This episode is the first part of a three-part series on “Homelands and histories.” In this episode, Dr. Dylan Miner—an artist, scholar and activist who teaches at Michigan State University—discusses his work in relation to land use, cultural heritage, and indigenous activism. Miner identifies as Wiisaakodewinini, or Métis, a person of mixed ancestry with ties to indigenous communities in the U.S. and Canada.
Transcript:
Jolie Sheffer: Welcome to the BG Ideas podcast, a collaboration between the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society and the School of Media and Communication at Bowling Green State University. I'm Jolie Scheffer, an associate professor of English and American culture studies and the director of ICS. This is the first episode of a three-part series entitled Homelands and Histories, in which we talked to people making big impacts on local communities through their work on land use and cultural heritage.
Jolie Sheffer: The word homeland can evoke comfortable feelings of patriotism or cultural identity, but it is also used to justify expulsion or even genocide. Similarly, the word histories is meant to call attention to the many points of conflict, debate, erasure of violence, and silencing that accompany efforts to describe and interpret the past. Today, we are joined by Dr. Dillon A. T. Miner, an artist, scholar, and activist, who identifies as Wiisaakodewinini or Metis, a native person of mixed ancestry with ties to indigenous communities in the US and Canada.
Jolie Sheffer: Dylan is an adjunct curator of indigenous art at the Michigan State University Museum as well as the founder of the Justseeds artists collective and a board member of the Michigan Indian Education Council. He recently commenced the Bootaagaani-minis Drummond Island Land Reclamation Project, a de-colonial initiative to acquire land and establish a cultural center for Metis, whose ancestors were forced to leave the island during the War of 1812. Dylan is also the director of American Indian and indigenous studies at Michigan State University and an associate professor of transcultural studies in the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities at Michigan State.
Jolie Sheffer: He's the author of the book Creating Aztlan: Chicano Art, Indigenous Sovereignty, and Lowriding Across Turtle Island, in which he shows that Chicano art needs to be understood in the context of indigenous history, anti-colonial struggle, and Native-American studies. I'm very pleased to welcome him to BGSU as a part of ICS's 2018 Spring Speaker Series. Thanks so much for being here.
Dr. Dylan Miner: Thanks for having me.
Jolie Sheffer: One of the things that we're interested in at ICS is discussing the relationship between different kinds of knowledge and different modes of activism, so scholarship, art, grassroots organizing. Can you start us out by telling us a bit about your particular path of negotiating those three? What set you out into trying to do all three?
Dr. Dylan Miner: Sure. So I kind of come into the work I do. I grew up in punk rock circles and kind of crusty anarchist, Zeen-making circles. Much of the work I do kind of emerges from that space. I also, as you said, I'm a Wiisaakodewinini or a Metis person, and one of the Cree words for Metis is [foreign language 00:02:57]. That's a Cree word which means the people who own themselves are the people without bosses.
Dr. Dylan Miner: So much of the work I do thinks about the ways of dismantling hierarchies in all of its forms. So I don't see a distinction necessarily between the scholarly work I do, the community-based work, the arts practice, or even kind of the familial and community work I do outside of or in spite of the institution
