Indigenous Studies Commons^™

Listening To Bamewawagezhikaquay’S Teachers: Jane Johnston Schoolcraft’S Citational Cosmopolitics, Shelby Johnson

Criticism

This article argues that Bamewawagezhikaquay, or Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, offers vital citations of Anishinaabe cosmologies, including lineages of human and nonhuman teachers and perspectives on animate archives that should inflect new approaches to textual studies. Bamewawagezhikaquay’s writings express a citational cosmopolitics, a practice where Bamewawagezhikaquay invokes, and occasionally translates into English, human and more-than-human agents in the cocreation of Anishinaabe knowledge. In her descriptions of Anishinaabe plants and geographies, she models a citational praxis that intersects with resurgent frameworks on orienting to Anishinaabe writings, including birchbark maps and cliff paintings, not as inert objects but as dynamic nodal points in …

Trees And Texts: Indigenous History, Material Media, And The Logan Elm, Mark Alan Mattes

Criticism

Settler accounts of the Cayuga Native American Soyeghtowa (Logan), such as Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia, interpret his famous mourning speech, “Logan’s Lament,” as the words of a melancholic, noble savage and vanishing Indian. This essay decolonizes settler accounts of Logan’s words and deeds such as Jefferson’s book by considering Indigenous relationships to a once-living memorial on Shawnee land in central Ohio, the Logan Elm, which nineteenth-century settlers apocryphally identified as the site of Logan’s speech. Drawing on scholarly work on Indigenous writing and historical media by Native American and settler intellectuals, as well as local …

Warp/Weft/Word: Inscriptive Materiality, Epistemological Violence, And The Inka Khipu, Travis Sharp

Criticism

Many competing theories of the Indigenous inscription practice known as the khipu have been offered, from L. Leland Locke’s long-standing postulation that khipus are accounting devices, to Walter Ong’s description of them as aide-mémoire, to Gary Urton’s more experimental theory that they constituted an early form of binary composition. Just as fraught is the history of the khipu, which were utilized by the Inka, intermediated by Spanish and Catholic authorities in their legal and religious systems, and, finally, banned and burned as seditious and sacrilegious. Contemporary khipus are primarily limited to those used by herders, but Chilean American poet-artist Cecilia …

Pipestone Books: Indigenous Materialisms And Bibliographical Methods, Daniel Radus

Criticism

This article argues that the methods of bibliographical scholarship would be enriched with further attention to Indigenous ontological traditions. It does so via an analysis of a small tablet of pipestone that in 1957 was carved into the shape of an open book by Ephraim Taylor, a Dakota artist. The article first establishes that, for the Dakotas, pipestone is a vibrant and animate material, a sentient trace of ancestral kin. The article then aligns the pipestone sculpture with an archive of books whose material traits have been altered by Indigenous readers, arguing ultimately that a sophisticated account of these books—and …

Reintroducing Hemp (Rongony) In The Material Palette Of Madagascar: A Study On The Potential Of Hemp Clay Components And Its Impact On Social And Ecological Communities., Henintsoa Thierry Andrianambinina

Masters Theses

When mentioning the word hemp, especially in the local language of Madagascar, the literal translation does not set it apart from marijuana, as they are both called “rongony” - creating the stigma around hemp as the negative stereotype of marijuana. However, the material has been used by the ancestors of Madagascar, as well as across cultures, in its fibrous form to produce fabrication like textile goods and packaging. During colonization, the prohibition of hemp intensified, and since then, any activity related to either of these plants is prohibited and will end in severe punitive measures. This thesis explores the strengths …

“Tribal Rights Are Important Rights”: The Origins, Travails, And Impact Of The Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribe V. The State Of New Jersey, Brianna Marie Dagostino

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis was to study the lawsuit case of the of Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation V. John J. Hoffman and to showcase how modern-day racism ultimately led to their federal lawsuit in 2015. Racism and racist biases over Indian gaming has affected not just the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape tribe, but tribes all over the country and has severely hindered tribes in the state and federal acknowledgment process. There are also other tribes that have had lawsuits over racial biases of Indian gaming, which will be discussed within the thesis. By using oral histories from tribal members and allies …

Vol. 46 No. 1 (2023): Pacific Studies Front Matter, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Front Matter for the Vol. 46, No 1-Jun 2023 edition of the Pacific Studies Journal.

