Tribal scholars say some faculty are falsely claiming American Indian heritage to boost their job prospects.
According to Chenault, some job candidates simply “check the box” for American Indian/Alaskan Native on job forms, hoping to be identified as minority faculty and thus reap the benefits of any available affirmative action plans. There is responsibility, however, that comes with checking the box, she says. “We need committed, passionate people who will help other Native people gain access to universities and colleges.”
Chenault argues that not requiring proof of tribal enrollment reflects mainstream institutions’ lack of commitment to genuine diversity. She says allowing those with marginal tribal ties to represent the Native community only diminishes the importance of indigenous academics and opens the discipline to attack.
Haskell and the other tribal colleges require proof of tribal affiliation from all faculty and staff claiming American Indian heritage.
The term refers to those in academic programs who not only falsely claim tribal affiliation but also set themselves up as official purveyors of American Indian culture and religion. Some of the professors Noley has labeled as mock-checkers have been known to conduct so-called sacred ceremonies as part of their courses.Many of the ceremonies, however, are little more than amalgamations of parts of disparate ceremonies or outright fabrications.
The reports of questionable ceremonial activities have included stories of faculty taking students on trips to search for their power animals, teaching “sacred” dances, conducting ceremonies each time reservation land was crossed and others.
12 comments:
Writerfella here --
Gosh all Criminentlies! writerfella hopes Yeagley isn't reading this!
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
"The term refers to those in academic programs who not only falsely claim tribal affiliation but also set themselves up as official purveyors of American Indian culture and religion. Some of the professors Noley has labeled as mock-checkers have been known to conduct so-called sacred ceremonies as part of their courses.Many of the ceremonies, however, are little more than amalgamations of parts of disparate ceremonies or outright fabrications."
Ward Churchill is a "Professor of Ethics"? If he was not involved in the academic world it might not be so heinous. He should at least admit he has his own thing going and not mash together a tribal identity under false pretenses and then peddle it as something authentic. What I don't get is why he and others take the act so far until they are farces in the public eye. What are they trying to prove? David Yeagley also went after Rudy Youngblood over this same issue but there is a critical difference there. Rudy Youngblood is not preaching to the choir.
Russ, perhaps you should talk to Haskell University about their requiring "proof of tribal affiliation from all faculty and staff claiming American Indian heritage." You could tell them this requirement is bogus because it relies on the federal recognition process.
Even though Indians run the school, I'm sure they'd welcome your superior knowledge on the subject. Perhaps you could tell them how you define an Indian and they could adopt your standard (whatever it is).
Writerfella here --
And why would that be so, as writerfella boarded at Haskell when he attended the University of Kansas in 1959? And writerfella has his own Kiowa CDIB card that would allow him to secure employment at Haskell, should he so choose. What Rob Schmidt does not understand about such is that Natives ALWAYS have had to PROVE their identity in this country long before people such as Rob Schmidt have had to prove they were American. Argumentative? Then try to go to Canada today WITHOUT a passport!
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
I appreciated the fact that you used a picture of Ward Churchill to illustrate these academic frauds. I can't tell you how many times I have to explain to people that he is not Cherokee, not any sort of Indian at all, in fact. What bothers me more than people claiming "Indian blood" are those that go further and either desecrate actual Indian ceremonies and rituals or mislead naive white people with fraudulent "dances" and so forth.
Writerfella here --
'Crank?' Omigosh, writerfella is in love with your mind. That is rare, but what caught me was the exacting use of the word, 'desecrate'. AAAIIIEEE!
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
Yes, well, now it's the Native-run university asking for proof of Indianness. Haskell has its standard, Russ; what's yours? Do you think Haskell should let anyone who calls himself an Indian work there? If your CDIB card is good enough, why isn't a Chickasaw or Kickapoo CDIB card also good enough?
I read the articles about Ward Churchill and his refusal to verify his identity. As I always say in these cases, show me the evidence. Tribes like the Chickasaw and Kickapoo have shown their evidence to the federal government, which is why they're recognized today. If Churchill won't show us his evidence, he doesn't deserve to benefit from being an Indian.
P.S. "Local crank" has posted on this blog before. There's no need to take a shower over him unless you really want to.
Writerfella here --
Once again, writerfella will state that he possesses no 'standard' over who is Native and who is not. The artificial standard is Federally-determined recognition, or non-recognition, as the case may be. Natives do not possess the power or authority to grant or disapprove the 'Native' status of a group or ostensible tribe, as it is EuroMan's law and decsion-making that becomes the authority.
In the 1980s, a high-profile murder case on Native land was protested by a County District Attorney when the case was removed from his hands and placed in Federal courts. Disappointed that the case would not advance his own career, he asked in statewide news coverage whether it was the case that there is one set of laws for Americans and a differing set of laws for Native Americans. writerfella's Letter To The Editor went like this: "District Atttorney Burns very much is correct in asking if there are two sets of laws in this matter. What he misses is that Native Americans had no say or input in the writing of their laws and they certainly did not write those laws. And that is not going to change nor can it be changed either by the District Attorney or the Native peoples themselves..."
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
Re "writerfella will state that he possesses no 'standard' over who is Native and who is not": Sure you do, Russ. You've determined by some means that some tribes are "Indian" and some aren't. These are tribes recognized by the vast majority of Indians as Indian. So you have a standard, whether you can articulate it or not, and you deem it superior to the standard used by other Indians.
That includes the standard used by the Native-run Haskell University. These people aren't part of the federal government; they've decided on their own that they need to screen Indians from non-Indians. So I'll put it to you another way: If you were in charge of hiring at Haskell, what standard would you use?
If you say you don't have a standard, that means you'd hire anyone, including a Pequot, Ward Churchill, or me, who claimed to be an Indian. Is that really your position?
Writerfella here --
Hold the bus! "These are tribes recognized by the vast majority of Indians as Indian." Proof of life, sir, or you have uttered one of those glittering generalities so beloved by propagandists, be they in government, the private sector, or on a soap box in a backwater park someplace outside Schenectady...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
Writerfella here --
WARNING, WARNING!! DANGER, WILL ROBINSON!!
The last thing anyone ever should want to do is to attempt to put words in a writer's (or a writerfella's) mouth! 1. you don't have the operant vocabulary to support such a decision. 2. you don't have either the life experience nor the sheer chutzpah to achieve such an effort. And, 3. you look more like Jerry Mahoney than does writerfella!
In any case, your hypothetical particularly does not work well because writerfella hires NOBODY, as he is his business, has always been his business, and trusts no one to be able to do as good a job in that business as he himself. You're fired, Rob! (oops...)
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
Re "The last thing anyone ever should want to do is to attempt to put words in a writer's (or a writerfella's) mouth!" Why? What are you going to do...duck another question? Misstate another definition? And that hurts me...how?
Gosh, what a surprise. You refuse to answer a question that would highlight the flaws in your thinking. What is this...the 10th time you've failed to rise to the challenge? The 20th time? I've lost count.
Here, I'll spell it out for you. If you have no standard for Indianness, you'd hire anyone to be an Indian professor at Haskell. You'd hire a Pequot even though you've previously declared Pequots aren't Indians. Why? Because if you have no standard, you can't rule out a Pequot's being an Indian.
Therefore, you have a standard, whether you realize it or not. You've declared your standard implicitly, whether you realize it or not. You can distinguish between Indians and people you don't consider Indians, whether you realize it or not.
I don't need "life experience" or "chutzpah" to show you the errors of your ways. Simple logic is sufficient. If you can unravel the puzzlers I've posed, go ahead and do so. If you can't, get back to me when you have enough life experiences and chutzpah.
Post a Comment