White Settler Colonialism and (Re)presentations of Gendered Violence in Indigenous Women’s Theatre

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and surreal, the representation successfully relates the destructive nature of family violence. Jay’s transformation, his gradual transition to abuser, is displayed visually as Clements uses bruise-like lighting effects projected onto Madonna’s body and “clear pipes of exposed liquid,” revealing blood, to abstractly – rather than gratuitously – portray the progressive escalation of violence. Notwithstanding the incremental character of Jay’s abuse, it is very early in the relationship that he asks Madonna “[h]ow Indian [she is]” (15), making clear the inextricable connection between racialization and violence: Madonna is considered violable because of her gender and her Metis heritage. Jay’s sexual demands and abuse increase in 105 In recent surveys, one-quarter (24%) of Indigenous Canadian women reported abuse at the hands of a current or former partner, while only 7% of non-Indigenous women reported an experience of intimate partner violence (Scrim 138 proportion to Madonna’s diminishing affection, the protagonist outlining verbally the trajectory of violence, from “[t]he first time he hits [her]” (20), to the very last “pounding” (40). Yet Madonna remains reluctant to leave the relationship, despite Dee’s encouragement. “They say when you get hit and hurt bad you see black lights ... the black lights of unconsciousness,” Dee tells Madonna, gently mocking her friend’s (“unconscious[ly]”) blind acceptance of abuse (22). Before Madonna is able to break free, she becomes pregnant with Jay’s child. Here, Clements returns to the theme of disrupted Indigenous motherhood, also present in The Unnatural and Accidental Women. Madonna desperately invests hope in her unborn child, optimistically asking Dee, “if I’m going to have a little baby? Do you think he would stop?” (24). Dee, in typical fashion, responds with astute cynicism – “[o]nce a guy hits you he never stops. Can’t get enough I guess” – but Madonna’s “idealis[m]” is pervasive (11) “I think he couldn’t help but love it,” she trails off (24). Clements ends the scene, however, with a final quip from Dee, foreshadowing the play’s outcome: “I hope not. At least not in the same way he loves you” (24). In the two dreamlike scenes that follow, Clements represents the forced miscarriage of Madonna’s unborn baby, followed by the death of the protagonist. Emphasizing the links between violence against non-human animals and violence against women, the playwright first stages a particularly unnerving, however surreal, memory scene of abstract violence. A product of Madonna’s and Jay’s combined recollections, the scene – as with other scenes of violence – is a display of light and “shadows” (11), exposing audiences to the shattering effects of abuse. Unprovoked, Jay flies into a rage and wraps a towel – or “towel-leash” – around Madonna’s neck, “twist[ing] it tighter,” strangling her, while reciting the words of his father: “I said dead n. pag.). For further reading, see Brzozowsk et al., Victimization and Offending Among the Aboriginal Population in Canada. Of late, such studies data has served as rationalization for failure on the part of Canada’s federal government to address violence against Indigenous women in any meaningful way. See, for example, Andrew Kurjata’s article “Focus on ‘family violence’ in cases of missing, murdered aboriginal women misguided.”