Day 1: Native American Identity
Choose one thing to read, watch, listen to, do, or engage with today. Try to mix it up each day between the categories!
READ
What makes someone Native American? One tribe’s long struggle for full recognition. A case study of complexities in claiming Indigenous identity in a country divided by race. The Washington Post by Lisa Rab (2018)
25 CFR § 83.11 - What are the criteria for acknowledgment as a federally recognized Indian tribe? Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute (living document)
Two Spirits, One Heart, Five Genders Though colonizer mindset insists on gender and sexuality binaries, many cultures have had a more expansive understanding of both. Duane Brayboy (Tuscarora Nation of North Carolina) (2018)
WATCH
Who can Identify as a Native American? PBS Digital Studios, A People's History of Native America with Tai Leclaire (Kanien'kehá:ka Mohawk and Mi'kmaq) Explore the questions: What does it mean to be a member of an Indigenous tribe? And who gets to decide? (2024) 10 minutes T CC
Vine Deloria Jr. on Our Relationship to the Unseen Thoughtful exploration of the contrast between Indigenous relationship to life, nature, and intuition and Western culture’s materialistic orientation. Sacred Land Film Project (2015) 5 minutes T CC
What Does It Mean To Be Native American Today? A range of Native people weigh in on how identity connects to land and resources. New York Times Op-Docs (2018) 6 minutes T CC
LISTEN
All My Relations Hosted by Matika Wilbur (Swinomish and Tulalip) and Adrienne Keene (Cherokee Nation), this podcast “explores indigeneity in all its complexity.” Episodes focus on issues such as DNA identity, feminism, appropriation, food sovereignty, gender, sexuality, and more while “keeping it real, playing games, laughing a lot, and even crying sometimes.” 60 minutes per episode. Pick an episode!
Healing After Harm: The Buffy Sainte-Marie Investigation Unreserved (2023) 54 minutes
21-Day Questions
What factors define Indigenous Identity?
Has your idea of what makes someone Indigenous changed?
BRING IT HOME
Review the United National Declaration of Indigenous Rights (2007)
21-Day Questions
What do the images tell you about Indigenous Identity?
Were you surprised or challenged by any of the images?
Milly Sanford, Maria Wilkins, and Anthony SkyHawk at Wild Edibles Walk at the Essex County Greenbelt’s Cox Reservation, Essex, MA (photo by Claudia A. Fox Tree)
DO
Commit to watching the entire 1491 (2019) eight-part series and put it on your calendar. Covering 20,000 years of Indigenous achievements in the Americas, the series features 60+ separate segments on topics such as agriculture, hunting, archaeology, architecture, art, culture, science, technology, governance, trade, languages, and repatriation. 1491 Channel subscribers will have 24/7 streaming access to the eight episodes, director’s cuts of drama scenes, expert interviews, worldview segments, and more. You’ll receive a monthly newsletter that includes interviews with the 1491 cast and crew and updates on NEW discoveries about Indigenous history and achievements. Available to rent on Vimeo and sometimes posted free on their Facebook page. 60 minutes per episode.
EXPLORE & REFLECT
View photographer Matika Wilber’s website Project 562.
21-Day Questions
What do the images tell you about Indigenous Identity?
Were you surprised or challenged by any of the images?
Why We Serve: Native Americans in the Military Webpage of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian
T Transcript Available
CC Closed Captions Available