Shot over two years, Mohawk Girls provides a surprising inside look at modern Indigenous youth culture. Deeply emotional yet unsentimental, it reveals the hope, despair, heartache and promise of growing up Indigenous at the beginning of the 21st century.
Warnings: (some swearing: “fuck”). What have been the consequences of governmental attempts to define First Nations Peoples? What are the elements that define Kanienʼkehá꞉ka (Mohawk) identity? What is lateral violence and how is it reflected in this film? What is blood quantum and how can it affect identity, relationships and acceptance into a First Nations group? Who imposed blood quantum membership in a nation, and why was it forcibly imposed? What are the consequences of governmental attempts to define Indigenous Peoples? What does it mean to walk in two worlds when considering the contexts of the girls in this film? Consider the dynamics of growing up Indigenous in the 21st century.