Identity

Jeannette Armstrong’s “Sharing One Skin” covers the Okanagan view of their existence as human beings. Identity is seen from four different perspectives of self which are, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, and physical. Okanagan teachings say that each of these elements of the self is connected to the land creating wholeness of self.

What I found the most important point in Armstrong’s writing was her emphasis on the importance of community. In relevance to my topic, the community serves an important function within healing intergenerational trauma. Jeanette says, ¨ ¨Being a part of such a community is to be fully alive, fully human. To be without community in this way is to be alive only in the flesh, to be alone, to be lost to being human. It is then possible to violate and destroy others and their property without remorse¨. In order to restore our communities, both sides need to be addressed. There is an upset of balance in communities when only one side is healed.

Perry G. Horse´s essay ¨Native American Identity¨ elaborates on Native American identity and colonialism. He more so goes in-depth about how Native American identity is ever-changing due to adaptation to the dominant culture, white culture. Not only is the term Native American too general of a statement, but even the linguistics of a culture we are assimilated to oppress us. Its been taught that those with brown skin are the minority in a society that forever favors white people. There’s a very visible line that intersects with our identity and that is how we adapt to white culture. This notion that we can either be our indigenous selves or assimilate to be seen as real people damages our identity as Native Americans. It has been forced, taught, and born into us

We hear it from our elders more often than not that we stray too far from our roots as Indigenous people. Since colonization, our traditional ways of life have changed. For minority people as a whole, experiences at the hands of colonizers creates the oppression we face today. However, it should not be stressed that we are defeated and forgotten. We should not be seeking pity, we need to recognize that we can’t change what colonialism imposed upon us. What we can do is stay true to our roots and reconnect with our traditions and culture in order to cultivate healthier tribes and communities.

Armstrong, Jeanette. “Sharing One Skin: The Okanagan Community,” in Jerry Mander and Edward Goldsmith (eds), The Case Against the Global Economy. San Francisco, CA, Sierra Club Books, 1996. Pp 460-470.

Perry, Horse G. “Native American Identity”. New Directions for Student Services. Wiley Periodicals Inc. 2005. Pp 61-67

History of Enforced Heteropatriarchy in Native Communities

Dianne Baumann’s analysis of masculinity touches on historical impacts on today’s Indigenous male generation. Generational trauma evident in our Indigenous men began with colonialism. Depictions of Native Americans, specifically Native American men, as heathens, reinforced the idea that the white person is in danger of the savages. This notion is still visible today where we are depicted as mascots, costumes, games, and media. We have always been the terrorists in headdresses tormenting the white person. This depiction of a stoic savage is so deeply ingrained in our society that this form of racism is normalized. Racism against Indigenous people is acceptable in American society. This idea that the person with brown skin is the perpetrator damages our men. Dianne says, ¨White men have the comfort of knowing they will be afforded the privilege of assumed innocence and victimhood, while the Native man is assumed at fault based on his appearance as a brown man¨(Baumann, 9). This abuse of the body of Indigenous men is how colonialism affects men today. They will not only be stereotyped as a weapon, but their physical being is too.

We, as Indigenous people, are forgotten and therefore racism against us is acceptable. What the writer focuses on is how our stereotypes continue to silence us. In the media, were the terrorists raiding the white people. We are the perpetrators. This is only the worst for colored men. It’s a stigma that against a white person, we will never win. Historically, we lost against the white people every single time. For Native men, it impacts their masculinity because there is no real justice for them. When it comes to a physical fight, a caucasian man can walk away and maintain his masculinity. If a white person fights and loses to a colored man, they will be the victim regardless of the situation. In both outcomes, the one with brown skin loses. So how do we overcome this minority complex? Native men are forgotten with no support system in place. No matter how hard an Indigenous man tries it is ingrained in their minds that they are inferior.

Toxic Masculinity; Addressing a Terrible Truth

The article ¨Toxic Masculinity; Addressing a Terrible Truth¨, written by Mary Annette Pember discusses how toxic masculinity affects the community as a whole. She also discusses how historically, tribal communities had balance in gender hierarchy. When white people invaded our land, they brought their patriarchy with them upsetting this balance. Mary brings Lakota society as a matriarch into consideration. She reinforces an idea of balance throughout the article saying that while women acted as leaders, there was always a balance of power. The conflict was handled with compassion, those at fault were given a chance to change their behavior. With settler colonialism, this balance was upset making the women subordinate to men. Dominance was introduced and adopted instead of balance. This is not traditional, separation from our ways as Native people has always been the root of our problems. In response to this issue, a support group for men used horse therapy, an important animal to the Lakota, as a way to reconnect and remember what their role is as Native men. With this healing, the men learn that ¨the primary role for Native men was to create a safe environment for women and children¨ (Pember).

