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Buffalo Is the New Buffalo
"Education is the new buffalo" is a metaphor widely used among Indigenous peoples in Canada to signify the importance of education to their survival and ability to support themselves, as once Plains nations supported themselves as buffalo peoples. The assumption is that many of the pre-Contact ways of living are forever gone, so adaptation is necessary. But Chelsea Vowel asks, "Instead of accepting that the buffalo, and our ancestral ways, will never come back, what if we simply ensure that they do?"
Inspired by classic and contemporary speculative fiction, Buffalo Is the New Buffalo explores science fiction tropes through a Métis a Two-Spirit rougarou (shapeshifter) in the nineteenth century tries to solve a murder in her community and joins the nêhiyaw-pwat (Iron Confederacy) in order to successfully stop Canadian colonial expansion into the West. A Métis man is gored by a radioactive bison, gaining super strength, but losing the ability to be remembered by anyone not related to him by blood. Nanites babble to babies in Cree, virtual reality teaches transformation, foxes take human form and wreak havoc on hearts, buffalo roam free, and beings grapple with the thorny problem of healing from colonialism.
Indigenous futurisms seek to discover the impact of colonization, remove its psychological baggage, and recover ancestral traditions. These eight short stories of "Métis futurism" explore Indigenous existence and resistance through the specific lens of being Métis. Expansive and eye-opening, Buffalo Is the New Buffalo rewrites our shared history in provocative and exciting ways.
Inspired by classic and contemporary speculative fiction, Buffalo Is the New Buffalo explores science fiction tropes through a Métis a Two-Spirit rougarou (shapeshifter) in the nineteenth century tries to solve a murder in her community and joins the nêhiyaw-pwat (Iron Confederacy) in order to successfully stop Canadian colonial expansion into the West. A Métis man is gored by a radioactive bison, gaining super strength, but losing the ability to be remembered by anyone not related to him by blood. Nanites babble to babies in Cree, virtual reality teaches transformation, foxes take human form and wreak havoc on hearts, buffalo roam free, and beings grapple with the thorny problem of healing from colonialism.
Indigenous futurisms seek to discover the impact of colonization, remove its psychological baggage, and recover ancestral traditions. These eight short stories of "Métis futurism" explore Indigenous existence and resistance through the specific lens of being Métis. Expansive and eye-opening, Buffalo Is the New Buffalo rewrites our shared history in provocative and exciting ways.
358 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 7, 2022
90 people are currently reading
2015 people want to read
About the author
Chelsea Vowel
6 books73 followersChelsea Vowel is Métis from manitow-sâkahikan (Lac Ste. Anne) Alberta where she and her family currently reside. She has a BEd and LLB and is mother to three girls, step-mother of two more.
Chelsea is a public intellectual, writer and educator whose work intersects language, gender, Métis self-determination and resurgence. She has worked directly with First Nations researching self-government, participating in constitutional drafting and engaging in specific land claim negotiation settlements and valuation of claims over a 200 year period. She is passionate about creating programs and materials that enable Indigenous languages to thrive, not merely survive.
Most recently an educator in Québec, she developed and delivered programs to Inuit youth in a restorative justice program. She is a heavily cited and internationally respected commentator on Indigenous-State relations and dedicates much of her time to mentoring other young activists.
Chelsea is a public intellectual, writer and educator whose work intersects language, gender, Métis self-determination and resurgence. She has worked directly with First Nations researching self-government, participating in constitutional drafting and engaging in specific land claim negotiation settlements and valuation of claims over a 200 year period. She is passionate about creating programs and materials that enable Indigenous languages to thrive, not merely survive.
Most recently an educator in Québec, she developed and delivered programs to Inuit youth in a restorative justice program. She is a heavily cited and internationally respected commentator on Indigenous-State relations and dedicates much of her time to mentoring other young activists.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 106 reviews
August 31, 2022
Rather than doing a full review here, I want to talk about how this book made me feel.
Most people have no idea where Lac Ste. Anne is and so it was a little surreal to have stories revolve around the area and have characters from the same place I am. Even though I haven’t been back to pilgrimage in years, I can still vividly remember my many Summers there as a kid. Representation is so important and it’s so special to find yourself in the pages of a book.
Growing up in Calgary away from community, except during pilgrimage and family events, means I have so much to learn about my own history and culture. I loved the reinvention effort to foster endless hope for a better future but also be as historically accurate as possible. This felt like a connection to a past I did not get to know growing up.
Some of the historical or cultural context I knew but so much of it I didn’t. Vowel does an outstanding job at explaining the real-world history of the Métis but also respectfully discussing the hard realities of it. Similarly, she ponders many big questions and sets misconceptions straight such as Métis just being “mixed Indigenous.”
Most people have no idea where Lac Ste. Anne is and so it was a little surreal to have stories revolve around the area and have characters from the same place I am. Even though I haven’t been back to pilgrimage in years, I can still vividly remember my many Summers there as a kid. Representation is so important and it’s so special to find yourself in the pages of a book.
Growing up in Calgary away from community, except during pilgrimage and family events, means I have so much to learn about my own history and culture. I loved the reinvention effort to foster endless hope for a better future but also be as historically accurate as possible. This felt like a connection to a past I did not get to know growing up.
