Baring the Windigo’s Teeth: The Fearsome Figure in Native American Narratives Carol Edelman Warrior A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Docrtor of Philosophy University of Washington 2015 Reading Committee: 1 Brian M. Reed, Chair Dian Million Christopher Teuton Luana Ross Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Department of English © Copyright 2015 Carol Edelman Warrior University of Washington Abstract Baring the Windigo’s Teeth: Fearsome Figures in Native American Narratives Carol Edelman Warrior Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Brian M. Reed Department of English Whereas non-Native American fictional fearsome figures tend to produce anxiety from their resistance to categorization, their unpredictable movement, and their Otherness, many contemporary Native American writers re-imagine fearsome figures and monstrous systems as modeled after, and emergent from settler-colonial transgressions against Indigenous values and relationships: these behaviors spread to tribal people/s through incorporation or assimilation into the “body” of the fearsome figure. Such violations can be represented by, and better understood, through an exploration of the behavioral traits of the Algonquian figure of the 2 Windigo, or wétiko, even when the text in question would not be classified as horror. In the Indigenous works of fiction that this dissertation explores, villainy is depicted as behavior that destroys balance, and disrupts the ability for life to reproduce itself without human mediation or technological intervention. In this dissertation, I develop and apply “Windigo Theory”: an Indigenous literary approach to reading Indigenous fiction, especially intended to aid recognition and comprehension of cultural critiques represented by the fearsome figures. I draw especially from ii four quarters: Jack D. Forbes’ concept of colonialism as a manifestation of wétiko psychosis; ethnographical works that feature fearsome figures from the stories of North American tribal peoples; Indigenous philosophical worldviews; and the figures in contemporary Native American novels that also serve as the objects of analysis. To show how fearsome figures disrupt Indigenous values and relationships, there is emphasis on what the fearsome figures do, as opposed to what fearsome figures are. In other words, this approach is geared to follow motion and relationships, rather than to define or circumscribe. As part of this work, I also explore the radical reinscription of generic conventions by Native authors, and discuss how some features of contemporary Indigenous fiction are extensions of “traditional” pre-contact narratives. 3 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 1 A Note on Terminology ................................................................................... 10 CHAPTERS 1. THE LITERARY FEARSOME FIGURE AS INDIGENOUS SOCIAL CRITIQUE ........................................................................................................................ 13 Related Theories and Conversations .............................................................. 14 Windigo as a Fearsome Figure ...................................................................... 26 Forbes on the Evolution of Wétikoism as a Cultural Disease........................ 30 Windigo as Cultural and Literary Theory ...................................................... 32 Ritual Cannibalism vs. Wétiko Cannibalism ................................................. 38 We don’t always do Philosophy, but when we do… ....................................... 43 Indigenous “Worldviews” and Orientations of North America ..................... 50 To Summarize and Give a Glimpse of the Road Ahead .................................. 61 2. FIXITY, MOTION, AND FEARSOMENESS .................................................. 63 This is Not a Vase............................................................................................65 Cosmological Microcosms: Slime Molds, Morphology and Movement ........ 68 The Gaffer Effect ............................................................................................. 73 Freezing The Blob ........................................................................................... 77 How Immobilization or “Freezing” Preceeds Consumption…..………………….82 Naming and Claiming, Definition and Ownership ........................................ 83 Motion as a Model of Sovereignty and Resistance ........................................ 84 3. THE USUAL AND ACCUSTOMED PLACES OF INDIGENOUS LIFE AND DEATH .......................................................................................................... 87 Bullets and Bodies: the Shooting of John T. Williams .................................. 88 Living a Life of Resistance…………………………………………………………………….90 Tethers, Not Boundaries: Defying Fixity Through Movement…………………. 96 4 Re-membered Relations and Starving the Beast .......................................... 104 4. BLOOD SUCKERS, REAL AND IMAGINED ............................................... 113 Vampires and Misattribution: Cultural Appropriation’s Fraternal Twin .... 115 Indigenous Appropriation of Vampires ........................................................ 122 The Night Wanderer .................................................................................... 127 Indigenizing the Vampire ............................................................................. 134 Student Reaction to The Night Wanderer ................................................... 136 Indigenizing Fear .......................................................................................... 141 What Does it Take to Stop an Anishinaabe Vampire? ................................. 145 iv 5. THE AGGREGATE WINDIGO IN JOSEPH BRUCHAC’S THE DREAMS OF JESSE BROWN ............................................................................................. 150 A Summary: Movements, Arrangements, Motifs and Moments ................. 154 Formal Aggregation in The Dreams of Jesse Brown ................................... 156 Coyote Time .................................................................................................. 157 “Brown Jesus” Speaks to the Messiah and the “Last Indian”....................... 165 Nineteenth Century Wétikos ........................................................................ 172 Hungry for All Time: Custer as Wétiko ........................................................ 176 Blind Spots, or How the Anthropologist, the Pederast, and the Controller “See” ...................................................................................... 181 Which Spider? Which Web? ......................................................................... 198 How to Fight a Windigo, Part 2 ................................................................... 206 The Circle Begins to Mend ............................................................................ 210 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................. 214 NOTES ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..223 BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………………………………………253 5 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS For every way my parents loved and supported me throughout my life, Patricia J. Miller Edelman and Carl C. Edelman have my gratitude and deepest love, always. Respect and appreciation to my love and partner, Shaawano Chad Uran. Miigwech for everything—for all that you offer and share with me. Gizaagi’in. To the ones who call me mom, “ma,” or Neewah, as well as my kids’ S.O.s, gineeheyaan for giving me a most sacred purpose in life and work. You’ve all taught me tons about love, laughter, and persistence. Bryce Stevenson, Lacey Holt, Bobby Holt, Brett Stevenson, Levi Sage Van Liew, Cleo Keahna-Uran, Della Keahna-Uran, Ike Keahna-Uran, Lily “Lightning-Bolt” Holt, Daphne “Dappy” Holt, and Annie Feather Arrow Top Knot, you have my love forever. To Mika Foote and Christy Cochran, I’m grateful my kids have you to hold. Each of you participated in the creation of this dissertation. To Lowell and Barb Uran, Tracy, Scott, Megan and Ashley Scheulein, I appreciate each of you for your love and support. Love and thanks to my siblings, Paula, Helen, and Warner Edelman, my nephew Shawn and his wife Nicole Edelman, my cousins Cathy Spearnak, Julie Sears, and Aunt Georgie. And to my other cousins, René Edelman Azarra, Toni The Boy, Audré Gifford, Michelle Homer, Monica Homer, Lynnette Homer, Hattie Lewellyn Wiysell, Joe Horse Capture, Lysa Ranallo, Singer Horse Capture, George Horse Capture Jr.—thank you for anchoring me to our people and places. And speaking of that connection, I wish to extend my deepest thanks, love, and respect, to George Horse Capture Sr., for recognizing me as your relation, telling me stories about my aunts, uncles and ancestors, and for giving me my surname along with a set of instructions to earn it as an academic and as a human being. When I see you again, I’ll give you a gigantic hug for teaching me how to walk this path. Much respect and gratitude to my Committee Chair, Brian M. Reed, for being such a fantastic listener, mentor, supporter, and adviser. You are a brilliant light; thanks for sharing it with me. I wouldn’t have been able to do this work without your guidance. To Dian Million: I will always remember that fateful day in undergrad when you cornered