The introduction of western models of government to Indigenous communities upset the once balanced share of power. Moreover, Ried Gustafson directly identifies the acts that disrupted our power hierarchy. These acts being:

• The Dawes Act first introduced heteropatriarchy by giving Native men ownership of the land, giving them more power than their female counterparts.

• The Indian Reorganization Act gave males positions of power in a government identical to the American government.

• The Indian Relocation Act removed Indigenous people from reservations to urban areas. This presented the western kinship structure making men the breadwinners and women the homemakers.

From a current standpoint, it is very visible how colonialism has had an impact on Native men today. Before this, there was no such thing as dominance in our tribes. Through genocide and assimilation affected us in almost every aspect of who we are today. As Native Americans, intergenerational trauma is handed down to us along with resilience. All these actions forced upon us were meant to destroy us and our people. Yet, we are still here even if we are considered forgotten people. The only way that those who attempted to erase us win is if we stray from ourselves as Indigenous people.

What we can recognize is that while we can’t change our current situation, we are sovereign people. Reconnection with who we are and our roles as Indigenous people is the greatest gift we have. As for our brothers, fathers, uncles, nephews, and grandfathers, allowing them to reconnect with their culture and remember who they are as Indigenous men is not only therapy for them, but therapy for our families. Alcoholism, drug usage, and domestic violence are outcomes from unresolved trauma. Hurt people hurt people and destroy our tribal communities. A core value taught in every tribe is the value of community, especially family. With this aspect of balance, we cannot move forward if one side is not being healed.

Pember, Mary Annette. “#MeToo. Toxic Masculinity; Addressing a Terrible Truth.” Indian Country Today, Indian Country Today, 30 May 2019, https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/metoo-toxic-masculinity-addressing-a-terrible-truth.

Baumann, Dianne. “Beyond Fistfights and Basketball - Reconstructing Native American Masculinity.” Department of Anthropology, University of Washington Anthropology Sociocultural, 2017, https://anthropology.washington.edu/research/graduate/beyond-fistfights-and-basketball-reconstructing-native-american-masculinity.

Gustafson, Ried. “Hetero-Patriarchy and Settler Colonialism.” YouTube, TedxTalks, 26 Apr. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wRbfOmHgts. Accessed 7 Oct. 2021.

“A Call on Our Indigenous Boys and Men to Eliminate Violence Against Our Native Women and Children”, authored by Keioshiah Peter and Cecelia Westman centers on the importance of Indigenous men in relation to high violence related death statistics. Suicide is the second leading cause of death in Native American men. In addition to this “...Native boys face untimely deaths that are violence-related 75% of the time, which include both homicide and suicide”. The writers bring this issue, that is directly tied to violence within and against our communities, to light. Indigenous men are important to our communities. They have a part in deconstructing patriarchy. Much like racism, patriarchy oppresses us all. Patriarchy was never a traditional part of our communities pre-colonialism.

It startled me that Indigenous men had such high homicide and suicide rates. I also found it unnerving that I hadn't known about this already. I feel as if pressing matters within Indigenous nations are way more than overlooked. If you think about it, the way the government is set up to hide us. How often are we told that any issue we go to seek help for is not within the department's jurisdiction, it is simply not their problem. We have sovereignty and we have reservations but we don't have equal access to essential resources and services. I say this carefully because focusing on one problem is not taking away the severity of another, but there are more issues in our communities than MMIW and unhealthiness. Like Native Women, Native men are just as important to our communities.

To Counter Domestic Violence, Some Native Americans Embrace Tradition

In the article “To Counter Domestic Violence, Some Native Americans Embrace Tradition”, by Claudia Boyd-Barrett, a father shares his experience with toxic masculinity and how he made an effort to shift this enforced paradigm. Mike Duncan, from the Round Valley Indian Tribe, discussed his shame from displaying negative examples of behavior within his family. He says that the behavior he showed was “...just part of the sickness, the belief system that I grew up with”. This sickness being misogynism and toxic masculinity. In order to beat this, he works with Native men and women to address these issues and ultimately become better parents. By way of incorporating culture and prayer, they are able to reconnect with themselves and what their roles were before colonization.

What I took away from this piece was that a lot of our thinking is learned behavior. We have to recognize that a lot of the issues people of color face today stem from oppression. For example, we as Native Americans experienced genocide, assimilated, and relocation. Stripped away from our culture and our traditional ways of life and forced to live within Western norms. Mike says that “We have to take responsibility for our behavior, but you have to understand that’s not who we are, it came from somewhere”.The origins of these issues all stem from colonialism, this is not who we are traditionally, it's who we were forced to be.

