Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this ebook, free of charge, from Beacon Press via edelweissplus, for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it. All opinions are my own
An investigation into how Native American identity became a commodity, from cultural appropriation to ethnic fraud to disenrollment
Synopsis:
Settler capitalism has been so effective that the very identities of Indigenous people have been usurped, misconstrued, and weaponized. In Who Gets to Be Indian?, scholar and writer Dina Gilio-Whitaker (Colville Confederated Tribes) explores how ethnic fraud and the commodification of Indianness has resulted in mass confusion about what it means to be Indigenous in the United States.
As an entry point to the seemingly intractable problem of ethnic fraud, Gilio-Whitaker critically looks to the film industry, including a case study of Sacheen Littlefeather, who is most known as the Native American woman that rejected an Oscar on behalf of Marlon Brando in 1973—though later revealed, she was not who she said she was. Gilio-Whitaker argues that this pretendian phenomenon originated in Southern California when the United States was forcing assimilation of Indians into white America culturally, but also into its capitalist economic system. With Indianness becoming a marketized commodity in the Hollywood film business, the field became open to anyone who could convincingly adopt an Indian persona.
Deeply researched using socio-historical analysis, Gilio-Whitaker offers insights from her own experiences grappling with identity to provide clarity and help readers understand how the commodification of Indianness have ultimately left many people of legitimate American Indian heritage to be disconnected from their tribes. Personal and compelling, Gilio-Whitaker takes settler capitalism to task and helps us better understand how we got here in order to counteract the abuses of pretendianism and disenrollment.
Review:
There was a lot in this book I had been unaware of! I had heard the rumors re Sacheen Littlefeather, but I didn't know the extent of the story she evolved and how it literally lasted until her death. As a genealogist, I've had to deal with a LOT of misconception over the 'Cherokee princess' lie, that so many families have told, when trying to help others unravel their family stories. And now DNA is adding an extra quotient of needed explainability, of how the native DNA gets passed down, to try to decipher the truths. The author does a great job in looking at how and why being 'Native' got cool and trendy, and why that hurts more than it helps, and muddies the waters. As one of those whose family members 'passed for white', and therefore let go of most of their passed down culture, it has been hard for us to reclaim our heritage, due to a lack of ancestors being on the government rolls-by avoiding being questioned and possibly be moved by force, they ultimately caused future generations to not be able to find the correct path back. Colonization has worked both ways, in the ways that the general populace thinks about (Indian Boarding Schools for example), and by removing people from their extended families. The book tackles this topic as well, and it is an enlightening read for anyone curious about issues faced by Indigenous populations today.
About the Author:
Dina Gilio-Whitaker (Colville Confederated Tribes) is a lecturer of American Indian Studies at California State University San Marcos, and an independent consultant and educator in environmental justice policy planning. At CSUSM she teaches courses on environmentalism and American Indians, traditional ecological knowledge, religion and philosophy, Native women’s activism, American Indians and sports, and decolonization. As a public intellectual, Dina brings her scholarship into focus as an award-winning journalist as well, contributing to numerous online outlets including Indian Country Today, the Los Angeles Times, High Country News and many more. Dina is co-author with Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz of “All the Real Indians Died Off”: And 20 Other Myths About Native Americans, and As Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice from Colonization to Standing Rock.
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