Which is fascinating because it is well documented that Germany studied the US' administrative skill in keeping races separate and separating or killing off Indigenous peoples.
In the 1930s the American Indian Federation joined with Pro Nazi groups in the US to oppose the Indian Reorganization Act, legislation that restored land and created an economic base for tribes.
Groups like the AIF were pro assimilation and said this act legislated communism.
Anyway. So this is bananas and I had no idea but now the MAGA Indians make more sense.
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I think we have to allow for emerging identities. That's basically my thread. Traditionalists (the op) are important and necessary because they hold onto important knowledge.
But diaspora and urban Indigenous inevitably means emerging identity with combined medicine.
Corn provides a striking model for this. It is so central to some civilizations that it features in their creation stories. It is food and it is also medicine. And there are songs and ceremonies related to it that are different in different civilizations.
Who owns it?
Corn, maize, didn't always exist. We know that. It developed over centuries of hybridization and selecting for traits. It was such a complex process that for a while scientists didn't even think it was related to teosinte, but other scientists proved that it is.
The Anishnaabe and Haudenosaunee Confederacy had a treaty, One Dish, that covered a massive area of land and within that space we coexisted. No doubt using many of the same medicines in the same way
My goodness. The similarities in our creation stories speaks to shared knowledge
Our medicines can also be found in the lands of the Nehiyaw, Mi'kmaq, Wampanoag, and so many others. The Eastern woodlands covered what, 1/3 of the continent and how many various tribes?
And how many of us exist in urban settings making community without our community.
I've just finished another Vine DeLoria book, the Nations Within, and he talks about the traditionalists whose vision is primarily within the tribe. They see forward and backward, holding onto important knowledge but missing larger context.
The Anishnaabeg have a story about sickness coming to us because we were not in good relationship with the animals. We were greedy and ungrateful, so the animals withdrew from us and we became sick. It was the plants who saved us, who provided medicine.
This seems important.
The moral of the story isn't "see, you should be vegan." It's about gratitude, and the consequences of greed.
Which as I understand it, is related to how zoonotic illnesses become such a problem. We are greedy and push into their habitat.
What's wild is that in the Americas we didn't really have much in the way of zoonotic illness, not to the extent that Europeans did which is one reason why the epidemics were so bad for us. Not only did we lack immunity, we didn't have enough HLA's to even figure it out
Every relationship you form is an act of resistance.
The state attacks our relationships. It narrows the family into portable units and then isolates them.
Ideas about purity encourage us to cast people out.
Relationships are resistance.
I'm getting ready for our conversation about being human on Wednesday. You can tune in, info is in my pinned tweet. And in his book Daniel notes that our humanity exists in the places between us. In our relationships.
So, in the face of a state that wants us dependant on it. Forming relationships, relationships with responsibilities and mutually supportive expectations, respecting and being respected. These relationships are acts of resistance.
Race shifters are funny, but also not funny because their bullshit is dangerous. They assume Indigenous identity and then use that to achieve their own goals. And if you have enough of them they actually do shift the political landscape in terms of priorities and investment.
They make legal claims that, even if they don't win, take up time and money that legitimate tribes simply don't have.
Here's a tip if you suspect an organization of race shifting, like that Anishnaabek Solurtrean Metis mob.
Ask neighbouring nations if they exist.
Because we know each other. And if they existed as an Indigenous community then the neighbouring nations would have known about them. Would have had some kind of relationship with them even if it was contentious.
January: Indigenous Literatures Matter by Daniel Heath Justice. This overview of a range of Indigenous lit is a good foundation and will set you up for the next 11 months.
Now is also a good time to pick up poetry. Janet Marie Rogers, Tenille Campbell. Cheryl Savageau. Billy Rae Belcourt. Flip through them throughout the year.
February. History.
An Indigenous Peoples History of the United States
Our History is the Future
Heartbeat of Wounded Knee
All Our Relations (Talaga)
Treaty No 9 (Long)
Dammed (Luby)