A Short History of the Blockade
Giant Beavers, Diplomacy, and Regeneration in Nishnaabewin
La description
Leanne Betasamosake Simpson explores the generative nature of Indigenous blockades through our relative, the beaver (Amik). Moving through genres, shifting through time, amikwag stories become a lens for the life-giving possibilities of dams and the world-building possibilities of blockades, deepening our understanding of Indigenous resistance, as both a negation and an affirmation. A Short History of the Blockade reveals how the practice of telling stories is also a culture of listening, “a thinking through together,” and ultimately, like the dam or the blockade, an affirmation of life.
Reviews
“Simpson, a celebrated Indigenous storyteller, artist, and scholar, offers four Nishnaabeg stories from the wisdom of the beaver nation and the foundational teachings of their blockades (dams) as an established practice of world-building resistance. Together, the stories are also a commentary on current issues of social media, lateral violence, binary thinking, and surveillance that house the potential to hinder the generative, relational, and reciprocal nature of Indigenous resistance.” Morgan Mowatt, University of Toronto Quarterly, August 2023 [doi: 10.3138/utq.92.3.hr.018]