Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2011
Publication Title
Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies
First Page
240
Last Page
265
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14791420.2011.594070
Abstract
After publishing a controversial essay on 9/11, Professor Ward Churchill's scholarship and personal identity were subjected to a hostile public investigation. Evidence that Churchill had invented his American Indian identity created vehemence among many professors and tribal leaders who dismissed Churchill because he was not a “real Indian.” This essay examines the discourses of racial authenticity employed to distance Churchill from tribal communities and American Indian scholarship. Responses to Churchill's academic and ethnic self-identification have retrenched a racialized definition of tribal identity defined by a narrow concept of blood. Employing what I term blood-speak, Churchill's opponents harness a biological concept of race that functions as an instrument of exclusion and a barrier to coalitional politics.
Rights
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies on 25 Jul 2011, available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/10.1080/14791420.2011.594070.
Recommended Citation
Kelly, Casey R., "Blood-Speak: Ward Churchill and the Racialization of American Indian Identity" (2011). Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication. 123.
https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/ccom_papers/123
Included in
Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons, Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons
