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411 Bruce Curliss (b. 1965) Bruce Curliss is well known as a powwow emcee and leading Nipmuc spokesman. He has worked and traveled extensively throughout Indian Country. He has served on the Nipmuc Nation Tribal Council as well as on the Massachusetts Commission on Indian Affairs, which he chaired. Curliss worked on the pbs series We Shall Remain, and he has directed his own film, Survivor. Currently he lives and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico. “Authentic,” Power, and Stuck in My Craw Strange how one can wake in the morning and think the day is normal, or as close to it as any morning could possibly be. When all of a sudden —bam—reflection hits and the thoughts are diverted and shifted, twisted, and focused on an idea. Let’s take today for instance. I was waking as I usually do and grateful to be waking up, which meant I was alive (one of the things I’m usually grateful for). But right before I got up and out of bed the thoughts of the word “authentic” hit. Maybe it was inspiration or just recent conversations; maybe it was my deep-seated disdain for the word. Actually, I don’t have a problem with the word “authentic”; I would suppose it’s about the use and situations I have found myself in when it has been used. Like most words, “authentic” has its origins, uses, and definitions. Yet when I look it up in the dictionary, the multiplicity of defining properties of the word itself, only one stands out and here it is from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary: “true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character.” I think of “authentic” as a word meaning original, factual, real, being a meaning that is mostly used when talking of objects, such as art or other inanimate things. However, my disdain for “authentic” occurs when people use it as a tool of power over another group, person, or animate object. So this is what got stuck in my craw this morning, and as a way to understand why it causes me such annoyance, here I am writing about it. A little about me might help. I’m a Nipmuc Indian from Massachusetts; I served as a commissioner and the chair of the Massachusetts Commission 412 nipmuc on Indian Affairs; I have worked for national nonprofits with tribal communities all over the country, mostly in education, training, and youth development. I have served my tribe as a tribal council member, a powwow emcee, and lecturer and presenter on a multitude of topics related to my work and lifeway. I have had way too many experiences to write them all here, but I’m grateful and have been humbled by every one of them. One might ask, at least I would: how and why does a single word create such bedevilment? For me, it’s not just one word; as I mentioned above, it’s about power. You could replace “authentic” with a multitude of other words that have been used to devalue, humiliate, and degrade people, communities, and lifeways, and even to conquer or extinguish cultures. I can think of a host of examples when the term “authentic” has been used as a term of power. Maybe sharing a few would be helpful. In my professional career I have often had to put together research and materials for training, funding, or policy. On one such occasion when I presented my work to a supervisor, I was taken aback when the response was, “This doesn’t sound right to me; can you verify this and make sure it is authentic ?” At the time I didn’t recognize the challenge to me or the idea of whose material might be recognized as authentic over someone else’s. I prefer going to the source, the tribes themselves if possible, rather than a published scholar. In another situation I was asked for some very specific information for publication. The information was tribally specific and came from the tribe itself. Once again I was taken aback when my supervisor questioned the authenticity and even the source and went on to give examples of non-Indian scholars who had contradictions to the information I presented. The last example is one that I run into far too often. I have had the opportunity to emcee many powwows over the years. I use the term “Indian” when describing dances, singing groups, and the people. Inevitably , someone or several someones...

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