This paper argues that what is often dismissed as radical or inauthentic in the emerging academic field of Indigenous Feminism is instead a return to the traditional, as demonstrated through a comprehensive analysis of Indigenous feminist scholarship spanning from Rayna Green’s pioneering 1975 work, “The Pocahontas Perplex” to Joyce Green and Gina Starblanket’s 2024 critical theory book, Making Space for Indigenous Feminism. Through three distinct analytical approaches – examination of theoretical frameworks, analysis of stereotypical media representations, and investigation of literary resistance – this paper illuminates how Native women navigate the dual challenges of external colonial violence and internal tribal resistance to feminist empowerment.

By applying the modern understanding of Indigenous Feminist frameworks to the dual representations of Native women identified in Rayna Green’s “Princess/Squaw” and Martin-Hill’s “She No Speaks/Villainous Woman,” this paper explores how colonial patriarchy normalized violence against Native women in both their settler and tribal communities through institutional structures and media interventions, while also investigating how Indigenous women’s narratives actively unmask and resist the resulting, pervasive colonized masculinity. Finally, this paper extends Indigenous Feminist theory beyond the US and Canada, arguing that “ReMatriation” – conceptualized by Robin Wall Kimmerer as the return of the Sacred to the Mother – provides a path forward by recognizing women’s critical and ongoing cultural work and restoring their inherent authority as knowledge keepers, offering a framework for addressing gendered violence in colonized communities worldwide.

Authors:
Jordan Traut-Jellad, Binghamton University, United States

About the Presenter(s)
Jordan Traut-Jellad is a second year PhD student at The State University of New York at Binghamton where she researches Indigenous feminisms and Moroccan women's literature. She is also the founding editor of JOTSS, Journal of Taylor Swift Studies.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordantrautjellad/

Additional website of interest
https://orb.binghamton.edu/jotss/

See this presentation on the full schedule – Sunday Schedule

Bookmark