First Nations Performing Arts Decolonization Track

Summer 2023

https://www.firstnationsperformingarts.global/



Syllabus created by Emily Johnson in partnership with Ronee Penoi

Quyana Jane Anderson and your Decolonizing and Reassembling the Museum syllabus; LaTanya Autry and your Temporary Spaces of Joy and Freedom syllabus

Course Description

The 2023 Decolonization Track is an eight-week learning/unlearning cohort facilitated by Emily Johnson and Ronee Penoi. This effort is for individuals who represent and work in presenting organizations across what is called the United States. Participants engage in a rigorous syllabus, specific tasks, and sessions focused on Kinship Budgets (thank you Joseph M. Pierce for this term) and backing institutional moves with funding and priority timelines; Institutional Land Acknowledgement Assessments; Supporting Local Land Back and Land and Water Protection Efforts and knowing what is being asked of allies and accomplices; Liberation, Sovereignty and the Politics of Indigenous Resistance; Settler Colonial Violence and Decolonization is Not a Metaphor (Eve Tuck); The Harms of Appropriation; Decolonization and Systems Change, Time and Radical Care; Intellectual Property and Indigenous Data Sovereignty.

Learning Outcomes

All participants engage in a post-Decolonization Track assessment survey, guided by Emily Johnson / Catalyst’s Decolonization Rider (https://www.catalystdance.com/decolonization-rider) and Assessment, which offers data and helps identify perceived challenges and successes toward decolonization. As decolonization work is ongoing, the decolonization assessment is annual.

Session 1 - May 30, 2023
1:00 - 3:00 pm PT / 2:00 - 4:00 pm MT / 3:00 - 5:00 pm CT / 4:00 - 6:00 pm ET
Begin, Introductions, Community Care Agreement

Readings:
Tuck, Eve, and K. Wayne Yang. “Decolonization Is Not a Metaphor.” Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 1, no. 1 (2012): 1–40. https://www.latrobe.edu.au/staff-profiles/data/docs/fjcollins.pdf. 
Decolonial Action Coalition statement, starting on page 17 of Phase 2 of Creating New Futures
Johnson, Emily. “Decolonization Rider,” n.d. http://www.catalystdance.com/decolonization-rider. 

Homework:
Review Land Acknowledgment Assessment: www.landackowlegements.org
With this assessment tool, Be prepared to assess your institution’s  land acknowledgement during the next session. If your institution does not have a land acknowledgement, this is part of your assessment, but please be prepared with another land acknowledgement to fully assess. 

Session 2 - June 12, 2023 
1:00 - 3:00 pm PT / 2:00 - 4:00 pm MT / 3:00 - 5:00 pm CT / 4:00 - 6:00 pm ET
Land Acknowledgement / Land Back

Guest speakers: Vanessa Smith and Felicia Garcia of Local Contexts and the Land Acknowledgement Assessment team

Readings:
Land, Clare. Decolonizing Solidarity. Chapter 7: “Reckoning with Complicity.”

Watch:
“Towards Accountability: Art and Institutions on Indigenous Territories | Session 3: Contemporary Art Institutions” from Independent Curators with Jordan Wilson, Jackson Polys, Emily Johnson : https://vimeo.com/664325993

Session 3 - June 21, 2023 
1:00 - 3:00 pm PT / 2:00 - 4:00 pm MT / 3:00 - 5:00 pm CT / 4:00 - 6:00 pm ET
101’s

Watch:
What Is Tribal Sovereignty?, 2020. https://nativegov.org/resources/what-is-tribal-sovereignty/. 

Readings:
Dunbar-Ortiz, Roxanne. “Chapters 1 and 2.” In An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, 320. Beacon Press, 2014.

Wolfe, Patrick. “Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native.” Journal of Genocide Research 8, no. 4 (December 21, 2006): 387–409. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/14623520601056240. 

Campbell, Tara. “A Copy Editor’s Education in Indigenous Style.” The Tyee, January 17, 2020. https://thetyee.ca/News/2020/01/17/Copy-Editor-Indigenous-Style/.

Johnson, Emily. “Decolonization Rider: Communications and Fonts”, n.d. http://www.catalystdance.com/decolonization-rider. 

In session. Full text recommended:

“Brightening the Spotlight: The Practices and Needs of Native American, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Native Creators in the Performing Arts.” First Peoples Fund, n.d.

