Overview

Just as a mixtape brings together disparate songs to give voice to its curator's musical mindset, in Where Next, Columbus? Thomas Michael Swensen juxtaposes different types of cultural production to explore how Native America and punk coexist, inform each other, and together articulate their own politics. Through an archive of zines, songs, flyers, and art installation, Swensen's Mixtape maps hardcore, thrash, metal, and even pop punk onto the Indigenous Americas. With each chapter a track, the book compiles a setlist drawn from across the Western Hemisphere, from sparsely populated regions of Alaska to the crowded streets of Mexico City, where a punk market stands atop the ruins of Tenochtitlan. Emerging from the mix is the discovery that Native punk articulates sovereignty beyond definitions of state power by exerting independence from corporations and governments. This mixtape reveals how Native punk, pinned at the crossroads of the personal and the collective, articulates self-determination to question both tribal norms and colonial tropes. Stage diving with the Friends of Cesar Romero, the Bastard Fairies, Lozen, and Postcommodity, Where Next, Columbus? conducts readers on a journey that engages familiar punk maxims like DIY ethics, disruptive artistry, humor as critique, and the relentless questioning of authority figures—arriving at a kaleidoscopic vision of sovereignty through Native sounds and visual arts. Where next, Columbus? We're already there. Press play.

Full Product Details

9780806196640

Table of Contents

Reviews

""Where Next, Columbus? is a powerful exploration of how Native sovereignty and punk culture intersect. Swensen brings a fresh perspective, showing how the spirit of punk is woven into Native resistance and identity, making this an essential read for anyone interested in Indigenous culture and music.”—Ashkan Soltani Stone, co-author of Rez Metal: Inside the Navajo Nation Heavy Metal Scene “Where Next, Columbus? is a deep call to attention. Swensen’s telling does not lay out tidy answers, provoking and inviting readers to consider the possibilities of a more Native punk studies and a more punk Native studies. Presented as and alongside capacious mixtapes, this book will engage a wide range of readers with its unexpected co-theorizations of Native experiences.”—Jessica Bissett Perea (Dena’ina, Knik Tribe), author of Sound Relations: Native Ways of Doing Music History in Alaska

Author Information

Thomas Michael Swensen (citizen of Tangirnaq Native village), was born and raised on Kodiak Island and is an original shareholder in Koniag and Leisnoi, organizations established through the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971.  He is an Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of Utah. Punk saved his life.

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