3.3 “Indigenous Identity: What Is It, and Who Really Has It?”

Hilary N. Weaver (Lakota)

Online Videos

Imaginesville. “We Are Still Here.” December 25, 2012. YouTube video, 8:00.

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Online Reading

• Barker, Brittany, Goodman, Ashley, and Kora DeBeck. “Reclaiming Indigenous identities: Culture as strength against suicide among Indigenous youth in Canada.” Canadian Journal of Public Health 108, no. 2 (2017) e208–e210.
• Geboe, Ben. “Native American Identity, Complex and Authentic.” Thirteen. December 1, 2021.
• CBC News. “I am Indigenous.”

Artwork

• Billard, Jillian. “8 Contemporary Native American Artists Challenging the Way We Look at American History.” Artspace. November 24, 2017.
• Hill, Richard William. “10 Indigenous Artworks that Changed How We Imagine Ourselves.” Canadianart.

Films/Videos

• Diamond, Hayes J., Webb, E., Bainbridge, C., Fon, C., Ludwick, L., Olsen, C., Symansky, A., and R. Din. Reel Injun. National Film Board of Canada, 2010.
  • Description: Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond takes an entertaining and insightful look at the “Hollywood Indian,” exploring the portrayal of North American Indigenous Peoples through a century of cinema. Traveling through the heartland of America and into the Canadian North, Diamond looks at how the myth of “the Injun” has influenced the world’s understanding—and misunderstanding—of Indigenous Peoples. Reel Injun traces the evolution of cinema’s depiction of Indigenous people from the silent film era to today.
• Herring, I., Welsh, C., Johansson, S., MacDonald, J., and M. Chechik. Keepers of the Fire. National Film Board of Canada, 2016.
  • Description: For half of a millennium, Indigenous women have been at the forefront of their peoples’ resistance to cultural assimilation. Today, they are still fighting for the survival of their cultures and their peoples—in the rain forest and the city, in the courts and the legislatures, in the Longhouse and the media. Keepers of the Fire profiles Indigenous ‘warrior women’ in Canada who are protecting and defending their land, their culture and their people in the time-honoured tradition of their foremothers.

Articles, Books, and Book Chapters

• Leclair, C. “Memory alive: Race, religion, and métis identities.” Essays on Canadian Writing 75 (2002): 159–76.         
• Palmater, P. “MATNM TEL-MI’KMAWI: I’M FIGHTING FOR MY MI’KMAW IDENTITY.” The Canadian Journal of Native Studies 33, no. 1 (2013): 147–67.
• Garroutte, Eva Marie. Real Indians: Identity and the Survival of Native America. University of California Press, 2003.