University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository Anthropology ETDs Electronic Theses and Dissertations Summer 7-30-2019 “WE PRACTICE LAKOTA WAY, BUT WE ARE NOT AN INDIAN CHURCH”: THE DIVERSE WAYS LAKOTA CHRISTIANS ARTICULATE, PERFORM AND TRANSLATE ETHNICITY IN CONGREGATIONAL LIFE Kristin A. Fitzgerald University of New Mexico - Main Campus Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/anth_etds Part of the Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Fitzgerald, Kristin A.. "“WE PRACTICE LAKOTA WAY, BUT WE ARE NOT AN INDIAN CHURCH”: THE DIVERSE WAYS LAKOTA CHRISTIANS ARTICULATE, PERFORM AND TRANSLATE ETHNICITY IN CONGREGATIONAL LIFE." (2019). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/anth_etds/173 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Anthropology ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Kristin Fitzgerald Candidate Anthropology Department This dissertation is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication: i “WE PRACTICE LAKOTA WAY, BUT WE ARE NOT AN INDIAN CHURCH”: THE DIVERSE WAYS LAKOTA CHRISTIANS ARTICULATE, PERFORM AND TRANSLATE ETHNICITY IN CONGREGATIONAL LIFE BY Kristin Fitzgerald B.S. Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Nebraska at Omaha, 2003 M.A. Anthropology, University of New Mexico, 2006 DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Anthropology The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico July 2019 ii Acknowledgements I first want to thank the people in Rapid City who allowed me to learn from them, laugh with them, and who generously accepted my children and me into their congregations, their homes, and/or their families. To deacon Marty Garwood, thank you for checking in on the Rapid City apartment, and for your always warm and loving spirit. To the St. Matthew’s and St. Isaac Jogues congregants and clergy were so generous with their time, I am honored to have had the chance to listen to your stories and reflections. I owe special thanks to Connie Goodshield, Jean Marrs, and Carol Cloud Eagle from St. Matthew’s, who were especially welcoming and patient with me as I worked to gain my footing. Jean, your direction throughout the research and writing process was paramount in directing the course of this dissertation, and I am so very grateful. To Rosemary Sayers, Mary Tognotti and Dee Schumacher (from St. Isaac Jogues): I love you, I thank you for your love and friendship, for your continued interest in this project’s completion, and for the many laughs we have shared, and will continue to share. To Fr. Paul Sneve and his wife, Tally Sneve: there is no way this project could have moved forward without your unending support and guidance. I can never thank you enough for our coffee and tea talks, our lunches, our phone calls, and our follow-up Facebook messages, and the helpful screening of various chapter drafts. Fr. Paul, your intimate understanding of Lakota theology and relational practices was invaluable, and as you see your words reflected throughout this dissertation, I hope this demonstrates the immense respect and gratitude I hold for you. iii To Elizabeth Thrond, archivist at the Center for Western Studies, Augustana University, thank you for your diligence and clear direction in navigating the South Dakota Episcopal Diocese’s archival record collections. I also extend this gratitude to the Episcopal Diocese of South Dakota, who made these collections available for research. To the late Rt. Rev. Creighton Robertson, who encouraged me to move forward with the project, I thank you. Some of my best childhood memories include the roar of collective laughter over one or another of your pranks. I also extend my heartfelt appreciation to, and admiration for, the incredible mentors who have encouraged my academic interests over the course of the last several years. First, to Dr. Beth Ritter, from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, who sparked a fire of enthusiasm for anthropology and Native American studies – thank you for being the very best role model for humility, intellect, political and academic savviness, and grace. To Dr. Ray DeMallie, your ever-humble demeanor helped calm those of us who stood in awe of your legacy, so that we could more readily learn from you. Thank you for your never- ending support and encouragement. To my dissertation committee members, Dr. Suzanne Oakdale, Dr. Louise Lamphere, Fr. Raymond Bucko, and Dr. David Dinwoodie, I thank you not only for the countless hours you have spent related to my work, but also for your continued efforts to challenge me academically. Your support and encouragement over the last several years has been invaluable. I am grateful to the Jacobs Fund for financial support of this project, as well as for their archival collections, which will store the personal reflections of my research iv participants. I also extend my appreciation to the colleagues at Creighton University who have taken a special interest in the progress of my dissertation over the course of the years, including Dr. Laura Heineman, Dr. Rebecca Murray, Dr. Alex Roedlach, Dr. Barbara Dilly, and James Ault. And special thanks to Dr. Dawn Irlbeck; for your endless inspiration, both in life and in academic pursuits; to Megan Walz, for your friendship and support (and the loving encouragement to keep plugging away); and to Kristen Adler, for your unfailing willingness to hear me talk it through, to read various drafts, and to offer your invaluable insights. I love each of you dearly. To my parents, Steve and Gail Henderson, thank you for being willing to babysit, dog sit, cook meals, and pick kids up from school or practices so that I could write, sleep, or take various exams. Mom, thank you for modeling that motherhood and graduate school were not mutually exclusive endeavors. I never would have had the courage to try without your example in doing it so successfully. Dad, thank you for being so many things to both me and Tom, and for helping us all to remember to be silly when things get stressful. I am honored and blessed to call you my parents. To my husband, Tom, for his unfailing support and encouragement in all areas of life – I love you and thank you from the very bottom of my heart for your seemingly endless good. And lastly, to our daughters, Emily, Brynn and Abigail, thank you for being the beautiful and blessed beings that you are. I love you to the moon… v “WE PRACTICE LAKOTA WAY, BUT WE ARE NOT AN INDIAN CHURCH”: THE DIVERSE WAYS LAKOTA CHRISTIANS ARTICULATE, PERFORM AND TRANSLATE ETHNICITY IN CONGREGATIONAL LIFE BY Kristin Fitzgerald B.S. Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Nebraska at Omaha, 2003 M.A. Anthropology, University of New Mexico, 2006 Doctor of Philosophy, University of New Mexico, 2019 Abstract This study looks at articulations, performances and translations of ethnicity among urban Lakota Christians at St. Matthew’s and St. Isaac Jogues in Rapid City, South Dakota. Within the context of increased ethnic revitalization and recognition, Native American Christians are negotiating new models of ethnicity in typically Western arenas, often manifesting through actions and discourse that are ostensibly traditional. Yet even in this era of recognition, the public performance of cultural authenticity is not the only thing on people’s minds. Native people mark various practices, symbols, and persons as traditional or modern at different points in history or within different contexts (see Bucko 1998); suggesting that individual expressions of ethnicity are both processual and event- dependent (see Agha 2007:165, 177, 255-256, 268). Thus, looking at Lakota Christians’ discourse and performance in congregational life, interpersonal interactions, and personal reflections illuminate many of the ways in which individuals and various vi subgroups (families, denominations, etc.) signal their ethnicities within the Church, and across time. This study reveals that ethnic expression in congregational life is demonstrated through specifically situated representations of difference rather than universalized or fixed categories of indigeneity, even in this era of ethnic recognition. vii Contents Preface ........................................................................................................................ xii Fieldwork and Methodology ............................................................................................................. xii Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 1 Organization of Chapters .................................................................................................................... 6 Section I: Essential Context ............................................................................................ 8 Chapter 1: Setting the Stage .......................................................................................... 9 Introduction to the Field ..................................................................................................................... 9 Rapid City, S.D. .................................................................................................................................. 13 Contextualizing the Population: Early Migration .............................................................................