Some of the historical or cultural context I knew but so much of it I didn’t. Vowel does an outstanding job at explaining the real-world history of the Métis but also respectfully discussing the hard realities of it. Similarly, she ponders many big questions and sets misconceptions straight such as Métis just being “mixed Indigenous.”
June 18, 2022
One of my favourite things about this collection is that the stories include footnotes and are each followed by an essay explaining Vowell’s thought process behind them: “These explorations expand this work beyond creative writing; I am ‘imagining otherwise’ in order find a way to ‘act otherwise.'” While the stories are fiction, there is a lot of research that went into many of them, and the footnotes explain which parts are based in fact and which were changed.
There are also lots of queer stories. In “Buffalo Bird,” the main character and her mother are rougarou, shapeshifters who transform into powerful black mares, and that shift is usually through anger. Angelique and her mother are both criticized for not being sufficiently feminine, especially because Angelique has no interest in marrying a man. Vowell explains that these gender norms and this heterosexism have been enforced through colonialism and that they have “erased and punished fluid sexual orientations and gender identities that existed pre-Contact.”
In another, a queer Indigenous feminist collective co-parent a kid together. And then there’s one with this line, about falling for a woman who’s also a literal fox: “I swear, I’d have done anything to keep her looking at me like that, even if part of me did feel like she was thinking about eating me up. Maybe especially because of that.”
This was a thought-provoking and engaging collection, and I really enjoyed reading the essays to see Vowell’s inspiration and intentions behind each story. I highly recommend this one, and I’m eagerly anticipating whatever Chelsea Vowel writes next.
Full review at the Lesbrary.
There are also lots of queer stories. In “Buffalo Bird,” the main character and her mother are rougarou, shapeshifters who transform into powerful black mares, and that shift is usually through anger. Angelique and her mother are both criticized for not being sufficiently feminine, especially because Angelique has no interest in marrying a man. Vowell explains that these gender norms and this heterosexism have been enforced through colonialism and that they have “erased and punished fluid sexual orientations and gender identities that existed pre-Contact.”
In another, a queer Indigenous feminist collective co-parent a kid together. And then there’s one with this line, about falling for a woman who’s also a literal fox: “I swear, I’d have done anything to keep her looking at me like that, even if part of me did feel like she was thinking about eating me up. Maybe especially because of that.”
This was a thought-provoking and engaging collection, and I really enjoyed reading the essays to see Vowell’s inspiration and intentions behind each story. I highly recommend this one, and I’m eagerly anticipating whatever Chelsea Vowel writes next.
Full review at the Lesbrary.
September 4, 2024
So this is a tough one because it is a local press, and covers topics that are important for Canadian's to think about. And it is the type of thing I feel guilty if I don't like, and I wouldn't say I dislike it, but damn it is pretty close.
This sat on the edge of 2 and 3 stars for me, and I ended up just averaging the scores I gave for these, here are my brief thoughts on them.
Although I feel kinda uncomfortable criticizing this book, because I feel like people can just be like, ya well what do you know about any of that, and you know what if you are either considering reading it, or have read it and like it you can feel free to do that, and ignore my review, and I won't care at all.
Buffalo Bird 5/10
This kinda had some cool alternate history elements but kinda lacked drama for me? It kinda felt like there would be conflict and then it would be resolved right away.
How did the priest move that barrel it was supposed to be super heavy?
Michif man 6.5
This one was fun, I think characterization wise generally this is just not a super strong collection for me, I have an example from this story.
Main characters friend asks him to do half the work of selling chairs and to split the money 80-20 "Sixty-forty" Franky said automatically. Sharp even in the funk he was in.
Maybe it is just me, but that is about the most obvious counter offer I have ever seen in the history of counter offers, but I think it is pretty clear Franky is supposed to come across as really sharp, fast thinking, and clever.
That being said premise wise this was just really entertaining
Dirty Wings: 4/10
In the afterword(the author has a little essay after each short story) she says this was basically a dream she had and she felt no need to make it clear what was going on.
Anyway, some of the writing was surreal, and there was one really funny line, which makes a big difference since it was so short, but man this felt longer than it was.
Maggie Sue 4.5/10
This was an essay in disguise, which is fine, but I just personally like my stories to have narrative.
Lodge Within Her Mind 5/10
This kinda felt weird because the timing of which I read it, this is set during COVID, and it is like massively exaggerated COVID, armed cop cars are patrolling around and arresting any minorities who goes aside. Exaggerated COVID just feels weird coming off actual COVID. So it was a really immersion breaking time to read this
Then there was some cool stuff in the middle that gets this into i'm not sure if I liked it or disliked it territory, then it kinda just ended.
Anikaohocikan 3.5/10
Started off as a super cool format with a mega short version, and a microfiction, and then a short story all telling the same tell. Premise wise is a cool idea in terms of incorporating technology into life. If it had ended after the microfiction I'd probably give it 7/10
Ended with me being really truly concerned that the author seemed not that aware that she was writing about child abuse.
Your child is not your sociology experiment.
I, Bison 7.8
This one is my favorite, really interesting ideas on how technology could mix and not mix with spiritual beliefs, some high tension scenes, and had a solid emotional climax.
Unsettled 6.5
It is really good that this one was not an essay, because if it was it would be very disturbing. Post apocalypic ish story. There was a montage of how society kinda collapsed and it was just in contention for the least believable societal collapse I have personally ever read.
