Indigenous Difference at the Canada/US Border
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Framing Borders: Indigenous Difference at the Canada/US Border Ian Kalman Department of Anthropology McGill University, Montreal May 2016 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the degree of doctor of Anthropology © Ian Kalman 2016 1 Table of Contents Section: Page Abstract/ Résumé…………………………………………………………………... 3 Acknowledgements ………………………………………………………………… 5 Chapter One: Introduction………………………………………………………... 11 Chapter Two: “Welcome to Akwesasne”……………………………………….... 54 Chapter Three: Doing History in Akwesasne……………………………………. 85 Chapter Four: The Changing Face of the Cornwall/Akwesasne Border………. 110 Chapter Five: Reporting-in to/from Akwesasne…………………………………. 154 Chapter Six: Processing………………………………………………………….... 197 Chapter Seven: Talking Borders…………………………………………………. 245 Chapter Eight: Conclusion.……………………………………………………...... 280 Works Cited: ………………………………………………………………………. 294 2 Abstract This dissertation explores how the Canada/US border is experienced by both Mohawk residents of Akwesasne, a single Indigenous community straddling the geopolitical boundaries of Canada and the United States, and Border Services Officers (BSOs) charged with enforcing the border in and around the Akwesasne Mohawk Territory. Drawing on ethnographic and ethnomethodological approaches, this dissertation looks at the ways in which normative notions of law, tradition, the state, and citizenship are constructed through face to face interactions between BSOs and cross-border travellers. Erving Goffman’s frame analysis is employed to examine the role of context at the border, and the ways in which decisions concerning border crossing, and interpretations of interactions are rooted in contextual logics. “The border” is a site for the construction and reification of Indigenous sovereignty and community, yet at the same time a constraining and often deleterious imposition on an Indigenous population which has long rejected its legitimacy. 3 Résumé Cette thèse explore les expériences en rapport à la frontière Canada/États-Unis des résidents mohawks d’Akwesasne, une communauté autochtone chevauchant les frontières géopolitiques du Canada et des États-Unis, et des Agents des Services Frontaliers (ASF) en charge du respect et du maintien des frontières au sein même et autour du territoire mohawk d’Akwesasne. Reposant sur des approches ethnographique et ethnométhodologique, cette thèse se penche sur les manières par lesquelles les notions normatives de loi, de tradition, d’État et de citoyenneté sont construites à travers des interactions de face à face entre les ASF et les voyageurs traversant la frontière. L’analyse de cadre d’Erving Goffman est utilisée afin d’étudier le rôle du contexte à la frontière et les logiques contextuelles qui sous-tendent l’interprétation d’interactions et les décisions concernant les traversées frontalières. « La frontière » est à la fois un site de construction et de réification de souveraineté et de communauté autochtone, tout en étant une imposition contraignante et souvent sur une population autochtone qui rejette depuis longtemps sa légitimité. 4 Acknowledgements This dissertation was built brick by brick with a lot of hard work. Not by me so much as the many people who put up with me over the past seven years. The number of people and organizations without whom this thesis would have been far poorer (or not existed at all) is immense. At the start, I want to recognize the Max Planck Institute of Social Anthropology for supporting my year of thesis writing. McGill University’s Arts Research Award, the Embassy of Canada, and Gabriella Coleman’s Wolfe Chair in Technological Literacy paid for fieldwork. This project spanned several continents, four nations (Akwesasne, Canada, the United States, and Germany), and nearly a decade. Readers have my apologies for the length of these acknowledgements. They may find it helpful to press “Control F” to search for their own names. Academic colleagues and funding agencies are par the course for these acknowledgements, and their support will receive much deserved thanks. However, many students have such support and still have difficulty writing. It was the emotional support and energies I drew from friends that helped me approach this project (mostly) with a smile on my face, and I would like to acknowledge more than a few here by name. These are the people who stayed up late with me talking out my problems and encouraging me to keep at it. My apologies for those names I miss either out of forgetfulness or fear of misspelling. My family has supported me through every stage of this process, offering advice, encouragement, and a substantial amount of bagels. First and foremost, I wish to thank my mother Andrea Kalman, and my father, Kenneth Kalman who never wavered in their help and love. My sister, Rachel Kalman, offered clever bits of advice, and was never afraid to challenge 5 me. My grandparents Eli and Zelda Kalman, and Robert and Rita Kessler have provided unconditional love at all times. Back home in New York, Lee Solomon, and my brothers in