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Settler Science, Alien Contact, and Searches for Intelligence
This article posits that the search for extraterrestrial intelligent life (SETI) remains grounded in a hierarchical and progressivist worldview that has fueled colonialism throughout history. Building upon the work of Enrique Dussel and Arthur Lovejoy in particular, the author demonstrates how previous earthly explorations produced a covering over of others, rather than a “discovery.” Those working in SETI fields must consider these histories. This article advocates for more engagement with Indigenous studies scholarship to reach a genuine frontier—a metaparadigm shift beyond object-oriented scientific methods, which are a key component of what the author calls “settler science.” You can find the full article HERE. You can purchase your own copy of this special issue by clicking HERE. |
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A Borderland Methodology / Una Metodología FronterizaThis paper develops a flexible explication of borderland methodology, demonstrating a practical application of Gloria Anzaldúa’s theories on scholarly research. This essay’s form duplicates the key insights of her book, Borderlands/La Frontera (2012). As the author examines in hindsight how he learned to create methods organically, he sees the impact that Gloria Anzaldúa’s theories have made across many disciplines and strongly in his own research with an Indigenous community living on both sides of an international border. Avoiding prescriptive boundaries, the essay provides insight into the multiple uses of boundaries and borders in an academic life, particularly in terms of race. The methodology described takes shape in the form of honoring women who labored for the sustenance of their communities. Click on image to go to publisher's link.
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The Fragile Statues Of Whiteness
Huffington Post, Aug 21, 2017
"America was an invention,
built upon the theft of indigenous property.
Like the blood coursing through our veins,
we will not find a “pure” America,
nor a “white” America."
To read the full article, press HERE.
Huffington Post, Aug 21, 2017
"America was an invention,
built upon the theft of indigenous property.
Like the blood coursing through our veins,
we will not find a “pure” America,
nor a “white” America."
To read the full article, press HERE.
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ANOTHER YEAR ON THE ACADEMIC JOB MARKET INSIDER HIGHER ED, JULY 26, 2017 "Perhaps the summer months can provide you some time for concentrated focus on your next -- and hopefully last -- round on the market. Here is one person’s perspective on what you might do between now and the next academic hiring season." To read the full article, press HERE. The Gentle Guide for Applying to Graduate School
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In 2012, I was teaching a course on indigenous political struggles around the world. On a list of resources, I included United Nations and International Court of Justice documents designating Israel as an occupying power. A right-wing organization claimed publicly that I must be anti-semitic to ask students to consider these internationally known facts. This essay describes the three years that followed as campus committees unanimously determined that my rights were violated and that the administration failed to defend academic freedom at UCLA.
• "These testimonials provide a stunning and all too familiar portrait of the extent to which the forces that suppress free speech and academic freedom are at work in the US university system to stifle those who would call for social justice in Palestine. . . . These voices must be heard." —Bishop Desmond Tutu 
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Pivoting To Hillary, From The Left
"To those of you on the Left: Hillary may not be your candidate of choice. She may even espouse positions you find morally reprehensible. Her nomination may evidence for you all the gross aspects of a two-party political system in the U.S.A. But her presidency is the singular path forward at this point to change the nation to more closely reflect your ideals." Read the full article HERE or by clicking the image on the left. |
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Bernie Sanders Reflects a Changing U.S. Religiosity
"Some of the most ethical people I know, those working for social justice and environmental preservation for example, are not only unaffiliated with organized religion; they are atheists." Read the full article HERE, or by clicking the image on the left. |
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In December of 2015, Shorter provided some insight into developing a personal plan of action for the new year for those hoping to enact change in their lives. Read the full article HERE, or by clicking the image on the left.
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"I was accused of anti-Semitism and my employer, the University of California,
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On July 1, 2015, David Shorter commented on the Rachel Dolezal affair by connecting her identity claims to those of Professor Andrea Smith and politician Elizabeth Warren. In this essay, Shorter affirms that identity is a confusing matter for some, but that confusion should not lead to claims that jeopardize the sovereignty of tribal nations, nor should they come at the expense of others who are not confused. When the publisher of the essay, Indian Country Today, changed website administration, the original essay became unavailable. Due to people asking for copies of that essay, I am providing a version here with an updated preface.
(Image of Michelle Williams, corrected by Jezebel.com from their article available HERE).
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In the Spring of 2015, David Shorter had two of his essays included in the "landmark" collection of essays, The World of Indigenous Native America, Edited by Robert Warrior.
Leading the section on "Geographies," Shorter co-wrote with Yoeme author, Felipe Molina, a piece grounded in Yaqui (Yoeme) performative cartography that hypothesizes how indigenous mapping practices often extend beyond the confines of literate notation, or writing.
