Resurrection Flowers.pdf (871.79 kB)
Resurrection Flowers and Indigenous Ecological Knowledge: Sacred Ecology, Colonial Capitalism, and Yakama Feminism as Preservation Ethic
In Resurrection Flowers and Indigenous Ecological Knowledge Kaden C. Milliren seeks to
evaluate and analyze differences in perspectives and perceptions of the environment between
Western and Indigenous worldviews and, consequentially, the different attitudes and ways-ofbeing with the world that emerge as a result. In so doing, Milliren discusses the sacredness of
local landscape for Indigenous peoples and the role its spiritually-significant elements impact an
entire cosmology. These important elements of sacred local ecologies are socially, materially,
and symbolically rhetorical, ascribing meaning onto all elements of worldview from faith to
ceremony, oratory to cultural tradition, physical sustenance to ancestral connection. In feedback
and feedforward loops, these aspects of cosmology continue to ascribe meaning onto one
another, affecting and being affected by each other, continually weaving together meaning and,
therefore, rhetorical mattering.
In this case study Milliren discusses the sacredness of the landscape of Southcentral Washington
State, the land of the Yakama Nation, an affiliation of 14 bands and tribes indigenous to the area.
Central to the physical ecology, as well as the ecology of life for the Indigenous population, is
the salmon, a food source significant to all areas of Yakama life and central to Yakama
spirituality, oral tradition, ceremony, and nourishment. Tracing the impact of colonial capitalism
beginning in the 19th century, Milliren discusses diminished salmon populations and its impact
on the local landscape as well as the Yakama way of life. Additionally, he discusses the Yakama
Nation’s response to colonial violence through acts of culturally-situated events aimed at
maintaining Yakama tradition and improving its peoples’ cultural and physical health. Coining
the term resurrection flowers Milliren analyzes the ways the government has utilized the salmon
for monetary gain at the expense of Indigenous populations, and how Indigenous activists have
fought to preserve the salmon population and resurrect cultural tradition through revitalized acts
of decolonial cultural practices.
History
Degree Type
- Master of Arts
Department
- English
Campus location
- West Lafayette