Session 4 - June 28, 2023
1:00 - 3:00 pm PT / 2:00 - 4:00 pm MT / 3:00 - 5:00 pm CT / 4:00 - 6:00 pm ET
Representation/Appropriation and Rematriation

Listen:
Wilbur, Matika, and Adrienne Keene. “Rematriation.” All My Relations Podcast, 2023. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/all-my-relations-podcast/id1454424563?i=1000607762495

Wilbur, Matika, and Adrienne Keene. “Native Appropriations.” All My Relations Podcast, 2019. https://www.allmyrelationspodcast.com/podcast/episode/46e6ef0d/native-appropriations. 

Readings:
Johnson, Emily. “Decolonization Rider,” Disclosures Section. n.d. http://www.catalystdance.com/decolonization-rider. 
Ngu, Ash, and Andrea Suozzo. “Does Your Local Museum or University Still Have Native American Remains?” ProPublica, 11 Jan. 2023, https://projects.propublica.org/repatriation-nagpra-database/. 
Sharp, Kathleen. “Is the Metropolitan Museum of Art Displaying Objects That Belong to Native American Tribes?” ProPublica, 25 Apr. 2023, https://www.propublica.org/article/the-met-museum-native-american-collections. 

Session 5 - July 5, 2023
1:00 - 3:00 pm PT / 2:00 - 4:00 pm MT / 3:00 - 5:00 pm CT / 4:00 - 6:00 pm ET
Liberation and Land Justice

Guest Speaker: Demian DinéYazhi’, R.I.S.E Indigenous

Listen:
Ramirez, Jessica, and Tracy Rector. “No Climate Justice Without Racial Justice:” Rev. Yearwood and Leo…. https://www.niatero.org/stories/no-climate-justice-without-racial-justice-rev-yearwood-and-leo-cerda-with-tracy-rector. 

Watch:
Good Relations. UConn Reads, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aC-iHLbesbs. 

Readings:
The Memorial Qaspeq for Alaska Native Women | NIWRC
Giant Qaspeq Shines Light on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women: Giant qaspeq shines light on missing and murdered indigenous women (adn.com)
Savanna’s Act and the Not Invisible Act: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) | NIWRC
Maynard, Robyn, and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson. Rehearsals for Living, Haymarket Books, 2022, pp. 79–148.
Okun, Tema. “White Supremacy Culture.” Dismantling Racism Works, n.d. https://www.dismantlingracism.org/uploads/4/3/5/7/43579015/okun_-_white_sup_culture.pdf.
Johnson, Emily. “Decolonization Rider: Policing”, n.d. http://www.catalystdance.com/decolonization-rider. 

Homework:
Prompt: Why is Indigenous leadership critical in environmental justice efforts?  

Land and Water protective efforts are Indigenous-led land / water / resource rematriation and protection efforts, most usually but not exclusively against extractive oil, gas, real estate industries and values (examples include the NO DAPL fight at Standing Rock, Stop LINE 3,  Save East River Park, and many more).

Bring a minimum of 3 examples of Land and Water protective efforts happening where you live. Please gather and share a base of understanding of 

  • what/who the fight is protecting

  • who is on the ground

  • what support is being requested

In session. Full text recommended:
Newland, Bryan. “Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report.” Bureau of Indian Affairs, 2022. https://www.bia.gov/sites/default/files/dup/inline-files/bsi_investigative_report_may_2022_508.pdf. 
Nagle, Rebecca. This Land, Season 2. https://crooked.com/podcast-series/this-land/.
Benally, Razelle and Matthew Galkin, dirs. Murder in Big Horn. 2023. Showtime, 2023.
Razelle Benally and Matthew Galkin. https://www.sho.com/murder-in-big-horn. 

Session 6 - July 12, 2023
1:00 - 3:00 pm PT / 2:00 - 4:00 pm MT / 3:00 - 5:00 pm CT / 4:00 - 6:00 pm ET
Intellectual Property and Knowledge

Guest Speaker: Dr. Jane Anderson of Local Contexts and NYU

Watch:
Local Contexts, 2021. https://vimeo.com/622861354. 

Listen:
“Jean O’Brien Interviewed by J Kēhaulani Kauanui.” Indigenous Politics. Wesleyan University, 2010. http://www.indigenouspolitics.org/audiofiles/2010/OBrien%202010.mp3. 

