Entry:
This journal article showcases the voices of Indigenous people living in urban settings in Canada. The authors demonstrate how the narratives of urban-dwelling Indigenous people are often erased, because the dominant discourse designates cities to settlers and Indigenous peoples are designated to reserves. This article is a successful piece because it takes the values of transnational feminist literature and applies it to movement across reserve/urban lines. The authors’ analysis of the historic narrative that stereotypes Indigenous people as being “nature in human form” and therefore, they’re very being in cities is imagined as antithetical. The triumph of the article, for me, comes from the author’s ability to prove that people’s identities are fluid and layered, and that a migrant can incorporate many places as being home to them. The data shows that the actions taken by Indigenous peoples to decolonize urban space are effective for affirm their relationship to land and with their culture.
Rationale:
The use of personal narratives within the article is a research practice that reflects the values of transnational feminists. Allowing people to speak for themselves may seem like a self-evident practice, however, historical narratives associated with colonization continue to oppress those who are Othered in the pursuit of power. I chose this article as an example of decolonial Indigenous transnational movements because the interviewees in the article demonstrate what it means to critique and reimagine the spatialization of Indigenous people. The lines between the urban and reserves were drawn by the colonizers, but when Indigenous people refuse to be confined to the land that was “given” to them, they assert their belonging to all of North America. In the article, the interviewees discussed even the little forms of resistance that aided in their pursuit of a decolonized urban space; including performing Anishinaabek ceremonial practices or smudging in a local park. This shows how moving towards a decolonized nation needs to start with a reimagination of how we think of borders, whether that be between nations or between cities and non-cities. Everything is part of a social construct held in place for those who are in power to keep their power. Indigenous people who refuse to be told where they are and aren’t allowed to be demonstrate the values of transnational feminists, and I believe that they should be included within the definition of activists moving towards a borderless world.
Keywords: decolonial, indigenous, transnational, movements
Author: Justine B
An interesting read indeed! The use of space is socio-political and therefore, colonialist, hegemonic ideologies of who belongs where have been and continue to be applied and normalized. It is so important to remember that social constructs and human-fueled ways of being can change! Over half of Canada’s Indigenous population live in cities, and this doesn’t mean that they’ve lost touch with their cultural traditions and values, just as if confining their lives to reservations (a completely preposterous notion), doesn’t mean they are out of touch with the realities of or the consequences of the neoliberalist world. In fact, rural Indigenous communities are the first to experience the downfalls and effects of climate change and as a result, these communities…