“To be indigenous women means that we have thoughts, that we have dignity, and that we need rights.” Dissident Women Ch 3

Key Themes
•Agrarian struggles became the center of the social programs.
•Women’s experiences are the basis for the political formation of those who comprise the women’s movement in Chiapas today.
•Women have been active in a wide variety of peasant organizations but they did not make gender demands of form part of the leadership.
•Women’s political involvement became increasingly strong after the Zapatista uprising.
•In the 1980s catholic doctrine taught appreciation of women’s roles so that women could take an active role in the struggle against exploitative conditions.
•Both the CIOAC and the EZLN marches and their names are the continuation of the organized struggle against oppression and discrimination in Chiapas.
•Women march carrying their children, food, and belongings and widows are thought to have it harder because they have no home or support in the march.
•In the CIAO the prevalent image of females was that of submissive women.
•(Speed, Castillo & Stephen, 2006, p. 107).

Important Quotes
•“To be indigenous women means that we have thoughts, that we have dignity, and that we need rights” (Speed et al., 2006, p. 107).
•“Conscious” participation on the part of women could strengthen the group, the organization, and the community” (Speed et al., 2006, p. 97).
•“The church has always been involved in formulating ideas about women and their role in different social settings” (Speed et al., 2006, p. 100).
•“…we will talk to congress to ask them to include indigenous rights and culture in their constitution…That’s why we march…” (Speed et al., 2006, p. 107).

Thoughts/Reaction/Reflection
I think it is unfortunate that although it was the women who did most of the activism, it was the men who were seen and got the credit. At the same time this is how many cultures work today. The man is believed to be at the forefront of the struggle, he receives the credit however, it is most often the women who are putting in the hours, doing the work, but receiving little or no credit. But I think by not making a big issue out of this injustice women accomplish more. Sadly, women understand that if they want to get things done they need to just go ahead and do it and not wait for backup or recognition. Throughout history women have largely been ignored and I don’t believe that is changing but without the work done by women none of us would be here. The same holds true in Chiapas I believe. The women have been struggling for rights to support their families and through their work they have been able to keep their families afloat however, it has been the men taking credit for this work all along.

Reference
Speed, S., Castillo, R. & Stephen, L. (2006). Dissident women: Gender and cultural politics in Chiapas. University of Texas Press

Midterm Project Resources

Here is the introduction to my midterm project and a list of resources relating to Winona LaDuke and Alanis Obomsawin.

In the realm of Indigenous activism two figures stand out in my mind: Winona LaDuke and Alanis Obomsawin. As activists for Indigenous rights, Obomsawin and LaDuke employ their own forms of matrilineal resistance to bring awareness to environmental issues faced by Native people and to bring restoration to Indigenous culture, values, spirituality, and way of life. Both LaDuke and Obomsawin have a niche with which they explore, express, and bring awareness to Native environmental issues though. Winona LaDuke primarily is an author and activist. She writes books such as All Our Relation: Native Struggles for Land and Life which explores the issues relating to the deliberate targeting of Native lands for toxic waste disposal and industrial development (LaDuke, 1999). At age eighteen LaDuke spoke at the United Nations addressing Indigenous environmental concerns, she went on to get degrees both from Harvard and Antioch Universities (Speak out!). Alanis Obomsawin on the other hand looks through the lens of film to bring awareness to these issues. In her film Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance she illustrates the Mohawk resistance to a golf course that is to be built on part of the Mohawk’s land. Starting her film career in 1967 after an appearance on Ron Kelly’s television show where she was profiled, Alanis was invited to act as a consultant on a film (Women make movies, 2005). Since her appearance she has not only continued to work on films but has researched, written, filmed, narrated, directed, and coproduces most all of her documentaries (Lewis, 2006, p. 71). Throughout their work both Alanis Obomsawin have used their forms of matrilineal resistance to bring awareness to Native environmental issues. In doing so they have written multiple works and created multiple documentaries illustrating these issues. What follows is a list of their works and how these works pertain to matrilineal forms of resistance, restoration, and environmental justice. In illustrating these themes I am going to provide resources, images, information about the accomplishments of both women, and suggestions for future work that could be done.

