Group A - Reading Padlet - 2/7/21 by Lucy Harding https://padlet.com/hardl0071/t0uuqfvc1kl6yii1 “Indigeneity, Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy”. Smith, 2012 & Clara Sue Kidwell. “The Effects of Removal on American Indian Tribes.” en-us 2020-08-14 15:34:34 UTC 2026-02-17 14:09:56 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/1f33f.png Open Letter From Indigenous Women Scholars Regarding Discussions of Andrea Smith hardl0071 https://padlet.com/hardl0071/t0uuqfvc1kl6yii1/wish/1174492566 In 2015, a group of Indigenous Women Scholars shared an open letter voicing concerns about "he profound need for transparency and responsibility in light of the traumatic histories of colonization, slavery, and genocide that shape the present" in response to disputed claims surrounding Andrea Smith's Cherokee identity, including claims that she herself said she has no Cherokee ancestry. Despite this, Smith asserted herself as a "Native woman" in her scholarly and activist work.

The letter brings up important points regarding Indigenous representation and cultural survival.  

As the letter asks for reflection and care in making sense of Smith's contradictions, it also acknowledges that 'Playing Indian' enables and contributes to the settler-colonial logic of Indigenous erasure. 

Reading the letter, is it possible to connect Smith's taking up of space in Indigenous academic and activist networks with the concept of accumulation by dispossession?  If so, how?

The letter asks for transparency, self-reflexivity, and honesty from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars in considering complex histories of violence. What are your reflections on this? ]]> 2021-02-07 21:48:25 UTC https://padlet.com/hardl0071/t0uuqfvc1kl6yii1/wish/1174492566 "Indigeneity, Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy" Andrea Smith (Questions/Commentary) lovec668 https://padlet.com/hardl0071/t0uuqfvc1kl6yii1/wish/1174539273 What are the “three pillars” of white supremacy?

What are some ways we see within the Andrea Smith reading and current day that the white supremacy system has people “trapped” and “seduced into participating into other pillars?” Is there a way to not live within the three pillars?

Andrea Smith discusses the disappearance of Native Americans and “settler colonialism” within “Race Theory.” What are some ideas/examples Andrea Smith uses to emphasize the importance of not grouping Native Americans with other groups within race theory, and why it is important to not “regulate to the past” the colonization of Native Americans? ("the balance of coercion began to change") p.71

What does it mean when white supremacy as described in the reading, "engulfs" or harms Indigenous, Native American, or people of color's identity? What are ways we see “whiteness” harming people, or becoming a personal item some have?


How is “nation-hood” challenged within the article? What does Andrea Smith propose about “sovereignty,” within the lens of a colonist America and the term “settlers of color?” How does “radical relationality to land” (p. 86) change the ideas of “nation-hood”?
]]> 2021-02-07 22:24:03 UTC https://padlet.com/hardl0071/t0uuqfvc1kl6yii1/wish/1174539273 Donald Vann (Cherokee artist), Men with Broken Hearts, 1994 hardl0071 https://padlet.com/hardl0071/t0uuqfvc1kl6yii1/wish/1174559938 2021-02-07 22:42:17 UTC https://padlet.com/hardl0071/t0uuqfvc1kl6yii1/wish/1174559938 Choctaw Trail of Tears Map using GIS hardl0071 https://padlet.com/hardl0071/t0uuqfvc1kl6yii1/wish/1174571375 The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma has used cultural GIS mapping to "protect the Trail of Tears" and thus, protect Choctaw culture. This mapping project starts by marking Nanih Waiya Mound, the site of their ancestral homeland and origin story. It then maps their movements, relocation, and relationships to land throughout the continued period of Indigenous dispossession starting in the 1700's.

In Amir Sheik's talk last week, he referred to "counter-mapping" as an agent of change against oppressive hegemonic systems, spaces and structures. This GIS holds data allowing Choctaw people's to trace the routes their ancestors took, effectively countering settler colonial politics of erasure.

In what other ways does this project work to document power over space through time? What possibilities does GIS technology offer in countering Indigenous erasure more broadly?]]> 2021-02-07 22:52:53 UTC https://padlet.com/hardl0071/t0uuqfvc1kl6yii1/wish/1174571375 The Effects of Removal on American Indian Tribes - Clara Kidwell maidh805 https://padlet.com/hardl0071/t0uuqfvc1kl6yii1/wish/1174582798 The war of 1812 instilled in Americans a greater sense of national identity. How do you think that this bolstered American nationalism influenced Indian removal?

Kidwell writes that, "European settlers had brought well-established beliefs in the power of herbal medicines, which were based on similarities of form between plants and the human body, while Native beliefs were based on the idea that plants were living beings." Do you find any insights in this statement regarding the varying attitudes toward and relationship between people and environment?

Indigenous food sovereignty maintains a fragile equilibrium between people and the forces of the environment. Native people practiced ceremonies such as the Green Corn ceremony that served to renew the world in the spring for the upcoming year. How does the relationship between space and power vary between European colonizers and indigenous peoples?]]> 2021-02-07 23:03:38 UTC https://padlet.com/hardl0071/t0uuqfvc1kl6yii1/wish/1174582798