Dear Saagux̂: Imagine an Otherwise

By Lily

Preface

I am writing this for my saagux̂, great-grandmother, Barbara Redmond, a survivor of the Jesse Lee Home boarding school in Seward, Alaska, and the eldest knowledge-keeper in my family; my father, Otter Quaking Aspen, who has struggled with his Indigenous identity; my brother, Odin, who forgets that he is Native; for all my relatives past, present, and future; and for you, reader, to pass along information about imagining an Otherwise, so that we may envision and create a new future together.

That being said, I am not the expert on anything I am about to say - I am sharing and compiling information others have given me. I am excited to embark on this voyage of knowledge-sharing and storytelling. So thank you for coming on this journey with me. Let’s see where it takes us.

We Don’t Inherit the Land from Our Ancestors, We Borrow it from Our Children

Presently, we are in a crisis. If the world continues to go in the direction it’s heading - profit over community - complete devastation for every being is in order. If we bring Indigenous epistemologies and ways of stewardship into the picture, though, there is hope. Using our values, we can create an Otherwise in which the world doesn’t burn to the ground and where everyone is valued for who they are, as they are.

I’m interested in exploring the idea of organizing space in this essay. Colonialism organizes space by imposition, constructing new categorizations and societies and ways of being onto already-existing epistemologies. A prevalent decolonial and postcolonial vision is the notion of an “Otherwise”, or the idea of creating a future out of the past - in other words, using Old Ways to build a new future. Re-indigenizing the future.

Trauma is not Inevitable

In this section, I want to examine what kind of space is created when knowledge isn’t passed forward between generations. To do this, I asked my father about his connections to our heritage, and what his experience has been like with receiving and sharing knowledge. In his written statement on such, he writes, “While having [Grandma Redmond’s] “stitch and bitches” sewing moccasins and clothes on the beaches of Ninilchik, and waiting for our gill nets to fill, she’d tell old tales and family history (at least as she knew them).  But to her using totem names was frowned upon, and she often admonished me to do things ‘like a white man.’...Passing on what I have to my children has been a challenge.  Much of my knowledge (such as wilderness survival skills) have little bearing on their lives, or is unlikely to ever have any.” (Aspen 3-4). Because of my circumstances of living on the suburban Jersey Shore, it seems as though my father has not felt that he has had a valid reason to pass on the culture he knows. This creates two problems: 1) my brother forgets that he is Native because he is not immersed in his culture, and 2) I struggle to feel like a “real Native” because I know little to nothing about my culture. These problems arise not only because my father does not pass on our culture, but also because our culture is extremely inaccessible., thus exacerbating the lack of knowledge sharing. Thus far, I have been largely unsuccessful in finding online websites, YouTube videos, or books about my culture. All recordings of my language that I’ve found don’t work, preventing me from learning it. The only way (other than learning from my father) that I could learn my culture is to be in Ninilchik, Alaska, 4,500 miles from where I live.

My father told me that, in regard to learning about culture, “every individual has to figure it out for themselves.” I disagree. I believe that in order to be of community, one must do their part in sharing and keeping knowledge. The prevention of knowledge-sharing perpetuates intergenerational trauma by giving power to the forces that have tried to take our culture away. But trauma is not inevitable. We can overcome it by celebrating and sharing our culture, regardless of whether it has practical use or not. Whether something is practical is not, to me, the purpose of culture - I believe that the purpose of culture is to celebrate our identities as they are, and to keep our identities and traditions alive and thriving so that future generations may share in them, too, and know that they are valid and beautiful. That is the kind of space I want to create - not one of hiding, of needing an excuse to validate our identities, but one of acceptance and celebration.

“The Place Where We All Live and Work Together”

The Otherwise can be thought of as “...’the place where we all live and work together.’” (“The Place Where We All Live and Work Together” 18) - no less, and no more. It is a place where we can all exist for the sake of living rather than for productivity or profit. “Place includes sacred and spiritual dimensions that transcend both time and space. It includes my body, my heart, and my mind” (Simspon 19).  The Otherwise I’m imagining benefits our emotional, physical, social, and spiritual health and gives us power to live how we want to, not how we “need” to. We would have the space and ability to heal from intergenerational trauma caused by an industrial society and replenish and care for our Mother. The place where we all live and work together would not focus on profit , productivity, and efficiency - rather, it would be a place of comradery, of love, and of celebration.

We Are Our Own Medicine

Our planet is dying, our relatives are dying, we are dying. In other words, “‘[w]e live in an ecosystem of hurt.’” (Amrov 27). To create an Otherwise, individual needs must start being met now so that we can work together to uplift each other. But how do we get there? How do we obtain a healthy world, one that we can be of community with? First and foremost, communities need to be rebuilt. A community, to me, is made up of people who want the best for themselves as much as they want the best for each other. We need to work with each other to cultivate connections with all our relatives - land, water, animals, plants, humans, ourselves - through caring for ourselves and our surroundings, all the beings in our communities, and in doing so, empowering everyone to rebuild a new future. There are a few ways this can and needs to happen.

