DOCSLIB.ORG

Red Skin, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Red Skin, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition Book Reviews has specific resonance in recent years, embrace militant protest as a civic vir- recognition have historically sought to in the midst of heightened police vio- tue under ‘natural law.’ D’Arcy disman- transcend.” lence and injustice against Black youth tles the ‘liberal objection’ that militancy The great strength of Coulthard is in Canada (e.g. carding) and the U.S. is coercive, arguing that we should be his ability to situate these claims in a (e.g. police shootings of unarmed black more concerned with coercion by sys- rich theoretical body. Marx’s primitive men), the release of the Canadian Truth tems of injustice than with the move- accumulation thesis figures centrally, and Reconciliation Report, and the ments that aim to counter it. This book and the book provides an anti-colonial white supremacist terrorist attack on is recommended for anyone interested critique of the temporal constraints a congregation in Charleston, South in socio-environmental justice, delib- and unilinear cultural and economic Carolina. As Bill C-51 threatens to si- erative democracy, and radical change. developmentalism of Marx, as well as lence First Nations and environmental It has special significance to Canadian a rich discussion of the applicability of groups, severely limiting their right to academics and activists right now, as we Capital to Canadian settler-colonialism. dissent, the role of militant protest be- struggle towards reconciliation, against However, Coulthard’s use of Marx is comes even more relevant in the face of the continuing violence of colonization, not revolutionary and serves more as a “intransigent elites and unresponsive and to divest from fossil fuels. theoretical lens with which to examine systems of power.” the role of capital, dispossession, and Languages of the Unheard offers a ERIKA HENNEBURY is a recent gradu- land in colonial hegemonies, than as a discursive theory of justice that is in- ate of York University’s Master in Envi- sustained critique of the German phi- structive to socio-environmental activ- ronmental Studies Planning program. losopher. ism and scholarship. Extending the mil- Erika is a Strategic Programs Grants Of- It is the Martiniquais author Frantz itary ‘responsibility to protect (R2P)’ ficer for Toronto Arts Council, and is a Fanon who provides the most compel- principle to the ‘right to rebel (R2R)’ member Planners Network and Friends ling buttress to Coulthard’s discussion against systemic violence, Languages of the Green Line. of liberal recognition politics in Canada. of the Unheard encourages the reader to Fanon’s attentiveness to the always- multiple and corrosive ways in which the colonial authority works upon its Red Skin, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Other is what so vibrantly colours Red Skin, White Masks. Fanon’s central con- Politics of Recognition. tribution is, as Coulthard suggests, that he “showed how, over time, colonized By GLEN SEAN COULTHARD. U of Minnesota P, 2014. $22.50 USD populations tend to internalize the de- rogatory images imposed on them by their colonial ‘masters,’ and how as a re- Reviewed by DYLAN MCMAHON sult of this process, these images, along with the structural relations with which When Taiaiake Alfred writes, in tions framed in the language of ‘the they are entwined, come to be recog- the forward to Red Skin, White Masks, Indian Problem,’ in which “state power nized . as more or less natural.” that Glen Coulthard “is a leading voice [was] geared around genocidal practices It is this imposition of a ‘psycho-af- of the new Indigenous Intelligentsia,” of forced exclusion and assimilation.” In fective’ attachment to colonialism onto it is not an apathetic patronage to the the second era of Canadian colonialism, colonial subjects that is most central author’s work; it signals a transforma- Coulthard argues, the language of ‘rec- to Coulthard's discussion. When ap- tion in the discursive landscape of In- ognition’ has sought to “‘reconcile’ In- proaching the Dene Nationalist move- digenous politics in Canada. It is the digenous assertions of nationhood with ments of the 1970s and ‘80s, Coulthard acceptance of a new battle to be waged settler-state sovereignty via the accom- argues that Indigenous involvement in against the continued colonial oppres- modation of Indigenous identity claims state-led land-claims processes have, sion of Indigenous peoples, a