Rhetorical Sovereignty, the Majority, and the Minority

Rhetorical sovereignty seems simple, and, in many senses, it is simple--it's the right of a culture to have control over their own identities and to tell their own stories. The actual achievement of this idea, however, is far more complicated, most severely for Native Americans. Native Americans have been unrelentingly silenced, ignored, and pushed out of the conversation by majority groups in the US. Trying to control their stories against all these negative forces is like trying to control one's hair in a windstorm; no matter how hard you try, it's most likely still going to get messed up.

However, they have been trying, sometimes to some avail, but most of the time to none--most of us know the stories we know, and those are the ones we're going to choose to believe about Natives.

But what about those of us in the majority who are listening? Should we have the right to spread Native stories and experiences that are not ours? Should we have the right to study them and their stories, or should we just leave them alone? This is one of the challenges in caring for and being interested in Native peoples, and certainly is the subject of many a debate. How are we to deal with these issues?

As someone who is presently studying Native Americans, I feel torn about this issue as I'm sure White Native scholars do. There are emotions involved in both sides of the debate. Some will argue that the majority group have an obligation to Native peoples to share and study Native stories and experiences in order to spread awareness. On the other hand, many Native people don't want to be categorized or studied and just want to be left alone. Paul Chaat Smith, in Everything You Know About Indians is Wrong, claimed that the dumbest people are those who are interested in Native Americans and want to study them. Accurate information about Natives is just not out in the mainstream.

While I still maintain a strong interest in the Native experience and now very much enjoy reading Native stories and experiences from Natives, I completely understand where the Natives who want exclusive rhetorical sovereignty are coming from. I know from studying gender studies that the best people to speak out for a minority group are people in that group. This is true for a few reasons. Of course it's true because people in a group care more about that group than people outside of the group do, but also because people in a minority group impart their own experiences far more effectively than people outside the group do. Perhaps one of Native peoples' reasons for wanting exclusive rhetorical sovereignty is that they know they can tell their own stories better than anyone outside the group. For the most effective social movement, accurate information is essential. Maybe that's what they're going for. Maybe I'm just saying that to make myself feel better. Regardless, our care for Native Americans shouldn't be based on caring for the sake and show of caring. It should be based on what is best for them, and what will have the move society the most toward seeing Native Americans as real people instead of ideas. And if we as the majority can't contribute to that effectively, maybe we should just leave them alone.