Tag: Resurgence

Heeding the Voices of Our Ancestors

Taiaiake

The original 1995 book description:

This book is the first comprehensive study of the driving force behind Native political activism, and the only scholarly treatment of North American Indian politics which integrates an explicitly Native perspective. With a broad historical scope rich in detail, and drawing on the particular experience of the Mohawks of Kahnawake, it offers an explanation of Indian and Inuit political activism focusing on the importance of traditional values and institutions in shaping Native responses to the state.

The book explains the recent rise of a militant assertion of sovereignty on the part of Native people in terms of three major factors: the existence of alternative institutions in the body of the nation’s traditional culture; the self-conscious development of an alternative identity; and a persistent pattern of negative interaction with the state. It differs from other analyses focusing on similar factors in that it views nationalism not as a movement which activates in response to external factors, but as a persistent feature of political life which manifests itself in either a latent or active form in response to the interaction of the three factors discussed in the model.

Alfred – Heeding the VoicesDownload

Resurgence*: paths to decolonization in the thought of Taiaiake Alfred

Taiaiake

To contribute to the debate on decolonization from the perspective of Indigenous Peoples, we present the notion of Resurgence elaborated by Taiaiake Alfred, one of Canada’s most important Indigenous thinkers. Alfred proposes his notion of Resurgence as a strategy for breaking away from colonial power relations that focus on Indigenous Peoples’ ability to live and develop according to their own thinking systems. We will see that, besides questioning colonial domination, the notion of Resurgence, anchored in the millenary experiences and wisdom of Indigenous Peoples, shows how to prepare the way and create the necessary conditions for a true decolonization.

[Paper written and published in Portuguese]

Link: http://portal.amelica.org/ameli/journal/815/8154373016/

Zema Drummond Pataxo – Resurgence PaperDownload

It’s All about the Land – Photography

Taiaiake

Full colour versions of photographs in the book, It’s All about the Land, published in 2023 by the University of Toronto Press. All images are copyrighted and may not be reproduced without permission.

It’s All about the Land

Featured Taiaiake

Illuminating the First Nations struggles against the Canadian state, It’s All about the Land exposes how racism underpins and shapes Indigenous-settler relationships. Renowned Kahnawà:ke Mohawk activist and scholar Taiaiake Alfred explains how the Canadian government’s reconciliation agenda is a new form of colonization that is guaranteed to fail.

Bringing together Alfred’s speeches and interviews from over the past two decades, the book shows that Indigenous peoples across the world face a stark choice: reconnect with their authentic cultures and values or continue following a slow road to annihilation.

Rooted in ancestral spirit, knowledge, and law, It’s All about the Land presents a passionate argument for Indigenous Resurgence as the pathway toward justice for Indigenous peoples.

Listen to Taiaiake’s August 24, 2023 interview about the book on K1037 Mohawk Radio:

Read an Excerpt and Order the Book from the University of Toronto Press