Summer.Wk.4.Strong.andVanWinkle (1).pptx

“Indian Blood”: Reflections on the Reckoning and Refiguring of Native North American Identity by Pauline Turner Strong and Barrik Van Winkle Summer Week 4 Pauline Turner Strong American anthropologist specializing in literary, historical, ethnographic, media, and popular representations of Native A...

“Indian Blood”: Reflections on the Reckoning and Refiguring of Native North American Identity by Pauline Turner Strong and Barrik Van Winkle Summer Week 4 Pauline Turner Strong American anthropologist specializing in literary, historical, ethnographic, media, and popular representations of Native Americans Research specialty in the areas, identity, intercultural captivity, intercultural adoptions and the appropriation of Native American symbols and practices in U.S. sports and youth organizations B.A. in philosophy from Colorado College, Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Chicago Currently an associate professor of anthropology and women's and gender studies at UT Austin, where she is also director of the Humanities Institute 2006 recipient of the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award from the University of Texas at Austin From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauline_Turner_Strong Barrik Van Winkle American linguist and legal anthropologist Research on the language and culture of the Washoe Nation, a Great Basin Tribe of California and Nevada, and on gang violence in the United States Bachelor of Arts from University of Chicago, Masters of Arts from University of Nevada Publications co-authoring Life in the Gang: Families, Friends, and Violence of an Outstanding Book Award from the Academy of Criminal Justice Science along with numerous articles on the Washoe in Social Analysis, Cultural Anthropology, and New Perspectives on Native North America: Cultures, Histories, and Representations. Currently a research fellow in anthropology at U. T. Austin. From Wikipedia htp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrik_Van_Winkle This article explores the impact of and struggle for identity in regard to the cultural and political pressures imposed upon mixed heritage individuals and their Native American cultures. Personalizing it all Who do you define yourself as? Who/what influences that? Who has the right to define you? Indian Mean?": The Naturalization and Fragmentation of Native American Identity Several examples in the article explore the individual struggle with identity through art, writing and poetry. As the authors put it, “the need to objectify identity in the idiom of blood courses through Native American life.” (552) The haunting images of Joanne Cardinal- Schubert’s art depict a feeling of loss of self, loss of identity. An excerpt from the novel Lucy by Jamaica Kinkaid includes the title character bragging to her West Indian au pair that she is good at hunting and fishing as she has Indian Blood in her. “I'm left to defend one lonely drop of blood. I might terminate if I get nosebleed.” a passage from the Canadian poet Annharte's "Cheeky Moon"(552) Jack Forbes on Virginians who claim to descend from Pocahontas, “In claiming drops of “Indian Blood- and especially in tracing it to Pocahontas or another ‘Indian Princess’ - the victors naturalize themselves and legitimize their occupation of the land. Meanwhile (and this is the flipside of ‘managing somehow to hold on to Indian-ness’), the vanquished are required to naturalize and legitimize themselves in terms of blood quantum…” (552) Quantum Defined n. 1. 2. 3. pl. quan·ta (-t) A quantity or amount. A specified portion. Something that can be counted or measured. 4. in Physics - The smallest amount of a physical quantity that can exist independently Blood quantum is a degree of ancestry from a specific race or ethnicity for an individual based upon their parentage or blood line Blood Quantum or Indian Blood Laws effect on Native American land ownership Indian Blood Laws = Umbrella terms describing U.S. legislation meant to define membership in Native American tribes or nations.  In 1705, Virginia law limited colonial civil rights of Native Americans and persons of half or more Native American ancestry.  “Used in specific cases since the Sauk and Fox Treaty of 1830” (555)  In1881, Helen hunt Jackson writes A Century of Dishonor which pressures reform resulting in The Dawes General Allotment (Severalty) Act of 1887, The new law was thus tailored to attack a central institution of Indian culture, common ownership of tribal lands  Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 applies blood quantum to establish which individuals could be recognized as Native American and be eligible for financial and other benefits under treaties that were made, or sales of land. Led to many tribes codifying of quanta in various forms in tribal constitutions.  