Evidence Analysis: “Knock-Off Native”

The piece of evidence that I have chosen to analyze is a spoken word piece called “Knock-Off Native,” written and performed by Winona Linn. I retrieved this work from the Vancouver Poetry Slam Youtube account, a page in which I regularly go to watch talented local artists perform. This piece is undoubtedly entwined with the subject of Indigenous and intersectional feminism, as Linn speaks of her personal experience of being discriminated against by a man who believes she does not look like a proper “Indian,” assuming all Indigenous women are inevitably supposed to resemble Pocahontas. The Pocahontas stereotype has proven to be a great obstacle for not only Indigenous feminists but Indigenous women as a whole, and Linn speaks of her personal feud with the generalization very poignantly, using both humour and emotional vulnerability to allow the viewers to engage in her perspective.

Linn’s introductory statement, including the violent words of a white man calling her a “knock-off Pocahontas,” sets the stage for a deconstruction of the Pocahontas stereotype. Indigenous women being homogenized into the image of a pejorative Disney character is very much engrained in and related to the “Indian Princess” and “noble savage” colonial ideologies that have been surrounding Indigenous women for centuries. Linn, being a white-skinned Meskwaki woman, recognizes that her skin “didn’t mesh with his perception of Indian,” which trivializes the Indigenous female identity into a single mould. This perception is inherently violent in its patriarchal and colonial tones, as the man spoken of in Linn’s piece exploits both his male and white privilege in order to determine that Linn’s identity is somehow unauthentic, and doesn’t fit his definition of either Indian nor female. To compare all Indigenous women to Pocahontas is to liken all white women to Cinderella; it seems illogical, ineffective, and inaccurate when put in the context of the privileged, yet remains as a scapegoat image and explanation when contextualized to the marginalized. The Pocahontas stereotype acts as a complete erasure of the hundreds of nations and tribes across North America, all with different identities, languages, traditions, and cultures – which Linn illustrates in saying “to insult me accurately he should’ve at least picked the right race, since Pocahontas was Powhatan and I am Meskwaki, but I knew he wouldn’t know the difference.” The sweeping assumption that all Indigenous women should represent a primitive and exotic “noble savage” such as Pocahontas has greatly contributed to their subordination, and remains to be a monstrous challenge, proving very burdensome to defeat.

However, Linn’s piece does not intend to leave the viewer feeling defeated – rather, she ends the performance with several lines of very purposeful and strong-willed messages, with the very last line being “my self-worth can’t be determined by the words of drunken racists.” The larger message that Linn is trying to convey is the idea that Indigenous women are not simply victims of racism and misogyny, but also loud and active opponents to such colonial gender violence. Indigenous women, despite this man’s claim, cannot be degraded and stripped of their identity without resistance – and even as the stereotype lives on, Indigenous women will continue to fight for their identities.

To the view the performance, please click here.