List of Works written by Winona LaDuke

All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life

Recovering the Sacred: The Power of Naming and Claiming

Last Standing Woman

The Winona Laduke Reader: A Collection of Essential Writings

Daughters of Mother Earth: The Wisdom of Native American Women

Sister Nations: Native American Women Writers on Community

The full list and information about each book can be found at:

http://books.google.com/books?as_auth=Winona+Laduke&source=an&sa=X&oi=book_group&resnum=4&ct=title&cad=author-navigational

List of Films by Alanis Obomsawin


Christmas at Moose Factory

Christmas at Moose Factory (Animated, 1971) Also script and text

Amisk (1977) Also producer

Mother of Many Children (1977) Also producer, script and text, narration

Canada Vignettes: Wild Rice Harvest Kenora (1979) Also script and text

Canada Vignettes: June in Povungnituk - Quebec Arctic (1980) Also script and text, narration

Incident at Restigouche (1984) Also producer, script and text, narration

Richard Cardinal: Cry from a Diary of a Métis Child (1986) Also producer, script and text


Mother of Many Children

Poundmaker's Lodge: A Healing Place (1987) Also producer, script and text

No Address (1988) Also producer, script and text

Walker (1991)

Le Patro Le Provost 80 Years Later (1991) Also producer, script and text

Kanehsatake 270 Years of Resistance (1993) Also producer, script and text, narration

My Name is Kahentiiosta (1995) Also producer, script and text, images, sound

Spudwrench - Kahnawake Man (1997) Also producer, script and text, sound

Rocks at Whiskey Trench (2000) Also producer, script and text, narration

This information can be found at:

http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/02/obomsawin.html

Resources on/about Winona LaDuke• http://nativeharvest.com/
• http://speakoutnow.org/userdata_display.php?modin=50&uid=79
• http://www.vassar.edu/headlines/2007/winona-laduke.html
• http://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org/pgs/portraits/Winona_LaDuke.html
• http://books.google.com/books?as_auth=Winona+Laduke&source=an&sa=X&oi=book_group&resnum=4&ct=title&cad=author-navigational

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=411VtwEICiwC&dq=winona+LaDuke&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=1pg8RZAb65&sig=ZydwvRBy_ad8WHV4Yjo8lUiV-2A&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result

Resources on/about Alanis Obomsawin

http://www.onf.ca/webextension/alanis-obomsawin/bio.php

http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/02/obomsawin.html

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=lPIZGC03HfYC&dq=alanis+obomsawin&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=klfbUiHpC6&sig=S98iBAY7Mrk2-NyNkLOuTuqAuRI&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=9&ct=result

http://www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/makers/fm277.shtml

http://www.canadacouncil.ca/aboutus/artistsstories/aboriginal/af127519147338093750.htm

http://www.nfb.ca/portraits/alanis_obomsawin/


References

LaDuke, W. (1999). All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life. Cambridge, Ma: South End Press.

Lewis, R. (2006). Alanis Obomsawin: The Vision of a Native Filmmaker. Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska, Manufactured in the United States of America.
NFB Portraits: Alanis Obomsawin. (2007). Retrieved November 2, 2008 from http://www.nfb.ca/portraits/alanis_obomsawin/

Speak Out! Biography and Booking Information: Winona LaDuke (n.d.). Retrieved October 31, 2008 from http://speakoutnow.org/userdata_display.php?modin=50&uid=79

White Earth Land Recovery Project: Winona LaDuke (2006). Retrieved October 31, 2008from http://nativeharvest.com/winona_laduke

Williams, P. (1932). Sense of Cinema: Alanis Obomsawin. Retrieved November 1, 2008from http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/02/obomsawin.html

Women Make Movies: Alanis Obomsawin (2005). Retrieved November 2, 2008from http://www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/makers/fm277.shtml

Gender in Inuit Society

Key themes/Ideas
• Accounts of Inuit/Eskimo women by non-specialists usually result in Inuit women being portrayed as having low status and prestige relative to men.
• Neither sex lacks the ability to perform the other’s work and both sexes have an extensive knowledge of the other’s work. Consequently, one sex is able to perform the other’s work if need be.
• Everywhere in the arctic “the relations between men and women are amicable-even decorous” (Guemple, 1995, p. 22).
• Women and men discuss public issues openly within their own homes however, women are not suppose to talk about these issues in public.


