"I Will Not Be Conquered": Popular Music and Indigenous Identities in North America Submitted by William Rees, to the University of Exeter as a thesis for the degree of Masters by Research in History, January 2019. This thesis is available for Library use on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. I certify that all material in this thesis which is not my own work has been identified and that any material that has previously been submitted and approved for the award of a degree by this or any other University has been acknowledged. (Signature) …… ………………………………………………………………………… 1 “I Will Not Be Conquered”: Popular Music and Indigenous Identities in North America 2 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisors, Dr Bryony Onciul and Dr Kristofer Allerfeldt for their wisdom and advice throughout the construction of this thesis. I would also like to thank other academics who have assisted this research at University of Exeter’s Penryn campus: Dr Garry Tregidga, Dr Nicola Whyte, Dr Timothy Cooper and Dr Richard Noakes. The input of indigenous musicians has been fundamental to this project. I am indebted to the participation of Kelly Derrickson, Danielle Egnew, Apryl Allen, Keith Secola, Mitch Walking Elk, Leah Shenandoah, Joanne Shenandoah, Christian Parrish Takes the Gun, Skye Stoney, and Raye Zaragoza. Furthermore, I am appreciative for having had informative e-mail correspondences with Matilda Allerfeldt, Iea Haggman, and Professor John Troutman. Finally, I would like to thank my friends for their support: Yusef Sacoor, Em Parker, Emma Soanes, Molly Taylor, Lauren Clarke, Holly King, James Kaffenberg, Dan Baldry, Dylan Jones, and Sarah Reel. 3 Abstract This thesis explores how indigenous peoples in the U.S. and Canada have been represented through popular music, both historically and in the present. It uses musicians, both indigenous and nonindigenous, as case studies to discuss how indigenous identities have been expressed, particularly exploring issues of gender, authenticity, voice, and cultural ownership. This is done through examination of music, interviews, and other cultural works. It considers the significance of these, given the context of colonialism that indigenous peoples in North American have experienced. This thesis also explores indigenous popular music as a potential form of agency which allows indigenous artists self-determination. It examines this in conjunction with Gerald Vizenor’s theory of indigenous survivance, an idea that indigenous peoples are assertive of their own cultural identities, and that their cultures have not only survived colonialism, but are resurging.1 1 Gerald Vizenor, (Editor), Survivance: Narratives of Native Presence, (2008). 4 Contents Chapter 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 7 1.1 Historiography............................................................................................................................... 9 1.2 Methodology ............................................................................................................................... 14 1.2.1 Reflexivity ............................................................................................................................. 15 1.2.2 Research Ethics..................................................................................................................... 16 1.2.3 Interviews ............................................................................................................................. 18 1.2.4 Conducting Interviews Online .............................................................................................. 21 1.2.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 23 1.3 Theoretical Framework: Popular Discourse and Cultural Authenticity ...................................... 23 1.4 The Colonial Context of Indigenous Peoples in North America .................................................. 30 1.4.1 A Summary of the Relationship between First Nations Peoples and Canada ...................... 31 1.4.2 A Summary of the Relationship between Native Americans and the U.S. ........................... 35 1.4.3 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 38 1.5 Indigenous Identities in North America ...................................................................................... 39 Chapter 2. Popular Music, Sexualised Stereotypes and Representation ........................................... 44 2.1 Sexualisation of the ‘Indian’ ........................................................................................................ 44 2.2 Sexualised Portrayal of ‘Indian’ Women in Popular Music ......................................................... 46 2.3 “Macho Man”: The Sexualised ‘Indian’ and the Village People .................................................. 52 2.4 Challenging ‘Indian’ Stereotypes ................................................................................................ 57 2.5 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 61 Chapter 3. Cultural Identities, Indigenous Hip-Hop, and E.D.M ......................................................... 62 3.1 “Rez Affiliated”: The Origins and Appeal of Indigenous Hip-Hop ............................................... 63 3.2 ‘Sisterz’: Female Indigenous Identities and Hip-hop .................................................................. 68 3.3 “Too Sick”: Eekwol and Discussions of Indigenous Masculinities ............................................... 73 3.4 “Warrior Code”: Hip-hop ‘Hardness’ and Indigenous Masculinity ............................................. 77 3.5 Indigenous Family and Hip-Hop .................................................................................................. 82 3.6 “Indian City”: Indigenous Music and Modern Indigenous Identities .......................................... 86 Theoretical Overview ........................................................................................................................ 97 Chapter 4. Voice ................................................................................................................................... 98 4.1 - Popular Music and the NAMMYs .............................................................................................. 98 4.2 - Keith Secola, Indigenous Comedy, and Coded Messages ....................................................... 101 4.3 - Na Ʉnʉ Nahai (Shape Shifter): Narratives of Nʉmʉnʉʉ Survivance through Nʉmʉ Tekwapʉ Popular Music ................................................................................................................................. 106 4.3.1 The Nʉmʉ Tekwapʉ Language........................................................................................... 107 4.3.2 Colonial Suppression of Nʉmʉ Tekwapʉ ............................................................................ 108 5 4.3.3 Native American Languages and Cultural Worldviews ...................................................... 110 4.3.4 Nʉmʉ Tekwapʉ in Apryl Allen’s ‘Shape Shifter’ ................................................................. 111 4.3.5 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 114 4.4 “These Things We Can’t Ignore”: Natural Resources, Canadian Media, and First Nations Protest Music ............................................................................................................................................... 114 4.4.1 Canada and First Nations Peoples...................................................................................... 115 4.4.2 Canada’s Staples Economy................................................................................................. 116 4.4.4 First Nations Protest and the Canadian Media .................................................................. 117 4.4.5 First Nations Counter Narratives ........................................................................................ 120 4.4.6 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 124 Chapter 5. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 125 Bibilography .................................................................................................................................... 127 6 Chapter 1. Introduction ‘Music is everything. Music is an honouring – we honour all elements of Creation. Each ritual is embraced by music. Music is healing, music creates a space of being. There are songs which are so powerful, they can quicken your death’.2 - Joanne Shenandoah, elaborating on the role of music in her Onyota'a:ka culture. Author’s interview. ‘Music constructs our sense of identity through the direct experiences it offers the body, time and sociability, experiences which enable us to place ourselves in imaginative cultural narratives’.3 - Simon Frith, ‘Music and Identity’ (1996). As sociomusicologist, Simon Frith,