THE POLITICS OF “ POST INDIAN AUTHENTICITY

Unit 5:The Politics of“Postindian” AuthenticityTexts:
James Clifford, “Identity in Mashpee” [D2L]
Sherman Alexie,The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven[please read the whole book,but with special focus on the following: “Because My Father Always Said He Was the OnlyIndian Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play ‘The Star
Spangled Banner at Woodstock”; “The OnlyTraffic Signal on the Reservation Doesnt Flash Red Anymore”; “This Is What It Means to SayPheonix, Arizona”; “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven”; “Junior Polatkins WildWest Show”]Assignment:Please write a four
page paper, typed and double
spaced.See prompt at end for specifics.Due Date:11/29, by 3:00 pm. Please submit to D2L Dropbox.Background:In1968, N. Scott Momadays novelHouse Made of Dawn(1969) won the Pulitzer Prize forfiction. It was the first time a Native American had won the award. This began what critics nowrefer to as the “Native American Renaissance,” a period in which a new generation of writers ofNative American descent, having attained an extensive English language education outside ofIndian boarding schools, began to write their own stories about the way in which Europeansettlement in the U.S. affected Native Americans.These writers include James Welch, GeraldVizenor, Leslie Marmon Silko, Louise Erdrich, Paula Gunn Allen, and Sherman Alexie, amongothers. This work provides a very different take on Native American identity than the sort ofimage provided in early American texts, such asThe Last of the Mohicans. But that doesntmean that the stories of the Native American Renaissance simply celebrate Native Americanidentity. In some ways the opposite is true. As you will see, the stories offered by these authorsreflect the difficulty of locating or maintaining an “authentic” Native American identity incontemporary America—what Native American critic and author Gerald Vizenor has referred toas a “cultural schizophrenia.” Indeed, in some ways Native American Renaissance writerssuggest that establishing an authentic Native American identity in the modern world isimpossible. In so doing they reflect what Vizenor has referred to as a “postindian” identity, onethat has lost full access to an Indian past. Instead,Vizenor suggests, Native Americans must relyon what he terms “survivance”: unlike straightforward “survival,” “survivance,” he suggests, is aterm that connotes the need to adapt to the modern world, and thus stop relying on an older wayof life that is now vanished.The two texts for this part of Unit 2, James Cliffords essay “Identity in Mashpee” and ShermanAlexies collection of short stories,The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, bothaddress the tensions between an older, traditional Indian world, and a new, more fracturedmodern world. In Cliffords essay, for example, he recounts a court case in Massachusetts, inwhich the Mashpee Indian tribe sues for actual “tribal” status with the US government. Theresult is that the very notion ofwhat constitutes an “authentic” Native American tribe iscompletely up for grabs. Similarly, in Alexies stories, the books main character, Victor, is2constantly negotiating his tribal identity (linked with the reservation) over and against the moremodern and more “white” or “Anglo” identity outside the reservation, especially as heexperiences it in Seattle. The result is a group of somewhat complicated narratives that dontnecessarily provide straightforward or definitive perspectives on or answers to the problems theyaddress. Rather, they sketch out a Native American identity that is in fact uniquely “American,”precisely because it is complicated, heterogeneous, and fraught.Prompt for Unit 5:Please write a paper in which you compare and contrast theMashpee Indiansthat we see inCliffords essaywith the characters we encounter in Alexies stories—especially Victor. Whenreading the Clifford essay, you should consider what he seems to be saying about NativeAmerican authenticity. Does he seem to think that such a thing exists? Moreover, you shouldask yourself if you think the Mashpee tribehas a legitimate case for tribal identity.Similarquestions can be asked of Victor and the other characters in Alexie
s stories. Does he have anauthentic Native Americanidentity?Is he fully connected to this culture? If not, what sorts ofthings come between him and this identity?(Whenanalyzingthese stories,you might considerthe following: Victors relationship with Thomas Builds
the
Fire in “This Is What It Means toSay Phoenix, Arizona”; Victors relationship with his white girlfriend in “The Lone Ranger andTonto”; the exchange between Victor and the 7/11 clerkin “The Lone Ranger and Tonto”).

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