Exploring Kinship with the Buffalo in Indigenous Creative Expression
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University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies The Vault: Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2016 The Call of the Buffalo: Exploring Kinship with the Buffalo in Indigenous Creative Expression Hubbard, Tasha Hubbard, T. (2016). The Call of the Buffalo: Exploring Kinship with the Buffalo in Indigenous Creative Expression (Unpublished doctoral thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/28021 http://hdl.handle.net/11023/3272 doctoral thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY The Call of the Buffalo: Exploring Kinship with the Buffalo in Indigenous Creative Expression by Tasha Hubbard A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ENGLISH CALGARY, ALBERTA September 2016 © Tasha Hubbard 2016 Abstract This dissertation examines the kinship relationship between Indigenous peoples and our relative the buffalo. I posit that texts in which Indigenous peoples express their relationship with the buffalo contain expressions of Indigenous epistemologies. Indigenous kinship theory, Indigenous critical geography, and Indigenous histories are foundational for this project. The presence of the buffalo is found within Indigenous oral stories, literature, art, and other forms of expression. Specifically, the dissertation engages with the representation of buffalo’s role in creating and renewing kinship ties. It examines Indigenous grief and mourning during the genocide of the buffalo; buffalo confinement and diaspora during the settlement era; women’s knowledge of the connection between buffalo and the land; and the artist’s role in revitalizing the relationship with buffalo. Authors and creators include Percy Bullchild, Alexander Wolfe, Edward Benton-Banai, Leslie Marmon Silko, Stan Cuthand, Barry Ahenakew, Neal McLeod, Marilyn Dumont, Louise Erdrich, Mourning Dove, D’Arcy McNickle, Linda Hogan, Beverly Hungry Wolf, Beth Cuthand, Louise Halfe, Jaune Quick-To-See Smith, Adrian Stimson and Thomas King. This work can be understood as the imperative for Indigenous peoples to remember the kinship relationship shared with the buffalo, including the web of responsibilities to all peoples, human and more-than-human, with whom we share this land. ii Preface “Buffalo Genocide in Nineteenth Century North America: ‘Kill, Skin, and Sell’” was originally published in Colonial Genocide in Indigenous North America. Andrew Woolford, Jeff Benvenuto, Alexander Laban Hinton, Eds. Copyright 2014, Duke University Press. All rights reserved. Republished by permission of the publisher. The map illustration in Figure 10 is reprinted with the permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc. from Almanac Of The Dead by Leslie Marmon Silko, from pages 5 and 6. Copyright © 1991 Leslie Marmon Silko. All rights reserved. iii Acknowledgements I would like to give my sincere gratitude for my supervisor Jeanne Perreault, my committee members Adrienne Kertzer and Pamela Banting, and my examining committee members Daniel Heath Justice and Heather Devine. Their guidance in completing this thesis and their ideas for moving forward were invaluable. I would also like to thank my master’s supervisor Len Findlay, who has not ceased to champion my ideas and methodologies. I’d like to acknowledge Connie Luther, Erin Wunker, and Natalee Caple who were my colleagues in the English department graduate program and were unflagging in their support, both in person and online. A huge thank- you goes to my Indigeous literature and art colleagues who gave me advice and insight into this work. I’d also like to acknowledge David Oakleaf, who told me in his capacity of graduate chair that it would be possible to complete the Ph.D program with a newborn baby. I believed him. As a result, I would like to sincerely thank the people who helped me care for that baby as he grew up during the course work, candidacies, and the writing of the dissertation. Finally, so much gratitude goes my family, who were relentless cheerleaders, often telling me to “hurry up” because they wanted to see me more. This was the biggest incentive. This manuscript has been copy-edited by a third party. iv Dedication This work is dedicated to three late scholars who supported my academic path. Jo-Ann Episkenew told me when I was twenty-three years old that academia could be my path and recently told me that she was patiently waiting for me to