The #Unignorable Issue of Intergenerational Trauma

Upon watching the video “The #Unignorable Issue of Intergenerational Trauma”. I felt like I had a better understanding of how the experiences Indigenous People have gone through affects how they raise a family. The video was a father and son interview about how the fathers experience with boarding schools and Indian relocation have affected their family. The father explains how his culture was stripped from him within residential schooling making him ashamed of his Native identity. This caused him to push away his culture and his family. He talks about how he dealt with his trauma unhealthily by way of substance abuse and violence.

In response to this source, I felt sympathy for the father. Historically, Indigenous people have faced a lot of trauma that is still prevalent today. I listened to the father express that while he understood the trauma he went through, he could not cope with it in a healthy manner. I feel as if what we experience in the past truly affects the way we act today. While I can't excuse the behavior of an abuser, a predator, or a criminal, I think that we need to assess the mental health of our nations regarding intergenerational trauma. We cannot continue to pass down unhealed trauma onto future generations or we as Indigenous people will not be able to last.

A call on our indigenous boys and men to eliminate violence against our native women and children. CSVANW Coalition to STOP Violence Against Women. (n.d.). Retrieved November 3, 2021, from https://www.csvanw.org/a-call-on-our-indigenous-boys-and-men-to-eliminate-violence-against-our-native-women-and-children.

Crowshoe, R. (2019, June 21). The #unignorable issue of intergenerational trauma - youtube. Youtube. Retrieved November 3, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mLe6BQ3pDo.

Boyd-Barrett, C., & Boyd-Barrett, C. (2021, April 8). To counter domestic violence, some Native Americans embrace tradition. YES! Magazine. Retrieved November 5, 2021, from https://www.yesmagazine.org/health-happiness/2021/04/07/native-americans-embrace-tradition-counter-domestic-violence.

Kpop's Influence on Redefining Masculinity within Heternormative Regimes

The focus of this article is how the Kpop industry redefines the term masculinity. It’s no secret that entertainment companies have a harsh influence on an artists image in their realm of entertainment. Fortunately, as we move towards a more liberal and open minded generation, incorporation of both what are considered feminine and masculine concepts are coming into play in the music industry. Although harsh criticism is ongoing, the Kpop industry has had a big influence on breaking down forms of toxic masculinity. In earlier generations, models of masculinity in boy groups were firmer. The image they were encouraged to represent was the rebellious, “bad boy” type of fashion and attitude. In the earlier times of the group BTS, a more toxic masculine concept was used. Including lyrics that were limited to heteronormative relationships, ideals, and typical male behavior. It was after they dropped this concept and used vulnerability as way to express their masculinity, they became much more prominent in not just the Kpop industry but in the global music industry. One member of the group, Jimin, struggled a lot with toxic masculinity in the beginning of his music career. He faced harsh criticism due to his vocals that took people by surprise due to his soprano voice and clear tone that would otherwise belong to a female voice. In addition to this, his physical appearance is structured much more femininely. His beauty is often compared to that of female idols. This duality that he used to suppress due to insecurities is now celebrated by fans and most importantly, himself.

I think we see this struggle between embracing our own duality, the concept of being both feminine and masculine, in not only Native communities but in society as a whole. In Indigenous communities, there are those that are considered two spirited. Meaning they are born with the spirit of both male and female. These people are usually part of the LGBTQ+ community in Native Americans. But as colonization occurred, settlers brought their own prejudices into our Native America and forced us into two categories: male and female. In both situations, Korean men embrace both feminine and masculine qualities due to its emergence in media. It gives them a sense of community, that it’s okay to embrace ones duality. When we have leaders and a large community that uses their bigger voice, we feel more open to embracing ourselves in healthy manners.

Toxic Masculinity Starts from a Young Age

Jessica Sanders is an author and social worker who conducted research on elementary school children. These children were between the ages of ten to twelve years old. The activity she did with the students was to contrast different words they associated with men and women. A great majority of the children placed words and drawings that portrayed extreme gender stereotypes. Women were drawn with words associated with femininity like “pretty” and “quiet”, while the men had words like “strong” and “angry”. A small group of four boys wrote “pushes down feelings” in their male categories. It’s unfortunate that the highlighted message in the male category is an internalised belief of male ideals.

From birth, we are separated into two categories by blue and pink. Already we are introduced to the ideals of femininity and masculinity. As we begin primary school, it’s instructed that girls do the tidying up, the softer tasks, and even by some dress codes, to wear skirts instead of pants. But its the boys who pick up the chairs after class, move the desks, and encouraged more to participate in sports at a young age. It’s the little things that are otherwise subliminal that make the biggest impact on a childs worldview on healthy gender ideals. Constant categories seperate whats right and whats wrong in what can be the most harmful ways. Yet there shouldn’t be a category for normal emotions to begin with.

