Theorizing Indigenous Feminist Oral Histories: A Methodological Intervention in Indigenous Oral Histories from an Indigenous Feminist

Abstract

This article makes the argument for the need to adopt Indigenous feminist theory within Indigenous oral histories in order to do ethical work grounded within the lived experiences of Native and Indigenous women who are creating Indigenous feminist oral histories. These experiences and roots of orality are found within Native women’s fiction writing and expand upon the existing analysis by Dian Million of the role of Native women’s fiction in addressing lived experiences of colonialism. The tenets of Indigenous feminist oral histories are multifaceted and pull from Indigenous feminist theory, including the politics of refusal from Audra Simpson and felt theory from Dian Million. Additionally, I introduce and define a more nuanced form of refusal called the right not to know, as the right of both an interviewer and interviewee in an Indigenous feminist oral history to not have subjects broached through conversation but rather understand the felt experiences of the conversations between both participants. Through comparative analysis of two works of Indigenous oral history—one of which would not be considered an Indigenous feminist oral history as it is guided by colonial principles of oral knowledges despite being done by a Native woman, and one of which is deeply indebted to Indigenous feminist theory and serves to ethically engage Indigenous and Native audiences—this article illuminates the effect that Indigenous feminist oral histories have for a reader and for the ethical considerations of Indigenous oral history research.