The Women's Warrior Society

The Women's Warrior Society, written by Ojibwa activist and artist Lois Beardslee, was published in early 2008. Taking place in northern Michigan, this novel asks the reader to question his/her role in the oppression of Native Americans through stories of victimization and empowerment. Connecting past Ojibwa legends with modern tales and situations, Beardslee takes the frame of modern native experience to associate current native oppressions with past repression.

Author: Lois Beardslee

Lois Beardslee is an established Native American activist and artist, and an ACTIVE member of the Ojibwa (Anishinaabe) tribe. She grew-up in northern Michigan, and received a bachelor’s degree in art history from Oberlin College in 1976 and a master’s degree in art history from the University of New Mexico in 1984. Beardslee is the author of The Women's Warrior Society (2008), Not Far Away: The Real Life of Ima Piplig (2007), Rachel's Children (2004), and Lies to Live By (2003). Beyond her publications, Beardslee was one of the original members of the “Grey Canyon Artists,” a Native American artists’ cooperative in Albuquerque, New Mexico, participates in the Great Lakes Indian Artists Association, and has most recently contributed to the Michigan Legacy Art Park. Interestingly, Beardslee is one of only two Native artists who still create traditional Ojibwa birch bark cutouts. She currently resides in northern Michigan, owns and maintains her own cherry farms, and continues to practice several other traditional native art forms, such as beadwork, quillwork, and sweetgrass basketry. She teaches introductory English at Northwestern Michigan College. Beardslee also teaches a Native American literature course at Northwestern Michigan College.

Plot Summary and Narrative Techniques

Beardslee’s novel is divided into short sections that combine and create her narrative flow. The narration varies from an intensely personal first person account to a removed third person, which adds to the lyrical dynamic of her work. Here is a list of the short stories/sections of her novel:

Baby Stealers (by Night)

Baby Stealers (by Day)

Baby Stealers (by Prejudice)

Ogitchidaakwe

Da Wimen’s Warrior Society

They Are Shape Shifters

The Sweatlodge

Wimen Warriors Are Sneaky

Dat Wind

Wimen Warriors Are Not Born, They Are Made

Warm Wind

Only a Warrior…

The Caste System

I’m a God

Road Warriors

[...] Girl

OK, These Wolves, They Walk into a Library

What Really Goes On Over at the Tribal Library

Frog Warriors

Ceremony

The Truth about Indians

Baby Stealers (by Presumption)

Wimen Warriors Are Not Born, They Are Trained

Baby Stealers (Uninterrupted)

Ya Better Watch Dem Wimen Warriors

The Warrior in the Mercedes

These Women, They Walk into a Sweatshop

The Warrior and the Objective Pronoun

Baby Stealers (by Indifference)

Initiation

They’re Dancin’ Up There

You’re So Fuckin’ Spiritual, I Can Feel It

The Deer Dance

Warriors and Children

However, one summary of the plot can exist through the continual use of the phrase, “OK, so these three Indian women warriors walk into a bar .” Beardslee uses the construction of this joke to further the social commentary of the novel. In the beginning of the novel, the phrase begins with these three women going into a bar. This stereotype is bunked as the novel continues, and these three women warriors are walking into a tribal library. Beardslee uses this statement to further the analysis and construction of a woman warrior. At the end, the woman warrior is presented as both a victim and a heroine. The woman warrior is the casualty of prejudice and stereotypes. While at the same, the woman warrior is a heroine for her attempts to maintain native culture, fight for education for her children, and attempt to improve the community at large.

Themes

There are several themes that Beardslee utilizes consistently throughout her work, and the repetition of these themes adds to the critical depth and lyrical style of her writing. Some of the major themes are: Baby Stealers, The Women Warriors, and ’57 Chevys.

Baby Stealers

There are sections in the novel with the following titles: Baby Stealers (by Night), Baby Stealers (by Day), Baby Stealers (by Prejudice), Baby Stealers (by Presumption), Baby Stealers (Uninterrupted), Baby Stealers (by Indifference)

   As with many of Beardslee’s themes, there are several interpretations. One main interpretation is that, through the Baby Stealers, Beardslee discusses all the oppressions that have robbed Native Americans of their children, their heritage, their land, etc. The baby can stand to represent all things Native, such as history and culture. The stealers can serve as a metaphorical reference to colonization, and all aspects of non-Native society that threaten Native societies.  These sections also highlight parts of the text where Beardslee seems to be in direct communication with the readers.