But there was like an argument between people, and it lead to some bad things, and that felt very real.
This was also weird because if I read it blind to who the author was I might think it was someone who was like....trying to parody Chelsea Vowel, and ended up writing something kinda racist against herself???? Which she kinda acknowledges in her essay after and doesn't really offer a defense other than some whataboutism.
But like she makes it really clear that this was just her imagination running wild with characters, and I think it was the only story here were I was interested enough to keep turning the pages. So I am going to just kinda look past the red flags.
Anyway, I averaged all these out, and got a 5.2/10, that feels about right.
This sat on the edge of 2 and 3 stars for me, and I ended up just averaging the scores I gave for these, here are my brief thoughts on them.
Although I feel kinda uncomfortable criticizing this book, because I feel like people can just be like, ya well what do you know about any of that, and you know what if you are either considering reading it, or have read it and like it you can feel free to do that, and ignore my review, and I won't care at all.
Buffalo Bird 5/10
This kinda had some cool alternate history elements but kinda lacked drama for me? It kinda felt like there would be conflict and then it would be resolved right away.
How did the priest move that barrel it was supposed to be super heavy?
Michif man 6.5
This one was fun, I think characterization wise generally this is just not a super strong collection for me, I have an example from this story.
Main characters friend asks him to do half the work of selling chairs and to split the money 80-20 "Sixty-forty" Franky said automatically. Sharp even in the funk he was in.
Maybe it is just me, but that is about the most obvious counter offer I have ever seen in the history of counter offers, but I think it is pretty clear Franky is supposed to come across as really sharp, fast thinking, and clever.
That being said premise wise this was just really entertaining
Dirty Wings: 4/10
In the afterword(the author has a little essay after each short story) she says this was basically a dream she had and she felt no need to make it clear what was going on.
Anyway, some of the writing was surreal, and there was one really funny line, which makes a big difference since it was so short, but man this felt longer than it was.
Maggie Sue 4.5/10
This was an essay in disguise, which is fine, but I just personally like my stories to have narrative.
Lodge Within Her Mind 5/10
This kinda felt weird because the timing of which I read it, this is set during COVID, and it is like massively exaggerated COVID, armed cop cars are patrolling around and arresting any minorities who goes aside. Exaggerated COVID just feels weird coming off actual COVID. So it was a really immersion breaking time to read this
Then there was some cool stuff in the middle that gets this into i'm not sure if I liked it or disliked it territory, then it kinda just ended.
Anikaohocikan 3.5/10
Started off as a super cool format with a mega short version, and a microfiction, and then a short story all telling the same tell. Premise wise is a cool idea in terms of incorporating technology into life. If it had ended after the microfiction I'd probably give it 7/10
Ended with me being really truly concerned that the author seemed not that aware that she was writing about child abuse.
Your child is not your sociology experiment.
I, Bison 7.8
This one is my favorite, really interesting ideas on how technology could mix and not mix with spiritual beliefs, some high tension scenes, and had a solid emotional climax.
Unsettled 6.5
It is really good that this one was not an essay, because if it was it would be very disturbing. Post apocalypic ish story. There was a montage of how society kinda collapsed and it was just in contention for the least believable societal collapse I have personally ever read.
But there was like an argument between people, and it lead to some bad things, and that felt very real.
This was also weird because if I read it blind to who the author was I might think it was someone who was like....trying to parody Chelsea Vowel, and ended up writing something kinda racist against herself???? Which she kinda acknowledges in her essay after and doesn't really offer a defense other than some whataboutism.
But like she makes it really clear that this was just her imagination running wild with characters, and I think it was the only story here were I was interested enough to keep turning the pages. So I am going to just kinda look past the red flags.
Anyway, I averaged all these out, and got a 5.2/10, that feels about right.
did-not-finish
March 6, 2023Chelsea Vowel’s non-fiction work Indigenous Writes was a transformative read early in my journey towards waking the eff up and giving my settler head a shake. This, however, defeated me not even halfway through the first story. I was quite intrigued by a lot of the information in the many, many footnotes, but every time I looked at the footnotes I got pulled out of the story. And I found the fictional story quite clunky and not all that interesting. I spent all afternoon reading the first 13 pages of the first, 50+ page story, and I’ve got a headache and my eyes hurt from all that squinting. I shan’t be reading any further, but I am glad so many others have gotten along so much better with it than I.
December 29, 2024
"Inspired by classic and contemporary speculative fiction, Buffalo Is the New Buffalo explores science fiction tropes through a Metis lens: a Two-Spirit rougarou (shapeshifter) in the nineteenth century tries to solve a murder in her community and joins the nehiyaw-pwat (Iron Confederacy) in order to successfully stop Canadian colonial expansion into the West. A Metis man is gored by a radioactive bison, gaining super strength, but losing the ability to be remembered by anyone not related to him by blood. Nanites babble to babies in Cree, virtual reality teaches transformation, foxes take human form and wreak havoc on hearts, buffalo roam free, and beings grapple with the thorny problem of healing from colonialism."
Eight short stories that imagine indigenous communities in the future of North America, and written in a profoundly moving and immediate way. I sincerely believe this book deserves all 5 stars and the two months it took me to read it.
