This paper focuses on a critical reading of a monument on Papaschase Cree land (University of Alb... more This paper focuses on a critical reading of a monument on Papaschase Cree land (University of Alberta campus) entitled ‘The Visionaries’, which is of two white settler men Rutherford, who was Alberta’s first premier and who introduced legislation for the campus, and Tory, who was the university’s first president. How does this monument work within memory-making to strategically erase and forget? In this case, forget the Papaschase Cree. And how can this erasure be made visible? After situating this research in a brief history of the Papaschase Cree and Rutherford and Tory, I will analyze the differing ways that Indigenous geographies and settler colonial geographies interpret place and relationships with the land. A critical pedagogy of place, inspired by Jay Johnson, will be used to re-read the monument and look at questions of memory, representation, settler implication and responsibility. My hope is that this analysis can encourage people to examine relationships and geographies ...
This paper focuses on a critical reading of a monument on Papaschase Cree land (University of Alb... more This paper focuses on a critical reading of a monument on Papaschase Cree land (University of Alberta campus) entitled 'The Visionaries', which is of two white settler men-Rutherford, who was Alberta's first premier and who introduced legislation for the campus, and Tory, who was the university's first president. How does this monument work within memory-making to strategically erase and forget? In this case, forget the Papaschase Cree. And how can this erasure be made visible? After situating this research in a brief history of the Papaschase Cree and Rutherford and Tory, I will analyze the differing ways that Indigenous geographies and settler colonial geographies interpret place and relationships with the land. A critical pedagogy of place, inspired by Jay Johnson, will be used to re-read the monument and look at questions of memory, representation, settler implication and responsibility. My hope is that this analysis can encourage people to examine relationships and geographies of power, place and privilege that envelope monuments and institutions, such as universities, and ask: Who is being remembered and forgotten, and why?
This capstone research paper discusses the contemporary ‘Reconciliation is Dead’ movement, which ... more This capstone research paper discusses the contemporary ‘Reconciliation is Dead’ movement, which appears to have gained traction during the 2020 raids at the Unist’ot’en Camp on unceded Wet’suwet’en lands in what is now known as Canada. I argue that the colonial government continues to utilize empty reconciliatory politics and gestures that have led many Indigenous peoples and settler accomplices to proclaim that reconciliation is ‘dead’. This paper will unpack colonial state forms of reconciliation, as well as discuss Land Back and how actions towards Indigenous sovereignty must include a returning of land and Indigenous self-determining authority over land. Some of my questions include: how can the Reconciliation is Dead1 movement inform us on current Indigenous-settler relations? How can the movement encourage people to think critically about ‘reconciliation’ and the government’s lack of material changes? I also discuss the Unist’ot’en Camp as a site of Indigenous resistance and resurgence, and how differently situated settlers need to engage in ongoing self-reflection on their positionalities, as well as their responsibilities to and with the Indigenous peoples and nations on whose lands they live. Finally, I share personal experiences as a white settler and how it is crucial to embrace the discomfort and to actively work to build relationships across difference that challenge settler colonialism, capitalism, empire and the state.
This paper focuses on a critical reading of a monument on Papaschase Cree land (University of Alb... more This paper focuses on a critical reading of a monument on Papaschase Cree land (University of Alberta campus) entitled ‘The Visionaries’, which is of two white settler men Rutherford, who was Alberta’s first premier and who introduced legislation for the campus, and Tory, who was the university’s first president. How does this monument work within memory-making to strategically erase and forget? In this case, forget the Papaschase Cree. And how can this erasure be made visible? After situating this research in a brief history of the Papaschase Cree and Rutherford and Tory, I will analyze the differing ways that Indigenous geographies and settler colonial geographies interpret place and relationships with the land. A critical pedagogy of place, inspired by Jay Johnson, will be used to re-read the monument and look at questions of memory, representation, settler implication and responsibility. My hope is that this analysis can encourage people to examine relationships and geographies ...
This paper focuses on a critical reading of a monument on Papaschase Cree land (University of Alb... more This paper focuses on a critical reading of a monument on Papaschase Cree land (University of Alberta campus) entitled 'The Visionaries', which is of two white settler men-Rutherford, who was Alberta's first premier and who introduced legislation for the campus, and Tory, who was the university's first president. How does this monument work within memory-making to strategically erase and forget? In this case, forget the Papaschase Cree. And how can this erasure be made visible? After situating this research in a brief history of the Papaschase Cree and Rutherford and Tory, I will analyze the differing ways that Indigenous geographies and settler colonial geographies interpret place and relationships with the land. A critical pedagogy of place, inspired by Jay Johnson, will be used to re-read the monument and look at questions of memory, representation, settler implication and responsibility. My hope is that this analysis can encourage people to examine relationships and geographies of power, place and privilege that envelope monuments and institutions, such as universities, and ask: Who is being remembered and forgotten, and why?
This capstone research paper discusses the contemporary ‘Reconciliation is Dead’ movement, which ... more This capstone research paper discusses the contemporary ‘Reconciliation is Dead’ movement, which appears to have gained traction during the 2020 raids at the Unist’ot’en Camp on unceded Wet’suwet’en lands in what is now known as Canada. I argue that the colonial government continues to utilize empty reconciliatory politics and gestures that have led many Indigenous peoples and settler accomplices to proclaim that reconciliation is ‘dead’. This paper will unpack colonial state forms of reconciliation, as well as discuss Land Back and how actions towards Indigenous sovereignty must include a returning of land and Indigenous self-determining authority over land. Some of my questions include: how can the Reconciliation is Dead1 movement inform us on current Indigenous-settler relations? How can the movement encourage people to think critically about ‘reconciliation’ and the government’s lack of material changes? I also discuss the Unist’ot’en Camp as a site of Indigenous resistance and resurgence, and how differently situated settlers need to engage in ongoing self-reflection on their positionalities, as well as their responsibilities to and with the Indigenous peoples and nations on whose lands they live. Finally, I share personal experiences as a white settler and how it is crucial to embrace the discomfort and to actively work to build relationships across difference that challenge settler colonialism, capitalism, empire and the state.
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