miss indian byu - · pdf file11 jow, summer 2013, vol. 52, no. 3 king: miss indian byu:...

10JOW, Summer 2013, Vol. 52, No. 3

King: Miss Indian BYU: Contestation over the Crown and Indian Identity

Miss Indian BYUContestation overthe Crown andIndian IdentityFarina King

PORTRAITS OF AMERICAN INDIAN women hangalong a hallway on the third floor of the Ernest L.Wilkinson Student Center at Brigham Young Universityin Provo, Utah. The Miss Indian BYU photographsremain part of a past school tradition and a vestige ofthe Native American presence. The Miss Indian BYUPageant began in 1967 during the Kimball Era, whenSpencer W. Kimball directed Indian programs — par-ticularly Indian Education — through the Church ofJesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) between thelate 1950s and early 1980s. BYU alumni remember thepageant as a big event, and the winner’s “photo [was]taken and placed on the same floor as the HomecomingQueen.”1 A Native American student organizationcalled the Tribe of Many Feathers (TMF) hosted theMiss Indian BYU Pageant for twenty-three consecutiveyears before cancelling the pageant in 1990 followingthe termination of various LDS Indian programs. Na-tive American students resurrected the pageant in2001, crowning Vanessa Arviso (Navajo) as Miss In-dian BYU 2001–2002.2 I won the last Miss Indian BYUPageant in 2006, after TMF crowned a total of thirty-eight students during the tenure of the pageant.3 Byfocusing on the experiences and perspectives of pastcontestants, the Miss Indian BYU Pageant and its can-cellations illuminate contestations over Indian identityand the waning Native American presence at a Mormoncollege that once boasted the largest Indian studentbody in any university.4

Many Native American communities have embracedand appropriated pageants and “royal” title holders,

although Europeans and Euro-Americans introducedand used Miss Indian pageants and images of Indianprincesses as colonizing devices.5 Michael Campbell(Iroquois) worked for the BYU Multicultural Servicesafter graduating from the university in 1986. “Twothings were going on,” he recalled, “the Miss IndianScholarship Pageant and Miss Indian BYU. Pageantswere a big thing.”6 Miss Indian BYU exemplified theintertwining of Mormon-Indian relations, the broaderdevelopment of Indian royalty, and Pan-Indian tradi-tions. When the BYU pageant began in 1967, otherIndian communities and organizations had alreadyestablished Miss Indian pageants to select NativeAmerican women as leadership figures. Feministmovements and protests against female pageants suchas Miss America also emerged when BYU studentscommenced their Miss Indian pageant.7

The Miss Indian BYU Pageant reflected the strengthof the Native American student community. The pag-eant faltered with decreasing Indian enrollment by thelate 1980s. BYU officials simultaneously justified dis-solving most Indian programs to integrate NativeAmericans with other multicultural students at BYUsuch as merging the American Indian Education De-partment with Multicultural Education in 1984.8 Ameri-can Indians have persisted as distinct and sovereignpeoples because of their ability to retain their collectiveidentity, culture, and land.9 Indian identity rests on “aright to difference-in-equality” as Indians come fromnumerous tribes with their own respective histories,cultures, and communities.10 Pan-Indian traditions such

Farina Smith (King), the last Miss Indian BYU in 2006. Photocourtesy of the author.

11JOW, Summer 2013, Vol. 52, No. 3King: Miss Indian BYU: Contestation over the Crown and Indian Identity

as pageantry brought peoples fromdifferent tribes together to collabo-rate, set standards for the pageantcandidates, and accept a commonrepresentative. In the case of the2007 pageant cancellation, the failedefforts to decide on appropriate qual-ifications of Miss Indian BYUrevealed intertribal tensions as wellas the waning support of an Indianstudent community.

Miss Indian BYU began when theuniversity’s Indian student commu-nity created the program as a symbolof unity and presence. The pageantdisappeared when that same circlefractured or otherwise lost interest.Jeanie Sekaquaptewa Groves (Hopi),Miss Indian BYU 1968, describedthe origins of the pageant: “I think itwas new for the Indian program, butthey had other contests on campus.So, I think it was bringing us to thatsame level as the other groups tohave a Miss something to representus. For us, it was showing that wewere good, faithful members of theChurch, that we had talents, and thatwe could get a college education.”11

Intended to convey the ideal In-dian student, Miss Indian BYU alsoserved as a hostess for Indian Week,a celebration of Indian culture andheritage at the university.12 DuringIndian Week, TMF invited acclaimedguests to campus, including N. ScottMomaday, Chief Dan George, MissIndian America, and LDS generalauthorities. Former Miss IndianBYUs outlined the following fourresponsibilities that they held: Main-tain and share Native American tra-ditions and culture; aid NativeAmericans to adjust to changingtimes; be an example to students;and provide service and create serv-ice opportunities for students.

