Representation, Public Practices, and Women of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians

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Date
2020
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University of Alabama Libraries
Abstract

On the Poarch Band of Creek Indians reservation, men are publicly recognized in the community on a frequent basis. Informed by Indigenous feminist theory, the purpose of this research is to understand how women of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians consider their presence in the public memory at three public displays curated by their own tribe: The Creek Travel Plaza, The Wind Creek Casino, and The Poarch Band of Creek Indians Museum (Kerretv En Cuko), all located in the Atmore, Alabama area. This research also seeks to understand how gender matters to Indigenous women’s experience the tribal displays. Seven women of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians were purposefully selected and interviewed on their reservation. Utilizing a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, interview transcriptions were analyzed and constructed into four themes: humble/rough beginnings, display strengths/deficiencies, backbone, (re)orientation /”we’re still here.” With the inclusion of these themes, a narrative was produced by balancing interpretations, excerpts and paraphrasing interview responses. The participants consider the three tribal public displays as a way to bolster their legitimacy as Indigenous people and to correct inaccurate cultural knowledge for their own tribal members. In addition to this, the women of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians find their own presence in the tribe’s public memory as understandably deficient in the past but rather invisible as they are fortified in public places today.

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