Baby Stealers (by Night)

Baby Stealers (by Night) can stand to represent the physical loss of native children, and culture, through diseases that decreases the population and thus the chances of maintaining a civilization and cultural legacy. A modern approach to this theme will expand upon what is [...] Native American youth today, such as addiction and violence. Another interpretation of Baby Stealers (by Night) is that this refers to the negative stereotypes and oppressing institutions that have been created to destroy native culture. This refers to the non-visible forms of oppression. This section also refers to the large accumulation of negative native stereotypes and thoughts, which have multiplied over time to create a history of oppression.

Baby Stealers (by Day)

   A common interpretation of this section would be that it symbolizes the blatant forms of oppression that natives face.  Boarding schools, and the role that Native American boarding schools played in the destruction of native culture, are the main focal points in this section. Native American boarding schools, or non-reservation boarding schools, were commissioned in the late 19th century as a way of educating Native American youth to a Euro-American standard. Native American boarding schools have been the subject of controversies due to allegations of abuse and negligence, and are consistently used as an example of cultural oppression by both Native American and non-Native authors.  
 

Baby Stealers (by Prejudice)

   Baby Stealers (by Prejudice) highlights the role of “abusers” in the oppression of Native Americans. The abusers are born into a tradition of discriminatory practices.  The prejudice has been so ingrained into society and culture that it is barely noticeable but the most effective.  Beardslee discusses how the mindset of abusers has found its way into public services that are meant to be beneficial to all, but in reality reaffirms negative stereotypes and reinforces who American society says belongs in the margins. 

Baby Stealers (by Presumption)

   Baby Stealers (by Presumption) addresses the lack of value and respect that white society has placed on native customs and traditions. This section explicitly discusses the past and present colonization of native lands, customs, and minds. At the end of this section, Beardslee briefly begins to discuss the ways in which these natives have begun to fight back, one of them being a “warrior,” which references her women warriors of the novel. 

Baby Stealers (Uninterrupted)

   Baby Stealers (Uninterrupted) speaks not only to the usurp of power that the natives have faced in the past, but how that impacts natives today. Through the description of a powerless native woman, the reader gets a sense of the cost of native oppression, the real life disenfranchisement of the native people.  

Baby Stealers (by Indifference)

   Baby Stealers (by Indifference) addresses the lack of attention and care paid to native communities. This section highlights the life of a woman, and how she is praised for her native rituals but ignored when she attempts to discuss larger social and community related issues, such as healthcare. The larger community (white community) valued this native woman for her ethnic contribution, but were unresponsive to her larger social critiques and questions, and never gave her the space to voice her or her communities needs. This section demonstrates the dominant societies real lack of care and respect, and general apathy for the native community. 

Women Warriors

Beardslee’s work is based on the accounts and tales of various women warriors. These women are warriors because they fight the overbearing hegemonic, patriachical white society who continues to oppress them. The theme of the woman warrior simultaneously compares and contrasts these women’s forms of resistance to the stereotypical image of the Native warrior, and the Native resistance image from the American Indian Movement of the 1960s/1970s. The title, women warrior, also stands to redefine what is a Native warrior. Here Beardslee outlines the age progression of the women warriors (a woman warrior):

"And then that young warrior, she comes into da public library. And that middle-age one, she says, "You don't wanna see this. Excuse me a minute." And she puts that powwow book back on its shelf with the other six social studies/world cultures books. Then she wipes her hands on the armpits of her winter coat, hoping maybe to make the sickness come off her hands before she sits in close and lovingly with the young warrior and guides her through initiation. Now, this young warrior, she's got to do a project for senior-class project-presentation day in the school library. And she's got to pass her senior project, or she's not going to get her high school diploma, no matter how good her grade point average is. And she picked powwows for her subject matter, and she's comparing the for-the-public commercial powwows with the smaller, traditional powwows, because she likes the smaller, more traditional powwows best; and so does the older warrior. But that middle-aged warrior, she's been around the block, been in and out of the public schools as student and parent and unwanted Indian, been to college and back, been to academia and public institutions and back, and she doesn't want to see this poor girl chose powwows for her subject matter."

