rebel shamans: indigenous women confront empire
a visual talk with Max Dashú of the Suppressed Histories Archives
“Lozen is…strong as a man, braver than most, and cunning in strategy. Lozen is a shield to her people.” --Apache chief Victorio
"Grandy Nanny didn't catch bullets for you alone." --Jamaican saying about Queen Nanny of the Maroons
"Viva la Santa de Cabora!" --Yaqui and Tomochiteca rebels storming the customhouse at Nogales, 1896
Priestesses, diviners and medicine women stand out as leaders of aboriginal liberation movements against conquest, empire, and cultural colonization.
Spiritual spheres of power have been a crucial staging area for women’s political leadership and for challenging systems of domination on many levels, including the battleground of culture.
This visual presentation looks at how indigenous women draw on their cultural traditions to resist colonization and how, by virtue of who they are and where they stand in the social order, their personal access to direct, transformative power makes the spiritual political.
Features:
Veleda of the Bructerii (Netherlands), Dahia al-Kahina (Tunisia), the Kumari of Taleju (Nepal), Jeanne d'Arc (France), Juana Icha (Peru), Kimba Vita (Congo), Maria Candelaria (Chiapas), Queen Nanny of the Maroons (Jamaica), Toypurina (Tongva Nation, California), the Prophetess of Chupu (Chumash Nation), Wanankhucha (Zigula/ "Somali Bantu"), Lozen (Apache Nation), Teresa de Cabora (Yaqui, Sonora), Nehanda Nyakasikana (Zimbabwe), Muhumusa (Uganda). And more.