battle in in some form of renewed legal and po- through the language of capitalism, re- which the above two authors figure cen- litical relationship with the Canadian oriented a struggle that was once for trally in the vanguard. state.” Ultimately, however, Coulthard’s the cultural reproduction of Indigenous Red Skin, White Masks can be un- argument is premised on the assertion, ‘grounded normativity’ into a struggle derstood as a historical mediation and “that instead of ushering in an era of that is for land “as material resource to a revolutionary manifesto. Coulthard peaceful coexistence grounded on the be exploited in the capital accumula- characterizes the history of Indigenous ideal of reciprocity or mutual recogni- tion process.” Following this, Coulthard politics in Canada as consisting of two tion, the politics of recognition in its argues that in contexts where the state colonial epochs. The first period, which contemporary liberal form promises to is positioned as a privileged authority lasted from the moment of European reproduce the very configurations of or mediator on social disputes—focus- contact until the White Paper in 1969, colonialist, racist, patriarchal state pow- ing particularly on legal challenges saw Indigenous/non-Indigenous rela- er that Indigenous peoples’ demands for to legislative gender discrimination 56 UnderCurrents 20 | 2017 Book Reviews and discourses on ‘reconciliation’—it tion-based political model, is funda- tool for Indigenous political struggles. is presumed that the Canadian state is mentally incapable of mobilizing these Fanon’s insights, as read by Coulthard, objective, nonpatriarchal, noncolonial, counter-hegemonic theses. are as relevant now as they were during and legitimate, making transformative Those familiar with recent schol- the Algerian War of Independence. Red justice unlikely for colonized peoples. arship on Indigenous political phi- Skin, White Masks canonizes the claim For Coulthard, appeals to recognition losophy will find that Red Skin, White that the recognition model of political of Indigenous difference are implicated, Masks provides a precise elaboration discourse offers only further subjuga- in these different cases, in a hegemonic of arguments that have become well- tion for Indigenous peoples. The book engendering of the neoliberal, sexist, established in the last decade or so. attempts to implicate itself in the mi- and racist grammar of state- and settler- Coulthard is aware of the reiterative el- nutiae of Canadian Indigenous peoples’ colonialism, further normalizing these ement of his work. Yet, while the book quotidian experiences, but extends well logics. Throughout Red Skin, White certainly follows a well-worn line of beyond them. It is essential reading for Masks, Coulthard provides an extreme- criticisms, Coulthard’s vibrant injection the idle and those Idle No More—for ly detailed examination of the historical of Frantz Fanon into this discursive ter- those who wish to understand Canada. contexts, legislative backgrounds, and rain provides a much needed reflexive theoretical concerns from which his critiques arise. His use of Fanon is fluid, and his ability to excavate the intrica- Safe Space: Gay Neighborhood History and cies of the failings of liberal recognition politics in multiple contexts is compel- the Politics of Violence. ling. The final chapter of Red Skin, White By CHRISTINA B. HANHARDT. Duke UP, 2013. $27.95 USD Masks presents the theories, the minds, the movements, and the praxis needed Reviewed by RIO RODRIGUEZ to re-vision Indigenous politics in Can- ada. Coulthard’s “Five Theses on Indig- enous Resurgence and Decolonization” This necessary intervention and liberalism has reshaped U.S cities like New are, perhaps, the most decisive element Lambda-award winning book is an York and San Francisco in ways that fos- of the work. They operate as compan- incredibly systematic collection and ter hypersegregation and exploitation: the ions to Alfred’s Wasáse and Leanne analysis of American LGBT activist his- privatization of public services, corporate Simpson’s Dancing on Our Turtle’s Back. tory, though it also functions as a call for tax breaks, attacks on tenant protections, These texts collectively have nurtured contemporary activists to build critical the expiration of mandates for low- and the development of a ‘third discursive movements; movements that refuse to middle-income housing, public subsidies moment’ of Indigenous politics in Can- define safety through a push for gay for private market-value construction, and ada. They provide a manifesto for the territorialization, privatization, and in- the mass expansion of security forces are post-recognition movement towards creased criminalization in the name of but a few of its policies.” As is developed resurgence. Coulthard's essential mes- gay protection. in the book, these neoliberal processes sage can be found here: (1) the Indig- Hanhardt argues that various— are something that LGBT activists have enous movement needs direct action; sometimes messy, contested, diverse maintained a fraught relationship with, (2) it needs to reject capitalism;