In this quote, Beardslee develops some of her essential traits of women warriors. The woman warrior is someone who understands the oppressions, obstacles, and stereotypes the Ojibwa face when attempting to maintain and continue the Ojibwa culture. Like American Indian warriors of the past, fighting to preserve their cultural entities and heritage, the women warriors stand up to colonizing forces, only in a different way. The women warriors fight with knowledge and education.

Preserving the Ojibwa culture through education is also seen in the plot-forwarding satirical joke, "OK, so these three Indian women walk into a bar," as the joke at the end of the story is transformed to be:

"OK, these Indian women warriors, they walk into a bar. You visualized a library this time, didn't you? I'm proud of you. You're finally getting it. Only they don't walk into a library this time. They just show up at somebody's house for a birthday party for one of their kids. And it's a middle-class house. Maybe not too big. Maybe just right. Maybe no too fancy. Just comfortable."

Beardslee's woman warrior is native (Ojibwa) woman who is continually attempting to maintain Ojibwa culture, and educate Ojibwa youth of their culture. Ojibwa cultural education does not have to take place in a school, or in the tribal library, or in the sweat lodge. Women warriors are women warriors as a life choice, they choose to promote the culture with their actions, being, and essence.

'57 Chevys

Beardslee refers to the classic American Chevrolet as “running through their [native women's] hair.” Possible interpretations of the ‘57 Chevy is as a distinctly American symbol. The Chevy and this country go hand in hand, so Beardslee makes it a natural part of native women. She uses their hair, as a way to connect this country to Native Americans. This also counters perceptions that the culture of American Indians is something of the past. Beardslee uses this modern symbol to depict the modern practice of American Indian (specifically Ojibwa) culture:

"There are wild mustangs on the pavement, and the passers-through down on the state highway are swerving and braking and cursing the Indians while the beasts dive and start and turn unexpectedly; '57 Chevys have lined up in the drive-through-drop-off lane that goes to the front door of the casino. They are revving their engines. They are blinking their yellow headlights. They move up to the doorway, stop, and drop off no one, before heading up the hills and into the woods, where they are careening on back roads and two-tracks, whooping and honking, circling subdivisions, and tearing into lakeside public launches, slamming their doors, popping their hoods, blaring out Bobby Vinton and Roy Orbison. They are rearing on their back tires and howling for the moon, those Chevys, even in the middle of the afternoon."

Likewise, another interpretation of the Chevy is as a symbol of reincarnation. The ‘57 Chevy is a commonly restored car, and similarly “Every time one of them is murdered, she reincarnates, becomes new and young flesh”. This image of reincarnation, or returning to nature after death, is also present in Baby Stealers (by Night) when the nighttime stealers return the native babies back to their families “as stars, as snowflakes, as auroras” .

Other Publications

Lies to Live By

Published in May 2003, this book is a collection of Ojibwa children’s stories, both old and new. Regarding this book, Beardslee is quoted as saying, “The traditional stories of the northern Woodland Indians are more pragmatic than mystical. They teach children behavioral guidelines and cultural values, and therefore remain appropriate and vital even now.” Similar to The Women’s Warrior Society, Lies to Live By contains many short stories.

Not Far Away: The Real Life of Ima Piplig

   Published in September 2007, this novel, through both a fictional and memoir form, reflects on the life of a female, Ojibwa school teacher in northern Michigan as she is confronted with “caustic racism” .

Rachel's Children

Published in 2004, Rachel's Children is a true story about the contemporary Ojibwa household, and the women and children at the center of this household. As the reader views the life of these women and children, we can begin to understand how Rachel's families traditional beliefs help her family counter the racism they encounter in rural northern Michigan. This novel uses the rhetorical technique of ethnography, theatrical script, and novel; which in combination, echo the traditional Ojibwa story telling style .

External links

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http:/www.michiganlegacyartpark.org