all but genetics, Jeremy and Adam Scholem were always available for skype, mediocre scotch, good advice, and great friendship. My companions in May House and Blackstone Hall at the University of Chicago kept me up till the wee hours discussing our work, until heading off to bed to get more studying in the next day. A special thanks to the Madsens, Rachel Alper, Matt and Laura Reading, Alex Hsu, Julia Kowalski, and Smriti Mishra for keeping me sane, happy, and grounded. Jena Barchas- Liechtenstein gets a sentence but deserves a chapter for her seamless balancing of hugs and intellectual insights. It may be over-doing it to thank the entire populations of China, Ukraine, and Turkey, but I’d like to point out a few people whose friendship has remained a constant beacon throughout my travels. Drew Gulley, Bedra Girgin, Lisa Brunner, Laura Frantz, Lilya Askarova, George Rowe, Anna Matviyenko, Sean Speciale, Shanti Marthaller, Tyson Pierce, Gillian Groenen, amd Jacqueline (Jackie) Haslam have all conspired to make me a more fun and caring person. In Montreal, my ideas were developed in conversations over beers with Brodie Noga, Sean Desjardins, Nicholas Barber, and Jennie Glassco, whiskey with Takeshi Uesugi, Fern Thompsett, Sarah Sandham, and Joshua Friesen, magic soup with Doerte Bemme and Stephanie Alexander, pho with Karen McAllister (or K-Mac, as she prefers to be called), tea with Julia Bailey, raclette with Marie-Pierre Gadoua, tavla with Giulia El-Dardiry, papusas with Alonso Gamara, kale and anarchy with Erica Lagalisse, salt with Saman Tabasi-Najad, carnitas with Camilo Gomez, barbecue with Amber Silva, hot chocolate with Monica Cuellar Gempeler, board games with Katie Sinclair and Asad Kiyani, Games of Thrones with Adam Fleischmann, Kristin Flemons, and Raad Fadaak, football with Loes Knappen and Andrew 6 McCaan, cake with Stephanie Olson and Rob Boddice, Dim Sum(day) with Claudia Masferrer and Renato Calleja, lobster rolls with Ivet Reyes Maturano and Richard Feldman, karaoke with Victor “Corey” Wright, and Chinese food with everyone else. A few people both discussed and read through much of my work as friends and collaborators. From my arrival at McGill University I was met with nothing but support and comradery by both the department of anthropology and my colleagues in graduate study. Emilio Dirlikov met me on the train station my first day and has remained a friend since. His comments, along with those of Noor Johnson and Pierre Minn helped me frame (and re-frame) my project to myself and innumerable funding agencies. Jessica Dolan has been my sister in anthropological collaboration with Haudenosaunee peoples and a constant source of insight. Dan Rueck has been both a friend and a sounding board for my historical approaches to Haudenosaunee territory. Philippe Messier taught me to always justify my ideas. Gregory Brass asked me the questions I did not even know I had to ask, and helped me think through the answers. Sebastien Bluteau has, like Greg, been a brilliant roommate and friend who saw the worst of me and always cheered me up. Finally, Rine Vieth taught me that just because anthropologists ruin everything, that does not mean we aren’t fun. On multiple continents, Marco Poppalardo and Letha Victor taught me the epistemological values of Marxism and cross-stitching respectively. Hanna Kienzler and Cees Van Dijke offered advice, a bed, and the best walks I’ve ever had in the United Kingdom. Finally, a special thanks to my dear friends from Belgium, Melanie Chaplier and Lionel Neyts whose gastronomic, emotional, and intellectual contributions are too innumerable for this page. In Germany, I am indebted to “team arrow,” Jonathan Bernaerts, Markus Klank and Faduma Abukar for the advice and laughs over cake and superhero stories. I am also thankful to Agathe Mora, Jon Schubert, Mareike Reidel, Andrea Klein, Timm Sureau, Hendrik Tieke, Lucia and 7 Jens Fobels, Esther Horat, Sajjad Safaei, the Advokaten Piraten, Miriam Franchina, Kiran Morjaria, Kalindi Kokal, Harika Dauth, and soup. None of this would have been possible without the support of my friends in Akwesasne. Ashley Tarbell introduced me to the community and remains a friend to this day. Curtis Lazore shared his love of the land and some of my favorite conversations over our lunch breaks. I am especially glad I met Phillip White-Cree on a bus ride to Ottawa, as I continue to take pleasure in our conversations on traditional knowledge and Doctor Who. Debbie Rourke, Jacey Rourke and Jeffrey Rodriguez were my family when I was far away from my own. I was fortunate for tremendous institutional support in Akwesasne as well. I am grateful to Mike Mitchell for meeting with me and supporting my project in the territory along with the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne (MCA), the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, and the Mohawk Nation Council of Chiefs. At the MCA, I am especially indebted to the Aboriginal Rights Research Office (ARRO) where I spent most of my year of fieldwork. I also wish to thank Joyce King and the justice department, and Cactus Cook-Sunday, the director of ARRO.