University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository English Language and Literature ETDs Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2-9-2011 Decolonizing Gender: Indigenous Feminism and Native American Literature Leah Sneider Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/engl_etds Recommended Citation Sneider, Leah. "Decolonizing Gender: Indigenous Feminism and Native American Literature." (2011). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/engl_etds/9 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 English Language and Literature ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. DECOLONIZING GENDER: INDIGENOUS FEMINISM AND NATIVE AMERICAN LITERATURE BY LEAH MAIA SNEIDER B.A., English, University of Michigan, 1998 M.A., English, San Diego State University, 2005 DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy English The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico December, 2010 ii © 2010, Leah Maia Sneider iii DEDICATION To my maternal grandparents, Rose and Varkes Tavtigian, who have taught me so much about the meaning of love and family. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am extremely grateful to all of my committee members for their guidance and patience during this process. Dr. Scharnhorst, my chair, graciously took this project on and taught me the rigor of revision. Dr. Washburn bore the burden of helping me to develop my argument fully and clearly. As my outside reader, Dr. Glenn consistently offered extremely valuable (and timely) feedback and suggestions. Dr. Goldstein provided critical questions that will help me to shape this project into a manuscript. Dr. Denetdale’s own work continues to inspire me in immeasurable ways. I am supremely grateful to Dr. Michelle Hall Kells, who consistently supported me throughout my journey and provided a model of a scholar and adviser that I hope to become. I could not have finished without her support. I am honored to call her my friend. I would like to extend my gratitude to the English Department, especially Chuck Paine, Scott Sanders, Wanda Martin, Anita Obermeier, and Gail Houston; the College of Arts and Sciences; the Center for Academic Program Support, especially Daniel Sanford, Michelle Steiner, and Karen Olsen; and Zimmerman library for providing the skills, support, and encouraging environment conducive for success. Elizabeth Archuleta was my original mentor and teacher at UNM; Alan Kirkpatrick was my mentor and thesis advisor at San Diego State; and Betty Louise Bell was my original teacher back at the University of Michigan; they are the reason I began and have continued to study Native American literature for which I am eternally grateful. Other important teachers on my path include: Stephen Brandon, Gerald Vizenor, Joy Harjo, Glenebah Martinez, and Lloyd Lee. There are numerous other scholars whose work continues to inspire me. Friends and colleagues to whom I offer many thanks include: Julie Newmark, Skye Pratt, Marie Alfonsi, Carrie Heitman, Leigh Johnson, Lindsey Ives, Laura Matter, the History department and poker crew (you know who you are), Jason Aesnap, and my CAPS dissertation writing group members. I am thankful for all that I’ve learned from you all! My family has consistently supported me through every endeavor, big and small. We share each of our successes. Thanks Mom, Dad, Phae, Mike, Ben, Georgia, and Oliver for everything! Finally, my life is complete because of my partner Lucy Grinnell. I am so very thankful to have her in my life. v DECOLONIZING GENDER: INDIGENOUS FEMINISM AND NATIVE AMERICAN LITERATURE BY LEAH MAIA SNEIDER ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy English The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico December, 2010 vi DECOLONIZING GENDER: INDIGENOUS FEMINISM AND NATIVE AMERICAN LITERATURE By Leah Maia Sneider B.A., English, University of Michigan, 1998 M.A., English, San Diego State University, 2005 Ph.D., English, University of New Mexico, 2010 ABSTRACT An Indigenous feminist approach to Native literature reveals the ways in which Native authors attempt to build balanced relationships and conversations across cultures, nations, and histories. I explore ways that Native authors depict gender violence and male characters who, like Native women, negotiate colonization and assert sovereignty. Doing so offers a new way of reading Native literature that seeks to also decolonize our analytical approaches for similar use across academic disciplines and for practical applications within and outside of academia. I define Indigenous Feminism as the responsibility for the nurturance and growth of Native communities through storytelling as a communal process and action reflecting personal sovereign power. I focus on how these authors adapt traditional knowledge of social balance through ideological subversion. I read literary conventions as creating complementary and reciprocal relationships in order to develop critical awareness thus enacting an Indigenous feminist ideology. An author’s rhetorical and literary use of these vii principles attempts to create a balanced relationship between reader and author that simultaneously decolonizes readers’ minds. Reading constructions of masculinities in connection with complementarity and reciprocity discloses and helps to understand colonial gender violence thus asserting an Indigenous feminist decolonizing process that seeks to remove colonial ideological shackles. Thus, I read Native texts for a balanced distribution of power across relationships, specifically gender-based relationships and systems of power. This exploration of complementary and reciprocal relationships enables us to read literature as critical responses to gender violence and its effects on both Native men and women. These texts and their authors offer a way of seeing gender identity on a continuum based on both individual and communal needs. Furthermore, such an analysis allows for balanced dialogue needed to uncover a new understanding of shared experiences to effect social change. Therefore, a more inclusive Indigenous feminist perspective presents a new way of recognizing literature and storytelling as social activism, or attempting to affect social justice within the imaginations and ideologies of its readers. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................ 1 DATA SELECTION.............................................................................................................................................. 10 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................................................ 13 Complementarity and Reciprocity............................................................................................................... 13 Gender and Gender Violence ...................................................................................................................... 16 History of Gender Violence......................................................................................................................... 21 Genre, Gender, Nation ................................................................................................................................ 25 APPLYING THE THEORY: CHAPTER DESCRIPTIONS ........................................................................................... 32 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY ............................................................................................................................. 39 CHAPTER 2: JOHN ROLLIN RIDGE AND HYPERMASCULINE CONFLICT ON THE FRONTIER ............................................................................................................................................................................... 41 IRONIC RECIPROCITY AND THE SYMBOLS OF CONQUEST:................................................................................. 49 TRANSLATING IRONIC RECIPROCITY AS INDIGENOUS FEMINISM:..................................................................... 71 CHAPTER 3: GENDER, LITERACY, & SOVEREIGNTY IN WINNEMUCCA’S LIFE AMONG THE PIUTES ................................................................................................................................................................ 91 TRADITIONAL STORIES, HISTORY, AND SOVEREIGNTY..................................................................................... 96 CROSS-CULTURAL GENDER AND MORAL LITERACY AND MEDIATION........................................................... 104 CHAPTER 4: SYSTEMIC TRANSFORMATION: STORYTELLING IN CEREMONY........................ 131 NARRATIVE FORM........................................................................................................................................... 136 TAYO’S ILLNESS.............................................................................................................................................. 141 THE CEREMONY.............................................................................................................................................. 152 GENDER COMPLEMENTARITIES: TAYO AND TRADITIONAL STORIES .............................................................