At one point in the reading, I felt as if Chelsea Vowel was kicking me in the head when she wanted her white readers to struggle with the languages and the ideas that she throws out. The stories cut deep, on an emotional level that I can empathize with but never truly understand. There are copious footnotes and scholarly references, and each story includes a follow up section wherein Vowel discusses her thought process as she was writing the story. All of that, of course, is not necessary to the enjoyment of the stories themselves, but it certainly adds layered nuance and contextualization.
I am humbled by the brilliance of this author. And I'm glad that my friends over at WBtM didn't give up on this book, so that I finally read it!
Eight short stories that imagine indigenous communities in the future of North America, and written in a profoundly moving and immediate way. I sincerely believe this book deserves all 5 stars and the two months it took me to read it.
At one point in the reading, I felt as if Chelsea Vowel was kicking me in the head when she wanted her white readers to struggle with the languages and the ideas that she throws out. The stories cut deep, on an emotional level that I can empathize with but never truly understand. There are copious footnotes and scholarly references, and each story includes a follow up section wherein Vowel discusses her thought process as she was writing the story. All of that, of course, is not necessary to the enjoyment of the stories themselves, but it certainly adds layered nuance and contextualization.
I am humbled by the brilliance of this author. And I'm glad that my friends over at WBtM didn't give up on this book, so that I finally read it!
July 30, 2025
More so 2.5/5
Rankings and ratings for the story.
1. I, Bison: 3.5/5
2. Michif Man: 3.5/5
3. A Lodge Within Her Mind: 3/5
4. Buffalo Bird: 2.5/5
5. Unsettled: 2/5
6. Maggie Sue: 2/5
7. Âniskôhôcikan: 1.5/5
8. Dirty Wings: 1.5/5
Rankings and ratings for the story.
1. I, Bison: 3.5/5
2. Michif Man: 3.5/5
3. A Lodge Within Her Mind: 3/5
4. Buffalo Bird: 2.5/5
5. Unsettled: 2/5
6. Maggie Sue: 2/5
7. Âniskôhôcikan: 1.5/5
8. Dirty Wings: 1.5/5
September 9, 2024
This is very much a short story collection driven by ideas.
In some stories, you can tell the author pushed the characters and the world in a specific direction to fulfil a certain idea, like in Unsettled. In other stories, the ideas came together organically and weaved a beautiful story based on it, like in I, Bison or Maggie Sue (which also happen to be my favorite so I might be biased in my view there). And in every case, we get a little essay at the end of each story explaining the author's choices in the short story, which can be enlightening, especially for those like me who have not delved much into Métis cultures.
I liked some stories and disliked others. In fact, I think the second half of the collection is a lot better than the first. I didn't even bother with the footnotes, skimming them only occasionally. And I was always looking forward to the essays at the end of each story.
Rating short story collections is always hard, but the genius of I, Bison alone deserves a high rating, and I think it can only be experienced if you read the entire short story collection in order. And the essays were just always a great learning experience, even if they did make me feel a million different things. So a high 4 stars it is.
In some stories, you can tell the author pushed the characters and the world in a specific direction to fulfil a certain idea, like in Unsettled. In other stories, the ideas came together organically and weaved a beautiful story based on it, like in I, Bison or Maggie Sue (which also happen to be my favorite so I might be biased in my view there). And in every case, we get a little essay at the end of each story explaining the author's choices in the short story, which can be enlightening, especially for those like me who have not delved much into Métis cultures.
I liked some stories and disliked others. In fact, I think the second half of the collection is a lot better than the first. I didn't even bother with the footnotes, skimming them only occasionally. And I was always looking forward to the essays at the end of each story.
Rating short story collections is always hard, but the genius of I, Bison alone deserves a high rating, and I think it can only be experienced if you read the entire short story collection in order. And the essays were just always a great learning experience, even if they did make me feel a million different things. So a high 4 stars it is.
April 22, 2022
I loved reading these stories, and also reading Vowel's footnotes which became a kind of intimate note from the author -- decolonizing the academic history of the footnote in real time. These stories are bold, funny, cutting and smart.. lt felt like the author was taking me by the hand, leading me to unfamiliar and sometimes challenging spaces, but doing it with care, skill and trust.
April 13, 2022
This is a totally fascinating collection of stories, both in content and structure. Read my review here: https://booksandbakes.substack.com/p/...
February 14, 2025
I mean, you take a little kid, four or five years old, from any background, and you tell them that millions of buffalo were slaughtered so white people could move west. Do you think that little kid is going to look up at you and shrug and say, "That's terrible, but now we have cities on the prairies, so look at the bright side!"
No, they are going to cry, because it is objectively and unambiguously horrible. Becoming an adult seems to be all about learning how to forget these kinds of things, but kids, they know what's true, and no one had to teach them that.
I can't believe that I finally finished this book. I was originally meant to buddy read this in 2022 but I ended up reading Vowel's Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Issues in Canada instead. What a great book, would recommend! After that we were talking about buddy reading it for most of 2024 but it just wasn't happening! Finally, I picked this book up, but I just really struggled with it. At the time I just couldn't read anything that required almost any brain activity from me and this book sure did. Anyway, glad to say I finally finished it at the beginning of 2025!
