Indigenous Studies Commons^™

Racismo Y Lenguaje, Michele Back, Virgina Zavala

Faculty Published Works

Este libro busca contribuir al estudio de los procesos de racialización y de la construcción discursiva de nuevas identidades en el Perú contemporáneo. En lugar de abordar el racismo desde una dimensión cognitiva, se interesa por el rol que las prácticas lingüísticas cumplen en su constitución. Las diez contribuciones que integran este volumen examinan los discursos y las prácticas del racismo en ámbitos diversos y discuten las sutiles formas en las que se construye a un «otro» desde un criterio aparentemente no racial, pero bajo retóricas raciales de modo subyacente. Todos los artículos abordan la forma en que la raza …

Lone Man And All My Relations, Doug Meigs

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Lone Man is the central creation figure of the Mandan, an indigenous people of present-day North Dakota. The story of Lone Man begins with the creation figure becoming self-aware on the open ocean. He creates the Earth and sets off to discover his people. Doug Meigs is writing the oral history of Robert O’Brien, a modern Mandan man living in Omaha, Nebraska, who grew up without any knowledge of tribal identity. Late in life, he would set off to learn that he was Mandan. O’Brien is still coming to terms with the meaning of that identity.

The Socio-Political And Economic Causes Of Natural Disasters, Nicole Southard

CMC Senior Theses

To effectively prevent and mitigate the outbreak of natural disasters is a more pressing issue in the twenty-first century than ever before. The frequency and cost of natural disasters is rising globally, most especially in developing countries where the most severe effects of climate change are felt. However, while climate change is indeed a strong force impacting the severity of contemporary catastrophes, it is not directly responsible for the exorbitant cost of the damage and suffering incurred from natural disasters -- both financially and in terms of human life. Rather, the true root causes of natural disasters lie within the …

The Blurred Lines Of Cultural Appropriation, Jaja Grays

Capstones

For centuries, fashion designers, music artists and other celebrities alike have borrowed elements or styles from other cultures for personal gain. In my piece, "The Blurred Lines of Cultural Appropriation," I demonstrate the countless ways celebrities have appropriated different cultures whether at high-end fashion shows or live music performances. Cultural appropriation refers to a privileged culture borrowing or stealing from a marginalized culture-- striping elements of the culture to use it as a prop or for profit. I also discuss how to avoid cultural appropriation and engage in respectful cultural appreciation.

From Recovery To Discovery: Ethnic American Science Fiction And (Re)Creating The Future, Daoine S. Bachran

English Language and Literature ETDs

My project assesses how science fiction by writers of color challenges the scientific racism embedded in genetics, nuclear development, digital technology, and molecular biology, demonstrating how these fields are deployed disproportionately against people of color. By contextualizing current scientific development with its often overlooked history and exposing the full life cycle of scientific practices and technological changes, ethnic science fiction authors challenge science’s purported objectivity and make room for alternative scientific methods steeped in Indigenous epistemologies. The first chapter argues that genetics is deployed disproportionally against black Americans, from the pseudo-scientific racial classifications of the nineteenth century and earlier through …

18th And 19th Century European Philosophy And The Justification Of Colonial And Economic Exploits, Danielle Platt, Ian Nell

Honors Papers and Posters

The theories and philosophies that have evolved over the course of human history have each influenced and affected the politics and the behaviors of the societies where they are popularized. We wish to study the sorts of relationships that may exist between popular European philosophies of the 18th and 19th centuries, and the political ideologies of the time, and why they still bear relevance in global politics today’s globalized international community.

In The Land Of The Mountain Gods: Ethnotrauma And Exile Among The Apaches Of The American Southwest, M. Grace Hunt Watkinson

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

In the mid to late nineteenth century, two Indigenous groups of New Mexico territory, the Mescalero and the Chiricahua Apaches, faced violence, imprisonment, and exile. During a century of settler influx, territorial changeovers, vigilante violence, and Indian removal, these two cousin tribes withstood an experience beyond individual pain best described as ethnotrauma. Rooted in racial persecution and mass violence, this ethnotrauma possessed layers of traumatic reaction that not only revolved around their ethnicity, but around their relationship with their home lands as well. Disconnected from the ritual resources and sacred geographies that made up every day Apache living, both groups …

