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World(build)ing in Mohawk- and Seneca-Language Films.

Authors :
KELSEY, PENELOPE
Source :
English Language Notes. Apr2020, Vol. 58 Issue 1, p214-225. 12p.
Publication Year :
2020

Abstract

This essay brings Zayin Cabot's concept of "ecologies of participation" into conversation with contemporary Mohawk- and Seneca-language films and language revitalization movements. For Indigenous peoples, these participatory events are often interactive storying of worlds, whether told in film, social media, or oral tradition. As a particularly salient example, the essay considers Mohawk director Karahkwenhawi Zoe Hopkins's adaptation of Star Wars: A New Hope in Star Wars Tsyorì:wat IV--Yonhská:neks (2013) in a comparative analysis with both the Navajo-language Star Wars: Episode IV and the Seneca-language films Kohgeh and Tših to highlight critical choices Karahkwenhawi makes in translation, both linguistic and visual, vis-à-vis settler colonial consumer culture. The essay concludes that her adaptation foregrounds supposed "advances" of Western technocratic capitalism; highlights the constructed, fallible, and ephemeral nature of these technologies; and potentiates other technologies and ecologies based in Mohawk ontologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
00138282
Volume :
58
Issue :
1
Database :
Academic Search Index
Journal :
English Language Notes
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
144464096
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1215/00138282-8237531