By Sheeva Azma
“American Indians are not perceived when theaters of being Indian are knocked down. We are not perceived when we choose to leave.”
Disclosure: Fancy Comma has affiliate partnerships to support its content. We may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links.
Back when I started the Fancy Comma YouTube, one of my earliest conversations was with fellow MIT alum David Shane Lowry, a member of the Lumbee tribe, who spoke with me in Sept. 2023 about the need for “Indigenous re-mattering.” It’s a complex topic, but here’s some insight into what that means in science and technology, from his own words in our interview:
“Until Native people are not subsumed and kept within this underwater, out-of-the-way physical and psychological space that we are kept in…until that changes, the humanity of science and technology isn’t going to be evident.”
Indigenous re-mattering is not just about science and technology; it’s about evaluating the spaces in which American Indians reside, which does include science and technology…and if you’re one of those people who is curious about the social sciences, but also want to know where science and technology fits in, this book is for you. His book, Lumbee Pipelines: American Indian Movement in the Residue of Settler Colonialism, published by University of Nebraska Press, is what you might get if you mixed a historiography of the Lumbee people with cultural critiques of science and technology policy.
When I spoke to him in 2023, Dr. Lowry, an anthropology professor at the University of Southern Maine, was still writing the book. Between speaking with me and publishing Lumbee Pipelines, Dr. Lowry also launched a podcast called “Returning the Land.”
The conversation we had felt too substantive for a single hour or even several hours, so I am excited that I can read more about it in Lumbee Pipelines. The book continues the thesis that Indigenous people, as a demographic, are made invisible — often left out of health data, and even from modern-day conceptions of colonialism, Dr. Lowry argues. That’s where the need for “re-mattering” comes in: giving back of Indigenous land, and a more nuanced understanding of the contributions of American Indian people over the history of the United States.
Reading the book, I learned a lot I did not know about the Lumbee people. For example, Lumbee men and women bravely confronted and even de-frocked members of a famous white supremacist organization in 1958, which made national headlines. That’s just one example.
To me, the overall message of this book can be summarized in the following quote:
“American Indians are not perceived when theaters of being Indian are knocked down. We are not perceived when we choose to leave. (American Indians serve in the military at rates higher than any other racial group.) We are not perceived in certain states or regions in the United States of America.”
In other words, there is a need to bring visibility to issues facing American Indians, and to highlight their contributions, and to create a culture of gratitude rather than hostility and stereotypes.
Relatedly, as Dr. Lowry notes, this work also necessitates a new way of looking at the world informed by Indigenous and particularly American Indian worldviews, for example, to inform government policies and even the ways in which we live our day-to-day lives. Moving away from a culture of consumption to one of sustainability could be driven, for example, by a return to Indigenous culture and traditions in the US.
Lastly, I loved the “pipeline” metaphor that is a throughline of the book…but you’ll have to read Lumbee Pipelines to learn more.
In summary, I say: add this book to your reading list; you will be glad you did.
Check out our other book reviews here.
Fancy Comma, LLC 