The Fictions Of Whiteness: Transatlantic Race Science, Gender, Nationalism, And The Construction Of Race In Nineteenth-Century American Fiction (1823-1867), Philip E. Kadish

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Fictions of Whiteness argues that political beliefs preceded and determined the race science theories which nineteenth century American white novelists applied or invoked in their work, the inverse of the current critical consensus. For issues ranging from Indian removal to slavery and Reconstruction, and utilizing theories from of Condorcet, Buffon, Camper, Louis Agassiz, James Pritchard, Johannes Blumenbach, and George Borrow these authors shifted allegiances to divergent race theories between and within works, applied those theories selectively to white, black, and Indians characters, and applied the same scientific race theories to politically divergent rhetorical ends. By analyzing shifting application of different …

"Their Shadows Still Walk With Us": Mapping A Decolonial Cartography Of Struggle With Ingrid Washinawatok El-Issa, Sandra Álvarez

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

This paper maps a cartography of struggle to document the dynamic, living legacy of Menominee leader Ingrid Washinawatok El-Issa and her contribution to the decolonial possibilities of transnational Indigenous feminism. I propose that mapping a cartography of struggle is a useful way for movements to consider how the past informs the present and future possibilities of resistance and decoloniality.

Este artículo traza una cartografía de las luchas que llevó a cabo la líder Menominee Ingrid Washinawatok El-Issa con el fin de documentar su legado dinámico y vivo y su contribución a las posibilidades decoloniales del feminismo indígena transnacional. Propongo la …

Indigeneity, Diaspora, And Ethical Turn In Anzaldúa’S Borderlands/La Frontera, Hsinya Huang

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Indigeneity, Diaspora, and Ethical Turn in Anzaldúa's Borderlands/La Frontera" Hsinya Huang discusses indigeneity vis-à-vis diaspora, two concepts often used as if they were necessarily antagonistic and antithetical to one another. While in diaspora studies Native people are marginalized, Huang resituates the figure of the Native to the core of diasporic discussion by tracing the movement, migration, or scattering of Native people from their established or ancestral homeland. Drawing on Gloria Anzaldúa's life narrative in Borderlands/La Frontera, Huang advances the concept of the ethical turn in diaspora studies by questioning the master narrative regarding …

Beyond Domestic Empire: Internal- And Post-Colonial New Mexico, John R. Chávez

History Faculty Publications

The purpose of this paper is to outline the connections between internal colonialism and post-colonialism, two dimensions of an evolving colonial paradigm. To test these theories against historical reality, they are applied to ethnic Mexicans and Indians, especially Navajos, in New Mexico in order to ground them and colonialism in general at the regional level. This paper claims that internal colonialism continues effectively to explain the historic subordination of indigenous and mixed peoples within larger states dominated by other groups. This condition understood, the paper sees postcolonial theory as providing ideas to end internally colonized societies since the theory critiques …

Framing Identity: Repudiating The Ideal In Chicana Literature, Michael A. Flores

All NMU Master's Theses

In the 1960s Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzalez penned his now canonical, epic poem “I Am Joaquin.” The poem chronicles the historic oppression of a transnational, Mexican people as well as revolutionary acts of their forefathers in resisting tyranny. Coinciding with a series of renewed, sociopolitical campaigns, collectively known as the Chicano Movement, Gonzales’ poem uses vivid imagery to present an idealized representation of Chicanos and encouraged his reader to engage in revolutionary action. Though the poem encourages strong leadership, upward mobility, and political engagement the representations of women in his text are misogynistic and limiting.

His presentation of the “black-shawled …

How European Folk Stories Have Misrepresented Indigenous Women, Jacqueline S. Marotto

Student Publications

An examination of Rayna Green's "The Pocahontas Perplex" in reflection of course material about the role of indigenous women in North America.

