Thou Shalt Forget: Indigenous Sovereignty, Resistance and the Production of Cultural Oblivion in Canada
Synopsis
Following a decade-long research project, this devastating book examines colonial state imperatives to sideline indigenous peoples and history from mainstream national narratives. Through the study of his community, the Essipiunnuat or, ‘People of the Brook Shells River’, the author hopes to combat the erasure of First Nations people from colonial history-books by shedding a light on historical and current systematic and territorial oppression. From land grabs, to genocide and irreversible ecological warfare, the book demonstrates the impact of psychological colonialism on agency and resistance, the value of elders and community story-telling in empowerment and self-actualisation, and the role of the state and local elite in creating and warping our perception and understanding of history. A critical text for those with an interest in indigenous history and human rights, Thou Shalt Forget also serves as an important tool for remembrance and a starting point for resistance and change.
Table of Contents
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Introduction
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1. The Essipiunnuat, the Salmon War and cultural oblivion
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2. The sources of war: colonialism and the emergence of collective agency
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3. Capturing who we were: heroic postures in tragic circumstances
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4. Stories on the transformative experience of war: from self-empowerment to a metaphysics of domination
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5. The Essipiunnuat’s actuality in light of the past
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Conclusion
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Postface | Heirs of oblivion: leaders’ interiority as a public issue
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