Living on the Land: Indigenous Women’s Understanding of Place

by Nathalie Kermoal (Editor), Isabel Altamirano-Jiménez (Editor)

An extensive body of literature on Indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing has been written since the 1980s. This research has for the most part been conducted by scholars operating within Western epistemological frameworks that tend not only to deny the subjectivity of knowledge but also to privilege masculine authority. As a result, the information gathered predominantly reflects the types of knowledge traditionally held by men, yielding a perspective that is at once gendered and incomplete. Even those academics, communities, and governments interested in consulting with Indigenous peoples for the purposes of planning, monitoring, and managing land use have largely ignored the knowledge traditionally produced, preserved, and transmitted by Indigenous women. While this omission reflects patriarchal assumptions, it may also be the result of the reductionist tendencies of researchers, who have attempted to organize Indigenous knowledge so as to align it with Western scientific categories, and of policy makers, who have sought to deploy such knowledge in the service of external priorities. Such efforts to apply Indigenous knowledge have had the effect of abstracting this knowledge from place as well as from the world view and community - and by extension the gender - to which it is inextricably connected.

Living on the Land examines how patriarchy, gender, and colonialism have shaped the experiences of Indigenous women as both knowers and producers of knowledge. From a variety of methodological perspectives, contributors to the volume explore the nature and scope of Indigenous women's knowledge, its rootedness in relationships both human and spiritual, and its inseparability from land and landscape. From the reconstruction of cultural and ecological heritage by Naskapi women in Qu?bec to the medical expertise of M?tis women in western Canada to the mapping and securing of land rights in Nicaragua, Living on the Land focuses on the integral role of women as stewards of the land and governors of the community. Together, these contributions point to a distinctive set of challenges and possibilities for Indigenous women and their communities.

Genres: Indigenous, Nonfiction, Feminism, History, Academic

240 pages, Paperback

Published July 18, 2016

Reviews

[Leif · Rating 3 out of 5]

A promising edited collection of essays with some dominant points that doesn't always make it into nuance or detail. Each essay chimes with the overall argument that Indigenous women have not been included in surveys of knowledge, over and beyond the occlusion of Indigenous knowledge in general. This is generally asserted rather than evidenced, which is fine. Many essays connect this to past repressive legislation or the cultural genocide desired by Duncan Campbell Scott (who may not have said, "to kill the Indian in the child" but who certainly wrote "I want to get rid of the Indian problem"). Instead of searching thoroughly for instances where Indigenous women are ignored, what many essayists here do is return to various place-specific communities and traditions to discover what kinds of perspectives Indigenous women offer. There is a great deal of care here about who holds knowledge and who should talk about knowledge, which is admirable.

The strongest essays are an early re-telling of a creation myth with discussion by Kahente Horn-Miller and a closing essay by Zoe Todd. Common themes emerge of women's total integration into food provision, land management, and medicine gathering. Other themes of regional similarities also emerge, most clearly in the strongest essays which were focused on Arctic or sub-Arctic communities.

At the end of the volume, I was left with a feeling of superficiality - the lack of regional specificity (one essay considers Latin America, the others are focused on different regions in Canada) and the focus on declaring value in the project overall tended to preclude more nuanced or deeper treatments of the various communities, perspectives, and histories of Indigenous women discussed. Some essays also seemed half-written or under-edited. For example, one essay uses the terms "blacks" and "African Americans" interchangeably, which seems inconsiderate at best; the occasional use of critical theory seems an afterthought and unnecessary (is Foucault really the best source for thinking about knowledge and power from an Indigenous position?); other essays draw on old fieldwork but might have focused on new changes (if possible).

I'd hope that it is a friendly critique to surmise that this volume is an effective introduction to the subject, but that it opens more doors than it enters.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This well researched, scholarly work outlines what we're missing in Canada by not including indigenous women's understanding of place in our research.

First Nations and Metis women's experience of the land is somewhat different from men's experience of it, and we need to validate what these women's contribution.

I learned a lot from this book, and appreciate the perspectives shared.

[Clivemichael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful examinations, both academic and personal, reflective and enlightening.

[Sherry Seymour · Rating 5 out of 5]

A worthwhile read to understand the myriad ways Indigenous women connect with the land.

[Maggie]

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