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Tapestries: Interwoven voices of local and global identities

Abstract

In the first part of this article, I examine elements of white identity in Minnesota through the concepts of private property, the possessive investment in whiteness, extractive narratives of place, and objectivity. Using these concepts, I explore white resistance to Indigenous land rights in the context of Fort Snelling and the Line 3 oil pipeline. In the first case, I cover the changes being made to the narratives at Fort Snelling, and the whiteness embedded in the Minnesota Historical Society, as well as the elements of whiteness embodied in the resistance to these changes. Turning towards an alternative, I use the theoretical frameworks of the commons and Indigenous radical resurgence to discuss the Stop Line 3 movement as an embodiment of anticapitalist practices that center Indigenous epistemologies and claim to land. I also return to the established elements of white Minnesotan identities to look at the resistance to the Stop Line 3 movement. Ultimately, I am placing Fort Snelling and Stop Line 3 as opposites, discussing the ways the Stop Line 3 centers Indigenous political and spiritual practices, whereas Fort Snelling subverts them.

Author Biography

Grace Clark (she/her/hers) is a senior American Studies major and Educational Studies minor from St. Paul, MN. In her spare time, she volunteers with MN350 on their Green New Deal and Policy Action Teams and is interested in becoming more involved in climate justice work in the future. She also plays in a band and enjoys writing music and stories.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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