(Re)Imagining the Upper Mississippi River Valley:
From the Colonial Roots of Climate Change to Contemporary Indigenous Occupations
Website Vision
This website is a digital accompaniment to my written English literature thesis, “(Re)imagining the Upper Mississippi River Valley: From the Colonial Roots of Climate Change to Contemporary Indigenous Artistic Interventions," submitted in fulfillment of the requirement for English Honors at Northwestern University in 2019.
Since my thesis analyzes two multi-media works, I felt that my project should similarly take on a multi-media life in order to allow for more dynamic interaction with Andrea Carlson's projection exhibit The Uncompromising Hand and Heid Erdrich's poemeo "Pre-Occupied." I also welcomed a chance to provide a more interactive platform through which to display some of the sources that may otherwise go unexplored by readers of my thesis.
While my thesis exists as both a paper thesis and a more ongoing digital project, this website in its current form is intended as a supplement to the written thesis. I have included segments from my thesis, but they do not relay the thesis in its entirety. I envisioned my audience exploring this website while reading the paper form of my thesis, with particular attention to the video clips as these could not be included in the paper version of my project.
Through this website, I am able to include hover-boxes, links to websites, and video clips in addition to text and images. These supplements to my paper thesis allow for a more streamlined interaction with a web of external sources, as well as more ways of visual, audible, intellectual, and emotional exploration of the figures, themes, and works in my project.
My hope is that, by incorporating digital media into my literary work, I can help a more diverse audience more intimately connect with my project and provide those who tend to engage primarily with print work an opportunity to engage with other media forms.
Thesis Abstract
Contemporary Indigenous scholars critique concepts of the Anthropocene, pointing to the progression from colonialism to capitalism, which jointly provided the foundation for the industrialism and militarization that have led to anthropogenic climate change. I explore how colonial imagination has shaped human interaction with the valley, as well as how Indigenous art and scholarship offer different understandings of the river’s social and environmental histories.
I demonstrate that Indigenous artistic acts intervene in a long history of colonial imaginations that have, in connection with capitalism and industrialism, had real impacts on the social and environmental landscape of the Upper Mississippi River valley. Indigenous erasure and climate change began with the same acts of colonial imagination; through Indigenous artworks, it is possible to revisit Indigenous and environmental histories in order to reimagine a more mutually-beneficial, sustainable future.
I undertake literary analyses of a U.S. colonial narrative and two contemporary Indigenous visual artworks, using a multi-disciplinary framework that draws on scientific, humanities, literary, and historical scholarship. First, I examine the colonial narrative of Zebulon Pike whose 1805 exploratory mission marked the start of an official U.S. presence in the valley as he designated locations for military forts. Then, I analyze art pieces by two Ojibwe artists: Andrea Carlson’s 2018 projection exhibit The Uncompromising Hand and Heid Erdrich’s 2013 poemeo (poem video) “Pre-Occupied.” Both works recall Indigenous histories while advocating for Indigenous rights in the present and future, thereby subverting acts of colonial imagination that seek to erase the Indigenous presence.
Keywords: anthropogenic climate change, colonial travel narratives, Indigenous multi-media art, Mississippi River
About the Author
Erin Leary graduated from Northwestern University in 2019 with a BA in English literature and a minor Environmental Policy and Culture. She proudly graduated cum laude and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
Erin was awarded Best Honors Thesis for her work “(Re)imagining the Upper Mississippi River Valley: From the Colonial Roots of Climate Change to Contemporary Indigenous Artistic Interventions.”
She will enter the American Culture PhD program at University of Michigan in Fall 2021 and plans to continue continue connecting environmental studies, climate literature, and Indigenous Studies to critique contemporary colonial apocalyptic narratives surrounding climate change