Questing Indigenous Identity in the Academic Industrial Complex

Excerpt from a critical analysis essay of article “American Indian Identity and Intellectualism: the quest for a new Red Pedagogy” ...The reactions some have of not understanding a painting because it doesn’t “look like” an American Indian painted it, falls into essentialism identity theory because either, the artist or the artwork is not fitting into their Whitestream vision of authentic Native America. The opposite scenario also occurs when I give visual clues to the viewer of cultural content and the responses are; they can’t relate to it because it is “too Indian,” statements of “you are limiting your audience” and asking the question “why are you dwelling in the past?” These comments come from a postmodernist theory on identity where Grande writes “empiricist notions of knowable and absolute determiners of origin and authenticity dissolve and along with them essentialist constructions of identity. In short, it asserts the ‘postmodern condition’ as one in which grand narratives of legitimization are no longer credible.” (Grande 350) So I’ve found myself in reaction to a postmodernist critique of my artwork, feeling the need to return to an essentialist description and use of imagery, or vice-versa, but now I understand that what I am doing is far beyond either of these narrow Eurocentric gazes, including Marxist Critical Theory Grande also includes as identity theory. Witnessing the ease in which Whitestream thinking travels back and forth between dominant identity theories is frustrating and seems to be used to invalidate my subjective, personal experience, which reflects a larger consciousness of indigenous experiences and contemporary survival stories. I have identified this as utilizing Eurocentric intellectual methods of continued oppression upon students who are constructing identities that threaten to unveil dark histories of violent imperial colonialism. ...In concluding thoughts....Beginning to unfold what it truly means to transcend colonialism at an individual basis can be very difficult and must emanate into daily practices. I have attained part of this process by identifying my art practice as personal ceremony and a format to manifest vision, healing, and ancestral memory; so the symbols and visceral memories of annual indigenous ceremonies (the neuro-decolonizers) become a constant source for the writing, creating and image making. I still have a long way to go on my indigenous pathway to freedom of understanding my families struggle, soul wounds, survival and re-emergence of culture, but thanks to authors mentioned in this essay, I have had help identifying my own American Indian intellectualism and the value that has in these institutions of higher academia.