This dissertation investigates the social and cultural contours of citizenship and nationhood of Kahnawake Mohawks. The central question that I seek to answer is "What other narratives of nationhood and citizenship are there than those of membership in the American or Canadian states?" Mohawks and other Iroquois nations have long asserted their ideological, and in the case of some, economic independence from the governments of Canada and the United States. My multi-sited research illustrates that this historical assertion is more than rhetoric; it is also a practice or " praxis," as Mohawks configure citizenship across the imposed borders that separate their reserves from cities and states from states. This dissertation engages contemporary theories of nationhood, historical and contemporary ethnographic literature on the Iroquois, as well as contemporary literature in political theory and policy to examine the gendered and sometimes racialized contours of Indigenous nationhood and citizenship across borders. Kahnawake Mohawk narratives and the choices that they entail have implications for the way that all "post-colonial" nationals attempt to imagine and construct their place and their membership within and beyond the boundaries of their communities and that of the state.

This thesis explores processes of self-representation in Indigenous media by analyzing the work of a weekly newspaper, The Eastern Door, of the Mohawk community of Kahnawake, Quebec (Canada). The thesis examines articulations of power in relations between State and Aboriginal communities, demonstrating the importance of such a medium for the conceptualization of Aboriginal Nation and construction of identity in the contemporary context. The Eastern Door is an important vehicle for communicating Mohawk identity and nationhood, a role it consciously plays, as part of its commitment to political autonomy. Its commitment is shown by its discursive explorations: of avenues, themes chosen, concerns expressed and language used. An element of this commitment is an emphasis on collective and individual behaviour, and on "being" as an expression of Mohawk identity, both of which provide powerful bases of action for the community and in relations with the State. If this thesis underlines that State interest and power are an influence on these processes, it also demonstrates that the Mohawk engagement with cultural politics is influential itself, allowing the Mohawks to develop political strategies vis-a-vis the State, and even to impose political agendas that have to be engaged with by the government.

All over the world, Carnival is a time for a break in human activities, and inversion of the usual hierarchies. In New Orleans, Carnival is a time when the powerless take over the streets, and, for a time, invert control and ownership. One of the New Orleans carnival organizations are the Mardi Gras Indians, groups of African Americans who dress as Indians during the day and take over the streets of their neighborhoods, showing their power and beauty in a breathtaking display of costumes, music and dance. The Masking of the Mardi Gras Indian is a tradition dating back to at least the early nineteenth century. The Creole Wild West were the first named Indian tribe on record in 1884 but this does not mean they were the only or earliest tribe to mask. In the beginning some gangs would get together on Mardi Gras but did not mask under a proper name. The Mardi Gras Indian practice is a practice rooted in resistance to white oppression and African Americans’ demands for inclusion in the city’s Mardi Gras celebrations. The history of Mardi Gras Indians in New Orleans is not limited to the East Bank of the Mississippi River but is also includes residents on the West Bank, specifically in the neighborhood of Algiers. Within the Algiers neighborhood there are several different sections. Probably the most well known section, Algiers Point, consisted of mostly white residents. The Oakdale area, later known as the Fischer Housing Development, and the Cut-Off, an area that borders the bayous of Plaquemines Parish consisted of mostly African Americans. Although the origins of Indians masking on both sides of the River is a point of debate among scholars, some evidence suggests that Indians from Algiers masked as early as the early twentieth century. This thesis is an examination of the longest-running tribe in Algiers, the Mohawk Hunters who started out in the Oakdale area but currently most of their members now reside in the Cut-Off area. Using archival material as well as recently conducted oral histories, it explores the relationship between the Algiers Indian tradition and the more well-known groups on the East Bank. By their deep attachment to their neighborhood, despite its separation from the rest of New Orleans by the Mississippi River, they have helped to strengthen the Mardi Gras Indians’ neighborhood-bound traditions of community service and youth education. Not many people are privy to some of the information that was passed along to me through the oral interviews conducted but my personal connection to some the Mohawk Hunters, including my cousin Charles “Cubby” Dillon, possibly allowed me to gain a deeper look into the organization. I was able to use text messages for follow-up questions and this was access most interviewers may not have had. Although few residents on the East Bank know of their existence, they are a model of the community-engaged, twenty-first century Mardi Gras Indians.

This work catalogues the verbal agreement paradigm of Kanyen'keha in greater detail than has previously been done. The cataloguing includes the complete intransitive, transitive, and reflexive paradigms, and description of all argumental contrasts to which the verbal agreement is sensitive. It also describes in detail the contexts where feature sensitivity is blunted, and the patterns of syncretism in the verbal agreement. Based off of this descriptive work, this work evaluates the accuracy with which previous analyses treat verbal agreement in Kanyen'keha. Finding room for improvement in these analyses, this work proposes a new analysis of Kanyen'keha, which claims all verbal agreement in transitive contexts to be realized from one agreement probe, which enters into Multiple Agree with subjects and objects. This style of analysis allows for many aspects of the agreement to be accounted for, including person hierarchy effects, distribution of portmanteau morphology, and complex dependency between the multiple morphemes which comprise the agreement / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / This thesis describes the verbal agreement of Kayen'keha in greater detail than has previously been done. This thesis also evaluates the claims of previous work done on verbal agreement of Kanyen'keha, describing where such work accurately accounts for the agreement and where it does not. Finally, this thesis proposes a novel analysis of Kanyen'keha verbal agreement.

Ce mémoire de maîtrise porte sur l’implication de la « loi sur le membership et le droit de résidence à Kahnawà:ke » sur six femmes mixtes Mohawks de la communauté Mohawk de Kahnawà:ke. Nous utilisons une méthodologie de recherche qualitative pour analyser les récits de vie des participantes et leurs expériences en tant que personnes ayant un héritage culturel mixte. Dans ce contexte, nous explorons certains facteurs qui ont facilité ou atténué leur identité culturelle et leur sentiment d’appartenance. Nous explorons aussi la question de la transmission culturelle à la prochaine génération. Les résultats de cette étude suggèrent que l’identité culturelle et les modes de vie Mohawk sont transmis de manière intergénérationnelle dans les familles des participantes. Dans cette étude, les femmes font des efforts tenaces pour se réapproprier leur culture et de créer un sentiment d’appartenance qui leur est propre. Ces récits détaillés des participantes s’ajoutent à la recherche canadienne sur l’identité mixte et la transmission culturelle dans un contexte autochtone. / In this master’s thesis, I examine the implications of the Kahnawà:ke membership and residency law on six mixed-blood women from the Kahnawà:ke Mohawk community. With the use of qualitative research methodology, I analyze the participants’ narratives of their experiences with growing up racially mixed. In this context, I explore some of the factors that facilitated or mitigated their sense of cultural identity and belonging. I also explore the question of cultural transmission to the future generation. The findings from this study suggest that Mohawk cultural identity and ways of life are perpetuated intergenerationally in these women’s’ families. The participants make tenacious efforts to re-appropriate their culture and find ways to create their space of belonging. These participants’ detailed accounts add to the Canadian body of research on mixed-race identity and cultural transmission in an Indigenous context.