Native American Feminism, Sovereignty, and Social Change

W H E N w o R K E D as a rape crisis counselor, every Native client saw said to me at one point, I wish wasn't Indian. My training in the main stream antiviolence movement did not prepare me to address what was seeing-that sexual violence in Native communities was inextricably linked to processes of genocide and colonization. Through my involvement in organizations such as Women of All Red Nations (WARN, Chicago), Incite! Women of Color against Violence (www.incite-national.org), and various other projects, have come to see the importance of developing organizing theories and practices that focus on the intersections of state and colonial violence and gender violence. In my ongoing research pro jects on Native American critical race feminisms, focus on documenting and analyzing the theories produced by Native women activists that inter vene both in sovereignty and feminist struggles.' These analyses serve to complicate the generally simplistic manner in which Native women's activism is often articulated within scholarly and activist circles.