Oka Apesvchi: Indigenous Feminism, Performance, and Protest

Abstract

Using Chahta words—hvpia, we all are; oka ohoyo, water woman; apesvchi, to guard and care for—this essay builds an Indigenous-centered analysis of protest performances about water. A song, a dance, and a play created by three different Indigenous women and performed within a few months of one another focus the essay's analysis on the Indigenous feminist concept of radical relationality. By highlighting the relationship between water and humans, the obligations that that relationship demands, and the active care required to fulfill those obligations, it shows how Indigenous protest performances are not against something, but for something—for the water, for the future.