I'm really just not sure how to talk about this book. It's hard to say that I loved it or that I enjoyed it or even that I think it was "good" because the book kind of questions all of that. I mean, the parameters of what make a story "good" are Western-centric, colonial. Personally, I wanted some of the stories to be shorter and more concise, but the author makes a point that that's kind of problematic. That said, there was also a story I wish was longer 😂
Anyway, what this book is for sure is important and I did enjoy most of it and I loved the way it included queerness. I also loved the notes and additional sources the author provided. Chelsea Vowel is amazing person and I just love her general approach, even if her writing style didn't always mesh with my stylistic preferences (the writing style was serviceable, but nothing special in my opinion). I think... writing about this... this is one of those books you might enjoy more when looking back at it than when you are actually reading it? Like, right now, thinking back on those stories, so many of them have such amazing ideas. Another thing to consider is that my mental health have been up and down lately which pair with occasional reading slumpiness so that might also be the reason why I wasn't connecting that strongly.
Anyway, picking a favourite story is actually quite hard because I loved several: Âniskôhôcikan the story about raising a child in queer feminist collective and a technical means to save your native language. The ethical questions this one raises! Unsettled the story about whether or not indigenous people will kill "us" when we are in cryo sleep 😂 I loved how this story worked with tension and almost mystery element. ... yeah, those two would probably be my favourites but I also really loved Michif Man a story about Métis super hero and Maggie Sue a story where the protagonist falls in love with fox spirit.
So yeah, this was great, would recommend! Just know that those short-stories are on longer side and there is one story set during pandemic, in case that's a dealbreaker for you. There is also some other terrible stuff happening that mirrors what a lot of indigenous teens have to go through, so... you know, not the lightest reading. There is also obviously the genocide... You know, I really didn't want to give CWs for this one, I just wanted to mention the pandemic, because that was the unexpected one, but now I just fell into this hole! 😂
BRed at WotF: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
June 25, 2022
I can’t think of a better book to help us in settled Edmonton try to understand the perspectives and forces that have shaped the concepts of colonialism right here!!!
Dystopian fiction is a favourite vehicle for me, but the way the author blends it seamlessly with fact and history, and the broadness of perspective is just awesome.
So glad I crossed paths with this book.
Dystopian fiction is a favourite vehicle for me, but the way the author blends it seamlessly with fact and history, and the broadness of perspective is just awesome.
So glad I crossed paths with this book.
July 1, 2022
Read for a book club and unfortunately did not give myself as much time as I should have to properly read it with the time I think it needs and deserves. Very much enjoyed but will absolutely need to re-read at some point and really take my time with it.
October 16, 2025
I can't say I really liked most of these stories. They were too esoteric or convoluted. But, at least for me, there were two standouts. 'Michif Man' was this really low key Metis superhero story that just appealed to me. He helped only his community and in super simple ways made their lives better. And 'Unsettled' the last story in the collection that imagines a kind of dystopian future world where people are in hibernation and the Indigenous community does the maintenance. Liked the whole concept.
January 7, 2023
Much more of an academic approach to Indigenous Futurism than I was expecting, but I appreciated the commentary once I got used to it. Some very intriguing thought experiments, some of which I would love to be able read as a full length novel. I'm not sure which was my favorite, but all of them are going to stick with me.
September 19, 2023
!!! This is a great book, it's in the kind of speculative fiction/Métis-futurism category, and it's a half dozen short stories along with meta textual analysis afterwards of the meaning and links to current events. Great starter book with a ton of references if you want to deep dive into Métis modern writing. I read it as an ebook, but I think I'll buy a physical copy too so I can share it with friends.
October 7, 2023
4.5 stars. This is a stunning speculative fiction short story collection, written from a queer, feminist and indigenous (Metis) viewpoint. I can’t say enough good things about this collection. It’s immersive, challenging, weird, beautifully written and it’s making me think about the world differently, which is what spec fic is supposed to do.
Read
October 18, 2022Did not finish
This is my first dnf since I started goodreads.
It was a library book and I just couldn't get through it quickly enough.
It is a very clever and powerful collection of short stories. However, I found the concepts quite difficult to understand and an effort to get through. I may revisit this book at a later date because I do believe there is a lot I can learn from it.
This is my first dnf since I started goodreads.
It was a library book and I just couldn't get through it quickly enough.
It is a very clever and powerful collection of short stories. However, I found the concepts quite difficult to understand and an effort to get through. I may revisit this book at a later date because I do believe there is a lot I can learn from it.
March 11, 2023
I really enjoyed these stories! I did like the footnotes, however I didn’t feel that the explanations after each story were necessary for me. It felt like the author was taking so much extra time to explain why the stories were great, when they were great just as they were.
My faves were Maggie Sue and Buffalo Bird :)
My faves were Maggie Sue and Buffalo Bird :)
February 23, 2025
As you know, I save 5 stars for life-changers, so 4 is amazing. This is a collection of short "stories," some of which do get 5 stars, but some get 3 or less, so they average out to 4. The prefaces are great, and they inspire me in my current attempts to write speculative fiction, particularly the idea of wahkohtowin "(expanded kinship including with nonhuman kin)." I too want what I write to challenge the whitestream science fiction that insists on colonialism as inevitable. "It's 'us or them,' and it had better be 'us'" (16). I love the whole premise question of all the stories (and premise questions are what I love about speculative fiction, like the question of Black Panther: "what if Africans had better weaponry than European colonizers?) "Instead of accepting that the buffalo and our ancestral ways will never come back, what if we simply ensure that they do" (21)?
