Decolonization Indigeneity Education Society, 2014

Our goal in this article is to intervene and disrupt current contentious debates regarding the predominant lines of inquiry bourgeoning in settler colonial studies, the use of 'settler', and the politics of building solidarities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. Settler colonial studies, 'settler', and solidarity, then, operate as the central themes of this paper. While somewhat jarring, our assessment of the debates is interspersed with our discussions in their original form, as we seek to explore possible lines of solidarity, accountability, and relationality to one another and to decolonization struggles both locally and globally. Our overall conclusion is that without centering Indigenous peoples' articulations, without deploying a relational approach to settler colonial power, and without paying attention to the conditions and contingency of settler colonialism, studies of settler colonialism and practices of solidarity run the risk of reifying (and possibly replicating) settler colonial as well as other modes of domination.

This paper explores the following question: what does political solidarity look like in a settler-colonial context? Through a critical paring of Juliet Hooker’s book Race and the Politics of Solidarity with Indigenous scholar-activists from Canada and the U.S., I argue that political solidarity, both between dominant-subordinate groups and disadvantaged groups, involves disrupting our assumption of a shared, universal temporal framework (Rifkin 2017). One concrete step we can take is to “re-create a culture of humility” (Pelaez Lopez 2018). In other words, what Hooker calls “seeing through the eyes of the other” requires crossing the boundaries of sovereignty imposed by settler-colonialism – I am inspired by this notion of boundary crossing in the work of Kevin Bruyneel (Hooker 2009, 51; 2007, 225). I develop my argument in four parts. First, I provide an overview of Hooker’s argument about the politics of solidarity. Part two looks at the potential of political solidarity in the writings of three Indigenous American scholars – Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, George Manuel & Posluns, and Sandy Grande. In part three I explore the challenges of political solidarity within Indigenous communities, and between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples through the works of Vine Deloria Jr., Lee Maracle, and Taiaiake Alfred. Part four connects Hooker’s notion of political solidarity with the insights of Rifkin, Bruyneel, and Pelaez Lopez.

University of Manitoba, 2016

Canadian processes such as the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, and Comprehensive Land Claims as well as flashpoint events (Simpson & Ladner, 2010) such as the Kanien’kehaka resistance at Kanehsatà:ke and Kahnawà:ke (the “Oka Crisis”) and more recently, the Idle No More movement, signal to Canadians that something is amiss. What may be less visible to Canadians are the 400 years of colonial oppression experienced and the 400 years of resistance enacted by Indigenous peoples on their lands, which are currently occupied by the state of Canada. It is in the context of historical and ongoing Canadian colonialism: land theft, dispossession, marginalization, and genocide, and in the context of the overwhelming denial of these realities by white settler Canadians that this study occurs. In order to break through settler Canadian denial, and to inspire greater numbers of white settler Canadians to initiate and/or deepen their anti-colonial and/or decolonial understandings and work, this study presents extended life narratives of white settler Canadians who have engaged deeply in anti-colonial and/or decolonial work as a major life focus. In this study, such work is framed as living in Indigenous sovereignty, or living in an awareness that we are on Indigenous lands containing their own protocols, stories, obligations, and opportunities which have been understood and practiced by Indigenous peoples since time immemorial. Inspired by Indigenous and anti-oppressive methodologies, I articulate and utilize an anticolonial research methodology. I use participatory and narrative methods, which are informed and politicized through words gifted by Indigenous scholars, activists, and Knowledge Keepers. The result is research as a transformative, relational, and decolonizing process. In addition to the extended life narratives, this research yields information regarding connections between social work education, social work practice, and the anti-colonial/decolonial learnings and work of five research subjects who have, or are completing, social work degrees. The dissertation closes with an exploration of what can be learned through the narrative stories, with recommendations for white settler peoples and for social work, and with recommendations for future research.