Readings:
Johnson, Emily. “Decolonization Rider,” IP Section. n.d. http://www.catalystdance.com/decolonization-rider.
Australia Council for the Arts . “Protocols for Using First Nations Cultural and Intellectual Property in the Arts.” Australia Council for the Arts , 2019.
Gregory, Alice. “How Did a Self-Taught Linguist Come to Own an Indigenous Language?” The New Yorker, April 12, 2021. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/04/19/how-did-a-self-taught-linguist-come-to-own-an-indigenous-language.
Tuhiwai Smith, Linda. “Introduction and Chapter 3.” In Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples, 220. 1999. Reprint, Zed Books Ltd and University of Otago Press , 2008.
Protocols for Using First Nations Cultural and Intellectual Property in the Arts
Pages 1-26 AND 3 Protocols in Practice (your choice) and one Case Study (your choice)

Session 7 - July 19, 2023
1:00 - 3:00 pm PT / 2:00 - 4:00 pm MT / 3:00 - 5:00 pm CT / 4:00 - 6:00 pm ET
Institutional Next Steps / Kinship Budgets

Watch:
Sara Ahmed: On Complaint, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4j_BwPJoPTE. 
WHAT IF? A Conversation on Institutional Fear, Cultural Safety & Collective Healing. Sozo produced, featuring Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Joseph M. Pierce, Emily Johnson and Daniel Bernard Roumain :  https://www.sozoartists.com/whatif

Readings:
Grande, Sandy. “Refusing the University.” In Toward What Justice? Describing Diverse Dreams of Justice in Education, 1st ed., 1. New York: Routledge, 2018.

Homework:
Prompt : In relation specifically to the work of Sandy Grande and Sara Ahmed, how do you receive complaints? How does your institution receive calls to action? Are there things about how you and your institution receive complaints and calls to action that need to change? What are they?

Institutional Next Steps /  Kinship Budget
In your institution, what are you going to do regarding next steps and your Kinship Budgets? Bring a minimum of 3 ideas for your Kinship Budget/Institutional Next Steps that are:

  • Beyond the many Indigenous people in leadership positions that need to be hired

  • Beyond the ongoing curation and commission of Indigenous artists that is ongoing

  • Beyond your land acknowledgement assessment per year; who is resourced to do this work, what is the archive process and how does that resist extractivism; 

  • Regarding hospitality, are you speaking with funders as to what needs to change in budget flexibility, transparency to allow for real hospitality budget lines?

  • How are you resourcing displaced Indigenous individuals and communities coming to their homelands to do what they want, when they want?

  • Query what you demand out of these relationships - maybe it should be nothing.

  • Can you pay people in cash / venmo. Can you untether your systems from 1099’s and requesting invoices?

  • Do you know local Land and Water protective efforts, resistance camps, Land Back efforts and how are you amplifying this urgent front line work?How can you support Indigenous land protective leadership even if this is not your organization's mission, even if it threatens your board, funders..(because of course it does). How can you do so in a way that does not apply pressure onto the effort or the ones on the frontlines?

  • How will you assure that the knowledge gained here is shared structurally and in acknowledgement that this work is on a continuum (and does not end). Ie - if you leave your position, who is keeping this work up in your organization so if/when you go you don’t leave behind a harmful institution who will reroute itself back to what it was previously?

  • Coming back to accomplicing - as you are bringing Indigenous leadership in, listening to needs, building those relationships - your job is to chip away at the structural level from within

  • How about a new position? An Indigenous person/s who is investigating issues, fractures and  tending to relationships (ie go beyond forming a council or having one person on your board. Gear yourself toward becoming an organization that is at least 51% Indigenous.

  • Institutional field share; if you’ve done x, how to share that knowledge (which itself is a decolonial process).

Session 8 -July 26, 2023
1:00 - 3:00 pm PT / 2:00 - 4:00 pm MT / 3:00 - 5:00 pm CT / 4:00 - 6:00 pm ET
Assessment - Self and small groups

In our first session, Catalyst's Decolonization Rider was shared as a starting guide. Using the Decolonization Assessment Survey, please note where your institution is in relation to each section of the Decolonization Rider.

Office, Minneapolis, MN, US612.597.7400emily@catalystdance.com

Emily Johnson / Catalyst is based on Mannahatta in Lenapehoking. We work to pay respect to Lenape homeland, people and ancestors past, present, and future by organizing with communities from the Lenape diaspora to build pathways for Lenapeyok return. We have been taught to name Lenape Nations and say cama’i to our relatives from Delaware Tribe of Indians in Bartlesville, OK; Delaware Nation of Oklahoma in Anadarko, OK; Stockbridge-Munsee and Mohican Community in Wisconsin; Moravian Delaware of the Thames in Ontario, Canada; Munsee-Delaware Nation at Munceytown in Ontario, Canada; Delaware of Six Nations in Ontario, Canada. 

We strive to be in good relations with our kin—human and more than human—and in effort to support growing kinstillatory relations and sovereign, liberated futures we are anti-colonial and abolitionist in all capacities. We are committed to on-the-ground water and land protection, consistent decolonization work, and Land Back. 

Quyanaqvaa-lli elpeni to all Sovereign Nations, Indigenous and First Nations people who live in relation to and from Lenapehoking and upon whose lands we work and tour.

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