Capitalist and Communal Foundations in The Bingo Palace

Published in 1994, Louise Erdrich’s The Bingo Palace traces the journey of Lipsha Morrissey, who is called to return to his childhood home, a fictional Ojibwe reservation, after years of living off-reservation with his father. Upon his return, Lipsha becomes enamored with a young woman, Shawnee Ray, and entangled in conflict with Lyman, Lipsha’s uncle, half-brother, and the father of Shawnee Ray’s child, who plans to build a glamorous “Bingo Palace” on reservation land to bring wealth to the Ojibwe people. As Lipsha struggles to reconcile his conflict with Lyman, he faces questions of identity, family, and an ethical dilemma: would the economic benefits of a “Bingo Palace” outweigh the cultural costs?

Profit and Loss: ‘Indian’ Art at Sherman Institute, a Native American Off-Reservation Boarding School

In the early twentieth century, the US’s federal policies regarding the production of Native American art in off-reservation Indian boarding schools shifted from suppression to active encouragement. Seen as a path to economic stability, school administrators pushed their students to capitalize on the artistic traditions of Native cultures, without acknowledging or valuing these traditions as part of an extensive body of Indigenous knowledge. Although this push contributed to the retention of some cultural practices, administrators, teachers, and other members of the local community often exploited the students’ talents to make a profit. At Sherman Institute (now Sherman Indian High School) in Riverside, California, Native students of today are free to creatively express their own cultures in ways that strengthen their communities and promote tribal sovereignty. In this article, I will argue that the art program at Sherman Institute served to extinguish Indigenous knowledge and expertise as expressed through culturally specific weaving practices.

Of Kimchi, Caribou – and Canadian Multiculturalism? An exploratory study

In this paper we argue that food – a basic life-necessity – should not be overlooked as a dimension of life-satisfaction. We use secondary sources and also empirical research to illustrate emergent dimensions of this topic: primarily in British Columbia, Canada. Other recent research suggests that, among immigrant populations, life satisfaction in a multicultural society such as Canada is not just about getting a job. As people migrate, they move into a new environment that may, or may not, supply familiar necessities. The additional perspective here is that off-reservation access to appropriate food by First Nations is also considered.