Significant differences distin-guish Miss Indian pageants, espe-cially the Miss Indian BYU Pageant,from other pageants and beauty con-tests. According to scholar WendyKozol, Miss Indian pageant winnersmust demonstrate “Indian adaptabil-ity to modern life.”13 The judges ofthe Miss Indian BYU Pageantassessed the contestants’ knowledgeof their Indian heritage and their

ability to uphold their values and tra-ditions. The winner took on variousidentities and served as an ambas-sador where certain communitiesintersected. The networks she repre-sented included BYU, LDS member-ship, and First Nations. Janice WhiteClemmer (Wasco-Shawnee-Dela-ware) worked with BYU’s NativeAmerican Studies and multiculturalprograms in the 1980s.14 Clemmerwas a judge at four Miss Indian BYUpageants and recalled that TMFintended the pageant to “celebrateyoung American Indian woman-hood, never any swimsuit competi-tion, never about beauty in theBarbie-doll sense or about MissUSA, never put down if overweight,recognized different girls.”15 Clem-mer elaborated on the criteria forjudging Miss Indian BYU contest-ants. She considered how the con-testants looked in their regalia, butshe focused on their “tribal knowl-edge” and “LDS standards.”16 Shebelieved that Miss Indian BYU“demonstrates best of both worlds,of all worlds . . . someone who

Photographs of Miss Indian BYU winners line the third floor hallway of the Ernest L. Wilkinson Student Center at Brigham YoungUniversity. Photo courtesy of the author.



represented her tribe, other tribes,school, and gospel.”17 Miss IndianBYU 2004–2005, Jordan Zendejas(Omaha), echoed Clemmer’s ex-pectations that the winner “repre-sents the Church, Tribe, Natives, andherself.”18

Vickie Bird Sanders (Mandan-Gros Ventre-Hidatsa), Miss IndianBYU 1971–1972, remembered howthe pageant covered a week of prepa-rations, including interviews withjudges, showcases of traditional andmodern talents, and special banquetsbefore the actual pageant event.Pitted against seven other competi-tors, the judges assessed Sanders’spresence in traditional regalia andher vast knowledge of the seventy-seven tribes represented at BYU.Contestants needed to be familiarwith their tribal language, culture,reservation, and current govern-ment policies.19 The judges evaluated

the contestants’ interviews, publicspeaking, presentation, and theirmodern and traditional talents.

The pageant and role of MissIndian BYU diminished after theheight of the Kimball Era in the1970s. While many young AmericanIndians throughout the country be-came involved in the AmericanIndian Movement (AIM), Kimballidentified Indians as “Lamanite”descendants and spearheaded a“Lamanite Cause” by directing LDSIndian initiatives such as the IndianStudent Placement Program.20 Somescholars and people have interpretedthe efforts of the “Lamanite Cause”as forms of racialization and colo-nialism.21 Some BYU Indian stu-dents, however, embraced Kimball’swords as empowering in the latetwentieth century. They appropriatedthe Lamanite identity as a form ofIndian pride, using “Lamanite” as a

vehicle of their unity and call forchange instead of joining AIM. Na-tive Americans who identified them-selves as Lamanites turned to proph-esies in LDS scripture that foretoldhow “the Lamanites shall blossom asthe rose.”22 As part of their convic-tions, they would receive the promis-es ascribed to their lineage by fulfill-ing their mission to serve the Lordand build His kingdom on earth.23

During the pinnacle of the Kim-ball Era in 1970, BYU claimed thelargest Indian population of anyAmerican university with approxi-mately 600 students. The formerBYU yearbook, Banyan, explainedthat many Indian students came fromthe placement program and received“special consideration for admis-sion.”24 A LDS Native Americancommunity developed as the Indiansin Placement were baptized, studiedat BYU, and continued to follow the

Miss Indian BYU 1968–1969 Vickie Cox, and other Native women. Courtesy L. Tom Perry Special Collections, University Archives,Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.


