Détournement, Decolonization, and the American Indian Occupation of Alcatraz Island (1969–1971)

Abstract

On November 20, 1969, eighty-nine American Indians calling themselves the “Indians of All Tribes” (IOAT) invaded Alcatraz Island. The group’s founding proclamation was addressed to “the Great White Father and All His People,” and declared “We, the Native Americans, reclaim the land known as Alcatraz Island in the name of all American Indians by right of discovery” (2). Tongue-in-cheek, the IOAT offered to purchase Alcatraz Island for “twenty-four dollars in glass beads and red clothe.” In this essay, I illustrate how the IOAT engaged in a rhetoric of détournement, or a subversive misappropriation of dominant discourse that disassembles and imitates texts until they clearly display their oppressive qualities. I argue that the Proclamation established a textual framework that calls for a skeptical and irreverent reading of dominant discourse. I conclude that strategic détournements suture dominant discourses to the moniker of colonialism and invite sympathetic audiences to engage in decolonization.

Notes

¹ The IOAT chose Alcatraz because of its indigenous history and iconic stature (Strange and Loo). The first European contact was in 1775 when Lieutenant Juan Manuel de Ayala named the island Isla de los Alcatraces. It remained a bird refuge until Pio Pico, the last Mexican governor of California, sold Alcatraz to Julian Workman, who in turn resold it to General John Charles Fremont for $5,000. The U.S. federal government took control of the island and converted to a military fort in 1854. After the island was converted to a military stockade in 1854, American Indians were the first people imprisoned at Alcatraz (Flynn; Fortunate Eagle Heart 13).

² I use the term “American Indian” in the place of other descriptors. Given that the subject matter of this essay concerns pan-Indian ethnic identification, collective descriptors are appropriate.

³ The General Services Administration was placed in charge of the island and a presidential commission (Public Law 88-138) was established in 1963 to evaluate thirty-three development proposals.

⁴ The phrase “masters language” is derived from Audre Lorde (Moraga and Anzadula 94–101).

⁵ Copies of the Alcatraz Newsletter were retrieved from the Alcatraz File in the Special Collections at the San Francisco Public Library.

⁶ The textual source of the doctrine comes from papal bull Romanus Pontifex, issued by Pope Nicholas V to King Afonso of Portugal in 1455. The doctrine evolved as customary international law during the European “age of discovery” to mediate land claims between discovering nations. The discovering nation retained the right to extinguish indigenous title, which could only translate into a right of occupancy. American Indian legal scholar Robert Williams argues that the doctrine is taken-for-granted in Euro-American legal discourse. Chief Justice Marshall set a precedent by citing the “right of discovery” in Johnson v. McIntosh (1823): “to the government by whose subjects, or by whose authority, it was made, against all other European governments, which title might be consummated by possession” (573).

⁷ On September 24, 1973 Adam Nordwall (Fortunate Eagle) arrived in Rome to also claim Italy by “right of discovery.”

⁸ The 1491s’ welcome statement is available at http://1491s.com/facebook-is-not-a-ceremony/