Humor and Resistance in Modern Native Nonfiction / ﺍﻟﺪﻋﺎﺑﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﻘﺎﻭﻣﺔ ﻓﻲ ﻛﺘﺎﺑﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻬﻨﻮﺩ ﺍﻷﻣﺮﻳﻜﻴﻴﻦ ﺍﻟﺤﺪﻳﺜﺔ

[This article reviews recent Native nonfiction to illustrate how modern Native essayists use humor as a mode of anti-colonial critique. It examines how anti-colonial politics find expression in the various types of rhetorical humor that are employed in Jim Northrup\u27s Rez Road Follies: Canoes, Casinos, Computers and Birch Bark Baskets (1999), Thomas King\u27s The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative (2005), and Paul Chaat Smith\u27s Everything You Know About Indians is Wrong (2009). In particular, the article explores the storytelling conventions and orality that define these nonfiction books and the broader tradition of comic techniques associated with Gerald Vizenor. These works participate in a literary tradition that contribute to what Robert Warrior describes as the intellectual sovereignty of Native self-representation. ﺗﺘﻨﺎﻭﻝ ﻫﺬﻩ ﺍﻟﻤﻘﺎﻟﺔ ﻛﺘﺎﺑﺎﺕ ﻏﻴﺮ ﺭﻭﺍﺋﻴﺔ ﻣﻌﺎﺻﺮﺓ ﻟﻜﺘﺎﺏ ﺗﻌﻮﺩ ﺟﺬﻭﺭﻫﻢ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺳﻜﺎﻥ ﺃﻣﺮﻳﻜﺎ ﺍﻷﺻﻠﻴﻦ، ﻣﻮﺿﺤﺔ ﺍﺳﺘﺨﺪﺍﻡ ﺍﻟﺪﻋﺎﺑﺔ ﻓﻲ ﻣﻘﺎﻻﺕ ﺍﻟﻬﻨﻮﺩ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﺎﺻﺮﻳﻦ ﺑﻮﺻﻔﻬﺎ ﺃﺳﻠﻮﺑﺎﹰ ﻓﻲ ﻧﻘﺪ ﺍﻟﻜﻮﻟﻮﻧﻴﺎﻟﻴﺔ. ﻭﻳﺤﻠﻞ ﺍﻟﻜﺎﺗﺐ ﻣﺠﻤﻮﻋﺔ ﻣﻦ ﺍﻟﻜﺘﺐ ﻏﻴﺮ ﺍﻟﺮﻭﺍﺋﻴﺔ ﻟﺠﻴﻢ ﻧﻮﺭﺛﺮﻭﭖ ﻭﭘﻮﻝ ﺗﺸﺎﺕ ﺳﻤﻴﺚ ﻭﺗﻮﻣﺎﺱ ﻛﻴﻨﺞ، ﻣﻮﺿﺤﺎﹰ ﻛﻴﻒ ﻳﻤﻜﻦ ﺍﻟﺘﻌﺒﻴﺮ ﻋﻦ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺳﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻤﻀﺎﺩﺓ ﻟﻠﻜﻮﻟﻮﻧﻴﺎﻟﻴﺔ ﻣﻦ ﺧﻼﻝ ﺃﺷﻜﺎﻝ ﻣﺨﺘﻠﻔﺔ ﻣﻦ ﺍﻟﺪﻋﺎﺑﺔ ﺍﻟﺒﻼﻏﻴﺔ .

Curricular Activism and Academic Freedom: Representations of Arabs and Muslims in Print and Internet Media

IN THIS ARTICLE, I WILL ARGUE that movements to restrictacademic freedom- a term I will clarify momentarily- are perniciousindependently of their political affiliations,but most concretely identified andusefully contested when we investigate their strategic character, both tacit andexplicit.This article will investigate and assess that strategic character.Today anumber of small but persistent interest groups endeavor to reorganize universitystructures and to alter universities\u27 relationships with funding sources. Thesegroups would not be as numerous or effective without their political affiliations,which influence their strategic choices through a tropological representation ofArabs and Muslims. Such groups capitalize on particular forms of anti-Arabracism and Islamophobia, using those sentiments to rationalize and justify thesort of restrictions they favor. The groups,then,are partly commodities of anationalisticdispositionthatexistedbefore9/11 but one that gained widespread validation afterwar

The Holy Land in transit: Colonialism and the quest for Canaan.