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Tools at Their Fingertips How Settler Colonial Geographies Shape
    Social Science & Medicine 237 (2019) 112363 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Social Science & Medicine journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/socscimed The tools at their fingertips: How settler colonial geographies shape medical T educators’ strategies for grappling with Anti-Indigenous racism ∗ ∗∗ Paul Sylvestrea, , Heather Castledena,b, , Jeff Denisc, Debbie Martind, Amy Bombaye a Department of Geography and Planning, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada b Department of Public Health Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada c Department of Sociology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada d School of Health and Human Performance, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada e Department of Psychiatry and School of Nursing, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Keywords: Settler colonialism implicates settler and Indigenous populations differently within ongoing projects of settle- Medical education ment and nation building. The uneven distribution of benefits and harms is a primary consequence of settler anti-Indigenous racism colonialism. Indeed, it is a central organizing feature of the settler state's governance of Indigenous societies and Indigenous health is animated, in part, through pervasive settler ignorance and anti-Indigenous racism, which has manifested in Settler colonialism persistent health disparities amongst Indigenous peoples. This broader socio-political context surrounding Multiculturalism medical schools, which are seeking to develop teaching and learning about Indigenous health presents a sig- Qualitative inquiry Truth and reconciliation commission of Canada nificant challenge. Understanding the cognitive and affective tools that settler educators use when grappling with questions of race, racialization, and Indigenous difference is an important step in addressing anti- Indigenous racism in health care provision.
    [Show full text]
  • On 11 December 2012, in a Teepee in the Shadow of the Canadian Parliament, Theresa Spence, the Chief of Attawapiskat First Nation, Began a Hunger Strike
    Glen Sean Coulthard, Red Skin, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2014. ISBN: 978-0-8166- 7965-2 (paper); ISBN: 978-0-8166-7964-5 (cloth) On 11 December 2012, in a teepee in the shadow of the Canadian Parliament, Theresa Spence, the chief of Attawapiskat First Nation, began a hunger strike. With her protest, she sought to focus public attention on issues of concern to Indigenous peoples in Canada, including recent federal legislative changes, and support an emerging Indigenous rights movement called Idle No More. The poverty, substandard housing, and overcrowding of Attawapiskat stood in marked contrast to the wealth flowing from their traditional territories. Upstream from Attawapiskat, De Beers’ Victor Diamond Mine produced 826,000 carats of diamonds in 2010, worth an approximate US$210,000,000.1 To further facilitate such development, in 2012 the Canadian government introduced a pair of omnibus bills, removing environmental protections and regulatory hurdles that impeded resource extraction. The juxtaposition of government priorities and the desperate conditions in Indigenous communities incited Indigenous political resurgence. A group of women on the prairies began organizing local teach-ins about the impact of the omnibus bills for Indigenous peoples, publicizing events under the hashtag #idlenomore. The message resonated and through the winter of 2012-2013, the call for action became a movement. Indigenous peoples across the country took part in rallies and marches, flash 1 These production figures for the Victor mine are taken from the De Beers’ 2010 Report to Society Canada: Maximizing the Value and Life of the Resource.