LDS faith throughout their lives.Miss Indian BYU represented thisintertribal community by appearingat gatherings such as the BYUPowwow, Lamanite firesides, andIndian Week.

During the early years of the pag-eant, Miss Indian BYU faced theinfluences and tensions of the CivilRights Movement. She was primari-ly a spokesperson for TMF, whichprovided a platform for LDS NativeAmericans to respond to the majortransitions and current events involv-ing race relations. According to theBYU Indian student newspaper in1971, TMF held open forums “forindividuals to express their ideasand suggestions concerning Indianaffairs on and off campus.” Native

American students discussed issuessuch as balancing their image as“college students, as Mormon Indi-ans, as modern contemporary In-dians, or as Future Indian leaders.”They also considered their “relation-ship with various National IndianOrganizations.”25 Nora Mae Begay(Navajo) served as Miss Indian BYU1970–1971 and Miss Indian AmericaXVIII the following year. As a pub-lic figure, Indian activists criticizedBegay for being a “product” of theplacement program and a poor repre-sentative of “the true Indian oftoday.” Begay claimed, however,“‘that cooperation and unity betweenthe different people of the world aswell as among the many Indiantribes will result in a better future for

all of us.’”26 Begay served as a bridgebetween the diverging sects ofAmerican Indians that each support-ed their own means of Indian civilrights and progress.

Some Indian activists criticizedBYU students like Begay and con-sidered Mormon Native Americansas “apples” (“red on the outside,white on the inside”), and theyprotested against the LDS programs.The Church and BYU officials inturn disapproved of the Red Powermovement, and they stifled suchactivism on campus. BYU PresidentErnest Wilkinson and other schoolofficials reprimanded the studentswho showed inappropriate behaviorand conduct. Phillip Smith served asTMF President when Begay was

Performance was a large part of the outreach conducted by Miss Indian BYU and the Native dance group Lamanite Generation.Courtesy L. Tom Perry Special Collections, University Archives, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.



Miss Indian BYU in 1970. Wilkin-son chided Smith on more than oneoccasion for resembling an “activist”and associating with the NationalIndian Youth Council. Wilkinsondisapproved of Smith’s conductduring a BYU football game againstSan Diego State University whenSmith and other students wore redarm bands to protest San Diego

State’s exclusion of Native Ameri-can athletes. Smith was mimickingsimilar protests against BYU, in-volving students who wore blackarm bands to reproach BYU for ex-cluding African Americans.27 Smithrepresented the different ways thatBYU students engaged with theCivil Rights Movement despite thedirectives of school and church lead-

ers. Some LDS Native Americansaccepted the stance of the church onsuch affairs as Miss Indian BYUwho hoped to incite change throughexample, service, and “cooperationand unity.”

American Indians continued toscrutinize Miss Indian BYU afterBegay’s reign, especially those whofailed to reconcile Mormon andIndian relations. Vickie Sanders re-called the tensions between AIMactivists and BYU Indian students,describing how some Indians tauntedher and other students when theytraveled to perform with the dancegroups, Lamanitettes and LamaniteGeneration. The activists disap-proved of their performance outfits,claiming that the attire was indecentand not Indian.28 Sanders admittedthat AIM was a “big struggle” for heras Miss Indian BYU: “They weren’tvery fond of the LDS Church and soanyone associated with BYU waskind of approached in negative waysso I think those were the difficulttimes that I had, trying to be a repre-sentative, but yet they would refer tome as ‘You’re not a real Indian.You’re just an apple Indian.’”29

Sanders reasserted her identity as aLDS Native American and BYUambassador whenever people chal-lenged her. She remembered, “Somany of them took pride in ‘whydon’t you wear something that iden-tifies you as native? Why don’t youwear a feather in your hair?’” Shewould respond, “That to me is notwhat needs to set me apart from whoI am. I don’t need to grow my hairlong or wear it in braids or wear afeather or wear my Indian dress toshow people that I’m proud of who Iam.” She found pride in BYU andclaimed, “I tried [Miss Indian BYU]because everything it was all about iswhat I believe in.”30 Sanders treas-ured her experience as Miss IndianBYU and enjoyed sharing her cul-ture with others, although somequestioned her Indian identity andcontested the compatibility of beingIndian and Mormon.

Miss Indian BYU 1970–1971 Nora Begay, and her court, Betty Henderson andBeverly Ketcher. Begay was later elected Miss Indian America. Courtesy L. Tom PerrySpecial Collections, University Archives, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham YoungUniversity.


