Encircles Everything Exhibit Comes To an End

At the Akwesasne Museum and Cultural Center, an exhibit by artist Elizabeth “Betts” Doxtator had its final showing which included a talk given by the artist. The exhibit, entitled “Encircles Everything”, used cornhusk dolls to illustrate three separate concepts. The first portion of the exhibit tells the story of the Peacemaker from birth and chronicles different moments that Doxtator felt were important. Doxtator created dolls that were intricately adorned with individual outfits and beadwork, using size 16 beads.

The second exhibit detailed the four ceremonies that the Creator gave us: Ostowakowa (Great Feather Dance), Atonwa (Mens Personal Chant), Kanehonren (Drum Dance), and Kayientowaneh (Peach Bowl Game). This ties into the first exhibit as these are the ceremonies that the peacemaker brought with him to remind us of our obligation to give thanks. The artist notes that each ceremony begins and ends with the Ohenten Kariwatehkwen.

The third, and perhaps the central piece is comprised of 101 dolls, arranged in pairs, each depicting a chief and their clan mother. The dolls are arranged each on their individual wooden mount with the clan mothers facing outward and the Chiefs facing inward. Each doll is intricately embellished with the same beadwork and unique outfit that you can see throughout. All of the dolls encircle the tree of peace also made of cornhusks. The thing to note is the attention to detail that this four year project brought to bear.

After first being shown at the Woodlands Cultural Center in Brantford, the Exhibit came to the Akwesasne Museum and from here it doesn’t have a destination. Perhaps back into Doxtators home where it will await its next showing. If you do have the opportunity to see, I highly recommend it, although the story that Doxtator tells is equally as moving and important.

Doxtator began the work after a personal tragedy caused her to reevaluate her situation, and find her way back to the teachings of the Great Law and the Peacemakers Journey. In the final moments as I was finishing the article, I was asked to include a letter from the artist and I have decided to do that as these words are central to her work, and tells them in Doxtator’s own words:

One Last Word

By Elizabeth “Betts” Doxtator

There was a TV show years ago called ‘That’s Incredible.’ Every week new scientific discoveries would be showcased. They covered a story about how venom from poisonous snakes became the key ingredient in the remedy to cure the (same-species) snake bites. This became a metaphor for me to understand how we could use the English language that was often violently forced on our people as part of the cure. Talking about colonization in a community that has historically been colonized is tricky; some are quick to defend the colonizers, without even a pause for considering the evidence. We speak English, we read English but we are not English. We have English names like (dare I say) Elizabeth! We dress like them, live in houses like them. We do everything that they either forced or taught us to do just like them, and now many of us don’t even question it; even think of the process of forced assimilation not as genocide but simply progress.

With apologies to the ancestors, I will decipher in a foreign language (English) what I have come to understand using a strategy called syncretism: the combination of different systems or beliefs.

When I went back to school years ago I was exposed to words from the language that I was first taught (English) that finally defined many of the things that our people have experienced. I was impressed with how eloquent everything sounded. Their language described our history, post European-colonizer contact. They were so academic sounding, so official. The short list included words like; assimilation, exploitation, genocide, inter-generational-trauma, manifest-destiny, oppression, subjugation.

These words were delicious, mouth-watering morsels of empowerment. Before being exposed to this language many of the concepts had only existed as gut-feelings, or soft-spots. These words filled a gap, the missing piece.

These words put into perspective the historic imbalance that had been imposed on many Indigenous people since the late 1400’s. Their own words made our experience crystal clear. Our ancestors were victims! We are victims!

We continue to live under their oppressive regime! Their rule of manifest destiny continues to exploit our people! The subjugation of Native America(s) and many other Indigenous people (globally) has held unrecoverable consequences! However, within all of this eloquence, something was still missing.

Despite the spectrum of traumatic events that occur in our collective (Native) communities, there is another tiny piece of truth that often gets lost in the pile of stories and statistics offered daily (by the media) that overwhelms anyone who might be listening. That piece of truth is this: we’re okay!