Talanoa Digital Storytelling As A Culturally Appropriate Method In Palliative Care Health Research: An Evaluation Of The Narratives Of Pacific Families Caring For Older Loved Ones At End Of Life, Ofa Dewes, Kylah Williams, Suamalie Naisali

Pacific Studies

Talanoa is a Pacific concept of dialogue and storytelling that was used as a framework for producing our digital stories. This article sets out an evaluation of a workshop-based process for talanoa digital storytelling (DST) where aiga (family) carers created their own short autobiographic films and injected their voices into the social and public health discourse and knowledge production. Five digital stories were created. Participants were drawn from a cohort of 33 aiga carers in a study investigating the end of life circumstances of Pacific Peoples dying in advanced age, and the experiences faced by their aiga who carry out …

From Atoll To Mainland: Aging Micronesians In The Context Of Migration, Juliana Flinn

Pacific Studies

A case study of the atoll of Pollap, part of Chuuk State in the Federated States of Micronesia, analyzes changes in the process of aging over the past forty years, in particular as a result of migration of Micronesians to Guam, Hawai‘i, and the mainland United States. Forty years ago, most elderly aged at home surrounded by family to care for them, valued for their knowledge, advice, and even some productive activities. With migration, however, many elderly now live abroad with grown children. Some migrated as young people, found jobs, acquired good English skills, and have made homes in the …

Introduction, Marama Muru-Lanning, Hilary Lapsley

Pacific Studies

This special issue of Pacific Studies focuses on well-being amongst indigenous Pacific elders. Well-being is a widely used concept, but research is lacking on how well-being is understood in Oceania. This issue involves studies on the well-being of elders from Rotuma, Papua New Guinea and Pollap, as well as Māori and Pacific peoples in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

Our collection emphasizes two pou, or posts, supporting well-being amongst Pacific elders. The first, aging in place, has a Pacific twist, where homeplaces are whenua, ancestral places of deep connection imbued with cultural and relational significance. Vā, meaning relational space, is a related concept. …

Vol. 46 No. 1 (2023): Pacific Studies Full Issue, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Pacific Studies is published two times a year by The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies, Brigham Young University Hawai‘i #1979, 55–220 Kulanui Street, Lā ‘ie, Hawai‘i 96762, but responsibility for opinions expressed in the articles rests with the authors alone. Subscription rate is US$40.00 yearly, payable to The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies. The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies (formerly The Pacific Institute) is an organization funded by Brigham Young University Hawai‘i. The Center assists the University in meeting its cultural and educational goals by undertaking a program of teaching, research, …

Aging And Well-Being On Rotuma In Historical Perspective, Alan Howard, Jan Rensel

Pacific Studies

In this article, we present a historical overview of the conditions affecting the experience of aging among Rotumans on their home island. We draw on an array of cultural, social, and personal data derived from censuses, fieldwork, and archival sources covering more than one hundred years on Rotuma, which we divide into three segments for comparison: a baseline period (1903–60), the transition to modernity (1960–99), and the twenty-first century (2000–19). Among the changes that have affected the welfare of the elderly on the island are medical conditions, household size and composition, economic changes, and the proportion of older people on …

Fraught Aging And Frayed Social Networks, Laura Zimmer-Tamakoshi

Pacific Studies

This article looks at the challenges of aging in Gende society and why the Papua New Guinea government should consider a safety net for more vulnerable populations. It begins with an overview of how the Gende used their exchange system over many generations to deal with periods of extreme uncertainty and inequality. Investing in a moral economy that encouraged gender equality and expansive kin relations and obligations, the Gende weathered tribal warfare that drove them off their traditional lands long ago. Moving into sparsely populated mountains in what is now Madang Province, Gende became middlemen in trade routes connecting the …

Kaumātuatanga: Kōrero Of Māori Elders From Three Tai Tokerau Tribal Groups, Marama Muru-Lanning, Hilary Lapsley, Tia Dawes, Keri Mills

Pacific Studies

An ongoing transdisciplinary research program from James Henare Research Centre, University of Auckland/Waipapa Taumata Rau highlights kaumātua voices to investigate the well-being of Māori elders. Our kaupapa Māori research involves noho wānanga, overnight meetings with kaumātua of a particular rohe (area), and pays attention to locality and histories, as well as the direct emerging themes from conversations and interviews. This article examines participants’ understanding of kaumātuatanga, that is, what it means to be a kaumātua, or Māori elder, in three rohe in Te Tai Tokerau, the northern region of Aotearoa/New Zealand: Patuharakeke, Ngātiwai and Te Hiku o te Ika. We …

Apala Best Of The Best Booklist 2022, Asian Pacific American Librarians Association, Family Literacy Focus Committee, Education Subcommittee, Becky Leathersich (Chair), Zoë Bowlus, Nicole Fernandez, Anh Tran Ng, Jessea Young

Librarian Publications & Presentations

The Best of the Best Booklist celebrates stories from across the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) diaspora. All APALA members were invited to nominate picture book titles about AANHPI communities and experiences that were published in the 2022 calendar year. Members of the APALA Family Literacy Focus Committee evaluated the nominations against the APALA Rubric and curated the final list. Eligible titles that earned a 2023 APALA Literature Award or Honoree designation were automatically added to the Best of the Best Booklist.