During the reigns of Begay andSanders, TMF facilitated majorsocial activities and cultural ex-change for both Indians as well asthe BYU student body in general.The club sponsored Indian danceprograms as early as 1959. Robert F.William, an advisor to Indian stu-dents in the BYU Indian EducationProgram, recommended that thedance program become an annualevent in 1961, since it could “be asource of pride and satisfaction tothe Indian students on campus” andraise money for the club and the stu-dent performers.31 TMF continued tohost “culturally oriented Indian pro-grams” and provide “personal in-sight and expressions regarding whatmight be termed as ‘Indian-ness’”through events such as Indian Week,the Miss Indian BYU Pageant, andculture shows for Boy and CubScout troops, schools, and ReliefSociety groups.32 An annual BYUpowwow began in 1982 as part of theIndian Week festivities, which be-came known as the Harold CedartreePowwow.33 Miss Indian BYU wouldappear among the “royalty” and an-nounce the giveaways, acknowledg-ing people who had contributed tothe Indian Week events.

Perceptions of American Indianpreference at BYU became so evi-dent that many school affiliatesstarted to accuse the university of“favoring American Indians overother racial minority groups.”34 Theycriticized any program that con-centrated specifically on Indians,including “recruitment, academicofferings, financial aid, work-studyprograms, academic counseling, TheEagle’s Eye Indian student news-paper, the Tribe of Many FeathersClub, Miss Indian BYU, IndianWeek, and even the Native Ameri-can Studies program.”35 Before the1990s, BYU paid special attention toa substantial Indian student body,inevitably drawing complaints fromother group representatives.

The 1990s marked a new periodof “integration” at BYU, with most

of the Indian programs and commu-nity dissolving and becoming inte-grated with other multicultural pro-grams. The dawn of the twenty-firstcentury marked the end of the place-ment program, brought renewedattacks on affirmative action, wit-

nessed the growth of tribal colleges,and saw decreased Mormon empha-sis on American Indians. The growthand global expansion of the LDSChurch weakened the BYU NativeAmerican community as well. Someremaining Indian students appreci-

Miss Indian BYU 1972 Vickie Bird Sanders, and her court. Courtesy L. Tom PerrySpecial Collections, University Archives, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham YoungUniversity.



ated the changes within the univer-sity’s Indian programs; Jordan Zen-dejas, for example, declared, “Wemade the transition, more estab-lished, showing by involving othercultures too; whereas, it was focusedon Indians only before.”36 Studentsnow celebrate “Heritage Week,”which the Multicultural Student Ser-vices sponsors as a variety of cultur-al events including Fiesta, Luau, andthe Cedartree Powwow.

As more Indian programs dis-solved, BYU’s enthusiasm towardspageants drastically decreased. TheBelle of the Y, Homecoming Queen,and Miss Indian BYU were all indef-initely cancelled by 1990. SummerMcCombs, one of the contestants inthe 2002 Miss Indian BYU Pageant,believed that the discontinuance of

the Homecoming Queen designationin 1987 discouraged students fromparticipating in the Miss Indian pag-eant.37 The pageant started again in2001, but Miss Indian BYU returnedto a smaller and less engaged Indiancommunity.

In 2007, the BYU Native Ameri-can Studies website reported that theIndian student population was amere one-third of its 1970s’ peak ofabout 600 individuals.38 TMF nolonger operated an intricate systemof presidency roles, responsibilities,and functions, but the club perse-vered after the disintegration ofmany other Indian programs. Parti-cipation became minimal comparedto previous decades, but TMF re-mained active and provided an outletfor Indian students. Miss Indian

BYU offered some consistency tothe Indian community between 2001and 2007, as title-holders followedthe examples of their predecessors.Monika Brown Crowfoot (Navajo),Miss Indian BYU 2002–2003,claimed, “The purpose [of the MissIndian BYU Pageant] is just serv-ice.”39 She believed that contestantsshould realize that they can stillserve, be an example, and bear theirtestimony of the LDS faith with orwithout the crown.40

Although TMF did not specify arequired number of service hours forpageant contestants, Crowfoot vol-unteered by helping mentally dis-abled children at a local elementaryschool. She recognized the need forexemplary figures among AmericanIndian children and believed that

