Lomawaima Summary

In the reading from Lomawaima the author discusses the impact that federal intervention had on Indian schools and how the government attempted to regulate Indian bodies in order to promote obedience and subservience. Lomawaima efficiently uses secondary and primary sources to offer a historical context to the power of authority and the power that authoritative figures in Indian schools had on the nature of these students. The authoritative figures in these schools set strict guidelines to try and stop students from expressing their individuality and their culture. However, these students resisted but the resistance was through the illusion of compliance not through protest. I believe this is because of the militarization of these schools, they
However, I found myself wondering about the parents of these students and wish that Lomawaima would have offered their perspective and details on the interaction between the students and their parents.
If we think of Lomawaima through the lens of Robert’s argument on race-making, it becomes clear that political agendas are the driving force behind division and the regulation of bodies, by scolding the “deviant” bodies and admiring the bodies from western civilization. Deeming some bodies “deviant” or in the case of Balce , “savage” justifies the actions of imperialist, colonialist and the Chilocco school administration.
In addition, the theme of non-white bodies being defined through the eyes of white men is continued in Balce. In this case, filipina bodies are photographed, showcased and used as a tool to justify violence. Balce used primary sources as well, through photographs Balce demonstrates the malice and ill intent behind the anonymous photographers. These photographs were used as a way of sexualizing the Filipina body in popular culture to portray them as “savage”. The belief that Filipina women were savage in popular culture was essential to