The titles depict diverse representations of heritages and cultures across the AANHPI diaspora. Some young …

Indigenous Water Justice: Theory, Gaps, And Opportunities For Application, Ruby Howard

University Honors Theses

Indigenous people are particularly at risk of water scarcity in the U.S. and abroad, and face high rates of nonexistent or failing water infrastructure, water pollution, pipeline proposals that threaten water resources, and water-related climate change impacts. They also are often unequipped, politically and economically, to react and adapt to these impacts, resulting in devastating health impacts. Due to this widespread insecurity, many scholars are calling for the application of a theory and set of principles known as water justice. However, Indigenous people have pointed out that water justice literature does not focus enough on Indigenous issues, often neglecting the …

[2023 Winner] The Reclamation Of Two-Spirit Identity, Kelly Christensen, Paige Monier

Ethnic Studies Research Paper Award

Our project looked into the history of two-spirit people, briefly talking about what happened to them during colonization, with a deeper look into how the two-spirit identity as been reclaimed and used as a way for queer indigenous people to connect with both their culture, and their personal identity.

[2023 Honorable Mention] Coerced Removal Of Indigenous Children: The Past And Present Native Child Welfare In The United States, Mad Bolander, Emily Greaves, Amada Villa Nueva Lobato

Ethnic Studies Research Paper Award

Our podcast attempts to convey indigenous healing efforts since the time of BIA schools in the United States. With the ICWA ruled unconstitutional, we ask what have the lived experiences been of native children who were forcibly removed from their families and tribes? And what does this mean for children who might now be taken away from their families again without the protection of the ICWA?

A Confluence Of Cultural And Water History With The Seli’Š Ksanka Qlispe’ Dam Formerly Named The Kerr Dam, Allisen A. Hansen

2023 Symposium

The Seli’š Ksanka Qlispe’ Dam (SKC Dam), formerly known as the Kerr Dam is the first Native American tribally owned dam in the United States. Located on the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes(CSKT) of the Flathead Reservation, on the Flathead River in Montana, the dam was once considered the blight of the Whiteman’s landgrab and genocide of culture and language. Now it is a source of hope to the tribe to help its members and improve its future. Completed in 1938, it is one of two dams on the Flathead River, just south of the Flathead Lake. By following the …

To Open A Clearing: Cultivating Spaces Of Endurance In The Upper Amazon, Brunno De Melo Meirelles Douat

Masters of Environmental Design Theses

To effectively challenge the policies of extraction implemented by late liberal regimes, the Waorani communities from Upper Amazon have devised spatial strategies to defend their traditional territory. By re-examining the concept of the contact zone and unfolding settler and Indigenous literature, spatialities, and worldviews, this thesis suggests the concept of forest Clearings as a means to explore spatial forms of endurance.

Clearings emerge within the Amazon in sites where encounters between divergent worldviews embody otherwise modes of existence. Through a series of fieldwork reflections, these Clearings are perceived as spaces where ontological negotiations are more likely to occur, strategies of …

Desplazamiento Ambiental Forzado. La Pertinencia De Una Reflexión Conceptual., Carolina Rivera Farfán

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

La aceleración e intensidad de los actuales procesos migratorios en diversas partes del mundo nos reta a hilar fino para poder distinguir las particularidades de las diferentes maneras en que se producen las movilidades humanas. La migración por causas económicas, políticas, sociales y por los altos índices de violencia ha acaparado la mayor atención en nuestros análisis. Si bien los desplazamientos ambientales forzados están sobre la mesa de los debates, hoy es más importante que nunca continuar discusiones y propuestas que posibiliten la formulación de acciones y políticas que los atiendan. Este artículo se acerca, en la primera parte, a …

Front Matter, Alan Lebaron, Adriana Cruz-Manjarrez

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Includes Cover Art, Table of Contents, Acknowledgements, and Abstracts in English.

