled by racial and gendered logics that permeated the laws and discourses of colonial expansion and became part-and-parcel of the Western imaginary largely through popular culture mediums. The resulting compulsory subject formations established the ostensibly natural human difference between “Indians” and Western European civilizations and in doing so negated the humanity of Native Americans while substantiating the incomparable superiority of Western European and “white” settler societies in America. It was a paradigm, I argue, that continues to underpin Western modernity, American social relationships, and ultimately the systemization of differential political justice for Native Americans in the United States. I centralize the 1864 Sand Creek massacre because it is one of the highest points of state sanctioned anti-“Indian” violence in during Western expansion on record. Because of the inhumane violence exacted by American military personnel who perpetrated the massacre, the Sand Creek massacre most clearly exemplifies how Western expansion was infused with “death ethics” that facilitated epistemological and literal forms of death in the Native American context. In response to the enduring legacies of anti-“Indianism,” the activism of Native American women across the U.S. exemplifies the “ethics of revolutionary love”. I employ Dr. Patricia Penn Hilden’s theory of the “Red Zone,” which identifies Native American activism as a political and spatial consciousness. I explore the myriad life-affirming efforts of Native American women activists to combat and ameliorate the negative effects of contemporary anti-“Indianism”. 1 Table of Contents Acknowledgements………………………………...……………………..………......…..….ii – iii Curriculum Vitae………………………………………………………………………...…..iv – xi Introduction……………………………………………………………………………..…....1 – 14 Chapter 1: “The Death Ethics of War”: “Ethical Suspensions” in Wars of Western Expansion………………………………………………………………………………….. 15 – 29 Chapter 2: Colonial Legacies, Epistemological Death and Re-presentations of “the Indian” as Enemy……………...…………………………………………………………................… 30 – 46 Chapter 3: Colonial Palimpsests: Native American Women, Western Re-Presentation, Gendered Racialization and State Violence at Sand Creek……………………….……………...….... 47 -58 Chapter 4: In the Face of Violence: Gendered Violations, Enduring Legacies, and Native American Women’s Political Resistance…………………………………………..….........59 – 71 Chapter 5: Meditations on Contemporary Anti-“Indianism”: “Indian” and “Squaw” Formations and the Admissibility of State Contempt……………....………………………...……........72 – 87 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………..…..………88 – 109 i Acknowledgements There are many people who have made this project possible through their support, mentorship, careful reading of chapters, advice and steadfast commitment. I would like to thank my dissertation committee members to whom I am indebted for their constant vigilance and attention to my research and personal and professional goals. While they have consistently guided me through the arduous task of dissertating, their investment of time and commitment were extended long before the dissertation. I have been fortunate to work with Nez Perce scholar Dr. Patricia Penn Hilden, who has guided my research and engendered in me the confidence to understand the importance of my work and yet the necessity of academic integrity and excellence through her thorough and engaged commitment to every aspect of my work and life for nearly a decade. Dr. Hilden’s ongoing mentorship and her example as a foundation Red feminist inspired many of my theoretical arguments. Alongside Dr. Hilden, Dr. Nelson Maldonado-Torres first began guiding my work when I was a graduate student in his seminar that was dedicated to unearthing the discursive histories of human difference and differential rights. My interrogations of the phenomenon of genocide in the Native American context and my use of the “death ethics of war” are direct results of Dr. Maldonado-Torres’s articulation of the “death ethics of war” and his identification of the profound implications of the “ethical suspensions” deployed against differentially valued peoples within systems of hegemonic domination. Dr. Maldonado-Torres’s support enabled me to grow this project from an analysis of the Native American context to understanding and articulating a far broader and transnational analysis of coloniality and decoloniality in indigenous systems globally. Dr. Paola Bacchetta’s mentorship initiated in a seminar on Transnational Feminism. Her commitment to my interrogation of the many implications of the Sand Creek massacre has been constant as has been her ability to see clearly what I aimed to produce and its potential value even when I could not. Under Dr. Bacchetta’s close mentorship I developed much of the transnational elements of my work that are taken up in this dissertation. Dr. Shari Huhndorf, an Alaskan Native American scholar, first served as chair of my master’s thesis committee when I began to develop my work on the Sand Creek massacre. Her guidance facilitated the development of my earliest and fundamental points of departure about the massacre and supported the growth and development of my interests in Native American women and activism. I am also indebted to my dear friends and colleagues Celia Lacayo and Alma Granado for their careful reading and advice on my chapters, for always improving the clarity of my work, and for the conversations and advice that have helped me to advance new and important aspects of my work. I must also extend my gratitude to Dr. Michael Omi and Dr. Timothy Reiss whose mentorship and advice have proved invaluable many times over during my graduate studies. Early mentors of mine, including loved ones, have extended their guidance, counsel, and commitment. The following people must be added to these acknowledgements because they enabled the development of my scholarly and activist concerns in ways that help develop my work and maintain my commitment to excellence in scholarship and activism. Without their support, this project would simply have not been possible. I learned at home and in my work with Native American peoples that scholarly work in the Native American context is severely underrepresented in academic institutions, but is critical to understanding the foundations and current realities in the U.S. Therefore, I have learned to value what has been an invisible reality to much of the world that is, the lived realities of Native American peoples and what these ii realities can teach us about American life and democracy itself. Therefore, I learned that scholarship must have real-life applications. I am deeply indebted to my mother, who was my first teacher and the first person who taught me to see myself as an intellectual, a scientist, and as a person who had the capacity and potential to do meaningful work in this world. My sister Portia and brother Jason have always supported my intellectual processes with their commitment. Their questions and commentaries about my work always remind me to remain vigilant about how my work applies to people outside of the so-called scholarly world. Tolah Oliver has exhibited a rare patience with the demands of my work and offers only love, admiration and safe harbor. He is a living example of an “organic intellectual” and our many conversations have helped me to advance my work greatly. Moreover, I would not have become a teacher and scholar without the deep commitment and mentorship of Standing Rock Sioux elder Wilma Crow and Lakota elders Twila and Dwight Souers. These elders carry the greater part of our community and their tireless mentorship, generosity, humor, critical questions, honesty, and their constant reflection of good mentorship continues to provide invaluable sources of support and reflection of the

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