Indigenous Peoples, Knowledge Production, and Settler Colonialism
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MAKING SENSE: INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION, AND SETTLER COLONIALISM MAKING SENSE: INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION, AND SETTLER COLONIALISM By LIAM MIDZAIN-GOBIN, B.SOC.SCI, M.A. A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree Social Sciences PhD McMaster University © Copyright by Liam Midzain-Gobin, June 2020 ii McMaster University SOCIAL SCIENCES PHD (2020) Hamilton, Ontario (Political Science, IR) TITLE: Making Sense: Indigenous Peoples, Data Collection, and Settler Colonialism AUTHOR: Liam Midzain-Gobin, B.Soc.Sci. (University of Ottawa), M.A. (University of Ottawa SUPERVISOR: J. Marshall Beier 230: iv-230 iii LAY ABSTRACT For many, Canada as a multicultural and inclusive country stretching from the Pacific to the Atlantic Oceans, and north to the Arctic circle is taken for granted. However, what we recognize as Canada in 2020 has only existed since the 1999 formation of the Territory of Nunavut, and even the territory that comprises Canada only came into formation with Newfoundland and Labrador’s 1949 entry into Confederation. This is to say that Canada in its current form is not natural. Rather, it was constructed over time through the incorporation and colonization of Indigenous lands and territories. This dissertation argues that despite an official discourse of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, and the need to renew settler Canada’s ‘most important’ relationship, colonization remains ongoing. Looking to federal demographic statistics and provincial land use and management policy, it argues that settler authority being continually re- made through the government knowing Indigenous peoples and their territories in ways that legitimize colonization as the normal pursuit of “peace, order and good government.” iv ABSTRACT Though it is often taken for granted with an assumed naturalness, settler colonial sovereignty relies on the settler state’s realization of Indigenous territorial dispossession, and the erasure of indigeneity. More than singular or historical events, dispossession and erasure are ongoing, and are best understood as contemporary, and structural, features of settler governance because of the continued existence of Indigenous nations. As a result, seemingly stable settler states (such as Canada) are in a constant state of insecurity, due to Indigenous nations’ competing claims of authority. As such, settler states are continually working to (re)produce their own sovereign authority, and legitimacy. This text argues that knowledge is central to the (re)production of settler sovereignty, and hence, settler colonialism. Understood this way, knowledge is both produced and also productive. What we ‘know’ is not only framed by the cosmologies and ontologies through which we make meaning of the world, but it also serves as an organizing tool, structuring what interventions we imagine to be possible. Focusing on government policymaking, this text documents the erasure of Indigenous knowledges, cosmologies, and imaginaries from settler colonial governance practices. It does so through an analysis of the Aboriginal Peoples’ Survey, the settlement of, and territorial allotment in, British Columbia and provincial land management policies such as the Forest and Range Evaluation Program. Using this empirical work, it argues that this erasure enables the reification of settler imaginaries over Indigenous territory, which in turn creates the conditions within which settler colonial authority is legitimized and sovereignty continually remade through policy interventions. While the text largely centres on territory in what is today Canada, it also offers a view into the way in which (settler) coloniality more broadly is continually upheld and remade. Indeed, when viewed through the lens of a global colonial order, the continual remaking of settler sovereignty enables the constitution of international and global politics. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A project such as this is not only the work of one person. This is especially true of the dissertation that follows. The work was completed with the financial support of the Government of Ontario and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada through the Ontario Graduate Scholarship and the Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarships Program—Doctoral Scholarship, respectively. The idea for the project was first conceived of approximately seven years ago, and over that time I have had many people take the time to help me refine it. I am humbled and eternally grateful for all the time, thought, effort, and attention each person gave to me. The project is stronger for their input, and any mistakes in the final product are, of course, my own. First among those who have had a hand in the project’s development and refinement are all those in Prince George, BC, and on the Wet’suwet’en yintah (and those beyond) who took the time to speak with me. This project would not be what it is without the thoughtful support, and encouragement of many. I went up to northern BC having read much, but—as I have come to learn from each of you—understanding much less than I needed to. Thank you for helping me better understand not only the regional politics and issues, but more directly, unlearn many of the assumptions I brought with me. In the Camp, and among the Wet’suwet’en I am especially grateful to Smogel’gem, Adam, Anne, Orin, and Dan. Your patience with a southerner very much out of his depth is more than anyone could expect. As I finish writing this many of you will be back fighting to build the future we all still seek in spite of the RCMP’s assault. I wish I was there with you in person, and I will be back. In Prince George, each of Heather, Catherine, Ross, Aita, Paul, Ryan, Katriona, and Nicole deserve special recognition for making the time to share they knowledge and experiences with me. Especially important to this project was Tonia, who not only has literally written the book on the Wet’suwet’en, but who was generous in opening her home to me, connecting me with many people within Prince George, the Wet’suwet’en and the Camp, and teaching me during my own process of unlearning. This project would have looked much different, and been all the poorer, if not for the time and energy each of you gave to me. I am forever grateful, and cannot wait to see you all again. Away from northern BC, I also want to thank each of the members of my committee for all the time they have taken with me over the last few years. First, thank you Marshall. When I emailed you ahead of applying to McMaster, it was at a time before Indigenous issues were a readily-accepted area of inquiry in the context of IR, and the project idea I proposed was one that took place entirely within the boundaries of Canada. You pushed me to run with that idea, always enthusiastically pushing me to follow the lines of thought I had for the project, and helping me understand the theory and issues more thoughtfully than I possibly could have on my own. For this support—along with the countless hours spent reading through draft chapters, ethics or grant applications, filling out letters of reference, and the many other administrative tasks of supervision—thank you. The following text has been made stronger, deeper, and just plain better through your guidance. Thank you also to Peter and Lana. Peter, you have pushed me to look at IR in a more complex and thoughtful way, and helped develop in me a curiosity about the institutions I once took for granted. Never again will I be able to look at citizenship, borders, or any number of other phenomena and not wonder at how they came to have the form they do, and imagine how we can use them to build a more inclusive and empathetic world. Thank you for first telling me vi about the Unist’ot’en Action Camp, and pushing me to pursue the professional and personal adventure that has brought me to this point. Lana, of all my committee I probably see you the most often. Whether it is a quick hello and catch-up in the halls around our offices, or getting to attend panels or other meetings at the ISA and other conferences, I leave each time seeing you more refreshed and hopeful about an academic future than I was before. That you are as brilliant and insightful as you are, while also still interested in continually learning, along with your ability to manage the overwhelming demands of academia with good humour and an ever- present willingness to take time with colleagues and students, are qualities I aspire to. Thank you for always taking the time with me. Outside of my committee, I have been incredibly fortunate to have found a supportive and thoughtful environment at McMaster. This starts with the staff of the Department of Political Science, Manuela, Rebekah, and Wendy. Any time I had a question, or needed to get out of my office for a bit, I knew I could go to the office and one of them would be there with the answer— or an insistence that actually, I should get back to writing, or marking, or any one of a million things other than bugging them in that moment. These not-infrequent trips outside of my office also oftentimes involved bumping into one of the other faculty members in the Department, and I want to thank especially thank Alina, Stephen, James, Robert, Michelle and Todd for not only giving me a lot to think about, offering me many opportunities that have helped in my own development, but perhaps more importantly, making the halls of Kenneth Taylor Hall an enjoyable place to spend time. My time at McMaster has been largely positive—a rarity in grad school.