LDS Church President Spencer W. Kimball being presented with an elk skin emblazoned with the lyrics of the song “Go, My Son,”by Miss Indian BYU 1975 Millie Cody. The song was written by two Native American BYU students, Arlene Nofchissey Williamsand Carnes Burson. Courtesy L. Tom Perry Special Collections, University Archives, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham YoungUniversity.


cultural exchange had to “go bothways.” One of her goals as Miss In-dian BYU was to introduce differentcultures to American Indian chil-dren. She set learning and sharingcultures as her platform for the pag-eant, hoping that people could learnfrom one another and share a com-mon heritage as children of the samespiritual father. As a keynote speakerat several LDS youth conferences onthe Navajo reservation, Crowfootencouraged Indian youth to remainfaithful to their LDS values. Shespoke to Navajo youth at the LDSChinle Stake Youth Conference inArizona, emphasizing the impor-

tance of adhering to standards suchas modesty and the law of chastity.Indian students such as Crowfootupheld many of the same roles asMiss Indian BYU during earlierreigns.

In the twenty-first century, MissIndian BYU title-holders struggledto be accepted as an Indian represen-tative like some of their predecessorsduring the Kimball Era. JordanZendejas visited public schools incontemporary attire such as a pant-suit to show children that she lived amodern lifestyle like them. Adultsupervisors at some schools com-plained that she did not “look In-

dian,” because she did not wear an“Indian costume.” She rememberedthat “there would be people whothink, ‘You’re not Indian enough.You don’t look Indian enough. Doyou take being Indian seriously?”41

Zendejas contested the expectedimage of an Indian princess by refus-ing to appear in traditional regaliafor her presentations. In 2007, ananonymous online writer posted on“Mormon Discussions” that “MissIndian BYU is becoming white anddelightsome!” The author of the postsatirized the belief of some Mor-mons that Indians would become “awhite and delightsome people” asLamanite descendants.42 The postscriticized Miss Indian BYU for be-coming more “white” and less “In-dian” over time, rekindling historicalcontentions between Mormons andIndians.43 The last three Miss IndianBYUs had a fair complexion andwere part white. The post demon-strated externalized constructs ofrace and ethnicity, while challengingthe Indianness of Miss Indian BYU.

Questions of Indianness surfacedin 2006 and 2007 during debatesover the role of Miss Indian BYUand pageant qualifications. As MissIndian BYU, I struggled to meetthe expectations of the TMF adviserand council that the adviser’s daugh-ter presided over. The adviser in-sisted that I participate in the BYUperformance group for LatinAmericans, Polynesians, and Na-tive Americans — known as LivingLegends (the former LamaniteGeneration) — rather than the localnonprofit organization RememberOur Culture (ROC). Michael andLluvia Campbell founded ROC, amulticultural performance ensembleopen to all college students, in2001 after leaving the BYU Multi-cultural Student Services (MSS).44

When the TMF council threatenedto revoke my title as Miss IndianBYU if I did not quit ROC,Lluvia Campbell explained howthe BYU MSS often tried to obstructtheir program and encouraged me

A photo of Doreen Meyers, Miss Indian BYU 1978–1979, in the BYU Daily Herald.Courtesy L. Tom Perry Special Collections, University Archives, Harold B. Lee Library,Brigham Young University.



to continue with ROC, affirmingthat, “You will always be an Indianprincess.” The adviser and councilsaw Living Legends as a legitimateprogram for Native Americansunlike ROC.

Seven female students submittedapplications for the 2007 Miss In-dian BYU Pageant. TMF had failedto update the deadline of the applica-tion on their webpage, and mostapplicants did not meet the qualifica-tion standards, although the councilwaived the requirements in mostcases.45 Some of the prerequisites in-cluded completing 50 hours of com-munity service, being an activemember in TMF, and possessing aCertificate of Indian Blood (CIB).One applicant who had been disen-rolled by her tribe did not have a cur-rent CIB, and the TMF council ruled

to disqualify her only after sheturned in her application late.46 Thecouncil cancelled the pageant whenthe same applicant appealed thedecision two weeks before thescheduled event. According to theschool newspaper, “The presidentand vice president of the club saidnot enough applicants met the quali-fications in order for them to host apageant.”47

A small group of students in thecouncil made the decision that endeda BYU tradition, but no Indian stu-dent community protested andshowed interest in the affair. Only ahandful of students exhibited anydiscontent, including some of theapplicants who met with the counciland spoke to local news reportersabout the incident. The TMF adviseradmitted to local news representa-

tives that, “‘[The TMF Council] didget some negative feedback frompeople and it brought feelings offrustration and probably even fear,and to me, that is going over-board.’”48 Government standards ofIndian blood quantum and debatesover expectations of contemporaryIndian students disqualified theapplicants.