    [Show full text]
  • Identity, Land and the Dispossession of First Nations Women in Canada | Darkmatter Journal
    17/05/2016 Status as Property: Identity, Land and the Dispossession of First Nations Women in Canada | darkmatter Journal an international peer­reviewed journal ISSN 2041­3254 Status as Property: Identity, Land and the Dispossession of First Nations Women in Canada by Brenna Bhandar 16 May 2016 • Comment (0) • Print Posted: Reflections on Dispossession: Critical Feminisms [14] | Article Share 0 Tweet They acknowledge no right for you, and they do not credit you with a memory.[1] In the mid to late nineteenth century, as English and French settlers were in the process of consolidating their colonial Dominion over vast First Nations’ territories in the form of a Canadian federal state, the government enacted legislation to create the juridical category of the Indian. Binding together identity with access to land, Indian status and the Indian reserve would come irrevocably to define and regulate the lives of First Nations people in Canada from the mid­nineteenth century until the present. The creation of the “Indian” as a juridical category, along with the Indian reserve as a space of domination, marks a specific historical conjuncture—one in which identity (or indeed, subjectivity itself) and property relations were bound to one another, creating an apparatus [2] of colonial knowledge and governance that structures the ongoing dispossession of First Nations women. This identity­property nexus in the settler colony of Canada was forged in relation to two distinct economies of land. One was the Indian reserve, the other a market for individual private property ownership that rested upon the fiction of underlying Crown sovereignty.
    [Show full text]
  • 13 Carceral Recognition and the Colonial Present at The
    sites: new series · vol 14 no 1 · 2017 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.11157/sites-vol14iss1id345 – article – CARCERAL RECOGNITION AND THE COLONIAL PRESENT AT THE OKIMAW OHCI HEALING LODGE Margaret Boyce1 ABSTRACT This essay examines how unchecked recognition-based policies in Correctional Service of Canada’s (CSC) mandate – such as the utilisation of ‘traditional healing’ in penal programming and the construction of prisons designed solely for Indigenous inmates – undermine the needs of Indigenous people in prison, while propagating settler-colonialism through the often invisible mechanisms of the prison system. By way of an analysis of the Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge federal prison for Indigenous women, in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan, I identify the emergence of a carceral recognition politics in Canadian prisons. This term refers to a strategy whereby the penal system parades its willingness to accommodate Indigenous difference in order to reconcile Indigenous peoples with the authority of the State – often through the implementation of colonial teleologies towards a supposedly non-colonial present – while simultaneously developing a durable and comprehensive prison system for the more effective incarceration of federally sentenced Indigenous women. Keywords: Indigenous incarceration; colonialism; recognition; Canadian prisons INTRODUCTION While many in Canada celebrate the nation-state’s newfound proclivity for ‘strengthening recognition’ of Indigenous peoples and their demands (Assem- bly 2005, 18), others are critical of the State’s shift towards ostensibly inclusive and empowering forms of engagement and exchange. Recent sovereigntist texts, such as Glen Coulthard’s Red Skin, White Masks (2014),2 argue that the Canadian State utilises reconciliation and accommodation to deploy a colonial politics of recognition in order to undermine comprehensive demands for Indigenous sovereignty.
    [Show full text]
  • Towards Anarchism Against Settler Colonialism Written by Adam Lewis
    From Standing Rock to Resistance in Context: Towards Anarchism against Settler Colonialism Written by Adam Lewis This PDF is auto-generated for reference only. As such, it may contain some conversion errors and/or missing information. For all formal use please refer to the official version on the website, as linked below. From Standing Rock to Resistance in Context: Towards Anarchism against Settler Colonialism https://www.e-ir.info/2017/02/01/from-standing-rock-to-resistance-in-context-towards-anarchism-against-settler-colonialism/ ADAM LEWIS, FEB 1 2017 The direct action at Standing Rock against the Dakota Access Pipeline has captured a wide range of political imaginations under the #NODAPL banner. People from over 100 Indigenous nations, as well as non- Indigenous/settler allies/accomplices, have travelled to the site where the US Army Corps of Engineers has attempted to place the pipeline under the Mni Sose (Missouri River), and right through Oceti Sakowin (The Great Sioux Nation lands). The resistance at Standing Rock has included a range of camps and tactics, as well as heavy handed police/security responses. Though the Army Corps of Engineers decided to withhold the easement permit for the last stage of the pipeline in December 2016, pending an environmental assessment, few see this as the end of the resistance. Many pointed out that this is not a commitment to stop the pipeline as a whole, but rather an attempt to seek out other means of ensuring its completion. Donald Trump recently signed executive orders to revive both the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipeline projects, prompting renewed calls for resistance.
