Contradictions of indigeneity in the symbol and cult(ure) of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to critically examine the practical and symbolic contradictory dimensions of indigeneity in the contemporary cult of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha as it is practiced by and implemented for indigenous North American peoples, focusing in particular on her own people: Mohawks. I take a theoretical approach rooted in political economy to understand the basis and structure of these contradictions, tensions, and the social terrain in which indigenous people live, and in which these meanings are produced. The ethnographic dimension centers on a group of Mohawks that make regular/seasonal pilgrimages from their reserves/reservations along the Saint Lawrence River (Akwesasne and Kahnawake) to her shrine in the Mohawk valley. The shared meanings that exist for her devotees are embedded in material processes of exploitation and unequal power, and have been since the beginning. Kateri Tekakwitha’s entire life was produced within the context of and as a result of the social devastation of imperialism and colonization. Since the late nineteenth century, the Catholic Church has actively promoted the figure of Kateri Tekakwitha as the Catholic face of the United States and in particular since at least the early twentieth century as the Catholic face of North American indigeneity. I explain indigenous participation in the cult of the saint as representing the struggle within and against domination as well as the struggle within and against indigenous ‘culture’ and ‘tradition’.