Mischief and Trans-Indigeneity: Rethinking Indigenous Narratives through Kent Monkman’s Miss Chief Eagle Testickle

<p dir="ltr">The presentation, <i>“Mischief and Trans-Indigeneity: Rethinking Indigenous Narratives through Kent Monkman’s Miss Chief Eagle Testickle,”</i> was delivered (online) at the international conference <b>Décoloniser la comparaison: Lectures transautochtones des littératures contemporaines du Canada et du reste des Amériques</b>, hosted at the Université du Québec à Montréal on 22 May 2025. Situated in a symposium devoted to trans-Indigenous approaches and comparative Indigenous literatures, the contribution explored how Kent Monkman’s gender-fluid, Two-Spirit alter ego Miss Chief Eagle Testickle operates as a disruptive and regenerative figure within contemporary Indigenous art. Drawing on Monkman’s multimodal practice (painting, performance, and the recent <i>Memoirs of Miss Chief Eagle Testickle), </i>the presentation examined how Miss Chief reclaims narrative sovereignty, unsettles colonial art historical frameworks, and mobilizes trickster aesthetics to challenge dominant representations.</p><p dir="ltr">Framed through an ethical, non-extractive research positionality, the talk emphasized the importance of relational accountability and Indigenous theorizing, engaging especially with the work of Leanne Betasamosake Simpson on grounded normativity, resurgence, and trans-Indigeneity. By analyzing key artworks such as <i>The Triumph of Mischief</i> (2007), <i>The Daddies</i> (2016), and <i>I Come from pâkwan kisik, the Hole in the Sky</i> (2022), the presentation showed how Monkman revisits and subverts canonical Western visual traditions while simultaneously articulating creation stories, queer Indigenous futures, and the fluid, pan-temporal presence of Miss Chief. The discussion highlighted how Monkman’s narrative strategies resist erasure, rewrite colonial histories, and create space for Indigenous self-histories that move beyond recognition politics toward resurgence. </p>