    [Show full text]
  • Next Level Warriorship: Intellectuals Role in Acts of Resistance Within
    Next Level Warriorship: Intellectuals Role in Acts of Resistance within the Idle No More Movement by Laura Medina A Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science Approved November 2018 by the Graduate Supervisory Committee: David Martinez Ph.D., Chair Myla Vicenti Carpio Ph.D. James Riding In Ph.D. ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY December 2018 ABSTRACT Everyday living, as an Indigenous person, is an act of resistance. On December 21, 2012, there was a national day of action that included rallies and demonstrations happening all over the world to stand in solidarity with First Nations Indigenous peoples in Canada under the banner Idle No More (INM). The pressure of the movement all came to an end after the cooptation from a few First Nation leadership on January 11, 2013. Despite the failures, the INM movement brought hope, the urgency to act, and ideas of the decolonization and resurgence process. This movement was educational in focus and with that, there is the need to explore essential roles to advance Indigenous resistance to ensure Indigenous liberation. Here I explore the role of the intellectual, and in particular three scholars who provide next level warriorship. Their contributions redirected the conceptualization of decolonization to a process of resurgence. In this manner, authentic Indigenous nationhood is possible. i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Producing anything to this extent takes a supportive community. Thank you to the original people of the land on which I have resided during the writing of this paper; the O’Odham and Piipaash people. Furthermore, I must acknowledge the land that has nurtured me and ignited the fight within ever since I was a child, Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation.
    [Show full text]
  • Indigenous Philosophy Vol. 16, No. 1
    NEWSLETTER | The American Philosophical Association Indigenous Philosophy FALL 2016 VOLUME 16 | NUMBER 1 FROM THE CHAIR Anne Waters SUBMISSION GUIDELINES ARTICLES Shelbi Nahwilet Meissner Introduction Shay Welch Native Cognitive Schemas and Decolonizing Democratic Ethics Gertrude James González de Allen Indigenous Identity in Articulations of Existence in Afro-Caribbean Philosophy BOOK REVIEW Laura R. Graham and H. Glenn Penny: Performing Indigeneity: Global Histories and Contemporary Experience Reviewed by Shay Welch VOLUME 16 | NUMBER 1 FALL 2016 © 2016 BY THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL ASSOCIATION ISSN 2155-9708 APA NEWSLETTER ON Indigenous Philosophy AGNES B. CURRY, EDITOR VOLUME 16 | NUMBER 1 | FALL 2016 doing indigenous philosophy at one of our APA divisional FROM THE CHAIR meetings, and to contact any of our newsletter editors to contribute to the newsletter. This past year exhibits many changes and great new strides of progress for our committee. Shortly after I accepted Our newsletter has seen a few changes as well with the a regular committee appointment, I also accepted an dedicated assistance of Agnes Curry and Erin Shepherd appointment as interim chair, filling in for Kyle Powys White, (APA national office). Agnes Curry accepted appointment as as he was called to other important academic duties. We managing editor and is doing a terrific job of coordination thank Kyle for his dedicated passion, insight, and vision and editing of the newsletter. Shay Welch (continuing while steering this committee into action motivated toward member as newsletter editor, Spelman College), organized forward-looking projects during his tenure. And speaking our 2016 Pacific Division program alongside Brian, and of tenure, Kyle this past year received tenure as full-time she has recently stepped forward as our newsletter book philosophy faculty at Michigan State University (East review manager.
