It was only 2 1/2 years ago when I first began to think of the notion of bloodlines. I grew up in a Dutch household in the suburbs and never had a connection with being Native or with my Native family. The notion hadn't even crossed my mind, especially being among the first generation of "half-breeds" within my band. I also grew up in a culturally diverse community and had befriended many friends from all over the world.
I came across the Fall 2005 issue of Spirit Magazine and read the "Bloodlines: preserving our redness" article and it started to make sense to me. The article can be ordered via their My Space page and if you haven't read it, I would highly recommend ordering it (plus the cover is of hot Sarain Carson-Fox). The article discussed how it was important to preserve bloodlines as to move away from assimilation. Another film, "Club Native" discusses these notions in particular to the Mohawk reserve Kahnawake (outside of Montreal QC) from the women's perspective.
When I first read this article and pondered bloodlines, I was also doing academic research on Native Studies and it was the beginning of my reconnecting with my culture. It was a pinnacle moment in my life. So from that moment on I had decided that I would marry a Native man and move toward living a culturally, spiritually fulfilling life.
I can't say that was an easy decision to make at first because although it made sense, I hadn't ever actually dated a Native man at that point, and nor did I really know of any that I could date. But I did decide that day and haven't looked back. Since that point I did go on a few dates with people from other cultures but realized there was no point in dating someone for whom you had no long-term intentions.
So that was the beginning of my journey, and a journey that I am still on. This decision has very much limited my dating pool, especially when friends realize that I am serious about only dating Native men and they can't try to fix me up with Mr. so-and-so. I am not interested in dating non-Natives, not at this point in my life. I would rather travel far and wide to date someone who is Native and has a similiar outlook to me than date Mr. Rogers next door.
I believe the creator has intended someone for me for whom I can create a beautiful brown family, learn traditions, and travel all across Turtle Island on the pow-wow trail. That is the life I desire, not the white picket fence in the suburbs with the nanny running the household.
I am not chastising anyone for their choices in their partners as it is all a deeply personal affair. I myself am a product of the Native and non-Native union and the love that formed between my parents. I am simply choosing for myself to make a conscious decision to create a strong red family that can grow from it's roots from both parents and flourish in an Indigenous life.
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Wow. Well said.
ReplyDeleteI read your more recent post about how you now have a white boyfriend, so this question is mainly theoretical, but if you are half-native, then wouldn't dating native men further dilute the native bloodline? For example, a child from two half-native parents (to simplify the math) isn't fully native, he's quarter native. I know status rules don't work that way, but status is not the same as racial purity (which is what this bloodline thing seems to be about)
ReplyDeletePat - Well it all depends from who's perspective you are looking. My mother gained full "Indian Status" because she married a Native man in the '70s in Canada. So I am deemed "full status" so no matter whom I marry and have children with, my children will be recognized by the Canadian Government as "Status Indians." However whom they decide to marry and have children with will determine my grandchildren's status in Canada.
ReplyDeleteThis post about bloodlines is not strictly about racial purity it is about preserving culture and language, which is obviously harder to do w/ a non-Native than with a Native person (although some people do a great job of it).
As far as "how Indian" my children would be if I married a "half-breed" is really a discussion I would rather not have. This is precisely the positioning of the Canadian Government who created the Indian Act to eradicate First Nations people. But basic math does state if you have two parents that are 50% of any bloodline then you indeed would also be 50% of that bloodline.
Frankly I am bored of the whole bloodline debate ATM and have decided to not fret how the Canadian government views me, my children, or my grandchildren because we will always know where we came from and who we are.
Oh. So it isn't actually about bloodlines at all? Never mind then. And rock on for making the distinction between status and culture. The Canadian situation would get a lot healthier if more people did that.
ReplyDeleteAs for preserving language and culture, though, is that really easier with a native partner than with a non-native? I lived in Lac Brochet in Manitoba, and the people there had a big problem with both Cree and Inuit, to the point that some mannerisms were derided as "Cree" and anyone who did something stupid was labelled an eskimo. So to preserve one's historic culture, one would have to almost find someone from the same ethnic group. As for language, that seems like it would be even harder. In Lac Brochet, the people were adamant that they spoke real Dene and the people in nearby Wollaston Lake spoke an inferior version. In that case, one would need someone from one's own reserve.
Is the Bloodlines thing based more on a monolithic, dreamcatcher-and-Navajo-rug idea of indigenous culture?
The main flaw of racial logic, Pat - anyone who has passed grade 5 math knows that 1/2 + 1/2 = 1 WHOLE.
ReplyDeleteThat's why buying into the whole logic of race and racial categorization only signals assimilation - it's not like it speaks to/upholds any of our traditional believes about kinship and community membership (a la wahkohtowin).