In my opinion, a complete handing-over of land and water management to Indigenous people is in order. This would create a space in which the power to make environmental decisions is back in the hands of those who were here first, those who know how to manage land and water effectively and equitably, and allow environmental clean-up efforts to be spearheaded by the originals stewards of the land and water who are motivated not by profit, but by a personal connection to the land.

Second, revamp the Western education system. In my experience, Western education prepares us for the continued exploitation of our Earth and ourselves, but Indigenous education prepares us for the continued stewardship of our Mother and our minds, bodies, and spirits. The goal of Indigenous education is a “...goal not of victory, but of living.” (Amrov 24), of doing what is best for ourselves and for our communities. Dismantling the Western education system and replacing it with one of love allows us to relearn empowerment and self-love so that we will become empowered enough to not advocate for an Otherwise, but to make that change happen ourselves.

Deconstruct the capitalist workforce. Money is a concept humans created, so it is also a concept we can destroy. Instead of using money, we can trade. We can create goods not for profit, but for necessity, fulfillment, and enjoyment.

Dismantle the heteronormative patriarchy. “Heteropatriarchy and heteronormativity are logics of colonial power.” (“The Place Where We All Live and Work Together” 21). To obtain a decolonized Otherwise, these logics must be rethought and reconstructed. A return to a society where Elders are valued and misogyny and heterosexism are not would be a crucial step in creating and promoting a space of safety, love, and inclusivity for all our LGBTQ+ relatives so that we may all feel empowered and valued.

Re-establish communal law and governance. As Joanne Barker says in For Whom Sovereignty Matters,  “...indigenous epistemologies of law and governance…move past colonial legacies…” (24).  The Otherwise that I imagine creates a space where Indigenous epistemologies are brought further into the picture, where we have the right and power to make communal and collective decisions with all our relatives, Indigenous and not. This puts power back in the hands of the people, gives us a voice to create the change we need.

Finally, rebuild old health practices. We all have a part in changing the world, and it all starts with focusing on our health and well-being. In my experience of Western medicine, it is based on data, lacking a holistic approach to health. It does not consider more than a person’s observable symptoms and (in most cases I’ve experienced) is not very trauma-informed. Emotional and spiritual wellness are “often avoided through western medical approaches” (Auger, et al. 395). In contrast, Indigenous health practices center the person, their past, and their symptoms, and allow them to make their own decisions regarding healthcare. “‘It is important to have holistic traditional health care practices accessible for the people’” (Auger, et al. 395). The Otherwise I am imagining not only considers this as an idea, but puts it into practice. Only through addressing all of our health needs can we feel truly empowered to create the change we need.

We are our own solution to changing the world by empowering ourselves and our communities. We are our own medicine.

Imagine an Otherwise

Dear saagux̂,

I have never met you. I have only heard about you from your grandson, my father. I have read quotes by you from Family After All, Volume II, a book about the Jesse Lee Home. I know that you have passed down knowledge to my father, but that you are afraid of being Indigenous. I understand. I know, also, that you are strong.

I want you to know that you don’t have to be afraid any longer. It is okay to be Native. I am working on building a world where this always rings true, regardless of time and circumstance. I want you to know that a world like that is possible, even if it doesn’t feel that way. I promise.

Qagaasakuq for passing down knowledge. Qagaasakuq for being you.

With love and admiration,

Lily

Bibliography

Amrov, Sabrien, and Leanne Simpson. “Indigenous: A Conversation.” The Funambulist, no. 50, 25 Oct. 2023, pp. 14–27, thefunambulist.net/magazine/redefining-our-terms/indigenous. Accessed 28 May 2024.

Aspen, Otter. “The Passing of Culture.” Received by Lily Aspen, 25 May 2024.

Auger, Monique, et al. “Moving toward Holistic Wellness, Empowerment and Self-Determination for Indigenous Peoples in Canada: Can Traditional Indigenous Health Care Practices Increase Ownership over Health and Health Care Decisions?” Canadian Journal of Public Health, vol. 107, no. 4–5, 2016, pp. e393–98, https://doi.org/10.17269/CJPH.107.5366.

Barker, Joanne. For Whom Sovereignty Matters. 2005.

Simpson, Leanne. “The Place Where We All Live and Work Together: A Gendered Analysis of “Sovereignty.”” Native Studies Keywords, 2015, pp. 18–24.

“Sovereignty.” Native Studies Keywords, 2015, pp. 3–17.