complete because she had plans for me. I hope I figure out what those were. Renate Eigenbrod accepted my first conference paper and continued to mentor me throughout my graduate degrees and was an extremely supportive department head for my first academic appointment. Narcisse Blood validated my ideas about the buffalo and shaped my thinking in ways that I am still discovering. They are profoundly missed. v Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Preface ................................................................................................................................ iii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iv Dedication ........................................................................................................................... v Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... vi List of Figures and Illustrations ........................................................................................ vii Introduction: The Call of the Buffalo: Exploring Kinship with the Buffalo in Indigenous Creative Expression ............................................................................. 1 Chapter One: “Everything is Buffalo, Simply Everything is Buffalo”: Listening to Our Grandparents ............................................................................................. 19 Chapter Two: Buffalo Genocide and Indigenous Loss in Nineteenth-Century North America: “Kill, Skin, and Sell” ............................................................................. 48 Chapter Three: “You Can’t Run Away”: Buffalo Confinement in Mourning Dove’s Cogewea, D’Arcy McNickle’s The Surrounded, and Linda Hogan’s Mean Spirit ........................................................................................................... 84 Chapter Four: Buffalo Land: Intersections in Indigenous Geography and Indigenous Women’s Literature ......................................................................... 122 Chapter Five: Imagining Back to Reality: Plains Indigenous Buffalo Artists ............ 149 Conclusion: Singing the Buffalo Back ....................................................................... 180 Works Cited ................................................................................................................ 190 Appendix A: The Buffalo: A Treaty of Cooperation, Renewal and Repatriation ...... 220 vi List of Figures and Illustrations Figure 1: Jones, Tim. “Wilfred Tootoosis and Mistaseni.” 1966. JPEG File………......21 Figure 2: Bullchild, Percy. The Sun Came Down: The History of the World as My Blackfeet Elders Told It…………………………….……………………….28 Figure 3: Hubbard, Tasha. “Paying Respect.” 2011. JPEG file……………………….47 Figure 4: Hubbard, Tasha. “Paying Respect II.” 2012. JPEG file…………………….49 Figure 5: Harney, Ricky. “Buffalo Grief I.” 2015. JPEG file……...………………….71 Figure 6: Harney, Ricky. “Buffalo Grief II.” 2015. JPEG file…..…………………….72 Figure 7: Forsyth, N.A.. “Another Buffalo Wanted For the Car.” Date unknown. Stereograph. Montana Historical Society Research Center…………………96 Figure 8: Forsyth, N.A. “Making A Last and Fierce Struggle for Freedom.” Date unknown. Stereograph. Montana Historical Society Research Center…….108 Figure 9: Hubbard, Tasha. “Sleeping Buffalo.” 2014. JPEG file. 121 Figure 10: Silko, Leslie Marmon. Almanac of the Dead. Illustration. 1999. JPEG file..141 Figure 11: Marchand, Marie-Eve. “Writing-on-Stone.” 2014. JPEG file………….…..151 Figure 12: Quick-to-See Smith, Juane. Genesis. 1993. Oil, collage, and mixed media on canvas. High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia.………………………..158 Figure 13: Quick-To-See Smith, Jaune. Spam. 1995. Acrylic mixed media. University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ……………………….159 Figure 14: Quick-To-See Smith, Jaune. The Browning of America. 2000. Oil and mixed media on canvas. Crocker Art Museum. Sacramento, CA……….….161 Figure 15: Stimson, Adrian. Re-Herd. 2014. JPEG file………………………………..164 Figure 16: Stimson, Adrian. Re-Herd. 2014. JPEG file………………………………..164 Figure 17: Stimson, Adrian. Re-Herd. 2014. JPEG file………………………………..165 Figure 18: Locke Harvey. “Pablo Allard bison in Elk Island loading for Blackfeet.” 2016. JPEG file……………………………………………………………...186 Figure 19: Hubbard, Tasha. “Waiting for the Buffalo.” 2016. JPEG file………………187 Figure 20: Hupka, George. Montana Blackfeet buffalo release. 2016. JPEG file...……188 vii Introduction: The Call of the Buffalo: Exploring Kinship with the Buffalo