Early Indigenous Literatures

Heritage and Place

Outlining Johnson’s status as a Mohawk member of the Six Nations (the singular “tribe” seemingly collapsing this confederacy into a single entity), and underscoring her Indigenous family lineage, this description seems to act in counter-balance to the line on the opposite side of the page. Rather than her upbringing in Canada resulting in a national identity, here her place-based connections are described in order to establish her Indigeneity. Participating in the adjudication of authenticity that I outline at greater length below, it is notable that the font of this description is much smaller than in its counterpart across the page. While this could be a purely aesthetic choice for a description with far more words, the result is that claims surrounding Johnson’s Indigeneity are somewhat de-emphasized compared to those placing her in a Canadian and European framework.

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