Indigenous Writes

Chelsea Vowel is Métis from manitow-sâkahikan (Lac Ste. Anne) Alberta, residing in amiskwacîwâskihikan (Edmonton). Mother to six girls, she has a BEd, an LLB, and a MA, and is a Cree language instructor at the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta. Chelsea is a public intellectual, writer, and educator whose work intersects language, gender, Métis self-determination, and resurgence. Author of Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis & Inuit Issues in Canada, she and her co-host Molly Swain produce the Indigenous feminist sci-fi podcast Métis in Space, and co-founded the Métis in Space Land Trust. Chelsea blogs at apihtawikosisan.com and makes legendary bannock.  

Contents

kinanâskomitinâwâw/Acknowledgments

Introduction: How to Read This Book 

Part 1. The Terminology of Relationships 



Just Don’t Call Us Late for Supper Names for Indigenous Peoples
Settling on a Name Names for Non-Indigenous Canadians

Part 2. Culture and Identity



Got Status? Indian Status in Canada
You’re Métis? Which of Your Parents Is an Indian? Métis Identity
Feel the Inukness Inuit Identity
Hunter-Gatherers or Trapper-Harvesters? Why Some Terms Matter
Allowably Indigenous: To Ptarmigan or Not to Ptarmigan When Indigeneity Is Transgressive
Caught in the Crossfire of Blood-Quantum Reasoning Popular Notions of Indigenous Purity
What Is Cultural Appropriation? Respecting Cultural Boundaries
Check the Tag on That “Indian” Story How to Find Authentic Indigenous Stories
Icewine, Roquefort Cheese, and the Navajo Nation Indigenous Use of Intellectual Property Laws
All My Queer Relations Language, Culture, and Two-Spirit Identity

Part 3. Myth-Busting

The Myth of Progress
The Myth of the Level Playing Field
The Myth of Taxation
The Myth of Free Housing 
The Myth of the Drunken Indian 
The Myth of the Wandering Nomad
The Myth of Authenticity 

Part 4. State Violence

Monster The Residential-School Legacy
Our Stolen Generations The Sixties and Millennial Scoops
Human Flagpoles Inuit Relocation
From Hunters to Farmers Indigenous Farming on the Prairies
Dirty Water, Dirty Secrets Drinking Water in First Nations Communities
No Justice, No Peace The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples

Part 5. Land, Learning, Law, and Treaties

Rights? What Rights? Doctrines of Colonialism
Treaty Talk The Evolution of Treaty-Making in Canada
The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same Numbered Treaties and Modern Treaty-Making
Why Don’t First Nations Just Leave the Reserve? Reserves Are Not the Problem
White Paper, What Paper? More Attempts to Assimilate Indigenous Peoples
Our Children, Our Schools Fighting for Control Over Indigenous Education