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Precarious Indigeneity RUNNING HEAD: Precarious Indigeneity PRECARIOUS INDIGENEITY: AINU IDENTITY-MAKING IN (DIGITAL) NORTH AMERICA AND ITS ROOTEDNESS IN WESTERN INDIGENOUS EXPERIENCE by Cheyanne Connell Bachelor Of Arts (Hons.), Simon Fraser University, 2019 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Masters Of Arts (Anthropology) In the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Department Of Sociology and Anthropology © Cheyanne Connell 2021 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY SUMMER 2021 Copyright in this work is held by the author. Please ensure that any reproduction or re-use is done in accordance with the relevant national copyright legislation. Precarious Indigeneity I Declaration of Committee Name: Cheyanne Connell Degree: Master of Arts in Anthropology Title: PRECARIOUS INDIGENEITY: AINU IDENTITY- MAKING IN (DIGITAL) NORTH AMERICA AND ITS ROOTEDNESS IN WESTERN INDIGENOUS EXPERIENCE Committee: Chair: Dr. Pamela Stern Professor, Anthropology Dr. Michael Hathaway Supervisor Associate Professor, Anthropology Dr. Kate Hennessy Committee Member Associate Professor, School of Interactive Arts & Technology Dr. ann-elise lewallen Examiner Associate Professor, East Asian Languages & Cultural Studies University of California, Santa Barbara Precarious Indigeneity II Ethics Statement Precarious Indigeneity III Abstract Based on digitally-mediated fieldwork conducted in 2020/2021, and building on existing scholarship, this thesis works to understand how Ainu in North American experience Indigenous identity-making. Working with eight young adults of self-identified Ainu ancestry at various stages of their Ainu journeys, but all started within the last few years, I ask how Ainu and Ainuness is learned and understood through their primary connection and access to Ainu community and culture: digital spaces. From this, I argue that whereas Ainu identity-making of those who grew up and live in Japan is rooted in Japanese Ainu experience, American Ainu identity-making is largely informed by and rooted in Western Indigenous experience. With this comes uniquely North American-based experiences and anxieties of culture appropriation, identity gatekeeping, and Indigenous authenticity. I argue that such narratives can best be understood through what I call precarious indigeneity—that identity-making as Ainu in North America is inherently unstable and insecure due to the aforementioned anxieties. Through this thesis, I aim to provide another way to reimagine Ainu identity-making that speaks to the realities of learning what it means to be Ainu and Indigenous in present day and as multiethnic and digitally connected individuals and communities rooted in North America. Keywords: Ainu, indigeneity, identity-making, precarity, digital spaces, urban Indigenous studies Precarious Indigeneity IV Acknowledgements First and foremost, thank you to all the participants that made this research and thesis possible, and for being so welcoming and kind throughout this long—very long and anxiety inducing— process. Thank you to Georgie and Erik. Thank you to Mom, Ash and Lawrence, Christy and Elise, Dad, other Dad, and family. Thank you to Il and Spicey, Aynur, Syd, Liz and Grace, and friends. Thank you to Dr. Michael Hathaway and Dr. Pamela Stern. Thank you to Dr. Kate Hennessey. Thank you to Dr. Scott Harrison. Thank you to Dr. Bascom Guffin. Thank you to Alex Canning at West Mo. Thank you to my counsellor, therapist, and psychiatrist. Thank you to Kenta Hayashi, Momo, Dave Seaweed, Dr. Mai Ishihara, Dr. Kanako Uzawa, Dr. ann-elise lewallen, Dr. Shiaki Kondo, Dr. Mark Turin, Dr. Kathleen Inglis, Dr. Jelena Golubović, Dr. Stacy Pigg, Dr. Kathleen Millar, Terrence Yang, Dorris Tai, and literally everyone cited in this thesis, everyone I talked to about this research, and everyone I’ve crossed paths with at every stage in my life thus far. Funded by West Moberly First Nations, Indspire: Allan and Gray Foundation, Irving K. Barber, SFU, David Lam Centre (SFU), and BC and Canada Student Loans. Precarious Indigeneity V Table of Contents Declaration of Committee I Ethics Statement II Abstract III Acknowledgements IV Table of Contents V Figures VI Preface VIII CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 “Say No to Plastic Shaman” .................................................................................................................1 1.2 “What Does It Mean to Be Indigenous?” ..............................................................................................2 1.3 Thesis Organization ..............................................................................................................................5 1.4 I Am Not Ainu ......................................................................................................................................7 