Defining Traditional American Indian Identity Through Anishinaabe Cultural Perspective, Joshua Edward Maudrie

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This study addresses the question of American Indian Identity, specifically, what makes an Indian an Indian from a traditional Anishinaabe Indian cultural perspective? Perspectives were gained through life experiences as an active member of Anishinaabe Indian communities in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan, as well as traditional cultural ceremonies. There are two primary reasons for this study: first to provide insight into the traditional cultural perspective of American Indian identity for non-Indians and its relevancy in present day; and second, to start a discussion within tribal nations about utilizing their traditional culture in governance and membership issues. For this Qualitative study, …

The Search For Pan: Difference And Morality In D. H. Lawrence’S St. Mawr And The Woman Who Rode Away, Ria Banerjee

Publications and Research

Both St. Mawr (1925) and The Woman Who Rode Away (1928) were written at the height of Lawrence’s fascination with New Mexico and demonstrate a continuum of thought about the position of the European and the Indian, but what is most interesting about these stories when read in conjunction is their attitude towards difference. Lou Carrington, the protagonist of St. Mawr, holds herself separate from other women of her class, from other men, from her mother and her Indian groom, finally finding a temporary peace in seeking affinity in a landscape; the woman who rides away from home and …

Crafts Of Color: Tupi Tapirage In Early Colonial Brazil, Amy Buono

Art Faculty Books and Book Chapters

"Tyrian purple. Lamp black. Lead white. Cadmium yellow. Ultramarine blue. The materiality of color, as it is often discussed, has a fixed quality. Pigments and dyes derived from many natural substances-minerals, earths, plants, and animals-have stable optic qualities. Lapis lazuli can be reliably counted upon to be blue. Dyes made from cochineal consistently fall within a certain range at the red end of the spectrum. Similarly, we might expect that the green feathers of a bird such as the Festive Parrot (Amazona festiva), after molting, would be replaced by equally green plumes. As the excerpt above suggests, from …

The Factors That Are Related To Native American Community College Students' Intent To Persist, Garnet Laureen Williams

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

More than half of Native American higher education students choose community colleges as their institution of choice. However, when compared with other ethnic groups, Native American/Alaska Natives (NA/AN) students earn the second-lowest number of associate degrees and the lowest number of bachelor's degrees. Despite this substantive gap, few studies have explored the factors related to Native American community college students' intent to persist. With the projected population surge of NA/AN residents over the next 15 years, more research on the factors related to Native American community college students' intent to persist in college is warranted.

This ex post facto study …

“Double Consciousness” And The Racial Self In Zitkala-Ša’S American Indian Stories, Britta Gingras

Undergraduate Review

In 1903, the African American intellectual and political figure W. E. B. Du Bois, in The Souls of Black Folk, introduced the concept of double consciousness. Du Bois defines double consciousness as the struggle African Americans face to remain true to black culture while at the same time conforming to the dominant white society. Du Bois writes, “It is a peculiar sensation, this double consciousness…one ever feels his two-ness, an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two un-reconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder” (Du Bois 2). …

Healers And Helpers, Unifying The People: A Qualitative Study Of Lakota Leadership, Kem M. Gambrell

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this critical grounded theory qualitative study was to explore Lakota Leadership from a Native perspective. Interviews were conducted with enrolled members of a Lakota tribe in an urban setting as well as on the Rosebud reservation to gain better awareness of leadership through a non-mainstream viewpoint. Previously, in order to understand leaders and followers, research limited its scope of discernment to dominant society, implying that non-mainstream individuals will acquiesce, or that differences found are inconsequential. Leadership scholars also have implied that leadership theory is “universal enough”, and can be applied globally regardless of influences such as race, …

A Place Like This: An Environmental Justice History Of The Owens Valley - Water In Indigenous, Colonial, And Manzanar Stories, Monica Embrey

Pomona Senior Theses

This text provides an environmental justice analysis of the stories of the people who lived in the Owens Valley, who watered its land and cultivated its crops—pine trees, apple trees, and kabocha alike. Telling the personal stories of challenge and resistance that manifested alongside the oppressive forces of military and state domination provides the opportunity to align forcibly relocated, exploited and incarcerated people’s struggles throughout time. This text starts with The Nü’ma Peoples who were the first humans to live in the Owens Valley and continues with the struggle for empire between rival colonial empires of agriculture and distant urban …

Tupi Featherwork And The Dynamics Of Intercultural Exchange In Early Modern Brazil, Amy J. Buono

Art Faculty Books and Book Chapters

"The Tupi of sixteenth- and seventeenth century coastal Brazil were renowned as fiercely warlike and, more sensationally, as cannibals. They were also famed for their ritual featherwork capes made from scarlet ibis feathers, which were closely associated with both war and anthropophagic rituals (see figure). For the semi-nomadic Tupi, featherwork was highly valued, the capes being among the only things that they carefully preserved and carried with them as they moved from site to site."

