Decolonizing Justice: Indigenous Feminist Activism in Mary Kathryn Nagle’s Sovereignty

Sara Riccetti

doi:10.31261/rias.17559

Published: 2024-05-30

Vol. 17 No. 2 (2024)

Decolonizing Justice: Indigenous Feminist Activism in Mary Kathryn Nagle’s Sovereignty

Sara Riccetti

Section: FEATURES

https://doi.org/10.31261/rias.17559

Abstract

This article offers an analysis of the 2018 play Sovereignty by Cherokee playwright, lawyer, and activist Mary Kathryn Nagle. First performed at the Arena Stage Theatre in Washington DC, Sovereignty unfolds over two parallel timelines: present-day Oklahoma and the early 1800s in the southern Appalachians. In the present day, young Cherokee lawyer Sarah Ridge Polson and Cherokee Attorney General Jim Ross defend the inherent jurisdiction of the Cherokee Nation under the Violence Against Women Act in a pivotal case before the US Supreme Court. This modern struggle is juxtaposed with scenes from the 1800s, where their ancestors grapple with a proposed treaty with Andrew Jackson’s administration, leading to the signing of the Treaty of New Echota and the Trail of Tears. By juxtaposing historical and contemporary events, Nagle illuminates the enduring effects of government policies and laws that continue to render Indigenous people, particularly Indigenous women, vulnerable. This article explores how Sovereignty exemplifies Indigenous feminist literary activism through performative counter-storytelling, a method that enacts decolonization and reframes the stage as a critical space for asserting Indigenous performative sovereignty and self-determination. Using an Indigenous feminist literary critical approach, this article shows how Nagle constructs a counter-narrative that advances decolonization by addressing gendered outcomes of colonial law, challenging patriarchal cultural practices of misrepresentation, and embodying “radical relationality”—a concept of collective political organization based on principles of interdependency and responsibility. Through the character of Sarah Ridge Polson and her activism to restore sovereignty over her body and her nation, Sovereignty exemplifies Indigenous feminist activism through theater, reasserting Indigenous women as agents of cultural transmission and tribal values, illustrating that tribal sovereignty and gender empowerment are inherently interconnected and mutually reinforcing.

Keywords:

Cherokee Literature , Native American Theatre , Indigenous feminist literary activism , Performative counter-storytelling , Radical relationality , Decolonization , Tribal Sovereignty , Mary Kathryn Nagle , Cherokee Law , Federal Indian Law

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Riccetti, S. (2024). Decolonizing Justice: Indigenous Feminist Activism in Mary Kathryn Nagle’s Sovereignty. Review of International American Studies, 17(2), 195–217. https://doi.org/10.31261/rias.17559

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Sara Riccetti

sara.riccetti@uniroma1.it
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5283-8054

Affiliation:

La Sapienza University of Rome, Italy and University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland Italy

Bio Statement (e.g., department and rank)

Sara Riccetti is a Ph.D. candidate in Studies in English Literatures, Language, and Translation, enrolled in a joint degree program between the University of “La Sapienza” in Rome, Italy, and the University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland. Her doctoral research focuses on exploring the intersection of law and literature in contemporary Indigenous drama by women playwrights from the US and Canada. In 2023, Sara Ricetti was awarded the International Council for Canadian Studies Graduate Student Scholarship, facilitating her research at the University of Victoria, B.C. Alongside her academic pursuits, Ricetti is an experienced theatre director and practitioner, having received professional training as an actor in the UK She also holds an M.A. in directing opera. Her Italian translation of the play The Unplugging by Algonquin playwright Yvette Nolan received the Translation Grant from the Canadian Council for the Arts in 2024. She is currently curating and directing a performance of the play set to premiere in Naples, Italy, in October 2024. An alumna of the Emerging Scholars program of the International American Studies Association, Sara Ricetti is co-editing a special issue of JamIt (Journal of American Studies in Italy) on Indigenous resurgence, scheduled for publication in 2024. She is actively involved in several academic associations including IASA (International American Studies Association), AISNA (Italian Association of North American Studies), and AISC (Italian Association of Canadian Studies). Her research interests encompass North American Literature and Theatre, Indigenous Drama from North America, Law and Literature, Indigenous Feminist Theory, and Decolonial Studies.

Vol. 17 No. 2 (2024)
Published: 2024-12-31

eISSN: 1991-2773

10.31261/RIAS

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Decolonizing Justice: Indigenous Feminist Activism in Mary Kathryn Nagle’s Sovereignty

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