Somehow we have been gifted with a spirit that emanates resilience. After centuries of a history that was detrimental to our people and determined by European-colonizers and their leaders, then conveniently denied and/or downplayed or somehow evaporated, we are not just ‘still here,’ rather our resilience demonstrates something more.

‘Expressions’ of Hope

We can take the same words and phrases that describe the (equal but opposite) legacy inflicted by ‘them’ and reconfigure these same words to express our collective Indigenous experience from the perspective of empowerment, reclaim/reinvent them for our people. We will continue to deal with and heal from the ‘inter-generational trauma’ that impacts our lives, families and communities as well as an overwhelming high number of related issues. Thankfully many Native people work to protect endangered languages. For non-speakers it may be important to take the next step and understand the positive ramifications, start developing a language that expresses our collective successes as we strive to heal (or) to just live our lives.

We can now take their words, and repurpose them to help our upcoming generations, the unborn; ‘the faces yet to come.’ The same European language(s) that were often violently forced upon our people will now aid in neutralizing their effect and become part of the cure, a language within a language; a type of verbal ‘anti-venom. ‘

Definiate (de/fin/i/ate) could replace the word ‘assimilate,’ and mean: the ability for an individual from an Indigenous society to maintain their identity despite colonialism while participating in mainstream society.

Inter-generational survival represents the resilience demonstrated by Native/Indigenous people despite centuries of perpetual manifest-destiny being imposed and replaces ‘intergenerational trauma.’ ‘Inter-generational survival’ could also create the opportunity for our young people to celebrate that same resilience and become empowered as a result.

Inter-generational healing symbolizes the expectation that we are able to celebrate the many and diverse gifts and contributions from our people to (both) our communities and the world. Although struggles still exist, we can celebrate the strides that our people have made despite the historic ‘human in form only’ labels that were once imposed on Native people by ‘Canadians’ and ‘Americans.’

Indigecide (In/di/ge/cide) would replace ‘genocide:’ and would mean: the endurance and survival of Indigenous people’s beliefs, culture, land base, language, and traditional governments despite sanctioned attempts to eradicate.

Revillagize will become the next step after decolonize. After Indigenous people become strong, have clear understandings of traditional values and the ways and means to express such (within the modern world), no longer living in fear of outdated genocidal policies and legislation we will then start the process of ‘psychological revillagization.’ The people will have the frame of mind as our ancestors did while they were living in the villages. Peace, power, righteousness will be an expectation of each member of this group. This will counter the current oppressed peoples survival tactics associated with lateral violence.

Reverse Colonialism

Their language has been used to describe and dictate our experience to us and to the world. It has been used in their courts, their media and their education system(s) to explain our historic and current circumstances and defend their historic and current actions. We can now respond in at least two ways. First we can invent words that do not directly correlate to existing words. These words can define concepts that we understand, if only as gut feelings, but that we can explore and start the discussion of how we can use their language to describe and articulate our worldview. We can also start to incorporate words from our Native languages, introducing them as current and common vernacular.

Many other historic struggles have that one word or the name of a location which represents the emotion and history. It has been apparent that we do not have a word that encapsulates the magnitude of our struggle. The lack of a word is similar to being an illness without a diagnosis. It is possibly still to be determined, waiting until the appropriate time to present itself. Then again maybe our endurance, our survival, and our resilience speaks for itself.

Maybe in this instance we do need to return to our language(s) to find that word. We don’t need anyone from outside to describe or define our destiny. We will always be here to embrace our own and it can be found in our language(s).

A few years back I was in Tyendinaga. An elder was speaking at the microphone explaining some of the local history. He was a fluent speaker whom I had known through my parents for many years. He talked about the importance of language. He also talked about many things that our people have overcome. He translated one word: ‘Onkwehonwe,’ it means ‘real people.’ I looked up the definition of the word ‘real,’ it means: verifiable, traditional and authentic, undisputed.

Onkwehonwe: Good word!