Rating of individual stories:
Buffalo Bird: Looking back, I don't really remember this one, and I didn't write anything in the margins. I just remember being annoyed by the footnotes. Maybe this was necessary background reading for those unfamiliar with Native Studies. 3 Stars.
Michif Man: This is more of a brainstorm. It spends a lot of time world building. I hope somebody takes this up for Marvel (or a non-copaganda version of Marvel. Of course, joining the Marvel heroes would defeat the whole purpose of Michif Man). As with most of the stories, the author's statement about Michif Man is excellent. As an anthropologist of Mormonism, the following quotation rings true to my experience of Indigenous people finding out about angelic visitations to Joseph Smith, namely, that they've personally had even more spectacular visitations, so what happened to Joseph Smith is not only believable, it's actually kind of boring: "I wanted the Metis reaction to Franky's powers to be underwhelming. After all, Metis oral history is full of beings with extraordinary powers--powers that must be respected, but not necessarily feared. Franky is not unique in having powers; he is part of a long lineage of human and more-than-human beings who can do the extraordinary" (113). 4 stars.
Dirty Wings: I don't remember reading this and there is nothing in the margins, so 3 stars.
Maggie Sue: This was amazing and life-changing. I loved it. It resonated with my latent Mormonism in that "I was still on 118 Avenue, just in the spirit realm rather than the physical realm. It's not somewhere else, it's right here. Us, we know that. Just like that fox was attached to herself as a human, the spirit world is attached to the land it was born with. You can't split them apart. I just think people today don't pay it enough attention" (134). Which is probably why, for many Indigenous people, Mormonism seems like a settler perversion of their epistemology and for others it rings "true." I happened to grow up with a mother who was one of the few settlers who did pay enough attention, which is maybe why pedagogical interjections like this did not seem preachy to me, at least not in this story. There are other places in other stories where Vowel breaks the 4th wall way too much, like in Unsettled, but I didn't consider these little codas to be breaks in the narrative in Maggie Sue. My mother is not a New Age yuppie or a pretendian at all. She is a Mormon settler, yet she just so happens to have similar experiences to this Cree protagonist on a fairly quotidian basis. But buffalo busting up an IKEA? Who wouldn't want to see that happen? And page 152-153 where the author specifically talks about how Indigenous people assimilate the settler religions instead of the other way around? That is exactly what I found in Peruvian Mormonism. And page 155, which makes us see the killing of the bison not simply as a severing of the food source to facilitate genocide of Plains Peoples, but as a genocide in and of itself: the killing of Buffalo Nation? And 156, which teaches that it is patriotism that has to be taught and that children are naturally decolonial revolutionaries? And page 157, which teaches that reconcilation without the removal of occupation is dumb? And page 158, which teaches that imagining the world without settler power is not nihilism? And the rest, which imagines a multitude of different ways that decolonization might work while settlers can only imagine one way: reverse genocide? 5 stars.
A Lodge Within Her Mind: I wanted way more like this. This truly revolutionizes the genre of science fiction and decolonizes it. This is why some settler assholes gave this book 1 and 2 stars, settler minds will, thankfully, never appreciate stuff like this. I give this story 5 stars.
Aniskohocikan: As an aspiring writer, this was inspirational. I sat down and wrote for hours after this. I wanted so much more though. I hope she adds a macro version to the universe she skillfully created in a hint micro flash. 5 stars.
I, Bison: This is the prequel to Maggie Sue, but that is a spoiler, sorry. This could easily be a novel in itself, but because she started writing it like it was going to be a novel, she spent WAY too much time delving into the disgusting life of tweakers, which was a little too real for my delicate stomach and vivid memory. Then, 3/4 of the way through, she realized she just wanted to make a short story out of it, so she wrapped it up quickly. That last 1/4 is masterful and does almost redeem the whole story, but she should re-write this into an actual novel or screenplay. I loved the relationship between the two female cousins and that it wasn't abandoned when the going got EXTREMELY tough. I, a settler, would have left my loser cousin behind if she started acting like that because I don't exist in strong interrelatedness with people. In fact, such a strong relationship seemed unbelievable to me at first. Why in the world would she stay with her cousin? But, I don't exist in strong interrelatedness with people because I don't exist in strong interrelatedness with specific places. I'm so cosmopolitan that I'm disembodied. "In many Indigenous cosmologies, this disembodiment is impossible. Our spiritual realms exist in a specific place" (275). I, therefore, would have missed out on witnessing her becoming a winner. I loved the description of the architecture of settler science, and if Vowel has never been inside a Mormon temple, her description is a crazy coincidence. I mean, you Mormons with ears to hear, let you hear this: "As throughout the rest of the building, brilliant, sterile white and chrome seemed to be the only colours this company allowed. She'd been asked to put on a lab jacket, a mask, little crinkly booties over he shoes, and another crinkly paper cover for her hair.... There did not seem to be any functional reason for having so much space; work areas were three to four meters apart with nothing but empty white space in between. It was sort of what she imagined WASP heaven must look like, all antiseptic and productive." Holy shit! The author must have been through a Mormon temple open house at the very least, if not an actual endowment session. What does this say about how settlers design architecture to deliberately cause settler sensibilities? Read Hollow Land: Israel's Architecture of Occupation. But again, minus one star for the prolonged descriptions of twacked out settlers, which would have been fine had it been commensurate to other more bovine prolonged descriptions in a longform novel or feature film. 4 stars.