In 2008, Navajo student JeremyBegay compared the Indian studentbody of the Kimball era to that of theintegration period. His parents wentto BYU in the 1970s, and they toldhim how the school had “a hugeIndian program, a monstrous Indianprogram, and lots of Native Ameri-cans here. . . . They call it the goodold days.” Begay was disappointedto find few Indian students whorelated to each other and noticed that

Miss Indian BYU Doreen Meyers shakes hands with former president Gerald Ford during his visit to the campus in 1979. CourtesyL. Tom Perry Special Collections, University Archives, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.


the BYU “Native American programis not even half as good as it waseven five years ago.” Concerning hisfellow Indian students, he claimed,“None of them had a common bondother than skin color.”49 Begay andothers were the children of the“Lamanite Generation” that estab-lished a presence at BYU in the latetwentieth century. This second In-dian generation, however, discov-ered a disconnected Indian studentbody at BYU that shares some com-mon physiognomy but lacks a strongsense of community.

In 2007, BYU President Cecil O.Samuelson was asked about hisstance on Native American issuesand proclaimed that, “BYU encour-ages inclusion.”50 This inclusion,however, ironically excludes NativeAmericans. The university once hada solid infrastructure of Indian edu-cation and community. The failure ofthe Miss Indian BYU Pageant in2007 signaled the decline of Indianpresence at BYU. Opportunities toencourage Indian education and pro-fessional development faltered afterthe 1980s, and the hallway of MissIndian BYU portraits serves as theonly reminder of the pageant andpast Indian presence. The portraitsare not simple images of Indianprincesses. The frames that adorn thewall evoke visual manifestations ofcontested indigeneity and emblema-tize the constant mutability of hu-man identity through the specificexamples of individual Miss IndianBYUs. The women all wear beadedcrowns with “B.Y.U.” on the front,marking them as Indian “royalty”connected to the intertwined histo-ries of Mormon, Indian, and Lama-nite communities.

Notes

1. Michael Campbell, interview byauthor, Provo, Utah, March 31,2007.

2. Chantelle Tuitele, “Crown toPass in Miss Indian 2002 Pag-eant,” The Daily Universe, March

19, 2002, accessed September20, 2013, http://universe.byu.edu/2002/03/19/crown-to-pass-in-miss-indian-2002-pageant/.

3. Tad Walch, “Past Miss IndianBYU Winners” in “Is Miss In-dian BYU Tradition Waning?Drop in Tribal Enrollment Maybe Hurting Pageant,” DeseretNews, May 3, 2007, accessedMay 14, 2013, http://www.deseretnews.com/article/660217226/Is-Miss-Indian-BYU-tradition-waning.html?pg=all.

4. Janice White Clemmer, “NativeAmerican Studies: A Utah Per-spective,” Wicazo Sa Review 2,no. 2 (Autumn 1986): 17.

5. Concerning Euro-American con-structions of Indian royalty, seeNancy Shoemaker’s chapter on“Kings,” A Strange Likeness: Be-coming Red and White inEighteenth-Century North Amer-ica (New York: Oxford Univer-sity Press, 2004); and RaynaGreen, “The Pocahontas Perplex:The Image of Indian Women inAmerican Culture,” The Massa-chusetts Review 16, no. 4 (Au-tumn 1975): 698–714. For adap-tions and intertribal debates ofMiss Indian pageants amongindigenous communities, seeJennifer Denetdale, “Chairmen,Presidents, and Princesses: The

Farina Smith (King), the winner of the last Miss Indian BYU competition in 2006, andher attendants. Photo courtesy of the author.



Navajo Nation, Gender, and thePolitics of Tradition,” Wicazo SaReview 21, no. 1 (2006): 9–28and Wendy Kozol, “Miss IndianAmerica: Regulatory Gazes andthe Politics of Affiliation,” Femi-nist Studies 31, no. 1 (Spring2005): 64–94. To understand howwhites have used Indian imagesas colonizing devices, see alsoPhilip Deloria, Playing Indian(New Haven: Yale UniversityPress, 1998).