Important Quotes
• “Both within and without the house she behaves as the equal of the men” (Guemple, 1995, p. 19).
• “Neither is the work of one more estimable than that of the other” (Guemple, 1995, p. 20).
• “Arctic divorce may be a better measure of equality than marriage” (Guemple, 1995, p. 24).
• “Women and her children retain a “claim” on her ex-husband and on his close relatives for life” (Guemple, 1995, p. 24).
• “…maleness and femaleness are only transitory states of being… Gender is not an essential attribute” (Guemple, 1995, p. 27).

Thoughts/Reflections/Reactions
My thoughts on this reading are mixed. I like the idea of dispelling stereotypes and assumptions about Gender in Inuit Society however, I felt that this reading actually reinforced some negative beliefs. I was especially struck by how he organized his argument because within each sub-subject he seemed to have an argument that contradicted his thesis. For instance, in the beginning he stated that “the early literature is sprinkled with accounts (some based on myth and folklore) of the beating, mutilation, and sexual coercion, abduction, and murder of women…” and then proceeded to write an article dispelling this belief (Guemple, 1995, p. 17). However, he then said that when women would voice their concern about the “stupidity of policy decisions” the remarks “would merit retaliation—even physical assault” (Guemple, 1995, p. 25). Contradictory arguments like this were evident throughout the article so I had a hard time with this article. I feel that he looked at Inuit life through very egocentric eyes and I believe that comparisons between cultures cannot always be made and in this instance I feel that his arguments failed. In fact, I think that they reiterated popular belief and that the way he structured his argument will cause others to look at Inuit life in an egocentric way.

Reference
Guemple, L. (1995). Gender in Inuit society (p. 17-27). Women and power in native North America. University of Oklahoma Press.

Midterm Project Abstract

For my project I am going to look at the types of activism both Alanis Obamsawin and Winona LaDuke have employed to voice issues pertinent to Native people today. I am going to look at their work through the lens of three of our class themes. The first theme I am going to apply is restoration, the second environmental justice, and the third; matrilineal forms of resistance. In one way or another both of these women have addressed/ utilized matrilineal and restorative forms of activism in their work to bring awareness to Indigenous issues like environmental justice, land and water rights, education issues, and women’s rights, etc. I am going to take a closer look at how these two women applied/ addressed these themes in their work to bring awareness to Native issues and to open communication to create a better future for Indigenous people.

American Indian Women's Activism in the 1960s and 1970s

During the time when many different groups were organizing movements dedicated to civil rights. American Indians were drawing on their unique history of resistance and loss of land and resources to create a movement that would forever change racist policies aimed at assimilating Indigenous people.

In 1944 the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) was founded and became one of the leading Civil Rights groups of the American Indian Movement (AIM). Membership was restricted to people with Indian ancestry prohibiting Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) employees from leadership positions, which placed Native people in charge of their own issues. From the NCAI came goals for Indian policy and tribes and lobbying victories.

Lobbying Victories of the NCAI:

• Indian Self-Determination and Education Act (1965)
• Indian Civil Rights Act (1968)
• 1972 Indian Education Act
• 1975 Indian Education Assistance and Self-determination Act
• 1978 Indian Children Welfare Act
• 1978 Religious Freedom Act

Racist Policies

1953 Termination Act

• Occurred during time when Americans felt their values were under threat from outside and within the country.
• Compensation for stolen lands was only considered if tribe would develop a termination plan.

• Tribes divided into categories of immediate and eventual termination
• Began with Paiutes in Utah
• “Tribes were refused building permits for hospitals and schools since this might encourage some to remain on their land rather than relocate” (Langston, 2006, p.2).

Relocation Program (1952)

• Offered one-way bus fair and promises of help finding jobs and housing
• Focused on young tribal members with “more employable skills”
• In 1940 13% of Indians lived in urban areas—by 1980 more than half were urban
• BIA estimated that 200,000 Indigenous people were relocated under this program while the Indian Removal Act of 1830 forces less than half this number—89,000 to relocate.
• High point of termination policy 1952-1962
• By late 1960s termination policy in remission
• 1972 officially ended!

Consequence: Renewed interest in tribal values.

