Making Brave Space: Beading, Reconciliation, and Urban Indigenous Geographies

Abstract

While cities have historically sought to displace and exclude Indigenous peoples through a multitude of state-sanctioned discriminatory policies such as the Indian Act, today, Indigenous peoples and cultures are flourishing across Canada’s urban landscape and are creating new urban Indigenous geographies. Young Indigenous peoples are part and parcel of the vibrancy of urban Indigenous communities, especially given their involvement in promoting Indigenous cultures to wider audiences through social media. This project focuses on the spaces of solidarity and cultural exchange created by beadwork. This traditional art form and practice represents an important marker of Indigenous identity and a true form of cultural resurgence. While beadwork can represent a clear expression of one’s identity in the city, it also provides opportunities for social gathering and exchange. One such example are beading circles where participants gather to bead and socialize. Focusing on the city of Ottawa, Canada’s national capital, the study brings together the experiences of 13 post-secondary Indigenous students and artists, considering the role of beading circles on university campuses and how they can serve as what one interlocutor termed “brave spaces” and as sites of cultural and social exchange between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. It is argued that these networks of learning, exchange, and solidarity enable the formation of an urban sense of place while contributing to an Indigenous right to the city and to difference, ultimately furthering the process of Indigenous urbanism and the national project of truth, reconciliation, and healing.