6. Campbell, interview. The MissIndian Scholarship Pageant wasnot organized by BYU but wasan external program.

7. See Sarah Banet-Weiser, TheMost Beautiful Girl in the World:Beauty Pageants and NationalIdentity (Berkeley and Los An-geles: University of CaliforniaPress, 1999) and Bonnie J. Dow,“Feminism, Miss America, andMedia Mythology,” Rhetoric &Public Affairs 6, no. 1 (2003):127–149.

8. “Brigham Young UniversityAmerican Indian EducationDept.,” Brigham Young Univer-sity Harold B. Lee Library, 2013,accessed August 7, 2013, https://sites.lib.byu.edu/byuorg/index.php/Brigham_Young_University._American_Indian_Education_Dept. For theorization of “modernhistories of racism” and “an in-clusionary form of racism,” seeTakashi Fujitani, “Preface andAcknowledgments,” Race forEmpire: Koreans as Japaneseand Japanese as Americans dur-ing World War II (Berkeley: Uni-versity of California Press,2011), ix–xii.

9. See Pierre Bourdieu’s conceptu-alization of “habitus,” which canapply to Native American every-day efforts to guard and shapetheir collective identity and con-sciousness. Pierre Bourdieu, TheLogic of Practice (Cambridge:Polity Press, 1989), 54–56.

10. I refer to Homi Bhabha’s defini-tion of “a right to difference-in-

equality” based on EtienneBalibar’s work, which “does notrequire the restoration of an orig-inal [or essentialist] cultural orgroup identity; nor does it con-sider equality to be a neutraliza-tion of differences in the name ofthe ‘universality’ of rights whereimplementation is often subjectto ideological and institutionaldefinitions of what counts as‘human’ in any specific culturalor political context.” See HomiBhabha, The Location of Culture(New York: Routledge Classics,2004), xvii.

11. Jeanie Groves, interview byauthor, Orem, Utah, February 12,2008, transcript, LDS NativeAmerican Oral History Collec-tion (hereafter cited as LDSNAOH), Brigham Young Uni-versity Harold B. Lee Library,Provo, Utah (hereafter cited asHBLL). The winner of thepageant would often receive agrant for their college expensesat BYU, which encouraged thecontestants to pursue their edu-cation.

12. Sunny [Evangeline] Dooley(Navajo), Miss Indian BYU1985–1986, remarked that MissIndian BYU “was supposed toexemplify good moral characterfor the Native students” especial-ly during Indian Week. SunnyDooley, interview by author,April 4, 2007, telephone commu-nication.

13. Wendy Kozol, “Miss IndianAmerica: Regulatory Gazes andthe Politics of Affiliation,” Femi-nist Studies 31, no. 1 (Spring2005): 2.

14. Clemmer, 18.15. Janice Clemmer, interview by

author, Salt Lake City, Utah,March 26, 2007, recording inpersonal possession of author.

16. The qualifications for Miss In-dian BYU, however, never re-quired that she be a member ofthe LDS church. She was ex-pected to live according to LDS

standards and be interviewed bya LDS bishop or equivalent lead-er as are all BYU students for ad-mittance to the university.

17. Clemmer, interview.18. Jordan Zendejas, interview by

author, Provo, Utah, March 24,2007, recording in personal pos-session of author.

19. Vickie Bird Sanders, interviewby author, Provo, Utah, March24, 2007, recording in personalpossession of author.

20. For an extensive study of theIndian Student Placement Pro-gram, see Matthew R. Garrett,“Mormons, Indians, and Lama-nites: The Indian Student Place-ment Program, 1947–2000”(PhD diss., Arizona State Uni-versity, 2010).

21. See, for examples, Elise Boxer,“‘To Become White and De-lightsome:’ American Indiansand Mormon Identity” (PhDdiss., Arizona State University,2009) and P. Jane Hafen, “‘GreatSpirit Listen’: The AmericanIndian in Mormon Music,” Dia-logue: A Journal of MormonThought 18, no. 4 (Winter 1985):133–142.

22. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Doctrine and Coven-ants of the Church of JesusChrist of Latter-day Saints. ThePearl of Great Price (Salt LakeCity, Utah: Church of JesusChrist of Latter-day Saints,1991), 90.

23. For a discussion on “Lamanite”identity in the LDS Church, seeArmand L. Mauss, All Abra-ham’s Children: Changing Mor-mon Conceptions of Race andLineage (Chicago: University ofIllinois Press, 2003).

