WRITING IN BROTHERHOOD: RECONSTITUTING INDIGENOUS CITIZENSHIP, NATIONHOOD, AND RELATIONSHIPS AT THE TURN OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY by Michael P. Taylor B.A., Brigham Young University, 2010 M.A., Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, 2012 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (English) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) July 2016 © Michael P. Taylor, 2016 Abstract The current field of Indigenous literary studies remains overwhelmingly focused on individual authors and their use of traditionally Eurowestern literary genres. While analyzing these individuals’ novels, poetry, essays, and other traditionally single-author literary genres, however, scholars often overlook these same individuals’ participation in the collectivist national and co- national writings of their contemporaneous Indigenous nations and networks. This dissertation argues for the need to (re)center collectivist texts within Indigenous literary studies and highlights the fluid Indigenous literary networks of North America and the Pacific at the turn of the twentieth century. By juxtaposing the constitutions, petitions, and newspapers of the Hui Aloha ‘Āina (Hawaiian Patriotic League), the Alaska Native Brotherhood/Sisterhood, and the National Council of American Indians, I trace the hemispheric and trans-Pacific history of collectivist literary genres in order to provide an innovative Indigenous literary history of genre. I argue that when Indigenous peoples write as a collective body, their writings participate within longstanding Indigenous literary traditions—from the Hodinöhsö:ni’ Great Law (ca. 1090–1500) to the Constitution of the White Earth Nation (2009)—that continue to be overlooked in favor of “orature” and contemporary fiction composed by individual authors. By (re)centering collectivism within the study of Indigenous literatures, this dissertation also introduces the theoretical framework of co- nationalism, the process and potential of Indigenous nations working together while maintaining local distinctions and commitments, in order to attest to the ongoing survival of Indigenous literary communities and coalitions, maintain Indigenous lands as central to Indigenous literatures, and disrupt the definitions of literature that continue to marginalize literary expressions of Indigenous solidarity. ii Preface This is an original work of research by the author, Michael P. Taylor. iii Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... ii Preface ........................................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... vi Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................... vii Introduction: (Re)connecting Indigenous Peoples, Literatures, and Lands ............................1 Ethics, Methodology, and Structure............................................................................................ 9 Collectivism: A “Road Forward” for Indigenous Literary Studies .......................................... 14 Indigenous Solidarity in Motion ............................................................................................... 21 Co-nationalism: “The Indians Must Organize” ........................................................................ 26 Chapter 1: Constitutional Stories ...............................................................................................33 Constitution of the White Earth Nation (2009) ......................................................................... 38 Ka Hui Aloha ‘Āina. Ke Kumukānāwai1 (1893) ...................................................................... 49 Grand Camp Constitution of the Alaska Native Brotherhood (1917) ...................................... 73 Constitution and By-Laws of the National Council of American Indians (1926) ................... 90 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 107 Chapter 2: Signatures of Solidarity .........................................................................................109 Petition of the National Council of American Indians (1926) ................................................ 115 1929 Grand Camp Resolution (Alaska Native Brotherhood/Sisterhood) ............................... 132 1 Constitution of the Hawaiian Patriotic League iv Palapala Hoopii Kue Hoohuiaina2 (1897, Hui Aloha ‘Āina) .................................................. 143 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 148 Chapter 3: Indigenous Paper Routes .......................................................................................150 Ke Aloha ‘Āina (1895–1920) .................................................................................................. 156 The Alaska Fisherman (1923–32) ........................................................................................... 166 Indian News Letter (1929–38) ................................................................................................ 182 Conclusion: Moving Together along the Road Forward ........................................................201 Works Cited ................................................................................................................................211 2 Petition Against Annexation v List of Figures Figure 1: Alaska Native Brotherhood. 1944 the Alaska Native Brotherhood Annual Convention Meeting Minutes. MS/007. Walter A. Soboleff Papers, 1920–2009. Sealaska Heritage Institute Archives. Juneau, AK. ........................................................................................ 25 Figure 2: Hui Aloha ‘Āina. Ke Kumukanawai. March 22, 1893. Ka Leo o ka Lahui [Honolulu, HI]. Ulukau: Hawaiian Electronic Library ....................................................................... 67 Figure 3: Alaska Native Brotherhood. Grand Camp Constitution. 1917–18. Philip Drucker's The Native Brotherhoods: Modern Intertribal Organizations on the Northwest Coast (1958) ................................................................................................................................ 79 Figure 4: Jean Wanamaker. Certificate of Examination of an Alaska Indian as to Qualifications as to Claims of Citizenship. February 6, 1919. Sealaska Heritage Institute. MS/047. William S. Wanamaker Collection. Sealaska Heritage Institute ...................................... 85 Figure 5: Constitution and By-Laws of the National Council of American Indians. 1926. Amherst College Digital Collections ................................................................................ 93 Figure 6: The National Council of American Indians. Campground Letterhead. 1926–38. MSS 1704. Gertrude Bonnin and Raymond Bonnin Collection. L. Tom Perry Special Collections. Brigham Young University......................................................................... 102 Figure 7: Ke Aloha Aina. 5 Jun. 1897. Ho‘olaupa‘i: Hawaiian Nūpepa Collection. ulukau: Hawaiian Electronic Library ........................................................................................... 161 Figure 8: Newspaper Boys. “Ka Makana Hape Nuia A Ke Aloha Aina.” Ke Aloha Aina. 6 Jan. 1906................................................................................................................................. 164 Figure 9: Alaska Fisherman. February 15, 1923. KETC 10/1-10/3. Alaska State Library. Juneau, Alaska ............................................................................................................................. 168 Figure 10: Alaska Fisherman. Jan. 1924. KETC 10/1-10/3. Alaska State Library. Juneau, AK ......................................................................................................................................... 170 Figure 11: Letter to Captain Bonnin. 15 Apr. 1932. MSS 1704. Gertrude Bonnin and Raymond Bonnin Collection. L. Tom Perry Special Collections. Brigham Young University ....... 185 Figure 12: Indian News. 15 Apr. 1929. MSS 1704. Gertrude Bonnin and Raymond Bonnin Collection. L. Tom Perry Special Collections. Brigham Young University ................... 187 Figure 13: Indian News Letter. 22 Feb. 1932. MSS 1704; Gertrude Bonnin and Raymond Bonnin Collection; L. Tom Perry Special Collections; Brigham Young University ................... 193 vi Acknowledgements Thank you to the Musqueam people upon whose unceded and occupied land the University of British Columbia is located. Thank you to my supervisor, Daniel Heath Justice (Cherokee), for his constant encouragement, insight, and friendship; to Mary Chapman for her lightning-quick responses, thorough feedback, and organizational expertise; and to Dory Nason (Anishinaabe) for her fierce, intellectual passion. This dissertation would not be possible without the generous financial, logistical, and archival support of the Charles