    [Show full text]
  • The Colonialism of Incarceration
    The Colonialism of Incarceration Robert Nichols ǣ ϔ ǯ ϔ Ǥ ǡ Ǥ ǡ Ǥ espite common perception to the contrary, the Canadian prison pop- ulation is disproportionately large relative to other comparable soci- Deties—with the seventeenth highest incarceration rate of thirty-four OECD nations, higher than most European nations—driven in part by a dra- ǯǦϐǤ1 In the 1990s alone, federal prison populations increased by 25 percent and provincial prison populations by a further 15 percent. The number of young people in the country’s correctional institutions has increased by nearly 30 percent since 1986.2 A large omnibus crime bill recently passed into law by 1. Mia Dauvergne, “Adult Correctional Statistics in Canada, 2010–2011,” (11 October 2012): 7. 2. Unless otherwise indicated, statistical information on Aboriginal incarceration in Canada is drawn from Dauvergne, “Adult Correctional Statistics” and from Samuel Perreault, “The Incarceration of Aboriginal People in Adult Correctional Services,” (21 July 2009). The majority of statistical evidence on indigenous incarceration in Canada derives from , a © Radical Philosophy Review Volume 17, number 2 (2014): 435–455 DOI: 10.5840/radphilrev201491622 Online First: September 20, 2014 436 Robert Nichols the Conservative government, which promotes further ideologically driv- en, yet demonstrably dysfunctional “tough on crime” policies, ensures that these trends will only expand and compound over time.3 This reality has been somewhat obscured by the hyperbolic violence of prison expansion and carceral power in the United States. Nevertheless, just as is true of the U.S. case, prison expansion north of the border has been highly racialized, especially targeting indigenous peoples.
    [Show full text]
  • Political Economy, Capitalism, and Empire: Rematerializing a Research Agenda
    Critical Exchange Empire and its afterlives Inder S. Marwah McMaster University, Hamilton L8S4L8, Canada [email protected] Jennifer Pitts University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA [email protected] Timothy Bowers Vasko Barnard College, New York, NY 10027, USA [email protected] Onur Ulas Ince Singapore Management University, Singapore 178903, Singapore [email protected] Robert Nichols University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA [email protected] Et vous, cruels Europe´ens, ne vous irritez pas de ma harangue. Ni le Hottentot, ni l’habitant des contre´es qui vous restent a` devaster ne l’entendront. Si mon discours vous offense, c’est que vous n’eˆtes pas plus humains que vos pre´de´cesseurs; c’est que vous voyez dans la haine que je leur ai voue´e celle que j’ai pour vous. Denis Diderot, Histoire des Deux Indes, Tome Premier, p. 259 At the time of its 2005 publication, Jennifer Pitts’ A Turn to Empire was among a handful of works in political theory probing imperialism’s constitutive influence over modern political thought. Following Uday Singh Mehta’s path-breaking Liberalism and Empire (1999), theorists such as Pitts, James Tully, Sankar Muthu and Karuna Mantena developed far-reaching expositions of seminal thinkers’ historical, biographical and conceptual entanglements in projects of empire, pulling imperialism and colonialism from the discipline’s margins to its center and setting into motion a broader confrontation with its Eurocentric past. In the 1990s and Ó 2020 Springer Nature Limited. 1470-8914 Contemporary Political Theory www.palgrave.com/journals earlier, historians of political thought such as Tully, Barbara Arneil, David Armitage and Bhikhu Parekh had excavated early modern theorists’ relations to imperialism (Locke in particular), alongside efforts by Anthony Pagden, Richard Tuck and J.G.A.
