The image I chose for week 9’s topic for Standing Rock and #NoDAPL describes how the different interpretation of the meaning “water is life”. Before discussing this topic in class, the meaning of water to me is an essential necessity for life (without it we die and everything around us needs water in order to survive). But after the discussion in…[Read more]

The following image was taken by Richard Bluecloud Castaneda, where he watched “unarmed, peaceful Water Protectors at Standing Rock were forcibly repelled with tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets” (Leonard 2018). This image has burned in my brain for any instance in which we attempt to analyze and discuss the protests against the Dakota…[Read more]

Sharice Davis is a House of Rep. from Kansas, known for being the first openly queer Native American women in Congress. I included her in this photo segment because protests and activism does generate change, but in our current society, what will truly move mountains is policy. For Sharice to grapple with her positionally and put herself in a…[Read more]

This image is of #NoDAPL water protectors with an illuminated sign that reads “PROTECTORS” with each person in the photo raising their fists in solidarity. The sign makes explicitly clear that these people are water protectors, not protesters. Protesting is a form of protecting the community, but it’s not seen that way by the mainstream media. “…[Read more]

For this week’s photo share, I wanted to share a picture about #NODAPL based on our week’s discussion in class, found here: https://mashable.com/2016/12/07/standing-rock-nodapl-youth/#WkGvKvDrDqqJ.

What I found most intriguing is the belief of mni wiconi, the belief that water is life and should therefore be granted similar rights as to not…[Read more]

This week I would like to share a video I found named Stand Up/ Stand N Rock  #NoDAPL by Taboo. I feel the song fits perfectly with this week’s theme since it talks about how water is life and the injustices that were done to Native Americans and their lands. One has to keep in mind how over the course of time lands have been taken from their rig…[Read more]

This weeks conversations on Water being life and indigenous activism reminded me of Berta Cáceres, and Honduran activist. This ties into the conversation because her struggle was with the construction of a dam in Honduras that displaces indigenous folk via the construction of this megaproject. Berta was of indigenous background and of Lenca…[Read more]

Having studied the #NoDAPL movement in class this week, the part which stuck out to me the most was the concept of #NoDAPL as a feminist struggle.  For many Native American and First Nations women, the personal cost of settler colonialism and capitalist accumulation has been disproportionately high in comparison to others from their nations.…[Read more]

I chose this image and this meme for several reasons as my last photo share. First, it really speaks to the undereducation and the arrogance that society faces. We are drowning in economic, social, and environmental problems and they are simply being ignored. We talked about the fear of the apocalypse and the end of times but in reality, we are…[Read more]

In reflection of this week’s theme, NDAPL, I sought to find a similar topic. What I found was a tribe in New Zealand who fought (and won) for the first river to be granted the same legal rights as a human. The Māori people have been working for the protection of the Whanganui River since 1873 because they see the river as “an indivisible and…[Read more]

In reflection of this week’s theme, NDAPL, I sought to find a similar topic. What I found was a tribe in New Zealand who fought (and won) for the first river to be granted the same legal rights as a human. The Māori people have been working for the protection of the Whanganui River since 1873 because they see the river as “an indivisible and…[Read more]

For this week’s photoshare I decided to post the logo of a camp I went to when I was about 16. This camp is called Native Like Water which is a camp for indigenous youth. I decided to post this because the logo has very much to do with our conversation in class about how we’ve been trained to think about certain elements such as land and water as…[Read more]

Source: https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2016/10/20/dakota-access-pipeline-colonial-violence-runs-through-it.html

Date: October 20th, 2016

Photographer: Unknown

One notion that resonated with me during our class discussions regarding Standing Rock was the idea of no absolute translation or meaning between different languages.…[Read more]

Source: YouTube / https://youtu.be/Onyk7guvHK8

For this week’s photo share, I wanted to share a screen shot of the Stand N Rock music video by rapper Taboo. Since our class discussion was based on Standing Rock, I wanted to research further about it since I did not know much about it. I found this music video and thought the lyrics we’re very…[Read more]

The photo I chose was taken from the group page “SACNAS Advancing Chicanos/Hispanics & Native Americans in Science,” and the photo was taken by Mark Charles/Wirelesshogan.

I chose this photo because it reminded me of the discussions we had in lecture about being an ally–specifically in regards to the Dakota pipeline. We had talked a lot about…[Read more]

For this week’s photo share, I wanted to spotlight the issue of violence against indigenous women that we discussed briefly in class. It is true that indigenous women face increased rates of sexual violence, and that the specificities of criminal jurisdictions make it so that the perpetrators of these violences are not held accountable for their…[Read more]

Native peoples have long been protecting their resources against settler colonialism. The Standing Rock movement, in relation to the #NoDAPL movement, was one of many acts of protest due to the West’s abrupt and forced occupation of their land. The picture I chose shows a Native woman in a stance that symbolizes strength against her oppositions,…[Read more]

The image I have chosen is one from a movement in protest of the Dakota Access Pipeline. One of the conversations that really struck me in class was the idea of written versus oral history and the “credibility” that exists in both. The fact that indigenous customs, culture, history, and knowledge constantly get ignored and brought into dispute bec…[Read more]

For this weeks photo share, I decided to share this art piece by Melanie Cervantes, a Xicana artist that specializes in depicting the art of indigenous movements. In this piece below, she depicts an indigenous woman fighting for her land and her life. In our class discussion on #NoDAPL, we talked about how it was mainly women who were at the…[Read more]

For this week’s photo share surrounding Standing Rock and #NoDAPL, I wanted to center the focus of my writing on the significance of water to indigenous peoples, and water’s critical role in indigenous people’s lives.

This week, I followed the hashtag #MniWiconi on Instagram, and read through different reflections surrounding the significance of…[Read more]