Unsettled: It seems like Vowel took a Socratic seminar among her fellow Native Studies grad students and created a science fiction scenario in which to enclose it. The Socratic seminar focus question probably was, "would decolonization require eliminating individual settlers from Turtle Island?" The result is a confusing and tired science fiction scene about stopping stasis too early in which all the motives are unbelievable and the desire to cover up plot holes and patch technicalities is too visible. Then, the characters all have their Socratic seminar, and it is mega preachy. I'm okay with preachy if the dynamics in which the preaching happens are believable, but they are most certainly not. It is quite embarrassing, really. All the characters are differently Indigenous with different "intersectionality coefficients" but they all speak as if to a settler audience. This is like Native Studies 101. There is no way that an actual group of Indigenous people discussing decolonization would have to spell things out to each other like these characters do. Imagine a movie where two Black strangers in a major US city meet and start the following conversation: "Hello, what is up, Brother?" "Yes, what is up indeed, my fellow Black person." "How do you feel about that White store clerk following you around?" "I feel like he thinks I'm going to shoplift because I'm Black." "Yes, shopping while Black! Am I right, my Brother?" "You are only too right, Brother. Shopping while Black has become a refrain because, in White society, it is considered tantamount to shoplifting. Racism is all around us, is it not?" It reads like the Dick and Jane version of a Critical Race Theory meant for White people. Black people would never say any of that because among Black people things like that GO WITHOUT SAYING for a reason. I guess there is one sort of interesting argument that the character named Andrew makes, which is obviously Vowel's argument. It is about how alien depictions in settler science fiction are settler moves to innocence. "In fact, because there is an existential threat posed by an alien species, whiteness is absolved, in a way. Something much more pressing than addressing the vast inequality within our global communities wipes the slate clean" (315). This is interesting because settlers don't merely fight aliens to claim innocence in science fiction, they become aliens to justify genocide in historical fiction as well. The Book of Mormon is the prime example of claiming that anything praiseworthy that ever happened on Turtle Island was orchistrated by "aliens" (not extraterrestrials in this case, but the History Channel satisfies that urge) because Indigenous people couldn't have possibly done something important like build the temple of Kukulcan or Serpent Mound. And since the Indigenous people (Lamanites) killed off these superior, civilized and--importantly--White aliens (Nephites), they deserve to be killed off by the new White aliens, the United States Army. So, when it suits them, settlers get to both be aliens and fight aliens. We settlers are good shapeshifters in that way.
You usually don't get to read the pre-writing journal of an award-winning author, especially before they win any awards. That is what this is. It is an intimate glimpse into the author's universe of futurist ideas. Hopefully Vowel develops these ideas into something greater and becomes an award-winning author, and, better yet, a revolutionary who makes the ideas real.
As a settler, my personal existence is certainly not necessary and is, if I'm being honest, probably detrimental for the decolonial future that is sure to come. However, since I kinda like existing, I appreciated how Vowel generously makes space for me as a settler author and teacher in a decolonial future (if I can kill the settler in my head). You don't have to be Indigenous to explore at least some aspects of her research questions (though you do have to locate yourself with extreme care): "What knowledges could we remember or learn anew if we were more open to the global epistemological diversities of Indigenous pedagogies? How will we continue to use technology in ways that facilitate our cultural and physical survival as Indigenous peoples, and as a human race?"
Rating of individual stories:
Buffalo Bird: Looking back, I don't really remember this one, and I didn't write anything in the margins. I just remember being annoyed by the footnotes. Maybe this was necessary background reading for those unfamiliar with Native Studies. 3 Stars.
Michif Man: This is more of a brainstorm. It spends a lot of time world building. I hope somebody takes this up for Marvel (or a non-copaganda version of Marvel. Of course, joining the Marvel heroes would defeat the whole purpose of Michif Man). As with most of the stories, the author's statement about Michif Man is excellent. As an anthropologist of Mormonism, the following quotation rings true to my experience of Indigenous people finding out about angelic visitations to Joseph Smith, namely, that they've personally had even more spectacular visitations, so what happened to Joseph Smith is not only believable, it's actually kind of boring: "I wanted the Metis reaction to Franky's powers to be underwhelming. After all, Metis oral history is full of beings with extraordinary powers--powers that must be respected, but not necessarily feared. Franky is not unique in having powers; he is part of a long lineage of human and more-than-human beings who can do the extraordinary" (113). 4 stars.
Dirty Wings: I don't remember reading this and there is nothing in the margins, so 3 stars.
