Title
Détournement, Decolonization, and the American Indian Occupation of Alcatraz Island (1969–1971)
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2014
Publication Title
Rhetoric Society Quarterly
First Page
168
Last Page
190
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02773945.2014.888464
Abstract
On November 20, 1969, eighty-nine American Indians calling themselves the “Indians of All Tribes” (IOAT) invaded Alcatraz Island. The group’s founding proclamation was addressed to “the Great White Father and All His People,” and declared “We, the Native Americans, reclaim the land known as Alcatraz Island in the name of all American Indians by right of discovery” (2). Tongue-in-cheek, the IOAT offered to purchase Alcatraz Island for “twenty-four dollars in glass beads and red clothe.” In this essay, I illustrate how the IOAT engaged in a rhetoric of détournement, or a subversive misappropriation of dominant discourse that disassembles and imitates texts until they clearly display their oppressive qualities. I argue that the Proclamation established a textual framework that calls for a skeptical and irreverent reading of dominant discourse. I conclude that strategic détournements suture dominant discourses to the moniker of colonialism and invite sympathetic audiences to engage in decolonization.
Rights
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Rhetoric Society Quarterly on 4-14-2014, available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/10.1080/02773945.2014.888464.
Recommended Citation
Kelly, Casey R., "Détournement, Decolonization, and the American Indian Occupation of Alcatraz Island (1969–1971)" (2014). Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication. 92.
https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/ccom_papers/92
Included in
Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons, Social Influence and Political Communication Commons, Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons
