“That’s Where the Medicine Comes From”: Aesthetics of Anti-colonialism in Canada

Abstract

In the context of Indigenous-settler relations in Canada, this roundtable conversation confronts dominant modes, methods and frames of colonial violence from Indigenous academic, activist, and artistic perspectives. The authors are all engaged in projects and analyses informed by the desire to advocate for justice following the killing of Colten Boushie and, to a wider degree, other Indigenous victims of violence. With reference to our respective works, we describe and analyze the ways that settler mythologies misrepresent the social and political landscapes of lands claimed by Canada. We reveal the foundational nature of settler claims that lie at the centre of contemporary conflicts between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, including Indigenous movements for justice. Collectively, we describe a wide array of methodologies, including film, narrative, storying, and processes of artistic production, to offer insights into Indigenous challenges to the various shapes and scales of colonial violence and to the mythologies that sustain it. In so doing, we re-centre our histories, present, and futures in ways that open up possibilities for diverse Indigenous persons to use their gifts within more just Indigenous-settler relationships.