insightful panel convo with discussion on Indigenous "identity" appropriation in Canada, the US, & Australia.

Kim Scott, @gregoryscofield and @DMihesuah on Art and Activism. @duncanmccue as moderator. 2021 Blue Metropolis... via @YouTube

i frequently put "identity" in scare quotes b/c identity is a poor substitute for relating. as a concept in popular usage, "identity" does not necessarily imply ongoing relating. i try to limit use of this word whenever possible.

"Identity" might imply discrete biological conjoinings within ones genetic ancestry, and it might spur actual lived relations, but it also might not if there is no living community to (re)connect with.

"Identity" is as likely to exist as a largely individualistic idea, as something considered to be held once and for all, unchanging within one’s own body—whether through biological or social imprinting—as one’s body’s property. One's relations are not one's property.

For more: Kim TallBear. “Identity is a Poor Substitute for Relating: Genetic Ancestry, Critical Polyamory, Property, and Relations.” In Brendan Hokowhitu, Linda Tuhiwai-Smith, Chris Andersen, and Steve Larkin. Critical Indigenous Studies Handbook. Routledge, 2021: 467-478.

FYI, i expect those who "identify as" Indigenous to be honest about their relations. it's not my job to verify. i have a lot of other work to do. tho as this panel discusses, we Indigenous people will ask where you from? who's your family? to context you in our broader networks.

if you don't know, you might want to go work to (re)constitute your relations before making claims and speaking as/on behalf of Indigenous people as the scott/scofield/mihesuah panel explains.

this thread deals with individual claims. the problem of manufactured "tribes/nations" is a related but somewhat different conversation. that's a predicament i'm still thinking my way through. it shares many of the same problematic narratives with individual claims though.