Genre and sequencing
Through a variety of media, Bad Indians embodies both a fragmented and non-linear structure.[6] As Udel notes, Miranda is able to create a narrative that is “constructed by what she finds, chooses, and takes possession of: Miranda’s intentional compilation that breaks with the traditional autobiographical form. And not just the “pieces” are connected, but so too are tribal history and Miranda’s story across time and space.”[6] The memoir spans decades, drawing connections between the violence inflicted upon Mission Indians and its effects on Miranda's interpersonal relationships.[11]
Media
According to Furlan, Miranda employs a variety of different media and sources in her memoir to reconstruct and decolonize the historical narrative of indigenous people in California and her own indigenous background.[10] Bad Indians is composed of “part historical archive, part family history, part personal narrative, and part poetry.”[10]
Poems
There are a total of ten poems penned by Miranda within the memoir. The first two poems, “Los Pájaros” and “Fisher of Men,” are “based on writings by Junipero Serra.”[7] Furlan notes that Miranda took creative liberties with Serra’s writings to emphasize specific themes present throughout the memoir, like coercive sexual relations between colonizers and Indigenous women and the dehumanizing treatment of Indigenous people by colonizers.[10] As Furlan notes, the alterations to Serra’s accounts of Indigenous people provide colonial documents with an Indigenous perspective regarding Indigenous history.[10]
Articles and newspapers
Articles and newspapers are referenced and depicted in various formats in the memoir. The poem “Old News” is written from an assortment of newspaper excerpts from the Sacramento Union, the Sacramento Daily, the Sacramento Daily Democratic State Journal, and the San Francisco Bulletin.[10] In two essays that discuss derogatory names against Indigenous people, Miranda incorporates an excerpt from Oscar Penn Fitzgerald’s travel book California Sketches and an image of a California State bond “for the ‘suppression of Indian hostilities.’”[10][7] Another newspaper clipping titled “‘Bad Indian Goes on Rampage at Santa Ynez’” depicts an Indigenous man named Juan Miranda who goes “on a rampage” after drinking some “fire water.”[10] According to Furlan, the subsequent poem, “Novena to Bad Indians,” serves as “guidance on how to read” the newspaper clipping through recognition that Indigenous “acts of rebellion” were meant to offset “settler colonial violence.”[10]
Essays
Much of Miranda’s memoir consists of essays regarding Indigenous history in California, her personal narratives about family and Indigeneity, and transcribed recordings from her grandfather’s cassette tapes.[1]
Short stories
Miranda’s short story “Coyote Takes a Trip” appears in the fourth section of the memoir, “Teheyapami Achiska: Home 1961-present.” “Coyote” is a creator in Esselen mythology.[12][1]
Cartoons
There is one cartoon featured in Bad Indians titled “California Pow Wow,” by L. Frank.[1]
Images
Miranda includes images of herself, her family, documents, Indigenous people, works of art by colonizers, and one of J.P. Harrington in her memoir.[1]
