To forsake becoming: Indigenous ontologies, land defence, and the resistance at Standing Rock

Gravlin, Matthew 2024. To forsake becoming: Indigenous ontologies, land defence, and the resistance at Standing Rock. Agoriad 1 (1) , 1.7. 10.18573/agoriad.5

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Abstract

In Indigenous studies and elsewhere in academia, ‘grounded normativity’ is proclaimed to not only defy settler and extractive colonialism, but liberate humanity from the violence of modernity, the ways of knowing and being imposed upon the world by the West. Whereas possession – of property, of the self, of one’s will to influence their surroundings – is understood by scholars to replicate the domination of Indigenous peoples, their embeddedness and primordial attachment to the Earth is argued to disrupt colonial power relations. But do Indigenous ontologies offer a way out of a dead-end modernist paradigm? Close examination reveals this conceptualization aligns well with the hegemonic status of neoliberalism today. If Indigenous lifeworlds exist as webs of reciprocal relations, they may in fact inform rather than resist the systems that continue to govern by new and evolving means. As neoliberalism is increasingly premised on posthuman rationalities, the non-possessive disposition of Indigenous peoples is celebrated, putting their acts of protest in a paradoxical bind. In this article I build on the arguments of David Chandler and Julian Reid in their respective works, and join their critique of ‘becoming Indigenous’ – to become one with nature, to become more-than-human, to act out ‘choreographies of becoming’ that affirm, no less, an endless relational entanglement. I instead bring attention to the immediacy of Indigenous land defence, and argue that in the resistance at Standing Rock, another Indigenous subject is visible, one that is possessing, and acts on their political agency commensurate with the human. Yng nghyd-destun theori brodorol a dadwladychu, ystyrir bod normadedd seiliedig ar le (grounded normativity) nid yn unig yn herio gwladychiaeth ymsefydlwyr a gwladychiaeth echdynnol, ond hefyd yn rhyddhau dynolryw rhag y trais sy’n gysylltiedig â modernedd. Er y deellir mai atgynhyrchu arglwyddiaeth dros bobloedd brodorol a wna meddiannu’r tir, ceir dadl bod cysylltiad ontolegol y bobl frodorol i’r ddaear yn tarfu ar gysylltiadau pŵer trefedigaethol. Drwy ymchwilio’n fanylach, gwelir bod y cysyniad hwn yn cyd-fynd yn dda â’r statws hegemonaidd sydd ynghlwm wrth neoryddfrydiaeth. Drwy hynny felly, ymddengys mai paradocsaidd yw protestiadau brodorol. Mae'r cwestiwn o beth, yn union, mae pobloedd brodorol yn ymladd i'w amddiffyn yn cael ei dywyllu gan theorïau materoliaethol newydd o ddod yn greaduriaid y tu hwnt i fodau dynol a chyfnewid yn eu mysg. Yn yr erthygl hon, rwy’n ceisio dangos bod y rhinweddau a ddefnyddir i nodweddu pobl frodorol, yn ontolegol, yn bwydo'n ôl i'r grymoedd sy'n eu gwladychu, ac yn cael eu cynrychioli gan y grymoedd sy'n eu gwladychu, gan gynnwys seilwaith dyngedfennol y diwydiant olew a nwy. Fy nadl i, fodd bynnag, yw ffurf arall o fynegi cynhenoldeb yw’r gwrthwynebu a welir yn Standing Rock. Yn yr enghraifft hon, ac mewn enghreifftiau tebyg, fe ddown ni o hyd i wrthwynebydd aruthrol sy’n gweithredu yn ôl ei alluedd gwleidyddol mewn modd gyfled â dyneiddiaeth frodorol.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > G Geography (General)
Publisher:	Cardiff University Press
ISSN:	2976-8578
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	10 December 2024
Date of Acceptance:	10 October 2024
Last Modified:	22 Jan 2025 15:20
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/174664

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