The Biopolitics of Indigenous Reproduction
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THE BIOPOLITICS OF INDIGENOUS REPRODUCTION: COLONIAL DISCOURSE AND THE OVERREPRESENTATION OF INDIGENOUS CHILDREN IN THE CANADIAN CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM by Laura Christine Luise Landertinger A thesis submitted to the Department of Sociology In conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Queen's University Kingston, Ontario, Canada (June, 2011) Copyright©Laura Christine Luise Landertinger i Abstract From its inception, Canada's 'Indian policy' has sought to undermine the bond between indigenous children and their communities. Each era has seen a new reason and corresponding tactic to remove indigenous children. They have been institutionalized in residential schools, placed in foster homes, provincial 'care' facilities, and adopted by Euro-Canadian families. While it is widely accepted that the forceful removal of indigenous children during the residential school era and the “Sixties Scoop” was a colonial strategy, contemporary child welfare practices seem to escape the same scrutiny. This seems to be the case even though indigenous children continue to be removed en masse and are vastly overrepresented in the Canadian child welfare system. Indeed, there are more indigenous children in 'care' today than ever before in Canadian history, including the residential school era and following the “Sixties Scoop”. Given these trends the colonial effect of contemporary child welfare practices seems evident. This project thus seeks to problematize child welfare practices in relation to indigenous peoples. In particular, it is the aim of this thesis to shed light on some of the narratives that underlie these practices. Through a critical discourse analysis this thesis illuminates how news media in Alberta and Manitoba disseminate controlling images of indigenous peoples and their children. I argue that the discourses in both provinces normalize the removal of indigenous children while naturalizing colonial control. ii Acknowledgements The unwavering support and advice of my supervisor Cathie Krull has been invaluable to the execution of this project. I thank her for taking me under her wings when I came to Queen's University and guiding me through this entire process. Without her continuing support, particularly during some difficult times, this thesis would not have been possible. I also want to thank Laureen Snider for her critical feedback and insights throughout the development of this thesis. Many thanks to Scott Morgensen who has influenced my thinking profoundly. He guides me to question my own assumptions, broaden my own understandings, and challenges me to think outside the normalizing paradigms within and outside academia. I would further like to thank Michelle Ellis, Graduate Administrator, for her support and encouragement throughout the duration of my MA program. Her generosity and kindness are very much appreciated. I would also like to thank my friends, in particular Meagan Crane, Krystle Maki, Carley Wasechek and Dana Olwan for their friendship inside and outside the classroom. I thank them for their inspiring thoughts, ongoing support and encouragement. I am truly fortunate to have such amazing individuals and strong women in my life. Gratitude must also go to my parents, Herbert and Barbara Landertinger, without whom I would not have been in a position to embark on this journey. Danke für eure Unterstützung. My deepest gratitude goes to my partner, Timothy Luchies, for his continuing love and support (and never-ending coffee supply). Thank you also to Mia and Ernesto. Everyone mentioned above not only helped me grow as an academic, but (more importantly) as a person. Thank you. iii Table of Contents Abstract..............................................................................................................................ii Acknowledgements...........................................................................................................iii Table of Contents..............................................................................................................iv Chapter One Introduction................................................................................................1 Colonial Narratives........................................................................................................5 For a Structural Critique................................................................................................7 Chapter Two Theorizing Biopower, Decolonizing Methodologies..............................12 Biopower – “State Control of the Biological”.............................................................13 Biopower and State Racism..........................................................................................19 Biopower, Settler Colonialism and Reproductive Control............................................22 Methodological Considerations...................................................................................31 Discourse and Power....................................................................................................34 Methods........................................................................................................................38 Conclusion....................................................................................................................43 Chapter Three Contextualizing Settler Colonialism and Indigenous Child 'Welfare'...........................................................................................................................45 Eradication Through Assimilation...............................................................................46 Residential Schooling – Colonial Regulation Through (Re)Education........................50 Child 'Welfare' and the “Sixties Scoop”.......................................................................61 Child 'Welfare' Today – The Legacy Continues............................................................71 Conclusion....................................................................................................................84 iv Chapter Four Analysis: Colonial Discourse in Alberta's and Manitoba's News Media................................................................................................................................86 'Aboriginal Culture' – Spectacle of Debauchery..........................................................87 The 'Aboriginal Woman' – Archetype of an Unfit Mother.............................................98 The 'Aboriginal Male' – Violent Criminal and Abusive Father..................................114 The 'Aboriginal Child' – Innocent Victim or Future Threat to Society?.....................125 Conclusion..................................................................................................................142 Chapter Five Conclusion and Final Remarks.............................................................144 Significance and Future Direction.............................................................................146 References.......................................................................................................................152 Appendix A.....................................................................................................................183 v Chapter One Introduction In The History of Sexuality Michel Foucault (1990) reminds us that the emergence of biopower inscribed racism (in its modern, statist form) in the mechanisms of the normalizing state (149). Racism, thus, is not an effect but rather a means of creating a ‘biologized’ internal Other against whom society must defend itself (Stoler 2006:59). Because of this, concerns over reproduction are at the core of a biopolitical state (Foucault 1990:139). The reproduction of those deemed undesirable is constructed as problematic or even threatening to the well-being of the dominant majority. In this conception the (literal and social) death of the internal Other (i.e. the inferior, degenerate, abnormal) “will make life in general healthier: healthier and purer” (Foucault 2003:255). This logic warrants the regulation or outright prevention of the Other's reproduction in the eyes of the dominant majority (Foucault 2003:255). Such an idea becomes especially powerful in a settler-colonial state, such as Canada. Indeed a colonial settler society, which can only exist through the dissolution of indigenous peoples and the establishment of a new social body on the expropriated landmass (Wolfe 2006), must have at its core an obsession with indigenous reproduction. For this reason, a colonial settler society is inherently eliminatory in that the dominant culture must “destroy to replace” (Wolfe 2006:390). The mere existence, let alone reproduction, of the indigenous population is counterproductive to the colonial project. In the Canadian context, such an obsession has historically manifested itself through various tactics of population control. These ranged from outright extermination 1 (Stevenson 1999:2), sexual violence against indigenous women (Weaver 2009), sterilization abuses (Grekul et al. 2004), to oppressive policies of the Indian Act that seek to 'define' indigenous peoples 'out of existence' (Lawrence 2004). One especially detrimental strategy was the wholesale removal of indigenous children from their families and communities. This was achieved through residential schooling and child welfare services during the now infamous “Sixties Scoop” (Walmsley 2005). This latter tactic is especially powerful