Through a comparative analysis of colonialism in the New World and Holy Land with attention to how politics influence literary production, I examine the process by which settler societies transform theological narratives into national histories to justify their occupation of foreign land. In particular, I analyze the similarities between rhetoric employed by early colonialists in North America and that employed by Zionist immigrants in Palestine. In doing so, I examine histories, theories, and literary depictions of colonialism and inter-ethnic dialectics. Having established this comparative analysis, I then develop it further through the textual criticism in the second half of the dissertation, where I discuss Anishinaabe authors Gerald Vizenor and Winona LaDuke and Palestinian authors Liyana Badr and Emile Habiby

American Indian studies and Palestine solidarity: The importance of impetuous definitions

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Digging Up the Bones of the Past: Colonial and Indigenous Interplay in Winona LaDuke's Last Standing Woman

In decolonization, there is the need of a complete calling in question of the colonial situation. If we wish to describe it precisely, we might find it in the well-known words: “The last shall be first and the first last.” Decolonization is the putting into practice of this sentence. That is why, if we try to describe it, all decolonization is successful. —Frantz Fanon, Wretched of the Earth Anishinaabe politician, author, and activist Winona LaDuke is one of the most recognizable tribal figures in modern America. Attaining minor fame as Ralph Nader’s vice-presidential candidate on the Green Party ticket in 1996 and 2000, LaDuke has often been assigned the role of Native spokesperson by non-Natives in both mainstream and leftist media. The attention given LaDuke is focused overwhelmingly on her land reclamation and environmental work, which are detailed in All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life. Although LaDuke’s status as a notable Indian is well established among non-Indian Americans, it is considerably more nebulous within Native Studies itself. Also, despite—or perhaps because of—her notoriety as an activist and environmentalist, LaDuke’s work as a novelist has gone virtually unnoticed by either American or Native critics. Only a handful of reviews met the publication of her 1997 novel, Last Standing Woman, which has received scant critical attention. This essay attempts to address that deficit by looking in detail at Last Standing Woman, placing emphasis on the interplay between white settlers and indigenous Anishinaabeg. While the multivocal, nonlinear structure in Last Standing Woman has been employed often in Native letters—and, more specifically, in the fiction of LaDuke’s Anishinaabe contemporary Louise Erdrich—the novel offers readers and scholars valuable textual features for consumption and critique. One difficulty of examining the book, in fact, lies in the wide range of themes LaDuke presents: religious, feminist, activist, environmental, tribal, historical, colonial, decolonial, postcolonial, biographical, autobiographical. This ambitious groundwork, coupled with the large number of characters in the book, challenges the reader and complicates the task of the critic. It is clear that when setting out to construct her first novel, LaDuke intended to avoid the comforts of conventional fictive expression by representing myriad voices in as many contexts as the scope of the project could accommodate

An Endosomal Escape Trojan Horse Platform to Improve Cytosolic Delivery of Nucleic Acids

Endocytosis is a major bottleneck toward cytosolic delivery of nucleic acids, as the vast majority of nucleic acid drugs remain trapped within endosomes. Current trends to overcome endosomal entrapment and subsequent degradation provide varied success; however, active delivery agents such as cell-penetrating peptides have emerged as a prominent strategy to improve cytosolic delivery. Yet, these membrane-active agents have poor selectivity for endosomal membranes, leading to toxicity. A hallmark of endosomes is their acidic environment, which aids in degradation of foreign materials. Here, we develop a pH-triggered spherical nucleic acid that provides smart antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) release upon endosomal acidification and selective membrane disruption, termed DNA EndosomaL Escape Vehicle Response (DELVR). We anchor i-Motif DNA to a nanoparticle (AuNP), where the complement strand contains both an ASO sequence and a functionalized endosomal escape peptide (EEP). By orienting the EEP toward the AuNP core, the EEP is inactive until it is released through acidification-induced i-Motif folding. In this study, we characterize a small library of i-Motif duplexes to develop a structure-switching nucleic acid sequence triggered by endosomal acidification. We evaluate antisense efficacy using HIF1a, a hypoxic indicator upregulated in many cancers, and demonstrate dose-dependent activity through RT-qPCR. We show that DELVR significantly improves ASO efficacy in vitro. Finally, we use fluorescence lifetime imaging and activity measurement to show that DELVR benefits synergistically from nuclease- and pH-driven release strategies with increased ASO endosomal escape efficiency. Overall, this study develops a modular platform that improves the cytosolic delivery of nucleic acid therapeutics and offers key insights for overcoming intracellular barriers