Response Groups

National Indian Youth Counsel (NIYC)

• Founded in 1961 after disputes between Oklahoma and Great Plains tribes and between tribal (leaders who dominated the NCAI) and younger urban Indians.
• Began in Chicago but a group was formed in New Mexico by Shirley Hill Witt and others shortly after.
• Began holding meetings on reservations. Meetings included traditional tribal songs and drum ceremonies.
• Employed non-violent, humorous, and symbolic ridicule of white society through publications on ABC of Americans Before Columbus.
• Perceived reservations to be that of internal colonies under the rule of the BIA—“white colonist movement” (Langston, 2006, p.3).
• First action students took was joining Fish-in Movement in WA (1964).

Fish-in Protests

• Responded to WA State policy that trued to use state laws to restrict fishing rights guaranteed by federal treaties.
• With high poverty rates fishing was an important subsistence strategy. Fishing traditionally formed basis of diets, culture, and spirituality.
• Boldt decision recognized treaty rights of tribes regarding fishing.
• Women carried the arms during the fish-ins.
• There were shootouts and firebombings, Ramona Bennett was shot by white vigilantes while 7 months pregnant.
• Women were the key figures in the fish-ins and comprised the majority of the protesters but only half of those arrested.

Occupation of Alcatraz (1969-1971)

• First “red power” movement to gain national attention.
• Began with 40 Indians from Bay Area Council of American Indians
• Drove claim stakes into the ground and offered government $0.47/acre for a total of $9.40 for the island.
• November 20^th a group of 90 students began building structure for long-term occupation. Conditions were similar to those found on reservations; no electricity or running water.
• 56,000 Indians took part in occupation, named themselves Indians of All Tribes
• Symbolized renewed cultural pride and more militant stances regarding self-determination.
• Remains longest occupation of federal site by Native people to date.

Occupations that Followed

• 1970 Fort Lawton in WA State was successful at getting land for Daybreak Star Cultural Center
• 1971 Davis CA successful in establishing DQ University
• Ellis Island 1970 Thanksgiving occupation of the Mayflower by AIM
• Numerous occupations of BIA offices including Washington D.C. headquarters

9 Policy Changes that Resulted from Alcatraz:

• Indian Self Determination and Education Act
• Indian Financing Act
• Indian Health Act
• Return of Mount Adams to Yakima tribe
• Return of 48,000 acres of the Sacred Blue Lake lands to Taos Pueblo in NM
• Nixon signed papers ending Termination Policy

American Indian Movement

Focuses/Goals of AIM:

• Maintain cultural integrity
• Gain enforcement of treaty rights

• Empower the tribe not the individual

One of the groups to organize the

Trail of Broken Treaties

• March to D.C. to voice grievances to presidential candidates
• Occupied BIA office
• When riot police tried to remove them from building police were pushed into the streets and the doors were blocked
• Madonna Gilbert-Thunderhawk and Russell Means collected 1.5 million pounds of documents on the practice of sterilization abuse and other abuses.

In the Midwest AIM served as a portable response unit for crimes committed by whites against Native people which were rarely prosecuted.

Pine Ridge

• Dick Wilson tribal chair of Pine Ridge Reservation and his ‘goons’ “created an atmosphere where arson, beating, and murder were common” (Langston, 2006, p. 9).
• All AIM activities banned
• Half of BIA police moonlighted as ‘goons’
• Murder rate 700 times that of Detroit
• Women spearheaded dissent on Pine Ridge and performed all tasks including carrying the weapons
• Out of 350 occupiers, only 100 were men.
• After dissent on Pine Ridge two years of terror followed with the ‘goons’ acting as a death squad—250 traditionalists were killed and 69 AIM supporters, 1/3 women.

Important Women in these Movements

• Lehman Brightman
• LaNada Boyer-Means
• Grace Thorpe
• Stella Leach
• Dr. Dorothy Lone Wolf Miller
• Wilma Mankiller
• Ramona Bennett
• Janet McCloud
• Pat Ballinger
• Lavonna Weller
• Madonna Gilbert-Thunderhawk
• Sarah Bad Heart Bull

Informative Resources:

AIM Website: http://www.aimovement.org/

Film: The Spirit of Crazy Horse

Indian Women as Cultural Mediators

Looking at Indian Women as Cultural Mediators is somewhat of a new concept to me because it is not something i have previously learned very much about. Indian women i feel, are largely ignored in the greater picture of what an Indian is...When looking at Native people as a whole much of the emphasis is put on looking at Native men and the struggles they have encountered due to colonialism. As well, we often look at the negative effects colonialism had on Natives in general or sometimes more specifically a particular tribe. I think that we look at these issues through this lens because of our egocentricity. In our culture the male is dominant, when a hardship is faced it is the white male who deals with it and "protects" his family. Consequently, when we look at Indigenous societies we tend to ignore the roles Indian women played because "women's words are not the stuff of history" (Kidwell, 2007, p. 55). "The voices of Indian women are not heard in the written documents or in the history books..." however, Indian women were "actors in history, and their actions affected its course" regardless of whether or not we acknowledge this fact (Kidwell, 2007, p. 55). Fortunately though, scholars, students, historians, and Indigenous people, etc. have begun to research, explore and unravel the roles Indigenous women played in the history we all share.

In fact, "there is an important Indian woman in virtually every major encounter between Europeans and Indians in the New World" (Kidwell, 2007, p. 54). In all aspects of life Indian women were involved and this only changed after colonization started. Before this Indian women played roles in war, hunting, food preperation, raising of children, communication and relationships between tribes, healing ceremonies, and so on. There was an equality in most tribes that we do not see in our society today. Individuals more than men and women enjoyed roles that ensured the success of their whole tribe rather than the success of a specific person. Thus, when Indians had to create relationships with Europeans it was through their women that most of these relationships were built. "As mistresses or wives, they counseled, translated, and guided white men who were entereing new territory" (Kidwell, 2007, p. 54). In fact, many of the stories of Native women we are familiar with such as Pocahontas, Dona Marina, Sacagawea, and Nancy Ward, etc. have been changed or molded to fit our western ideals. In regards to Pocahontas we are all familiar with the Disney rendition of her life but the accuracy of this story is something we are not familiar unless we do some research.

Yes, Pocahontas saved John Smith's life but it was most likely not out of lusty love, as we are lead to believe in Disney's version of what happened. In fact, Pocahontas did not even marry John Smith as most believe but she married and had a son with a man named John Rolfe after moving to England. However, before moving to England Pocahontas visited the settlers often and created relationships with them. In regards to history, it is important to recognize and be aware of the roles Indian women played because if we are aware we may be able to deconstruct the stereotypes we have placed on Indian women and Indian societies.

The "Squaw Drudge"

The "Squaw Drudge" looks at the stereotypes placed on Native societies at the time of colonization based on the Euro-American ethnocentric view that Native people were savages. Based on this view Euro-Americans were able to justify their harsh ideas that Native women were basically work horses pushed by lazy Native men. This idea led Euro-Americans to conclude "that Indians personified savagism" which "served as the grand rationale for imperialism" (Smits, 2007, p. 29). Consequently, Europeans could justify their maltreatment and harsh criticisms of how native people lived their lives. Europeans believed that as the more advanced and more evolved civilization it was their job to civilize and Christianize Native people in order to elevate them from their savage status. Specifically Europeans saw the roles Native women took on as particular signs of savagism because Native women played roles that in European society were played by men. In European society women were suppose to be submissive, weak, quiet, "ladies". According to Wright Native societies were savage because "the weaker sex" was the one that did the physical labor. "Where we find the weaker sex burdened with hard labour, we may ascribe to the stronger something of the savage" (Smits, 2007, p. 36). The reason Europeans saw for insinuating Native people were savages was that it furthered their agenda in gaining land, in my opinion. If Native people were savages, they must be less deserving of land and resources than the more civilized individual.

In regards to the land found in The New World, Europeans believed that they were more deserving of the land and should have ownership of the land because Native people were not working the land and did not own the land in the European sense. "By disregarding Indian agriculture, Euro-Americans could defend their territorial dispossession of the Native Americans" (Smits, 2007, p. 37). In fact, according to European thought "...the frontiersmen could not be accused of trespassing, for "the man who puts the soil to use must of right dispossess the man who does not..." or Europeans believed that "the world would come to a standstill" because taking this land was God's destiny for Euro-Americans (Smits, 2007, p. 38). However, what Europeans did not know or acknowledge was that for several thousand years Native people had not only been living but thriving in the New World enjoying sexually defined roles that were "complementary, equitable, and harmoniously integrated" into their way of life (Smits, 2007, p. 40).