    [Show full text]
  • Indigenous Peoples and the Struggle for Self- Determination: a Relational Strategy†
    Indigenous Peoples and the Struggle for Self- Determination: A Relational Strategy† Michael Murphy‡ This article argues for a relational approach to advance Indigenous claims for self-determination. Resurgence theorists strongly oppose negotiating self- determination within the state’s existing legal, political and economic structures, favouring instead direct action in support of independent, Indigenous-led 2019 CanLIIDocs 2836 processes of community revitalization and political empowerment. A relational strategy recommends gaining multiple access points to political power, working both inside and outside state institutions at various geopolitical scales, as well as in cooperation and in direct confrontation with state institutions. This approach further emphasizes the importance of tailoring the institutional machinery of self-determination to the distinctive aspirations, circumstances and political structures of various Indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples themselves have been the true pioneers of this relational strategy, demonstrating in practice its advantages in confronting the realities of Indigenous diversity, complex state- Indigenous interdependence and the preponderance of state power in settler states around the globe. † My thanks to the anonymous referees and to the CJHR editorial staff for helpful comments and suggestions on earlier drafts of this article. Financial assistance from the Canada Research Chairs Program of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada is gratefully acknowledged. ‡ Dr. Michael
    [Show full text]
  • Examining the Effects of Violence and Nonviolence in Indigenous Direct Action the Red Power Movement and Idle No More
    Examining the Effects of Violence and Nonviolence in Indigenous Direct Action The Red Power Movement and Idle No More Dorothy Hodgins Abstract: A focalizing debate within social movement theory considers the efficacy of violence versus nonviolence in direct action. This is especially important to consider in a settler- colonial context where the state is systematically designed to repress mobilizations of Indigenous sovereignty. It often attempts to frame such movements as either vaguely-defined discontent or national security threats - both of which attempt to invalidate the movements’ demands. I use the case studies of the Red Power movement of the 1960s/1970s in the U.S. and the Idle No More movement of 2012/2013 in Canada to explore the ways the settler state responds to violent and non-violent forms of Indigenous resistance. It is my hope that these observed patterns of response are critically read not only by Indigenous Peoples, but also by non-Indigenous folx who wish to actively support these movements rather than passively consume and re-produce the colonial re-narrativization of movement events and intentions. Acknowledgements: There are many people who made publishing this paper a possibility. Firstly, I would like to thank Sage Blumstengel for providing tireless editing expertise. I also received indispensable editing advice from Dr. waaseyaa’sin Christine Sy (Anishinaabe) who teaches Indigenous Gender Studies at UVIC. Dr. Sy helped me weave in my positionality in a responsible way, and encouraged me to think through my framing patterns. And finally, I would like to thank Michael John Lo for providing support and guidance throughout the process, and the whole OnPol team for putting together a beautiful journal.
    [Show full text]
  • Facing Colonalism at the Mi'kmaq-Nova Scotia-Canada
    REIMAGINING MI’KMAQ-STATE RELATIONS: FACING COLONALISM AT THE MI’KMAQ-NOVA SCOTIA-CANADA TRIPARTITE FORUM by Janelle Young Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia August 2015 © Copyright by Janelle Young, 2015 Table of Contents List of Figures iv Abstract v List of Abbreviations Used vi Acknowledgements vii Chapter One: Introduction 1 UNMASKING INDIGENOUS STRUGGLES: WHY DOES NOVA SCOTIA NEED A TRIPARTITE FORUM? ........ 2 THE METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH ........................................................................................................... 7 THESIS OUTLINE ........................................................................................................................................... 9 Chapter Two: Colonialism in Mi’kma’ki 10 THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF INDIGENOUS-STATE RELATIONS ..................................................................... 10 FROM MUTUAL COOPERATION TO ATTEMPTED SUBJUGATION: MI’KMAQ-SETTLER RELATIONS IN THE ATLANTIC REGION ..................................................................................................................................... 13 THE WHITE PAPER AND INDIGENOUS POLITICAL ACTIVISM ................................................................. 18 Chapter Three: Engaging Mi’kmaw Knowledges 21 THE STRUCTURE OF THE FORUM .............................................................................................................. 21 PERSPECTIVES ON POLICY ........................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]