ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the use of the term “sovereignty” by examining a specific thread to show how sovereignty was situated within Haudenosaunee consciousness and practice. Tracing a historical presence that is absent in contemporary theorizations that unwittingly erased the risk endured by Indigenous peoples’ assertion of sovereignty, Jolene Rickard recognizes a schism between the way sovereignty is currently expressed among Haudenosaunee and Indigenous communities, and how it is discussed within academia. This observation provides the opportunity to make a distinction between the theorization of this term and the enactment of sovereignty. Rickard argues for an earlier expression and envisioning of sovereignty that took place in the 1980s and identified it as “visual” sovereignty. By exploring important trends that lead to a visual and conceptual shift from the mid-1980s to today in the arts, she identifies the innovation in traditional arts and the investment in re-reading the archive as opening up new future Indigenous tap roots.