Educación En La Reserva De La Biósfera Pantanos De Centla, Tabasco. El Caso De Los Jóvenes De Quintín Arauz, Daniela Matías Sánchez, Anabel Alejandra Ramírez Pacheco

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

El artículo parte de la pregunta ¿los jóvenes de la Reserva de la Biósfera Pantanos de Centla (RBPC) se han formado con el objetivo de garantizar la conservación del Área Natural Protegida (ANP)? El análisis muestra que la inquietud por el cuidado del medio ambiente y, por ende, de la RBPC depende de la relación entre el Estado de Tabasco, la industria del petróleo y la educación. Instituciones que, como se evidencia en el caso de los jóvenes de Quintín Arauz, se encuentran desvinculadas. Esta falta de comunicación impide consolidar una educación media superior que forme sujetos en busca de …

El Antropoceno En Casa: Cambio Climático Y La Defensa De La Vida En Guatemala., Jonatan Rodas

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

El calentamiento global y sus devastadores efectos a escala planetaria se coloca cada vez más en la agenda pública y en la atención de gobiernos y actores sociales involucrados en la materia. Las más recientes discusiones han asumido el término Antropoceno para nombrar el rol central de la actividad humana en los cambios geológicos y climáticos que está experimentando el planeta. Bajo la premisa que dichos cambios no se experimentan de manera uniforme en las distintas regiones del mundo, este artículo propone una discusión sobre las formas de comprensión del cambio climático y la intervención humana localmente situadas. Se argumenta …

Tiempos De Crisis Civilizatoria, Conservación Ambiental Y Ecoturismo. Una Utopía Ecológica Para La Selva Lacandona., Delázkar Rizo

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

En este artículo analizaré los vínculos creados entre las políticas de conservación ambiental, las aseveraciones sobre una crisis civilizatoria y ambiental global, y la oferta ecoturística en Chiapas, sur de México, bajo la categoría de utopía ecológica. Se analiza a partir de una revisión documental, audiovisual, de literatura especializada y una investigación etnográfica en la comunidad lacandona de Nahá, en la Selva Lacandona. Este territorio fue gestionado como Área Natural Protegida, por petición local y estrategia de mitigación gubernamental; es un espacio propicio para que el ecoturismo sea expuesto como recurso laboral rentable, aunque también es considerado una plataforma para …

Complete Issue: Volume 5 Issue 1, Carolina Rivera Farfán

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

The full Issue 1, Volume 5 of Maya America, published May 2023

La Esquina Rota De La Primavera. Fragmentos Y Continuidades Del Pasado Presente., Delázkar Rizo

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

¿Cómo se siente el cambio climático? Personal, acechante, indiscriminado. Es una sombra de tiempo que nos cubre poco a poco, consumiendo la luz, pero dejándonos ver lo que todavía recordaremos de nuestro planeta, de cuando teníamos paisajes naturales. O quizás es una resonancia ascendente que asecha a una sociedad sorda. Aunque sentimos las vibraciones del cambio, seguimos adelante, hacia el desarrollo, mientras el eco absoluto del pasado nos envuelve. Este fotoensayo reúne 9 fotografías con breves comentarios para mostrar visualmente las formas del cambio climático en Chiapas y la frontera sur de México.

What does climate change feel like? Personal, …

Cambio Climático, Antropoceno Y Mucho Más…Aportaciones Antropológicas Desde El Sureste De México Y Guatemala, Ingreet Juliet Cano Castellanos

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

La persistencia en la degradación ambiental global no es una cuestión exclusiva de potencias y bloques económico-políticos. Es también un problema (trouble) que nos perturba y nos interpela. Bajo este contexto, el presente trabajo reflexiona sobre cómo específicamente la antropología está siendo interpelada por los expertos que han hablado del antropoceno, como categoría que señala la responsabilidad de ‘la humanidad’ en el cambio climático. Lejos de incorporar irreflexivamente tal perspectiva, ratificamos la necesidad ofrecer análisis que permitan comprender la producción de diferencias y desigualdades entre las sociedades humanas y los ejercicios de poder que median la regulación …

Las Rutas Ístmicas Del Halcón Peregrino: Introducción Jonatan Rodas, Mario Payeras, Jonatan Rodas

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Mario Payeras (Chimaltenango, Guatemala 1940 – México, D.F. 1995) fue poeta, narrador, ensayista y militante revolucionario guatemalteco. Fue uno de los fundadores del Ejército Guerrillero de los Pobres, uno de los principales movimientos revolucionarios de las décadas del conflicto armado en Guatemala (1960-1996). Su permanencia en las selvas del Ixcán (al norte de Guatemala) durante ese periódo inspiró gran parte de su obra poética y literaria que, en una parte, da cuenta de reflexiones y vivencias de la militancia en clandestinidad. Tal es el caso del poemario Poemas de la Zona Reina (1997) y el relato testimonial Los días …

Biographies/Biografías, Alan Lebaron

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Author Biographies. This document is written in Spanish.