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Thomas-Williams 1

Is there a Native American and Indigenous Diaspora?

Diaspora has become a powerful theoretical and ideological lens through which scholars

of the American academy connect members of disparate groups. It has been described by Paul

Gilroy in The Black Atlantic as a condition of modernity, whereas Brent Hayes Edwards in ThePractice of Diaspora theorizes it as a methodological practice, which can be articulated only

in forms that are provisional, negotiated, [and] asymmetrical.1 But what is it exactly that

constitutes the articulation of a diasporic community? And can this practice be extended to

social groups that can be said to also constitute nations? Rachel BuffsImmigration and the

Political Economy of Home and Renya K. RamirezsNative Hubs together offer a glimpse at

what such articulations might look like for (some of) Americas indigenous communities. Buff

and Ramirez each find utility in diaspora studies and read together they provide insights into the

ways in which Indian Country might constitute diasporic communities. Through seemingly

oppositional understandings of the concept of diaspora, the authors agree that as a condition or a

process diaspora is, at the least, an experience in which indigenous identities form. Citizenship,

however, is problematic in the context of Diaspora, because diasporic communities form in part

out of rejection of full membership to the nation-state. I argue, however, that in the context of

Native American and Indigenous studies, the nation-state and sovereignty are not coterminous.

Using Kim D. Butlers conception of Diaspora as an epistemological construct or a discourse,2

this essay explores how American Studies scholars Buff and Ramirez employ Diaspora to

forward their theses and ultimately asks whether Diaspora theory should be applied at all in

Native American and Indigenous Studies.

Works Cited:Buff, Rachel.Immigration and the Political Economy of Home: West Indian Brooklyn and

American Indian Minneapolis, 1945-1992. Berkeley: University of California Press,2001.

Butler, Kim D. Defining Diaspora, Refining a Discourse,Diaspora, Vol. 10 No. 2 (2001):189-219.

Gilroy, Paul. The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness. Cambridge: HarvardUniversity Press, 1993.

Ramirez, Renya K.Native Hubs: Culture, Community, and Belonging in Silicon Valley andBeyond. Durham: Duke University Press, 2007.

1 Paul Gilroy, The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness, (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University

Press, 1993); and Brent Hayes Edwards, The Practice of Diaspora: Literature, Translation, and the Rise of Black

Internationalism, (President and Fellows of Harvard College, 2003): 318.2Kim D. Butler, Defining Diaspora, Refining a Discourse,Diaspora, Vol. 10 No. 2 (2001): 189-219.

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Bio and Contact Information:

Cierra Olivia Thomas-WilliamsDepartment of Gender Studies

Department of American Studies

cthomasw@indiana.eduMemorial Hall West 214812-679-9385

Cierra Olivia Thomas-Williams is a member of the Miwok of the El Dorado Rancheria and is a

single mother of twin six-year-old girls who joined the inaugural class of the nation's firstGender Studies Ph.D. program at Indiana University Bloomington in 2006 as the Indiana

University Diversity Scholar. In 2008, she was admitted to the American Studies PhD programand is now working toward a combined PhD in Gender Studies and American Studies. Her areas

of interest include: representations of women of color in popular print media; transnationalfeminisms as they intersect with theories of the Black Diaspora; feminist theory and activism;

and comparative critical theories. Cierra is an Associate Instructor in the Department of GenderStudies and a 2007-08 Friends of the Kinsey Institute grant recipient for collaborative research

on sexuality with Dr. Lessie Jo Frazier. She has contributed to the academic journals Callaloo,'emisferica, and On Campus with Women.