Indigenous Antinuclear Literary Resistance: Jim Northrup’s Satire and Anishinaabe Trans/nationalism
<p>“Indigenous Antinuclear Literary Resistance: Jim Northrup’s Satire and Anishinaabe Trans/nationalism” examines the way Jim Northrup (1943–2016), an Anishinaabe writer from the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in northern Minnesota, engages Anishinaabe trans/nationalism as he comba...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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eScholarship Publishing, University of California
2020-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Transnational American Studies |
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| Online Access: | http://escholarship.org/uc/item/0hx7k00t |
| _version_ | 1818749836117147648 |
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| author | Kyoko Matsunaga |
| author_facet | Kyoko Matsunaga |
| author_sort | Kyoko Matsunaga |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <p>“Indigenous Antinuclear Literary Resistance: Jim Northrup’s Satire and Anishinaabe Trans/nationalism” examines the way Jim Northrup (1943–2016), an Anishinaabe writer from the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in northern Minnesota, engages Anishinaabe trans/nationalism as he combats nuclear colonialism in his satirical columns. The fundamental nature of Anishinaabe trans/nationalism, described by Joseph Bauerkemper and Heidi Kiiwetinepinesiik Stark in “Trans/National Terrain of Anishinaabe Law and Diplomacy,” forms the basis of Northrup’s resistance to nuclear colonialism as he critiques the nuclear power plant and radioactive waste threatening the Mdewakanton Dakota residents of the Prairie Island Indian Community. He adds another layer to the politics of Indigenous trans/nationalism when he ridicules plans to send the radioactive waste from Prairie Island to be stored on the land of other Indigenous nations such as the Western Shoshone and Mescalero Apache. On another level, by emphasizing the bonds between Anishinaabe people in the United States and Canada, Northrup implies that Anishinaabe nationhood precedes the borders of nation states, defying the ideology of “transnational” in a conventional sense. With Indigenous trans/nationalism at the center of its argument, this essay considers Northrup’s use of satire and humor as an atomic age strategy to manifest Anishinaabe nationhood as well as to establish transnational Indigenous alliances to combat nuclear colonialism. Northrup situates his antinuclear opposition as part of an enduring multilateral Indigenous resistance to settler colonialism, and, in so doing, he emphasizes the importance of exercising treaty rights and insisting on the inherent sovereignty of the Anishinaabe people.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-18T04:10:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e6c7c8f02982496c804220df2d7e3fb5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1940-0764 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-18T04:10:06Z |
| publishDate | 2020-12-01 |
| publisher | eScholarship Publishing, University of California |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Transnational American Studies |
| spelling | doaj.art-e6c7c8f02982496c804220df2d7e3fb52022-12-21T21:21:29ZengeScholarship Publishing, University of CaliforniaJournal of Transnational American Studies1940-07642020-12-0111210.5070/T8112049585ark:13030/qt0hx7k00tIndigenous Antinuclear Literary Resistance: Jim Northrup’s Satire and Anishinaabe Trans/nationalismKyoko Matsunaga0KYOKO MATSUNAGA is Associate Professor at Kobe City University of Foreign Studies, Japan, and a former Fulbright fellow at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She specializes in Indigenous American literature, nuclear/atomic literature, and environmental literature. Her essays have appeared in such books and journals as Reading Aridity in Western American Literature (Lexington Books, 2020); Ecocriticism in Japan (Lexington Books, 2017); Critical Insights: American Multicultural Identity (Salem Press, 2014); Sovereignty, Separatism, and Survivance: Ideological Encounters in the Literature of Native North America (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009); and Southwestern American Literature. Her book, American Indigenous Writers and Nuclear Literature: From Apocalypse to Survivance (Eihosha), was published in Japan in 2019.<p>“Indigenous Antinuclear Literary Resistance: Jim Northrup’s Satire and Anishinaabe Trans/nationalism” examines the way Jim Northrup (1943–2016), an Anishinaabe writer from the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in northern Minnesota, engages Anishinaabe trans/nationalism as he combats nuclear colonialism in his satirical columns. The fundamental nature of Anishinaabe trans/nationalism, described by Joseph Bauerkemper and Heidi Kiiwetinepinesiik Stark in “Trans/National Terrain of Anishinaabe Law and Diplomacy,” forms the basis of Northrup’s resistance to nuclear colonialism as he critiques the nuclear power plant and radioactive waste threatening the Mdewakanton Dakota residents of the Prairie Island Indian Community. He adds another layer to the politics of Indigenous trans/nationalism when he ridicules plans to send the radioactive waste from Prairie Island to be stored on the land of other Indigenous nations such as the Western Shoshone and Mescalero Apache. On another level, by emphasizing the bonds between Anishinaabe people in the United States and Canada, Northrup implies that Anishinaabe nationhood precedes the borders of nation states, defying the ideology of “transnational” in a conventional sense. With Indigenous trans/nationalism at the center of its argument, this essay considers Northrup’s use of satire and humor as an atomic age strategy to manifest Anishinaabe nationhood as well as to establish transnational Indigenous alliances to combat nuclear colonialism. Northrup situates his antinuclear opposition as part of an enduring multilateral Indigenous resistance to settler colonialism, and, in so doing, he emphasizes the importance of exercising treaty rights and insisting on the inherent sovereignty of the Anishinaabe people.</p>http://escholarship.org/uc/item/0hx7k00tindigenous anti-nuclear activismtransindigenouspraire island nuclear wastejim northrupcross-border transnational indigenous and first nations organizing |
| spellingShingle | Kyoko Matsunaga Indigenous Antinuclear Literary Resistance: Jim Northrup’s Satire and Anishinaabe Trans/nationalism Journal of Transnational American Studies indigenous anti-nuclear activism transindigenous praire island nuclear waste jim northrup cross-border transnational indigenous and first nations organizing |
| title | Indigenous Antinuclear Literary Resistance: Jim Northrup’s Satire and Anishinaabe Trans/nationalism |
| title_full | Indigenous Antinuclear Literary Resistance: Jim Northrup’s Satire and Anishinaabe Trans/nationalism |
| title_fullStr | Indigenous Antinuclear Literary Resistance: Jim Northrup’s Satire and Anishinaabe Trans/nationalism |
| title_full_unstemmed | Indigenous Antinuclear Literary Resistance: Jim Northrup’s Satire and Anishinaabe Trans/nationalism |
| title_short | Indigenous Antinuclear Literary Resistance: Jim Northrup’s Satire and Anishinaabe Trans/nationalism |
| title_sort | indigenous antinuclear literary resistance jim northrup s satire and anishinaabe trans nationalism |
| topic | indigenous anti-nuclear activism transindigenous praire island nuclear waste jim northrup cross-border transnational indigenous and first nations organizing |
| url | http://escholarship.org/uc/item/0hx7k00t |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kyokomatsunaga indigenousantinuclearliteraryresistancejimnorthrupssatireandanishinaabetransnationalism |