Gendered Distinctions In The Exiles

Sarah Oide

Urban Experiences of Native Peoples: Gendered Distinctions within The Exiles The passing of House Concurrent Resolution 108 in 1953 terminated the trust relationship between Native American tribes and the federal government. The growth of relocation programs for Native Americans during the 1950’s was one of the many consequences that arose from the implementation of Resolution 108 on the self-determination of Native peoples. Through the support of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, urban relocation programs that encouraged movement from rural reservations to metropolitan areas including Chicago and Los Angeles were marketed towards Indigenous peoples across the United States. Currently, a range of materials including print advertisements,

Far away from their families and reservation in Valentine, Arizona, Yvonne takes responsibility for domestic responsibilities in their new life, while Homer is expected to take the role as a breadwinner in their soon-to-be family. These gendered divisions between their relationship in The Exiles are distinct from the descriptions of relocated Native families like Mary Jacobs’ where both of her parents equally engaged in the formal economic market during their time in

Throughout the film, many scenes that featured Homer portray him in large social settings as he and several other Native friends roam the streets of downtown Los Angeles, visit bars, and dance with one another on Hill X. Though there are a few women pictured within these scenes, each of these social settings are dominated by men, suggesting that the access to this form of social support and sense of community was not offered equally for both Native men and women. Despite being surrounded by friends throughout the film and smiling much more than Yvonne, though, Homer still conveys a sense of loneliness and isolation to the viewer at several points as he reads a postcard from his mother who is still at the reservation or drinks alone amongst a gathering with Native friends atop Hill X. These scenes conveying Homer’s sense of loneliness amongst his social support network detail a complicated reality of isolation felt by both young Native men and women who relocated to urban areas following Resolution 108–an idea that ran contrary to the marketing materials from the BIA that we reviewed in class. And while this concept of social support was explored within Mary Jacobs’ written reflection, seeing visual representations of this discrete