Transcultural Transformation: African American And Native American Relations, Barbara S. Tracy

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The intersected lives of African Americans and Native Americans result not only in Black Indians, but also in a shared culture that is evidenced by music, call and response, and story. These intersected lives create a dynamic of shared and diverging pathways that speak to each other. It is a crossroads of both anguish and joy that comes together and apart again like the tradition of call and response. There is a syncopation of two cultures becoming greater than their parts, a representation of losses that are reclaimed by a greater degree. In the tradition of call and response, by …

The Forgotten Minority: A Cross-Sectional And Time-Series Analysis Of American Indian/Alaska Native Child Abuse And Neglect, 1993-2003, Linda Kaye Ketcher

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Very little empirical research has been conducted on child abuse among American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/AN). This dissertation examines the rate of reported AI/AN child abuse from 1993-2003 for the 20 U. S. states with the largest percentages of AI/AN populations. Research on child abuse and neglect from at least two bodies of literature is examined - one on child abuse in the general population and the other on child abuse among American Indians/Alaskan Natives. Based on SAS output from pooled time series analysis, two tables were created, one for the general population and one for the AI/AN population. The results …

Mentoring Women Of Color For Leadership: Do Barriers Exist?, Sandra Yvonne Jeffcoat

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The number of women in the workforce is increasing, but they continue to hold few corporate leadership positions. Women are running into the glass ceiling, a ceiling that is thicker for Women of Color. The under-representation of women and minorities in leadership positions and the recognition of the business value of Diversity in this global economy have driven organizations to launch diversity programs and use mentoring as support for aspiring women leaders. Ragins and Cotton's 1991 research found that there were barriers for women who were looking to use mentoring as a tool for leadership development, but her participants were …

Jean-Baptiste Debret’S Return Of The Negro Hunters, The Brazilian Roça, And The Interstices Of Empire, Amy J. Buono

Art Faculty Books and Book Chapters

"Despite the range of subjects that Debret illustrates, historians of Brazil have usually only reproduced his images of Afro-Brazilian slaves. This is understandable, given the political, social and economic interest in the topic and the fact that Debret is one of the few artists who portrayed the horrors of slavery in Brazil at so early date.³ The keen interest in slavery as an historical topic has also led some scholars to assume that all Afro-Brazilians depicted in Debret's volumes are slaves, when many individuals may in fact have been free.⁴ While acknowledging the importance of examining Debret's images …

Book Revew: Rewriting White, By Todd Vogel, Tim Engles

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

Corral Family: Robert Pena Corral (Elder), George Kim

Native American Stories

Robert P. Corral did not live on an Indian reservation; he grew up speaking both English and Spanish. The federal government would ration one buffalo a year for meat requiring Robert to hunt for his family’s food; he would use his bow and arrow to kill wildcat, bear, deer and beaver. Robert also traded animal hides for additional staples…

Corral Family: Margaret Sanchez Corral (Middle), Lindsey Gaines

Native American Stories

Margaret Sanchez has spoken two languages for as long as she can remember, Spanish and English. This allowed her to appreciate her dual cultural heritage from a young age. She was born in French Camp in 1952 and raised in Stockton. She was the third oldest of eight children. Her father, a mechanic, had Northern Valley Yokut, Ohlone, and Miwak ancestors while her mother was of Mexican decent. Her grandparents on both sides of the family, were strong influences on her childhood; the family spoke both English and Spanish at home and served cuisine from both cultures...

Perez Family: Francisco Cardenas (Youth), Tammy Hunt

Native American Stories

Sometimes Francisco Cardenas felt tense growing up, but he always found peace at a Mother Lode retreat—the tribal roundhouse in Volcano. He remembers people dancing and talking, but also leaving him space to stop and think. “It was a calm, soothing place,” he recalls. He could leave school and work behind. Outside this sanctuary, however, being an adolescent was a challenge. He craved independence, but he also wanted recognition from his family and community…

Perez Family: Margaret Perez (Elder), Jillian Altfest

Native American Stories

“Never marry a man from Mexico,” Margaret’s grandmother advised her. Grandmother pressed her early on in life to marry only within their tribe, and to keep the language and traditions of the family alive. Margaret is a natural mischief-maker, and she remains unmoved by her grandmother’s tales of ghosts or devils who would come and take her away. Typically ignoring grandma’s advice, Margaret fell in love with a Mexican…