24. Banyan (Provo, Utah: BrighamYoung University, 1971), 239.

25. “TMF Forum,” Eagle’s Eye,March 1971.

26. “Miss Indian America Begaytravels extensively, seeks unity,”Eagle’s Eye, January 1972.

27. Phillip Lee Smith, interview by


author, Provo, Utah, February20, 2012.

28. Victoria Sanders, interview byauthor, Provo, Utah, March 27,2008, transcript, LDS NAOH,HBLL.

29. Ibid.30. Ibid.31. Robert F. William to Antoine K.

Romney, January 6, 1961, box18, folder 6, University Archives(hereafter cited as UA) 522,HBLL.

32. Department of Indian Education,file, January 23, 1974, box 1,folder 1, UA 670, HBLL.

33. Larry Hollis, “Dance Contest toHonor Harold Cedartree Mar.16,” Eagle’s Eye, January 1982.

34. Clemmer, 20.35. Ibid.36. Zendejas, interview.37. Tuitele, 1.38. Marissa Touchin-Roblin, Lata

Sitake, and Jay Buckley, “ABrief History of the NativeAmerican Studies Minor atBYU,” Brigham Young Univer-sity, accessed March 28, 2007,http://history.byu.edu/fac/buckley/nas/history.htm.

39. Monika Crowfoot, interview byauthor, Provo, Utah, March 28,2007.

40. Crowfoot, interview.41. Zendejas, interview.42. Before 1981, 2 Nephi 30:6 in the

Book of Mormon noted that theLamanites, peoples of the an-cient Americas, would become“a white and delightsomepeople” and some Mormons ap-plied this scripture to AmericanIndians.

43. “Miss Indian BYU is becomingwhite and delightsome!” Mor-

mon Discussions, August 29,2007, accessed September 18,2012, http://mormondiscussions.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2983.

44. “About Us,” Multicultural Ser-vices of Utah, accessed Sep-tember 18, 2012, http://www.roctheplanet.org/about.html.

45. See Tad Walch, “Is Miss IndianBYU Tradition Waning? Drop inTribal Enrollment may be Hurt-ing Pageant,” Deseret News,May 3, 2007, accessed May 14,2013, http://www.deseretnews.com/article/660217226/Is-Miss-Indian-BYU-tradition-waning.html?pg=all.

46. The Chukchansi, for example,had disenrollled many people forvarious reasons. See articles suchas Carmen George, “Chukchansi

issues disenrollment letters,”Sierra Star, September 28, 2011,accessed July 10, 2013, http://www.sierrastar.com/2011/09/28/56549/chukchansi-issues-disenrollment.html.

47. Jessica Witt, “Miss Indian BYUPageant Canceled,” Universe,April 11, 2007, accessed May14, 2013, http://universe.byu.edu/beta/2007/04/11/miss-indian-byu-pageant-canceled/.

48. Ibid.49. Jeremy Begay, interview by au-

thor, April 4, 2008, Provo, Utah,transcript, LDS NAOH, HBLL.

50. Cecil O. Samuelson, “Q&A withPresident Samuelson” (forum,Brigham Young University, Pro-vo, Utah, April 2007). The au-thor was present and asked thisquestion.

FARINA KING. Bilagáanaa niliigo’ dóóKiyaa’áanii yásh’chíín. Bilagáanaadabicheii dóó Tsinaajinii dabinálí.Ákót’éego diné asdzá?á? nilí?. FarinaKing is “Bilagáanaa” (Euro-American),born for “Kiyaa’áanii” (the ToweringHouse Clan) of the Diné (Navajo). Hermaternal grandfather was Euro-Ameri-can, and her paternal grandfather was“Tsinaajinii” (Black-streaked WoodsPeople Clan) of the Diné. In this way,she is a Navajo woman. She is a gradu-ate student in the U.S. History PhDprogram at Arizona State University.

She received her M.A. in African History from the University ofWisconsin and a B.A. from Brigham Young University with a doublemajor in History history and French Studiesstudies. King has writtenand presented about indigenous Mormon experiences in the twentiethcentury, drawing from some interviews that she conducted for the LDSNative American Oral History Project at BYU. Her doctoral researchtraces the changes in Navajo educational experiences through thetwentieth century. She was the last Miss Indian BYU crowned in 2006.King is also a dedicated wife and mother.

miss indian byu - · pdf file11 jow, summer 2013, vol. 52, no. 3 king: miss indian byu:...

Documents