This video (re)maps relations and kinship between transIndigenous, Black, and People of Color communities unevenly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic by (re)articulating poetry and multimedia cultural productions. We create whiteout poetry by striking words from public, academic, and government documents covering COVID-19 to reveal how the US places our communities in intimate proximity to death to maintain white dominance. In addition to (re)articulated poems, we layer Unangax cultural practices to work against the dehumanizing tactics of empire-building. Daniel Heath Justice argues that empires trick colonized peoples to turn on each other in frustration. Through a montage of blackout poetry videos and overlapping clips of cultural practices that include dance, music, and oral testimony, our project refuses these colonizer tactics. Instead, we foreground the places of relationality that build resistance movements against ongoing colonization and imperialism to foster livable futures and enduring Indigeneity in and beyond COVID-19.

Co-produced by:
Alison Hsiao, PhD Student in English, Designated Emphasis in Native American Studies, University of California Davis
Haliehana Stepetin (Unangax̂), PhD Candidate in Native American Studies, Designated Emphasis in Studies in Performance and Practice, University of California Davis

Oral Testimony by:
Shawna Yazzie (Diné)
Sarah Stepetin (Unangax̂)
Jaiden Willeto (Diné/Nu’eta/Hidatsa)

Calls for Mutual Aid: To help free a dear friend’s brother, Juan Mercado, please visit:
https://gogetfunding.com/bailjuanout/

To support a Native-led mutual aid fund, please visit: https://keinfoshop.org/ ​

Performances

  • “No More Stolen Sisters! Ni Una Menos! Honoring the Lives and Stories of Indigenous Women.” University of California, Davis - March 12, 2020
  • “Tattoos: Mapping the Indigenous Imaginary.” University of California, Davis - November 22, 2019
  • “You Don’t Have to Go Home But You Can’t Stay Here,” Annex Theater, Seattle - June 8, 2018
  • “You Don’t Have to Go Home But You Can’t Stay Here,” Ethnic Cultural Theater, University of Washington, Seattle - June 6, 2018
  • “Resist, Subsist: A Contemporary Indigenous Performance,” Master of Arts in Cultural Studies Capstone Project, wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ Native Intellectual House, University of Washington, Seattle - April 13, 2018
  • “Resist, Subsist: A Contemporary Indigenous Performance,” MA in Cultural Studies Capstone Project, Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, Seattle - February 24, 2018
  • “Untitled: A Collaborative Performance Arts Piece,” Northwest Film Forum’s International Womxn’s and Trans Day, Seattle - March 4, 2017
  • “Hikisx̂aqax̂ Ukulgakux̂: What Was Lost is Now Found,” Alaska Native Studies Conference, “Wellness & Healing: Indigenous Innovations & Alaska Native Research.” - April 16, 2016
  • “Saahmlatil: Seagull Egg Gathering,” University of Alaska Anchorage, Green & Gold Gala - September 26, 2015