Abstract
Editors Nielsen and Jarratt-Snider outline ably the ongoing impact of settler colonialism on Indigenous women and their communities in North America. They present a thorough discussion of the social, political, and legal issues that plague Indigenous people in the United States and Canada. Pivotal problems constitute the core of this book: forced assimilation; forced removal of children; involuntary sterilization; and the marginalization of Indigenous women in society and their own communities.
In the book's three parts, the contributors strategically analyze transgressions against Indigenous justice and gender and juxtapose them alongside “possible and potential solutions.” Nielsen and Jarratt-Snider signal that their edited collection is about “Indigenous women's experience and the normalization of the sustainable impacts and sovereign efforts Indigenous women are making within their communities in the USA and across the globe” (p. 4). The editors interweave throughout each part of the book the disruptions that settler colonialism's “whiteness” has inflicted on Indigenous women historically and contemporarily (pp. 7 & 45). In this book, the term, ‘settler colonialism,’ refers to the structures of oppression used to erase traditional ways of living of Indigenous peoples and to replace them with a “settler way of life” (p. 49). White settlers have characterized Indigenous people as “passive victims that could not withstand colonialism and that they are inferior to white European settlers” (p. 6). Chapters on the movement, “Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two Spirit (MMIWG2S),” gender, health, justice, climate action, and food sovereignty explore the multidimensionality of settler colonialism and white supremacy. Every chapter author represents the disruptions caused by settler colonialism using a “resilience or strength-based model” instead of a “deficient model of thought” (pp. 32–38 & 3). Each does so by reviewing core themes of judicial jurisdiction, action for change, and available resources for Indigenous people.
Part One documents that Indigenous women's health is of “poorer” quality when compared to the health of non-Indigenous women (p. 21). The chapters in this section focus on interconnections among colonialism, hegemonic patriarchy, and feminism pertinent to Indigenous women's health precarity and wellness. The chapter on reproductive justice by Joseph and McCue chronicles Indigenous women's campaign to uphold the continuation of life and health in their respective communities. Their struggle is about “upholding the lineage and clans and familial connections under precarious circumstances on reserves that are underdeveloped and economically repressive” (p. 28). Furthermore, Joseph and McCue's concept of “rematriation” illuminates the links among Indigenous reproduction, inherent sovereignty, and self-determination. These authors use the example of the maintenance of breast feeding amongst Indigenous women to ensure the continuance of matriarchal centrality within their entire nation (p. 35).
Part Two is strategically decolonial. It focuses on social movements that pursue sex and gender justice in Indigenous communities. This portion of the book concentrates on settler colonialism's continuous violence perpetuated against Indigenous women. Part Two documents the discourse of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two Spirit (MMIWG2S) movement in both Canada and the United States, a public educational initiative on the responsibilities of non-Indigenous people towards Indigenous people. The contributors to Part Two articulate the responsibilities held by governments and other institutional structures towards Indigenous women to perpetuate positive change and decolonization.
Part Three attends to Indigenous women's influence on social, legal, political, and institutional processes and changes. The chapters in this section reinforce the fact that “Indigenous women are not passive victims of marginalization and other consequences of settler colonialism” (p.131). Chapters Six and Seven inspect the ways in which Indigenous women are “leaders in a wide range of fields from entrepreneurship, climate change, food sovereignty, education, the law and politics” (p.131). In documenting the agency of Indigenous women, the editors center on Indigenous matriarchs from across North America, such as Maria Campbell, Kim Anderson, and Ada Deer. They do so to demonstrate the strength and resilience of Indigenous women and to supply an example of Indigenous women's “taking on issues of significance that impact their daily lives and the lives of their communities” (p.132).
This book is interdisciplinary and therefore contributes to various specializations: social work; decolonial literature; Indigenous justice and gender studies; Indigenous feminism; sovereignty; and social action. Chapters 4, 5, and 6 capture the ongoing cycles of violence that perpetuate white supremacy, colonialism, and misogyny. Throughout early colonial history, Native Americans were basically seen as naive pagans, heathens, savages, dirty, drunken, and violent for which for settler colonists justified treating them as less than human. Indigenous women especially were targeted for violence. Colonial governments ignored crimes against indigenous women for the most part which allowed perpetrators to literally get away with rape and murder (p.107).
In conclusion, this book makes clear that non-Indigenous people must prioritize their responsibilities towards Indigenous women and their communities if decolonialization is to take place. Otherwise, brutality against Indigenous women, girls, and Two Spirit people will continue unabated.
