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Teaching Indigenous Film through an Indigenous Epistemic Lens

2022; University of Nebraska Press; Volume: 34; Issue: 1-2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/ail.2022.0009

1548-9590

Renae Watchman,

Environmental and Cultural Studies in Latin America and Beyond

Teaching Indigenous Film through an Indigenous Epistemic Lens Renae Watchman (bio) introductory position My maternal family is from Shiprock, New Mexico and my paternal family is from Sheep Springs, New Mexico. Both are situated within the Four Sacred Mountains. I am Diné (Navajo) and Tsalagi. My clans are Tódich'íi'nii (Bitter Water), and I am born for the Kinya'áanii (Towering House). My maternal grandfather was from Tahlequah, Oklahoma and through him, I am Bird clan from the Cherokee Nation. My final and fourth clan is Táchii'nii (Red Running Through the Water) from my paternal grandfather. Diné oral teachings and stories illustrate the kinship responsibilities of the Tódich'íi'nii as philosophers and educators, and the Kinya'áanii as leaders and guides. I strive to uphold these foundational teachings, grounded in the Diné episteme of hózhǫ́—the state of harmony, peace, wellness, and balance—as a post-secondary educator. I am an associate professor and teach Indigenous literatures and Indigenous film courses. I am a faculty member in the newly-established Indigenous Studies Department at McMaster University, which is located on the traditional territories of the Mississauga and Haudenosaunee Nations and within the lands protected by the Dish with One Spoon Wampum agreement. From 2010–2021, I worked at Mount Royal University (MRU), which is situated in Treaty 7. I was housed in the Department of English, Languages, and Cultures and in 2015 was cross-appointed to Indigenous Studies. I have taught ten film courses (first through third year) and prioritize Indigenous-directed films. I developed Indigenous Film for MRU's film studies minor and it is a core course in the curriculum. My pedagogical roadmap and experiences [End Page 112] with teaching Indigenous film spans genres and topics. In one instance, I tailored the Film Genres course to examine mockdocumentaries because I was influenced by Māori filmmakers Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement, whose What We Do in the Shadows (2014) was unlike any I had seen. I have also taught Introduction to the Study of Film; Contemporary Film and Theory (co-taught with Mario Trono); Contemporary Global Film; Film Genres: "The Road Movie" and "The Mock-documentary: Realize Reel Lies"; Studies in Film: "Documenting Human Rights" (co-taught with Michael Truscello); and Indigenous Film: "From Hollywood to Fourth World Cinema" and Indigenous Film: "Being Red, Dead, and Ahead." One Indigenous Studies course that I taught in Spring 2020 was a special topics course that I molded to be an online, asynchronous Indigenous film course called "Re-storying: Visual Narratives of Restoration." Since the institution implemented a mandatory lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic, I felt that teaching primarily with visual media would ease students' transition to the mandatory remote learning environment, and I introduced filmic narratives aimed to promote hózhǫ́ or restoration and healing through decoloniality. course creation I have historically included film in my courses without formal film studies theory and analysis, as film is an effective storytelling medium. This article is about Indigenous Film: "From Hollywood to the Fourth World," which is a three-credit course. I have taught it at both the second-and third-year levels.1 It serves as an introduction to global Indigenous film studies, or as Barry Barclay coined, "Fourth (world) Cinema," and I dedicate units that focus on filmmaking by Indigenous creatives from Aotearoa (what is now New Zealand), Turtle Island (the US and Canada), and Sweden. We screen, analyze, and discuss Indigenous films, tracing the trajectory of images of Indigenous Peoples from those who have historically been cast as "red" or silenced as "dead" in early moving pictures to those who embrace their roles as active Indigenous creatives, behind and in front of the camera. My comprehensive syllabus clearly reflects an acknowledgment of place, objectives, student responsibilities, assignments, and a descriptive course calendar organized into fourteen weeks, thematized by titles which capture various topics, for example: [End Page 113] "Indigenous Autoethnographic Film," "Indigenous Stories in the Silent Era," "Western Talkies & Indigenous Cowboys Talk Back," "Ass-kicking Indigenous Heroes: Vigilantes & Activists," "Every Child Matters," "Indigenous Blood and Futures," and "Decolonial Visual Storytelling." I created this as a second-year course to highlight Indigenous...