The role of male fashion and social media in ending toxic masculinity

Men in entertainment often influence the strict ideals of what a man should be in rigourous exercise routines, diets, and the image they are forced to portray. This depiction negatively effects the standards that young men are held to. Inability to compare to unrealistic expectations, the consumers of this media feel that they have failed to be a proper man. Luckily, with time men in Hollywood have started to challenge what it means to be masculine. The most notable expression is through fashion. Celebrities who have rejected confines of male fashion are Jaden Smith, Ezra Miller, and Billy Porter. Porter says that his goal is “... to be a walking piece of political art every time I show up. To challenge expectations. What is masculinity? What does that mean?” (Baker). Social media, fashion, and celebrities have opened a gateway to fluidity and expression. With this big influence of challenging norms, these actions have become more acceptable in our society. Nobody ever talks about how men struggle with self image and appearance. This discussion seems to be more open in women than men. So many men struggle with self destructive gym habits and negative body image due to unrealistic expectations of men seen in entertainment. Models of men in entertainment can be just as dangerous as thinspo, influencers who promote the gym but are actually products of plastic surgery, and filters. Men struggle just as much, their input is much more than what they get and it’s a constant fight between being insufficiently male. But the inclusion of healthy models of what it means to embrace oneself can be best summed up in fashion. In newer generations, the fluidity of clothing has become much more common. The portrayal of ones masculinity doesn’t have to be strictly confined to one concept anymore. Seeing models who celebrate this duality and embrace it encourage those who are fearful to bravely express who they are as not just men, but as individuals.

Baker, Bethan.”The Role of Male Fashion and Social Media in Ending Toxic Masculinity”. Fashion North. 12 March 2019 .https://www.fashion-north.com/2019/03/12/the-role-of-male-fashion-and-social-media-in-ending-toxic-masculinity/.

Sanders, Jessica.”Toxic Masculinity Starts from a Young Age”. Voices. 14 September 2020.https://www.sbs.com.au/topics/voices/culture/article/2020/09/10/toxic-masculinity-starts-young-age

Stolze, Katherine, "Kpop's Influence on Redefining Masculinity within Heternormative Regimes" (2021). Denison Student Scholarship. 93.

The Power of Voice: Advocating for Aboriginal Voices

Michelle Oliver’s article, “The Power of Voice: Advocating for Aboriginal Voices”, begins by describing the various connotations of voice. It’s difficult to condense the definition of voice considering different interpretations of it. Voice can be taught through literacy, in school settings, voice is reflected through an authors writing and choice of literary devices. In the focus of the article, voice can be best described as the expression of ones views. In this, it gives a person power of voice, the ability to express or to have no voice (power of voice). This connotation of voice denotes usage of voice to speak against oppression and unjust within communities.

Language is a tool to give one power to express their experiences. Language, or lack thereof, can provide a barrier to articulation of voice, and articulation of experience. Illiteracy may mean oppression, individuals who cannot speak for themselves have limited power. When voices are silenced, dominance is maintained. The challenge of translation of one language into another presents the favor of colonization. Worldview of the colonizers is communicated rather than the meaning and point of view from Indigenous people. Indigenous worldview is taken out of context and translated into that of the colonizer.

Unfortunately, the media silences voices more than providing a real glimpse into the innerworking of a community. Media is controlled by the dominant group, colonizers, and portrays incomplete stories and silencing Indigenous voices. The media has a greater power in creating silence and oppression by choosing what kind of stories are worthy to be highlighted.

Exclusion of voice also perpetuates a problem. Olivier states, “Native children were forced to forgo their traditions and languages, they often became ashamed of their communities and their knowledge, and in that shame, confident voices were less likely to emerge” (Olivier, 31). Indigenous people are taught that their language, culture and traditions are unacceptable and create insecurity in ones own voice. The overwhelming voice of the majority dominates that of the minority, making it less likely for the minority to use their own voice against oppression.

Language of the dominant culture has presented many problems for Indigenous people. Firstly, we had no means of communication with settlers. Already, we were taken as hostile without the correct language to voice disagreement. Assumed dominance of the colonizers quickly silenced Indigenous voices and ultimately led to oppression. The process of conversion created a sense of alienation. Indigenous children were abducted from their homes and underwent assimilation by force. Children were abused into abiding by western ideals. In the process, they were taught that their Native language and culture was unacceptable, losing the voice of their people and the true meaning behind their Native language. It’s also no secret that the media favors the experience of the colonizer. Very little of the Indigenous experience is shown and when it is, the story gets turned around or has very little coverage. There are too many kidnappings, homicides, and missing peoples, that don’t get any coverage by the media. It’s unfortunate because Indigenous people are denied proper care, protection, and support due to the inability to use their power of voice that’s been taken and distorted to the incorrect point of view.

Olivier, Michelle. “The Power of Voice: Advocating for Aboriginal Voices”. Education Matters, Volume 2, Issue 2, 2014.