Indigenous social justice movements and the anti-modern: Theresa Spence, the De Beers Victor Mine, and the Indigenous body

Abstract

This article looks at the events surrounding Theresa Spence’s hunger strike in 2012 in order to explore the ideological and epistemological impacts of Indigenous bodies as they are situated within both mediated and real colonial spaces. In considering the violent reactions to Indigenous social justice movements by settler Canadians, I argue that Indigenous peoples in Canada are at the forefront of radical change in Canadian politics, but that due to the legacy of colonial erasure, anthropological discourse, and media representations, Indigenous activists also risk great physical and psychological harm in placing their bodies at the forefront of environmental, social, and political movements to decolonise Turtle Island. Theresa Spence’s experience offers a window into the roots of both historical and contemporary practices of colonisation, and the ways in which the colonial narrative has shifted towards paternalistic, neoliberal, and capitalist discourses of care. Considering the connection between Spence and the Victor diamond mine, this article considers the implications of settler discourse on neocolonialism in Canada and the need to alter systemic racist structures in order to decolonise the nation.