Vine DeLoria Jr.
   
Ideological leverage is always superior to violence....The problems of Indians have always been ideological rather than social, political or economic....[I]t is vitally important that the Indian people pick the intellectual arena as the one in which to wage war.

"In recent years we have come to understand what progress is. It is the total replacement of nature by an artificial technology. Progress is the absolute destruction of the real world in favor of a technology that creates a comfortable way of life for a few fortunately situated people. Within our lifetime the differences between the Indian use of the land and the white use of the land will become crystal clear. The Indian lived with his land. The white destroyed his land. he destroyed the planet earth".

1933-2005
Hunkpapa Lakota

Biography:
-born on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota
-served in Marines 1950's
-degrees in law, theology,history
-activist/political practitioner for indigenous issues

wrote 20 books on american indian activism/thought
1969 Custer Died For Your Sins
1972 God is Red
2001 American Indians, American Justice
2004 Spirit and Reason

1964,  appointed first president of National Congress of American Indians
-worked to create recognition & protection for sacred spaces
-repatriation of remains
redefine knowledge and  relationship with nature as alternative to western conceptions

Premises:

Commonalities with Fanon:
-dichotomy is created between colonizer and colonized
-indigenous is Other, always at disadvantage, object to be studied
-learning european ways is to lose touch with value of being indigenous

Differences:
-does not argue that violence is justified in fighting colonizer
-sees indigenous as superior for indigenous, but pushes for transformation of entire society
-sees indigenous responsibility to teach, guide, praxis

critiques the forms of power and control that come from European society
  1. property rights
  2.concept of science & technology
  3. control and distance from nature
  4. land, resources treated as commodities
  5.concept of Christian religions
-
all work collectively to take away power from indigenous way of life

Even benevolent intentions help to colonize and take away power from indigenous
  1. power of language to name, divide, categorize works to disadvantage of native peoples
  2. internalized forms of knowledge make indigenous ppl forget traditions
  3. education is too abstract, not purposeful,  too artificial
      a. best teachers can be elders, not those with degrees
      b. european education is too compartmentalized, too abstract
4. indigenous knowledge is holistic, grounded in needs of community
    a. context of community & culture is what makes knowledge meaningful
    b. break down walls & compartmentalization and see connections

Survival is dependent upon reviving indigenous traditions for all peoples
  1.land use, seasonal patterns & practices
  2.spiritual ceremonies
  3. ways of knowing and connecting to earth, not quantifiable, ex. Kennewick man    s
  4.restoring community patterns, respect for elders, etc.  i  i
  5. protection of sacred spaces, ex. Bear butte, SD ex  bb

Strategies:
   1.indigenous communities need to reconfigure education so that traditions come first
   2. work within european institutions to fight for more autonomy for native peoples
   3. critique european methods of knowing to take away power
      a. use the tools and premises to manipulate to the advantage of indigenous
      b.legal system, treaties
      c.belief in democracy
     d. create a space for indigenous culture/science/religion/way of life  TEK
        1. collaborate science/tek  c

Fight with knowledge, humor, patience
   1. traditional political processes- networks, consensus decision-making, sharing & communal ownership of knowledge im gl  bj
   2. belief of respect and responsibility towards nature
   3. rooted in specific land/location

Destabilize worship of technology & science as highest form of knowledge
  1.critique of instrumental rationality (means, ends)
      a. spiritual awareness, centeredness, power of place more powerful
      b. traditional stories as powerful as scientific formulas
  2. relationship with nature more collaborative, less controlling
    a.organic understanding of life cannot be categorized, but is holistic
    b.all knowledge-seeking is for benefit of community and must be directed by it
 3. everything is connected and in balance

Present grassroots alternative to global capitalism
   1.local, diverse, decolonizing struggles networked against global capitalist machine
   2. break down dichotomies
   3. natural relationship with nature & environment  bp
      a. distrust of technology for its own sake
      b. internet new way to communicate, so good
      c. genetically modified seeds, not necessarily  wr