University of Arizona Press, 2015

2014

There is a tendency within both literature and practice to conceive of colonialism and decolonization as state-centric structures or events. Such an approach to colonialism and decolonization, however, ignores or overshadows the integral roles played by non-indigenous, non-state actors within both colonial and de-colonial processes. This thesis identifies and explores specifically how non-indigenous Canadian citizens, as settler denizens, contribute to colonialism within the country. Through the exploration of settlement stories (both those provided and those silenced), it is argued that, non-indigenous Canadians can come to understand the roles they play within ongoing process of colonialism within Canada today. It is only after these settler actors have identified and explored these roles and recognized their responsibilities to act in de-colonial ways that decolonization can begin. This thesis is, therefore, concerned with identifying and exploring the first step in the process t...

Settler Colonial Studies Special Edition: Recuperating Binarism, 2013

"This article explores the strengths and limitations of settler colonial theory (SCT) as a tool for non-Indigenous scholars seeking to disturb rather than reenact colonial privilege. Based on an examination of recent Australian academic debates on settler colonialism and the Northern Territory intervention, we argue that SCT is useful in dehistoricizing colonialism, usually presented as an unfortunate but already transcended national past, and in revealing the intimate connections between settler emotions, knowledges, institutions and policies. Most importantly, it makes settler investments visible to settlers, in terms we understand and find hard to escape. However, as others have noted, SCT seems unable to transcend itself, in the sense that it posits a structural inevitability to the settler colonial relationship. We suggest that this structuralism can be mobilized by settler scholars in ways that delegitimize Indigenous resistance and reinforce violent colonial relationships. But while settlers come to stay and to erase Indigenous political existence, this does not mean that these intentions will be realized or must remain fixed. Non-Indigenous scholars should challenge the politically convenient conflation of settler desires and reality, and of the political present and the future. This article highlights these issues in order to begin to unlock the transformative potential of SCT, engaging settler scholars as political actors and arguing that this approach has the potential to facilitate conversations and alliances with Indigenous people. It is precisely by using the strengths of SCT that we can challenge its limitations; the theory itself places ethical demands on us as settlers, including the demand that we actively refuse its potential to re-empower our own academic voices and to marginalize Indigenous resistance. "

Shima: The International Journal of Research into Island Cultures

Settler responsibility is a worldview grounded in profound relationships, exchanges, and solidarities between Indigenous and non-native communities. When put into practice, settler responsibility requires constant collaboration, articulation, and radical care to support a rich re-envisioning of peace and justice. Through a critique of white settler colonial discourse, I demonstrate that shared histories of US imperialism link Caribbean and Pacific Islands. Building upon kuʻualoha hoʻomanawanui's notion of kuleana consciousness, I argue that decolonial awareness in local spaces is a necessary step towards creating better worlds. Applying the Hawaiian concept of kuleana, my qualitative and archival findings from Bieke (Vieques), Guåhan (Guam), and Hawaiʻi calls settlers to deepen our approaches and ethical responsibilities to the Indigenous peoples whose lands we occupy. Bringing to the fore that Indigenous movements for demilitarisation respatialise dissent in "America" beyond continental borders, I seek to raise white settler consciousness about our own ignorance of these islands, histories, and peoples.

Shima, 2019

Settler responsibility is a worldview grounded in profound relationships, exchanges, and solidarities between Indigenous and non-native communities. When put into practice, settler responsibility requires constant collaboration, articulation, and radical care to support a rich re-envisioning of peace and justice. Through a critique of white settler colonial discourse, I demonstrate that shared histories of US imperialism link Caribbean and Pacific Islands. Building upon kuʻualoha hoʻomanawanui's notion of kuleana consciousness, I argue that decolonial awareness in local spaces is a necessary step towards creating better worlds. Applying the Hawaiian concept of kuleana, my qualitative and archival findings from Bieke (Vieques), Guåhan (Guam), and Hawaiʻi calls settlers to deepen our approaches and ethical responsibilities to the Indigenous peoples whose lands we occupy. Bringing to the fore that Indigenous movements for demilitarisation respatialise dissent in "America" beyond continental borders, I seek to raise white settler consciousness about our own ignorance of these islands, histories, and peoples.