Hello! My name is Danjerr Presson and I'm a student at San Diego State University. Firstly, I would like to thank you so much for your interest in my work during this class. The two pieces I've written are on the topic of the indigenous people that called this land of the U.S. home before the Europeans arrived. The first piece takes a look at the essay Stolen from our bodies by Qwo-Li Driskill so be sure to give that a read. The second is a land acknowledgment to the Meskwaki tribe that is indigenous to the land in Minnesota where I grew up. I hope you enjoy them and learn something new.

Essay analyzing the damage done to the indigenous people during the colonization by Europeans

Introduction

In the essay Stolen from Our Bodies, Qwo-Li Driskill states that indigenous people of the Americas were stolen from their homes and their bodies. During the colonization from the Europeans, there was a great amount of suffering inflicted on the people that lived in the land the settlers wished to claim. The actions that the European settlers took claimed both the physical bodies of the indigenous people as well as their spirit and culture. This was accomplished by removing the people and forcing them into slavery as well as forcing their culture and beliefs on the indigenous people including those of sexuality. In modern-day, there is still a need for Indigenous women to resist colonization and efforts of decolonization for the indigenous communities.

The ways they were stolen from their bodies

European colonizers made efforts to strip indigenous people from the land and then strip them of their culture. In the book Bad Indians, Deborah A. Miranda explains the use of missions to convert indigenous to catholic workers. This method used physical and psychological abuse to remove their language, religion, and culture. The Indigenous people would be forced into duties such as tending fields and cattle while being taught catholic prayer and English. Resistance would be met with whippings and beatings. This systematic culture destruction included the sexuality of the indigenous women who were taught that their bodies were shameful and that they should not want for sexual pleasure or they would be sinful in line with Catholic teachings. This idea took them from the sexual freedoms they had known in their culture and effectively stripped them from their own bodies.

The effect of colonization on indigenous people of today

The suffering from colonization persists in modern times. One example of the impact on indigenous communities is the struggle for the equality of women. Patriarchy is an idea the Europeans brought with them and thrives in western culture. However, indigenous women had equal roles to men before settlers arrived. The idea that women are not equal to men in society is resisted by modern indigenous women today. In the podcast, All My Relations, Matika explains that indigenous feminism is unique in its battle against patriarchy which came from settler colonialism. She also demonstrates how indigenous feminists are working to restore their identities through education and recovery of culture.

The effort to undo the damage done to the indigenous people is decolonization. Dr. Cutcha Risling Baldy describes decolonization as giving the stolen land back. She gives an example of how the land was returned to the Wiyot people in California. This allows the indigenous people to return to their land and revive their cultures. This effort is meant to be a beautiful reunification of a people and their land. There are many examples of Indigenous people getting their land back through purchase and land funds to fulfill decolonization in modern times.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the indigenous people of the Americas were stolen from their homes and their bodies. This was done by settler colonials through physical and psychological abuse. The Indigenous people were stripped of their culture. Modern indigenous people have resisted colonization to revive their lost cultures. Indigenous women have resisted settler colonialism ideas of patriarchy to regain their equal status. Through decolonization, the indigenous people will be able to return to their stolen land and live in thriving communities without the social structures that were forced onto them by the European settlers.

Works Cited:

Driskill, Qwo-Li. "Stolen From Our Bodies: First Nations Two-Spirits/Queers and the Journey to a Sovereign Erotic." Studies in American Indian Literatures, vol. 16 no. 2, 2004, p. 50-64. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/ail.2004.0020.

Miranda, Deborah A. Bad Indians: a Tribal Memoir. Berkeley, California, Heyday, 2013

Reed, Charley "Resilient Histories for Resilient Futures: CA Indian History & Community Empowerment” Youtube, commentary by Dr. Cutcha Risling Baldy, Mar 27 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=andi7-CKN7U

Wilbur, Matika, Keene, Adrienne “All My Relations” allmyrelationspodcast.com, 26 February 2019, https://www.allmyrelationspodcast.com/podcast/episode/32b0bd95/ep-1-all-my-relations-and-indigenous-feminism

Meskwaki Tribe land acknowledgement

I share a homeland with the proud people of the Meskwaki nation on the Mississippi border in the northern Midwest. For millennia before I was born in Minnesota the Meskwaki people have cared for the land and the Mississippi river. The beautiful woodland area around the Mississippi has an abundance of wildlife that the indigenous would have hunted sustainably. The river would have given a source of life that needed to be protected. I grew up fishing and swimming in the same river as their children. The Meskwaki are a woodland people that now reside in thriving communities in Iowa. I acknowledge that the connection for the Meskwaki people and this land is strong with deep roots.

As a Minnesotan, I acknowledge that Meskwaki people have made that land as I know it. Their wisdom of the care for the land has created a strong future. I understand it is important that I make the same effort to carry on this tradition to leave a bountiful place for the next people. I must take care to keep the river clean and the wildlife intact. The legacy of the Meskwaki lives on. Their land is alive.

Works Cited:

“Meskwaki: A Brief History” Meskwaki.org, Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in, 2017, https://meskwaki.org/about-us/history/ 5 September 2020