Native
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The Right Sequence: Guardians, Innovators, & Guides
I have these childhood memories of dancing, closing my eyes, and hoping that with the right sequence of steps and grace, I could call forth the rain. Then, there it was. The raindrops kissing my skin. The mud caressing my feet. My body bursting with joy and laughter being liberated. I remember the strike of…
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Telling (Creation) Stories in the 21st Century
I recently read TRAIL OF LIGHTNING by Rebecca Roanhorse (Ohkay Owingeh /Black/Navajo in-law). It is considered a Sci-Fi/Fantasy postapocalyptic/dystopian book that takes place sometime in the near/far(?) future and the main character is a Diné womxn. Below is Amazon’s description of the book: While most of the world has drowned beneath the sudden rising waters…
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The Native Elite: A (Re)Introduction of Access & Power
9 months ago, I wrote The Native Elite. A blog post commenting on and introducing the concept of a subset of peoples within native communities who possess strands of power that differentiates themselves from the rest of native communities. I wrote that blog post in an attempt to name an issue that I was seeing…
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An Ever Changing One: ‘Two Spirit’ Limitations
One of the things I probably have not thoroughly discussed since I have had this blog is my English “gender identity”. I emphasize ‘English’ because there is a specific cultural, spiritual, socio-political identity within Diné ontologies that I am perceived and that I identified with. As I have shared in a past blog post, my Diné…
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Indigenous Hypervisibility
In the spring of 2016, I proposed a research project, Indigenous Hypervisibility: Examining Frameworks of ‘Success’, to examine how we portrayed ‘success’ and the effects of that this portrayal has on my fellow Indigenous youth. I re-wrote it as a blog post. Historical and contemporary portrayals of Native/Indigenous Peoples often exist in the margins of…
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Anti-Blackness in Native Communities
About a year ago, I wrote a paper titled ‘Bondage, Resistance, and Belonging’, outlining the relationship between Indigenous Peoples within the ‘US’ and enslaved Africans, with a particular focus on the Choctaw, Seminole, Cherokee, Creek, and Chickasaw or known as the “Five Civilized Tribes”. My paper was an attempt to analyze it from the…
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Rock Your Moccasins 2017
It’s #RockYourMocs week! This is my third year participating in the annual Rock Your Moccasins during Native American/Indigenous Peoples’ Heritage Month. #RockYourMocs is in its 7th Annual year. It was started in 2010 by Jessica “Jaylyn” Atsye, a member of the Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico. #RockYourMocs was becoming internationally known as a moment for Indigenous…
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The Native Elite
Hey, folx. I think it is the time that we talk about a particular trend that I am seeing in our community. But first, a story. In 2013, I was one out of 6 (known) Native scholars who were projected to graduate in 2017 from an elite institution, Brown University. From the onset…
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Happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day
Today is Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Indigenous Peoples’ Day (IPD) is an active replacement of ‘Columbus Day’. Personally, Indigenous People’s Day is about the recognition of the resilience of my people, my ancestors, and all of those who have ever been oppressed. IPD is the acknowledgment of our history, our heritage, and our contribution to a ‘global…