Indigenous Celebrity: Entanglements with Fame ed. by Jennifer Adese and Robert Alexander Innes (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Indigenous Celebrity: Entanglements with Fame ed. by Jennifer Adese and Robert Alexander Innes Liza Black (bio) Indigenous Celebrity: Entanglements with Fame edited by Jennifer Adese and Robert Alexander Innes University of Manitoba Press, 2021 THIS TRANSNATIONAL COLLECTION looks at many aspects of fame within arenas of sports, activism, feminism, masculinity, language renewal, and music; many of which are rooted in tribal histories. Although the editors begin with an intense foray into Native identity politics, they use this as a window into the power of fame and its hold upon audiences. Rather than delving into whether their subjects possess legitimate claims to Native identities, they ask a series of important questions about celebrity revolving around responsibility, engagement, and oppression. The authors turn to celebrity studies, noting that all celebrity scholars agree that regardless of the debates on the origins and meaning of celebrity, all celebrity is indeed manufactured. Adese and Innes explore Black celebrity studies, noting its linking of racism to celebrity status and appropriations of Blackness among celebrities. Notably they contrast the celebrations of the English monarchy with the derogation of so-called Nigerian princes (9). Transitioning toward Indigenous studies, Adese and Innes note the foundation of colonialism as that which benefits stardom. The editors go on to emphasize the failure of cultural and media studies to "meaningfully" address the realities of Indigenous and African American interactions with celebrity (10). They note especially the volume's insistence that Indigenous and African American peoples are not individualized in the same ways as white celebrities are but are placed in positions where they must in some way speak for their tribal, ethnic, or racial community. In no way does this volume merely catalogue biographies of the famous. Indeed, the editors see celebrity as "a site of struggle" (16). Their intention is "not to provide a comprehensive historical account of all Indigenous entanglements with celebrity, nor is it to provide an in-depth theorization of cultural and media studies approaches to celebrity. Rather, our purposes are to highlight some of the prevailing points of overlap among Indigeneity, celebrity, and fame and to prod at some of the tensions" (17). Chapter 1 by Reneé Mazinegiizhigoo-kwe Bédard contrasts Anishinaabeg concepts of respect for those upholding traditional Anishinaabeg ways with American celebrity culture's emphasis on the individual. Chapter 2, written [End Page 173] by David Lakisa, Katerina Teaiwa, Daryl Adair, and Tracy Taylor, builds its analysis on interviews with ten rugby players. The authors highlight two competing phenomena: the workings of mana, which is obtained through success in sports, and the racism athletes endured in spite of the acquisition of mana. Chapter 3 by Kahente Horn-Miller also looks at Indigenous values in accordance with celebrity. Horn-Miller's mother used her flashpoints of celebrity status to introduce the needs of Mohawk people into media discourse. In that sense, although she was individualized, she turned that spotlight toward her community's oppression. The fourth chapter, by Jonathan Hill and Virginia McLaurin, takes note of Indigenous celebrities who turn to activism within their celebrity status. They make their case based on interviews with celebrities opposed to recent construction of oil pipelines. Chapter 5, by Karen Fox, highlights the strains under which Australian Indigenous celebrities navigated an incredibly repressive moment against Indigenous people while advocating for their communities and maintaining their access to work and celebrity status. Chapter 6, written by Kim Anderson and Brendan Hokowhitu, analyzes the boxing match of Justin Trudeau and Patrick Brazeau, noting Brazeau's impossible position as an Anishinaabeg man being mediated by the Canadian media as either a "savage" had he won or echoing the loss of land endured by all Indigenous people if he were to lose. Chapter 7, by Jenny Davis, uses Jean O'Brien's concept of firsting and lasting to critique our language around Indigenous language speakers, positioning them as the last and thus erased. Chapter 8, by Aadita Chaudhury, looks at celebrity status imposed upon the Indigenous people of India who are also laboring under the same type of "lasting" terminology that erases their very presence. In chapter 9, Christina Giacona dissects "The Pale Faced Indian" to chart its shift from a...