1968, the 14th Amendment is expanded to include Native Americans though it is in direct contradiction to the blood quantum laws which limit who shall receive the property. "Washoe Blood": Social and Experiential Implications of Blood Reckoning Washoe Nation Map of Historic Trade Routes Current land base is a fraction of their original territory, “four tiny residential colonies” and “a fairly extensive, but economically useless, acreage in the surrounding mountains.” (555) Currently about 1500 enrolled tribal members Current local acknowledgement of the Washoe tribe in the Lake Tahoe vicinity includes a few road signs, a small and predictable museum in a remote state park and in a casino once owned by Sinatra, a display known as the “Trophy Room,” particularly offensive as the California and Nevada Native Americans were once hunted for sport. (556)  Blood Quantum is never the sole component of Indian identity.  “Before massive disruptions and dislocations in the 1860’s, Washoe identity, like that of many Native American groups, was fluid, dynamic, situational, and embedded in a matrix of social, cultural, economic, political and, and linguistic practices and orientations.” “…kindred membership did not depend solely or necessarily on assumptions of shared substance: what was most important was the existence of named and unnamed role relationships and expectations among a set of individuals.” (557)  “Non-Washoe spouses were treated as Washoes if they adopted Washoe cultural practices…followed typical Washoe residential and land use patterns… and probably most importantly, learned and controlled the Washoe language.” (557)  Traditional Washoe identity is “nonessentialized, nonexclusive, and eminently social” (557) This philosophy of openness to out-marriage was a component in the disintegration of the tribal quantum.  In 1858, the area is overtaken by mostly Anglo- American miners and ranchers  Washoe population greatly affected by disease and malnutrition as they lost access to traditional hunting and fishing grounds and fields, which were also depleted by the expanding population  Population of Washoe further effected by the appalling treatment of Washoe women by the AngloAmericans and the resulting children. The Dawes Severalty Act of the 1887 awards economically marginal land proportionate to the size of the family to each male head of household Blood Quanta became important to identity within the tribe in contrast to the traditional views of membership “…the official discourse (of identity) is fixed, rigid, essentialized and bureaucratized…” (558) and “contradicts and undermines the Washoes’ social and situational understanding of identity. At the same time, ‘Indian Blood’ is a resource the Washoe Nation, like other groups, necessarily uses in making claims upon the federal trust responsibility toward Native Americans.” (559) Examples of the contradiction Bill J., a Washoe who appears Anglo-American with his blue eyes and blonde, curly hair who is considered, “more Washoe” than those who “look Indian” by an elder due to his love of the culture and agility in traditional sports. If he marries a woman not of 100% quantum, his children will receive no federal benefits. Intermarriage with the nearby Northern Paiute tribe, which leads the offspring to sometime identify with the latter for reasons including differing levels of tribal services and jobs, and the greater prestige among the local Anglos. (in 1860 Paiutes raided Reno during the Pyramid Lake War killing 43, along with other conquests this led them to be seen as warriors by the Anglos. In contrast, the Washoe were considered cowardly (568)) Urbanized Washoes who dwell in the city and do not adhere to the Western style of dress or lifestyle adopted as “real” or “traditional” Washoeness. (559) Dissention among a People The Oklahoma Cherokee Nation by vote of its citizens defines their tribe as descendants from a list of recognized citizens and express that it should be defined by their sovereign nation not the US Govt. http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/23221 Cherokee viewpointhttp://www.answers.com/topic/dawes-act Constitutional Cherokee-- One drop of Blood- Always Cherokee! Supports the beliefs of the Constitutional Cherokees / Eastern Cherokee Descendants Organization http://www.youtube.com/w atch?v=eQGiUAMf_pk&feat ure=related “Who gets to decide who it is that gets to decide if YOU are Cherokee? Is it one roll of ancestors (when there were many other rolls too)? Is it full? 1/4? 1/16th? More? less? Black Cherokees? Mixed Cherokees? Who is Cherokee? We believe [as our ancestors believed] that just one drop makes a person Cherokee if that is how they live. Will Thomas, pictured here, had white ancestors, but Yonaguska adopted him, and he was a Cherokee Chief and Will preserved the homeland -- a fraction of it survived him-- and that tiny piece of Will's empire is the Qualla in NC today. Debate today over the freedmen, the Dawes roll, the Baker Roll, versus any of the other rolls has raised the question.... WHO is Cherokee? And WHO Decides for them? We were forced to deny the blacks during America's time of slavery because it endangered our people. We sacrificed our own kin for our own safety. We must admit that. We must take responsibility for that. We must now own up to the truth. We need to STOP denying the blood of our ancestors as it comes down to ALL the people