This past weekend my partner and i, indigenous Ph.D students in philosophy and sociology respectively, attended the Decolonizing Education/Integrating Knowledges Summit held at the University of Waterloo, in Ontario. Part of a broader array of “Truth and Reconciliation Response Projects”—spurred into existence by the release this time last year of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Final Report on the Residential School programme in kanada—the summit saw some incredible keynote speakers, and a number of quite inspirational and informative Circle Workshops on various topics. Continue reading “Who’s Land?” The Trials and Tribulations of Territorial Acknowledgement
The Rhetoric of “Self-Determination” vs the Practice of Decolonization
My recent burst of writings on this blog regarding the subject decolonization, my responses to varied white “left” reactions to said writings, and subsequent discussions that i have had with various comrades (Indigenous and non-Indigenous; anarchist, marxist and “other”) has caused me to return in my thoughts to a subject i have touched on before. The topic on my mind has been the way that the broad “left,” in particular marxists of a leninist bent of some sort, employ a rhetoric of a right to self-determination as opposed to putting forth a politics based on actual decolonization (1). Continue reading The Rhetoric of “Self-Determination” vs the Practice of Decolonization
Indigenous Revengence: The White Fear of Savage Reprisal
After a bit of back and forth with myself on whether or not it was worth it to respond to an article by Ross Wolfe (1), in which a bumbling, offhanded academic attempt is made to paint my article Decolonization is not a Metaphor: The Basics of a Genuine Anti-Colonial Position as the height of absurdity, i have decided to take the proverbial plunge and jot down a few thoughts. Perhaps against my better judgement, i decided to do this because the article by Wolfe, for all of its demonstrable euro-chauvinist flaws, does provide us with a nice teachable moment—indeed its euro-chauvinism is precisely why it is a useful pedagogical tool. Continue reading Indigenous Revengence: The White Fear of Savage Reprisal
