Okay, I’m doing it. I’m posting about Reservation Dogs, the TV show. Here’s a trailer:
Here is a brief review (which touches on themes from this course, such as stereotypes and romantic exoticism): https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/06/arts/television/reservation-dogs.html
Through the show, I learned that the Cherokee Trail of Tears ended in what was then called “Indian Territory” and is now called Oklahoma.
In season 1, episode 6 Willie Jack goes hunting with her father. There is a lot of discussion about whether to leave the community. Willie Jack wants to go to California – a dream she has perhaps inherited from her cousin Daniel, who has died. This reminded me a lot of the kids in the “Alluriarniq – Stepping Forward” video, many of whom wanted to pursue their education and/or see other places in the world, but they all want to eventually come back to their community. I find this so different from my own culture, in which many people move away from the communities they grew up in. (For example, my Dad is from Thunder Bay but now lives in Peterborough, I grew up in Ontario, but both my sisters relocated to British Columbia many years ago).
I’m not sure whether this show will become a resource for my final research project, but I really wanted to include it as it’s a wonderful show.