What Does it Mean to Be a Mohawk Girl - 949 Words

The Kahnawake Native reserve lies on the outskirts of Montreal, connected only by the Mercier Bridge over St Lawrence River. Kahnawake is the hometown of three Mohawk teens – Amy, Lauren and Felicia, whose trails and trivialities of their teenage years are reflected upon and documented in the film Mohawk Girls. In this essay I will analyse Tracey Deer’s film Mohawk Girls (2006) to critically explore what it means to be a Mohawk Girl in Canada today. Following the years of three teenage girls navigating through high school, I will observe how this is largely influenced by the concept of identity across vastly diverse geographies. Then, I argue that by analysing Mohawk Girls in the context of identity and place we can understand racialization to further deconstruct the power geometries that exist within and between the people of the Kahnawake Reserve. Throughout history, identity is often viewed as a something inherently stable. However, I argue that identity should be viewed as something far more complicated than this – particularly if one articulates the modern notion of a fluid conception of identity. Identity is something that is constantly in flux. Then, identity is constructed of the vastly diverse geographies, histories, and the spaces and places that one inhabits throughout their life. To put it simply, identity defines who we are. Therefore, it is inextricably bound to notions of difference , where representations of people can change depending on theShow MoreRelatedAmerican History : The Colonial Present1203 Words   |  5 PagesTechnologies of Modernity in Tracey Deer’s Mohawk Girls Modernity plays an intricate role in Canadian society and the way in which it was built. One aspect of modernity that is particularly important to Canada’s colonial history would be with respect to the First Nations population of Canada. 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