GRSJ224/Resurgences against Contemporary Colonialism

CW: mentions of rape and genocide

Context

There are 350 million Indigenous peoples within around 70 countries, varying in level of recognition. A common trait of these countries is the systematic suppression and destruction of Indigenous language, cultures, lands, and governments, perpetually imposed by settler societies and states. Colonialism as a system of power has eroded and supplanted cultures and societies around the world. This has been the case for generations, however the colonial past is not confined to history. Current post-colonial realities continue the path of destruction of relationships, communities, homelands, religions, spiritual practices, communication methods, shared histories and all discernible aspects of culture, struggling for continuity and existence .

Assimilation

The late 19th and 20th century colonial past is one of forced assimilation and identity suppression. After land seizures, genocides, and segregation, governments began looking towards the process of forced integration. The rhetoric surrounding assimilation was one of philanthropy and mutual aid, however the reality produced cultural genocide and rape . Efforts to ‘make them like us’ and remove Indigenous people from there cultures can be seen throughout the world. Most efforts had and continue to have disastrous consequences. The Canadian “People to People, Nation to Nation: Highlights from the Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples” released in 1996 deliver a comprehensive 150 document the past and current failures of the Canadian government and people to establish a functional relationship with First Nations. Admitting that historical and current government policy has and is devastating communities is the first step in formal recognition .

Recognition

Many contemporary political efforts have been surrounding policies of recognition. Recognizing past and current flaws allows for further, honest discuss of redress. The construction of a relationship between a nation and Indigenous communities on a nation-to-nation basis. Confronting the history of colonialization and the post-colonial realities servers as a first step. In Canada, the Canadian Assembly of First Nations (AFN) outlined a vision following the 1996 Report of Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples that there has been a systematic denial of the right of First Nations to social, economic, and cultural freedom from direct and indirect intrusion . However some academics have noted that the entrenchment of ‘aboriginalism’ is designed to force First Nation communities to silently surrender and ingrain their future into the hands of their colonial oppressors, rather than encouraging resistance. The domestication of Indigenous communities is a weapon wielded by governing bodies. . Australia first formally acknowledged the Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders populations, allowing for the government to regulate this minority. Recognizing existence still confined them to subjects of rule by a ‘legitimate’ Australian settler state. Efforts continue to seek measures beyond the recognition of existence, and instead focus on nationhood, a voice in government, and other forms of direct rule .

Reconciliation and Identity Resurgence

Within settler societies, reconciliation provides some substantive benefits and ideological pitfalls. Rather than pursue decolonization, democratic liberal countries are opting for a win-win venture that attempts to slowly heal relationships between peoples. Public performative measures deliver symbolic gestures of good-will and understanding. In some cases leaders from various communities are brought together for talks, events, marches, etc. This tends to deliver a positivist message to the public. A message that seeks to severe ties to the past and disregard the continuation of colonial effects. These efforts have been cut from the same cloth of assimilation. Although seemingly apologetic in nature, events take on the form of the nation-colonized power relationship. The roots of reconciliation come from the settler sense of national atonement and redemption. In this way, even when efforts lead to substantive Indigenous benefits, the premise of unity walks the line between changing relationships to power relationship entrenchment. On one hand, reconciliation offers imagined futures of cooperation and trust. On the other, it threatens to be politically ambivalent and rhetorical in nature. The lack of formal decolonized gains from the process has laid the foundation for criticism . The common good becomes a conception of the settler government. Any act of reconciliation tends to fall under the colonial conception of good, which frames reconciliation through the lens of the oppressor .

Scholarly literature on being Indigenous are largely based on identity formed within the colonized political and legal contexts in which Indigenous peoples live. Resurgences can happen within settings that remove Indigenous communities from geographic factors integral to cultural identity formation. Much of the 1970s resurgence of the American Indian Movement was rooted in urban areas resulting from assimilation policies of prior decades. Some Indigenous scholars such as Feliciano Sanchez Chan, a Maya/Yucateco living within Mexico have highlighted the need for areas of refuge . These areas must allow for physical and psychological safety where cultures can continue to find expression and communication even during post-colonial erasure surround it. Within such areas, art, language, and cultural practices can be holistically shared with reprieve.