Indigenous American Women: Decolonization, Empowerment, Activism (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Indigenous American Women: Decolonization, Empowerment, Activism Stacy Schlegel Indigenous American Women: Decolonization, Empowerment, Activism. By Devon Abbott Mihesuah. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2003. Although Devon Abbot Mihesuah is an historian, Indigenous American Women is not a traditional historical monograph. Rather, it is an examination of some of the ethical, moral, and political issues that are involved with writing and researching about Indigenous American women, how various aspects of one’s identity come into play when doing so, and more generally about the empowerment of Native women through activism. Throughout the book Mihesuah wrestles with issues that arise when one, such as herself, attempts to combine various forms of activism and scholarship, causing differing agendas to come into conflict. As this is a collection of previously published essays, not every chapter exactly conforms to this description, but these themes repeatedly arise throughout the volume. We see them clearly in the first chapter, “A Few Cautions on the Merging of Feminist Studies with Indigenous Women’s Studies.” Here, Mihesuah’s main argument is that these two fields of study may have conflicting agendas which need to be carefully considered if any merger is to take place. When feminist scholars choose topics that involve Native women, they may not be fully aware of the unique ethical and political issues involved. Scholars need to talk to actual Native women, be aware of tribal research guidelines, avoid generalizing about all Indigenous women together, and maintain respect at all times. Failure to do these things may result in helping feminist scholarship, but actually harming Native women. There are certain ethical and moral issues that need to be considered when researching American Indian topics, and a feminist perspective should not compromise these. In the next three chapters Mihesuah discusses how these and similar ethical issues come into play in three specific examples: her own work on the Mi’kmaq activist Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash, Ian Frazier’s popular book On the Rez, and Linda McCarriston’s poem “Indian Girls.” Mihesuah describes the difficulties that she faced as she took on controversial subject matter and how she attempted to deal with these issues, and then describes how Frazier’s and McCarriston’s failure to do so produced disturbing results that perpetuated stereotypes of Native people. Mihesuah’s discussion of her own work is not meant to be an example of how to do things the right way (as she is not completely satisfied with her own results), but rather an example of the types of difficulties that scholars may face as they attempt to write about Native women. For example, from a feminist perspective Mihesuah wanted to criticize the male leadership of the American Indian Movement (AIM), but as a Native person who largely agreed with AIM’s goals, she feared that such criticisms might undermine the agenda of AIM. Mihesuah continues to elaborate on these ideas in the next chapter, focusing on the conflicting identities and agendas that many Native women scholars face. In her own words, “Issues that matter to us pull our emotions and professional commitments in opposite directions. We continually look for ways to mash our duties as scholars with our concerns about tribal interests and family. The lines between being female, Native, and scholar do indeed blur, and most of us are scholar-activists.” (22). The next several chapters, placed under the heading “Colonialism and Disempowerment,” drift from Mihesuah’s main focus and do not really relate to each other. The first chapter in this section is largely a summary of the secondary literature on how and why the status of Native women declined as a result of contact, and how Native women are still impacted by this today. “Culturalism and Racism at the Cherokee Female Seminary,” the next chapter, is the most traditional academic piece in the book. Drawing mainly on archival research, Mihesuah examines how the students’ different backgrounds impacted their experiences at the seminary. More specifically, she examines how the mixed-blood and full-blood Cherokee students saw themselves, viewed each other, and how they were treated at the school. The final chapter in this section attempts to theorize a process through which Native women come to...