Indigeneity as Process: White Cultural Identities in Trans-Appalachia:
A Preliminary Study
Christopher J. Frey, Ph.D. "
[email protected]
Department of Educational Foundations and Inquiry
Bowling Green State University, Ohio, USA
SSHA, Chicago, 2013
Indigeneity: A dimension of national and ethnic identity
Civic
Ethnos
I n d i g e n e i t y C l a i m s
Tendencies toward:
Inclusion --------------------------- -> Exclusion
The Singular Americans:
Political and National
Citizenship
Ethnos
Examples of (Settler) Claims to Indigeneity1
defensive invasion: origins in victorious self-defense inside another's territory (Stand your ground)
erasure: remove or supplant competing indigeneity claims -- wilderness, Indian, Black*,
imprimitivization: settlers suffer, then succeed by appropriating selected indigenous lifeways
1. Veracini, Lorenzo. (2010). Settler Colonialism: A Theoretical Overview. NY: Palgrave.
Indigeneity: Claims to Place & Power
Indigeneity: An analytical frame focusing on attention to place/space claims in relation to authority; not just a state of being Indigenous.
What are the impacts of staying put, over time? The anti-migration? How (andy why?) do cultures indigenize?
How can contestations over indigeity claims illustrate persistant social/cultural tensions in new ways? (White-Black-Indian?)
Distinct from indigenous peoples, whose indigeneity as a political identity is generally acknowledged.
Indigeneity is distinct from 'playing Indian' (P. Deloria)
Settlers are distinct from migrants:
"A settler moves to his country; a migrant moves to another country."
Indigeneity emerges in settler colonies as the colony reproduces and establishes itself. Reproductive capacity of settler colonies is an inherently (mis)educational process.
How does contemporary education reform value local/indigenous knowledge? (contextualization)
What are the larger implications of this group of indigenizing Americans? How are indigeneity claims related to exclusionary patterns in social organization?
Is this whole idea unoriginal?
Contemporary Connections--?
How are characteristics of indigenousness be reflected in contemporary curricula, policy? To what degree is education reform decontextualizing/cosmopolitanizing/consumer-oriented? What do we teach American schoolchildren about their own communities/contexts? (Should we?) Do national lessons get brought down to contextual/local analysis?
What do national curriculum movements, like Common Core & NCLB, mean in light of cosmopolitan-indigenous tensions?
American Community Survey. (2012). Ancestry: United States.
Nashville-Davidson County, 9.3% 'American'
Magoffin County, KY
80+% 'American'
Cleveland-Cuyahoga County, OH
3% 'American'
Sites of Indigeneity Claims
Country music lyrics
Patriotic/Children's Songs
Fundamentalist Christianity
Separatist Movements
Historical markers
Indigeneity in Settler Colonial Studies
Result of intergenerational residence, minimizing competition, staking claims
Analyze the 'deep meaning' of minority education in the context of colonization (Wolfe, 2002):
1. Land: emphasize assimilation and shared affinities-->minimize indigenous population;
2. Labor: emphasize dissimilation and differences-->expand pliant labor pool
1
1. Veracini, Lorenzo. (2010). Settler Colonialism: A Theoretical Overview. Palgrave MacMillan.
2. Wolfe, Patrick. (2001). "Land, Labor, and Difference: The Elementary Structures of Race. American HIstorical Review, 106, no. 3 (June): 866-905
2
Historical Comparisons
Appalachian
Cora Wilson Stewart's moonlight schools
settlement schools
American Indians
assimilationism
New Deal-era schools
use of land grants to fund public education
two ends of the Americanization movement
arts and crafts movement in schools as cultural education
Indigeneity: An analytical frame focusing on attention to place/space claims in relation to authority; not just a state of being Indigenous.
What are the impacts of staying put, over time? The anti-migration? How (andy why?) do cultures indigenize, and to what degree? What are some positive and negative consequences of the indigenization process?
How can contestations over indigeity claims illustrate persistant social/cultural tensions in new ways? (White-Black-Indian?) What might considering enslavement/(New) Jim Crow in relation to precluding/preventing Black indigenization, as well as labor/physical freedom? How does this relate to White appropriation and erasure of Native American indigeneity – an ongoing process. (New York times article about Siberia – link ) Is it contested (most often, yes).
Distinct from indigenous peoples, whose indigeneity as a political identity is generally acknowledged. It's more of a question of 'native-enough', and what does that mean outside the context of recognized indigenous peoples, if anything?
Indigeneity is distinct from 'playing Indian' (P. Deloria) – Deloria's
Settlers are distinct from migrants:
"A settler moves to his country; a migrant moves to another country."
Indigeneity emerges in settler colonies as the colony reproduces and establishes itself. Reproductive capacity of settler colonies is an inherently (mis)educational process.
How might a conception of 'indigeneity', rather than 'indigenous peoples', contribute to analyses of social and educational issues?
who have explicit, acknowledged indigeneity claims; indigeneity extended to settler colonies (US, Canada, Aust, NZ, Russian Far east/'stans', South America, Hokkaido, etc.) illustrates cultural rooting in the new environment, leading to new claims of Indigeneity as the 'old country' connections fade away.
