Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Date of Degree

9-2026

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Program

Anthropology

Advisor

Jillian Cavanaugh

Committee Members

Jeff Maskovsky

Angela Reyes

Eve Tuck

Subject Categories

Anthropological Linguistics and Sociolinguistics | Language Description and Documentation | Linguistic Anthropology | Native American Studies

Keywords

language reclamation, language revitalization, land relationality, kinscapes

Abstract

Much scholarship circulates narratives of Indigenous land and language reclamation as processes to reverse loss and theft due to settler-colonization, reproducing the exceptionalism of settler-colonial events and systems. This project instead draws from Shawnee epistemologies and cosmologies to reimagine reclamation as perpetual cycles of renewal and relationality. Centering Shawnee perspectives and histories gathered through knowledge-shares with Shawnee citizens from the three tribally-recognized Shawnee bands, this multi-sited (Johnson County, Kansas; northeastern and central Oklahoma; online) mixed methods (surveys, interviews, archives, autoethnography, participant observation, oral traditions) ethnography analyzes Shawnee orientations to land and language since the Fort Ancient tradition until present day. I assert that Shawnees establish and maintain relationalities through path-making practices (e.g., respecting lenaweki claims to place and negotiating sawanwa presence, utilizing a community-based decision-making council system, sharing ceremony, and storying) which connect Shawnees to other Native Peoples to then negotiate Shawnee belonging to place, creating uniquely Shawnee kinscapes of relationalities through land and language instead of marking a Shawnee territory. As circumstances change, Shawnees reprioritize relationalities, remapping a Shawnee world through newly prioritized connections, aspirations, and needs. While Shawnees do not maneuver as a singular tribal entity and oftentimes are in disagreement with one another, underlying a Shawnee paradigm of relationality is a commitment to renewal where remembering and recommitting to relationalities strengthens Shawnee communities and well-being. Land and language are specific processes of renewal that situate Shawnees in a world of relations with multiple points of coming together and moving away. For Shawnees, the pathways between the points and the Peoples with whom to engage are what matters.

Download

This work is embargoed and will be available for download on Saturday, September 30, 2028

Share

COinS