Linda Fisher: Coming to terms with being a vegan and an Indian

Monday, August 15, 2011  

"Amid my large colorful paintings and hundreds of nonhuman animal photographs, hangs a small black-and white photograph—carefully placed in a shrine-like niche. This picture of Chief Seattle is the focus of my studio.

Being part Ojibway and Cherokee, I attend powwows and other Native American functions and proudly wear my inherited Ojibway beaded jewelry.

But as I become lost in the hypnotic and joyful sounds of drumming, I cannot ignore the uneasy feeling that consumes me as I glance around: Hundreds of leather goods, feathers, and trinkets made of nonhuman animals’ bodies—bear claws, cougar teeth, turtle shells, and whalebones—surround me, all in the name of the proud Indian and commercial trade.

I feel torn and saddened by what I see.

In modern Western culture, most of us, including the American Indian, no longer need to hunt to survive. However, we almost always associate the Indian—even today’s Indian—with wearing and using nonhuman animals’ hides, furs, and feathers.

I assure you, even though I avoid hides and furs and choose a vegan diet, my Indianness is critical to who I am.

The same is true of my mother, who is both an elder of our Ojibway tribe and a vegetarian. It is not our dark hair, dark eyes, or Indian facial features that speak for who we are, but something much deeper, something not visually apparent: our commitment to the teachings of our ancient Ojibway ancestors."

Get the Story:
Linda Fisher: On the ‘right to hunt’ by a Native American vegan (The Scavenger 8/14)