In the book's final, more broadly theoretical section entitled, "A Complex, Modern World," Shorter's essay on "Sexuality" asks readers to imagine how sexuality and power are parallel if not coordinated among some indigenous people. The essay queries theoretical approaches to indigenous sexuality studies and asks the fundamental question of how we might want to decolonize our desires.
The book is available for purchase by clicking the book's cover image here. Considering asking your local libraries to purchase the text in order to provide your community with an invaluable resource written by contemporary scholars working within Indigenous Studies.
Leading the section on "Geographies," Shorter co-wrote with Yoeme author, Felipe Molina, a piece grounded in Yaqui (Yoeme) performative cartography that hypothesizes how indigenous mapping practices often extend beyond the confines of literate notation, or writing.
In the book's final, more broadly theoretical section entitled, "A Complex, Modern World," Shorter's essay on "Sexuality" asks readers to imagine how sexuality and power are parallel if not coordinated among some indigenous people. The essay queries theoretical approaches to indigenous sexuality studies and asks the fundamental question of how we might want to decolonize our desires.
The book is available for purchase by clicking the book's cover image here. Considering asking your local libraries to purchase the text in order to provide your community with an invaluable resource written by contemporary scholars working within Indigenous Studies.
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"Attunement" is the curatorial essay that David Shorter wrote for the group show by that same name, exhibited from October to December 2014 at The Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, California. In this statement, Shorter wrestles with the power of art to foster intersubjectively between humans, other than humans, and "art" commonly thought of as objects. You can read his essay, and see the exhibit's gallery guide by clicking on the PDF immediately below the image on the left. Image here is Randy Vasquez's "X-Ray Eyes, 2014." |
| attunementtoprint.pdf |
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In the Fall of 2014, Dr. Shorter distilled his advice for entering graduate students for The Chronicle of Higher Education. You can read the essay here. |
A guest essay for The Tenured Radical
". . . who goes into academia to make money, right? As I was told by senior scholars when I started out, “You write a book to get tenure, not to earn a profit from that book.” (Click on the image to read the full piece).
"On Multimodal Scholarship"
Remember the days of doing fieldwork? The long weeks you spent alone in a foreign community, working out ways to learn languages and think about “culture” without the closeness of your friends and family? If you do, then you are officially “old.” This summer I went to a still fairly remote village in Mexico for a fieldwork trip. My smart device had a signal. I could have real time text messaging and even video chats with my friends at any point. This same device’s camera, video camera and audio recorder have substantially simplified data collection and fieldwork. (To continue reading, click here).
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"Spiritualities: Indian"
I am sure that I share this experience with many people who work in Native Studies, or in the study of indigenous religions at least. I often find myself meeting people and then having to field their inappropriate responses after hearing what I “do.” To be more specific, people seem to have absolutely no idea how their responses evidence a totalizing colonial mindset. (To read more, simply click here). |
Selected Previous Publications for Open Access
"Confessions of an Anthropological Poser." American Indian Culture and Research Journal 15:1 (2010), 113-117.
"Forgive me father for I have sinned: it has been seventeen years since I began studying anthropology."
| aisrj_35.1.pdf |
"Hunting for History in Potam Pueblo: A Yoeme (Yaqui) Indian Deer Dancing Epistemology." Folklore 118:3 (2007), 282-306.
"The essay details how, in Yoeme deer dancing, community members demonstrate collective identity as well as ontological and epistemological sensibilities. Additionally, it re-assesses the ethnohistoric utility of the term “conversion” when writing about colonial and missionary contact zones."
| shorter_folklore_article.pdf |
"How Do You Say 'Search Engine' in Your Language?": Translating Indigenous World View into Digital Ethnographies." Journal of the World Anthropologies Network 1:2 (2006), 109-113.
"In this paper, I want to address these two issues. How do indigenous groups, often living in sub-poverty conditions, want to use the globalizing technologies of the internet? How do they understand their place in the word wide web? Then, how do they make a place for themselves in this virtual world?"
| wan_how_do_you_say.pdf |
"Binary Thinking and the Study of Yoeme Indian 'Lutu'uria'/'Truth.'" Anthropological Forum 13:2 (2003), 195-203.
"As the written interpretation of culture, ethnography has been and continues to be shaped by hermeneutical assumptions and criticisms. The use of the term ‘supernatural’ in anthropological literature evidences a way of seeing the world that often, if not always, reflects historically situated, particularly ‘modernist’, approaches to understanding culture, especially the cultures of non-Western peoples."
| binary_thinking.pdf |
"Yoeme (Yaqui) Ritual." The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature. Bron R. Taylor, Ed. London: Continuum Press. (2005): 1780-1782.
"As other contributors have noted in this volume, the word 'nature' has no direct translation in Yoeme; nor can we directly translate 'religion.'"
| shorter--ernyoemeritual.pdf |