of the Southeast. We need everyone. Isn't our Cherokee blood stronger? Does 1 drop or 2 drops make that much of a difference? Let's go back to what our ancestors said, "One drop of blood is enough to be Cherokee.” A response from Andihoa on the video’s webpage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQGiUAMf_pk&feature=related "Blood Memory" and "Crossblood Survivors": Refigurations and Critiques of Essentialized Identities “Not surprisingly, given the discourse’s dual statues as burden and resource, tragic absurdity and persuasive claim, some contemporary Native Americans have chosen to reinforce and refigure, rather than deconstruct and displace, the symbol of Indian blood.” (560) N. Scott Momaday, a Kiowa tribe member’s writings are highlighted in this article, particularly “Memory in blood”, from The Way to Rainy Mountain. In this piece he describes a vision he has had for years which predates his own birth and is attribruted to the ancient blood which courses through his veins. He is noted as speaking from a “hybrid consciousness” speaking of “tribal intelligence” and “ancestral imagination”, though it is a common thread in Native American narratives to “return(ing) to the past” (561-2)(568) His work is highly criticized as racist by Arnold Krupat in the Voice in the Margin, calling it “mystical” and as placing, “unnecessary obstacles in the way of a fuller understanding and appreciation of Native American literature” and goes on to object Momaday’s “authoritarian voice.” Criticism of Krupat notes that he is not allowing for poetic illustration. “Dismantling the intricate edifice of racism embodied in “Indian blood” is not simply a matter of exposing its essentialism and discarding its associated policies, but a more delicate and complicated task: that is, acknowledging “Indian blood” as a discourse of conquest with manifold and contradictory effects, but The reality of quantum “As historian Patricia Nelson Limerick summarized in The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West... ‘Set the blood quantum at one-quarter, hold to it as a rigid definition of Indians, let intermarriage proceed as it had for centuries, and eventually Indians will be defined out of existence. When that happens, the federal government will be freed of its persistent 'Indian problem.‘” Source: Indigenous Language Institute http://www.indigenous-language.org What if…?? If you had to decide? If it were you? What if it were your own people who were being systematically extinguished? Citations  Strong, Pauline Turner & Van Winkle, Barrik, “Indian Blood”: Reflections on         the Reckoning of Native North American Identity Wikipedia Constitutional Cherokee-- One drop of Blood- Always Cherokee! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQGiUAMf_pk&feature=related Measuring Blood: The American Indian Blood Quantum http://www.nativelanguages.org/blood.htm WA SHE SHU: “The Washoe People” Past and Present http://www.manataka.org/page1070.html#WA_SHE_SHU_(THE_PEOPLE) http://www.thefreedictionary.com/quantum http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/23221 http://www.answers.com/topic/dawes-act http://www.americansouthwest.net/california/lake_tahoe/photographs.html Diversity and Beauty of Native American women http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQFv-ZiN8XQ&feature=related The Dawes General Allotment Act of1887  The Dawes General Allotment (Severalty) Act, February 8, 1887, converted all Indian tribal lands to individual ownership in an attempt to facilitate the assimilation of Indians into the white culture. Pressure for a reform in Indian policy was triggered by Helen Hunt Jackson's book, A Century of Dishonor (1881), which chronicled the unjust treatment American Indians had received at the hands of the federal government. Indian Rights associations sprang up across the country, and consensus grew that Indians must be helped to become full members of American society. The reformers saw the traditional patterns of Indian culture as the principal obstacle to meaningful citizenship; their first task, they believed, was to end the nomadism and isolation of reservation life. The new law was thus tailored to attack a central institution of Indian culture, common ownership of tribal lands.  Under the Dawes Act, Indian tribes lost legal standing, and tribal lands were divided among the individual members. In exchange for renouncing their tribal holdings, Indians would become American citizens and would receive individual land grants--160 acres to family heads, 80 acres to single adults. Even these grants were qualified, however; full ownership would come only after the expiration of a twenty-five-year federal trust. (In 1906, the Burke Act waived the remaining trust for all Indians judged competent to handle their property independently.)  The Dawes Act significantly undermined Indian tribal life, but did little to further their acceptance into the broader society. In addition, the law severely reduced Indian holdings; after all individual allocations had been made, the extensive lands remaining were declared surplus and opened for sale to non-