CHAPTER 2: THE ‘BASICS’ OF AINU 9 2.1 “They’re Indigenous to Japan” .............................................................................................................9 2.2 Ainu Studies 101 .................................................................................................................................10 2.3 Ainu Recognition and Membership ....................................................................................................16 2.4 Ainu in (Transnational) Digital Spaces ...............................................................................................20 CHAPTER 3: LIKE, FOLLOW, DM AND REPEAT 25 3.1 “Do You Need Help?” ........................................................................................................................25 3.2 Conducting “Digitally-mediated Fieldwork” ......................................................................................27 3.3 “Only Because You’re Indigenous Too” ............................................................................................35 CHAPTER 4: AINU ANCESTRY RECKONING AND IDENTITY-MAKING 39 4.1 “We Have Russian Blood” ..................................................................................................................39 4.2 A Discovery of Ainu Roots .................................................................................................................42 4.3 Learning Ainu .....................................................................................................................................49 CHAPTER 5: THEORIZING AMERICAN AINU EXPERIENCE 65 5.1 “Internet Drama” .................................................................................................................................65 5.2 Western Indigenous Influence ............................................................................................................68 5.3 Towards a Sense of Precarity ..............................................................................................................75 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION................................................................................................. 79 6.1 Towards a (more) Diverse Future .......................................................................................................79 References .................................................................................................................................. 83 Precarious Indigeneity VI Figures 10 1. Map of suspected Ainu (red) and Ryukyuan (blue) ancestral lands, with darker hue symbolizing most well-known recognized lands. Illustration by Cheyanne Connell. Though my research primarily focuses on Ainu, rarely have I come across a map of Indigenous lands in Japan that shows BOTH Ainu and Ryukyuan (Okinawan) traditional lands. In an effort to decolonize Japan maps, I created a map that includes both of these people’s traditional lands. 11 2. Traditional Ainu dwelling. Illustration by Cheyanne Connell. When searching for Ainu, traditional homes and environments were frequently shown in the search results. This imagery represents the traditional nature of much of the discourse of Ainu history and Ainu today. 16 3. Ainu man with tourist advertisements. Illustration by Cheyanne Connell. This illustration is inspired by popular, but degrading and inappropriate imagery used in A. H. Savage Landor’s 1893 publication of “Alone with the Hairy Ainu” and Ainu people and village tourist advertisements in the early 1900s. 25 4. Instagram messages. Illustration by Cheyanne Connell. Examples of direct messaging I received from a select few strangers in response to an Instagram advertisement I put out requesting for participants for this research. In the messages, they kindly notified me of my poor Japanese grammar and writing, while also offering me an accurate and appropriate blurb. 29 5. An example of media elicitation. Illustration by Cheyanne Connell. 35 6. Personal Instagram profile page. Illustration by Cheyanne Connell. 44 7. An example of DNA test results. Illustration by Cheyanne Connell. 50 8. An example of Ainu Russian Dolls, similar to ones at the MOA. Illustration by Cheyanne Connell. 55 9. Ainu representation online. Illustration by Cheyanne Connell. This illustration was inspired by the many Instagram, TikTok and other online Ainu content I came across throughout my research, which was near same to the participants own findings. Elements include two bear heads, representative of the Ussuri Brown Bear, native to Hokkaido, Japan and prominent in traditional Ainu ceremonies; linework of land and water, symbolic of the notion that all Ainu are inherently connected to land, ocean and nature; and a woman in clothing with traditional Ainu
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