Maggie Sue: This was amazing and life-changing. I loved it. It resonated with my latent Mormonism in that "I was still on 118 Avenue, just in the spirit realm rather than the physical realm. It's not somewhere else, it's right here. Us, we know that. Just like that fox was attached to herself as a human, the spirit world is attached to the land it was born with. You can't split them apart. I just think people today don't pay it enough attention" (134). Which is probably why, for many Indigenous people, Mormonism seems like a settler perversion of their epistemology and for others it rings "true." I happened to grow up with a mother who was one of the few settlers who did pay enough attention, which is maybe why pedagogical interjections like this did not seem preachy to me, at least not in this story. There are other places in other stories where Vowel breaks the 4th wall way too much, like in Unsettled, but I didn't consider these little codas to be breaks in the narrative in Maggie Sue. My mother is not a New Age yuppie or a pretendian at all. She is a Mormon settler, yet she just so happens to have similar experiences to this Cree protagonist on a fairly quotidian basis. But buffalo busting up an IKEA? Who wouldn't want to see that happen? And page 152-153 where the author specifically talks about how Indigenous people assimilate the settler religions instead of the other way around? That is exactly what I found in Peruvian Mormonism. And page 155, which makes us see the killing of the bison not simply as a severing of the food source to facilitate genocide of Plains Peoples, but as a genocide in and of itself: the killing of Buffalo Nation? And 156, which teaches that it is patriotism that has to be taught and that children are naturally decolonial revolutionaries? And page 157, which teaches that reconcilation without the removal of occupation is dumb? And page 158, which teaches that imagining the world without settler power is not nihilism? And the rest, which imagines a multitude of different ways that decolonization might work while settlers can only imagine one way: reverse genocide? 5 stars.
A Lodge Within Her Mind: I wanted way more like this. This truly revolutionizes the genre of science fiction and decolonizes it. This is why some settler assholes gave this book 1 and 2 stars, settler minds will, thankfully, never appreciate stuff like this. I give this story 5 stars.
Aniskohocikan: As an aspiring writer, this was inspirational. I sat down and wrote for hours after this. I wanted so much more though. I hope she adds a macro version to the universe she skillfully created in a hint micro flash. 5 stars.
I, Bison: This is the prequel to Maggie Sue, but that is a spoiler, sorry. This could easily be a novel in itself, but because she started writing it like it was going to be a novel, she spent WAY too much time delving into the disgusting life of tweakers, which was a little too real for my delicate stomach and vivid memory. Then, 3/4 of the way through, she realized she just wanted to make a short story out of it, so she wrapped it up quickly. That last 1/4 is masterful and does almost redeem the whole story, but she should re-write this into an actual novel or screenplay. I loved the relationship between the two female cousins and that it wasn't abandoned when the going got EXTREMELY tough. I, a settler, would have left my loser cousin behind if she started acting like that because I don't exist in strong interrelatedness with people. In fact, such a strong relationship seemed unbelievable to me at first. Why in the world would she stay with her cousin? But, I don't exist in strong interrelatedness with people because I don't exist in strong interrelatedness with specific places. I'm so cosmopolitan that I'm disembodied. "In many Indigenous cosmologies, this disembodiment is impossible. Our spiritual realms exist in a specific place" (275). I, therefore, would have missed out on witnessing her becoming a winner. I loved the description of the architecture of settler science, and if Vowel has never been inside a Mormon temple, her description is a crazy coincidence. I mean, you Mormons with ears to hear, let you hear this: "As throughout the rest of the building, brilliant, sterile white and chrome seemed to be the only colours this company allowed. She'd been asked to put on a lab jacket, a mask, little crinkly booties over he shoes, and another crinkly paper cover for her hair.... There did not seem to be any functional reason for having so much space; work areas were three to four meters apart with nothing but empty white space in between. It was sort of what she imagined WASP heaven must look like, all antiseptic and productive." Holy shit! The author must have been through a Mormon temple open house at the very least, if not an actual endowment session. What does this say about how settlers design architecture to deliberately cause settler sensibilities? Read Hollow Land: Israel's Architecture of Occupation. But again, minus one star for the prolonged descriptions of twacked out settlers, which would have been fine had it been commensurate to other more bovine prolonged descriptions in a longform novel or feature film. 4 stars.
Unsettled: It seems like Vowel took a Socratic seminar among her fellow Native Studies grad students and created a science fiction scenario in which to enclose it. The Socratic seminar focus question probably was, "would decolonization require eliminating individual settlers from Turtle Island?" The result is a confusing and tired science fiction scene about stopping stasis too early in which all the motives are unbelievable and the desire to cover up plot holes and patch technicalities is too visible. Then, the characters all have their Socratic seminar, and it is mega preachy. I'm okay with preachy if the dynamics in which the preaching happens are believable, but they are most certainly not. It is quite embarrassing, really. All the characters are differently Indigenous with different "intersectionality coefficients" but they all speak as if to a settler audience. This is like Native Studies 101. There is no way that an actual group of Indigenous people discussing decolonization would have to spell things out to each other like these characters do. Imagine a movie where two Black strangers in a major US city meet and start the following conversation: "Hello, what is up, Brother?" "Yes, what is up indeed, my fellow Black person." "How do you feel about that White store clerk following you around?" "I feel like he thinks I'm going to shoplift because I'm Black." "Yes, shopping while Black! Am I right, my Brother?" "You are only too right, Brother. Shopping while Black has become a refrain because, in White society, it is considered tantamount to shoplifting. Racism is all around us, is it not?" It reads like the Dick and Jane version of a Critical Race Theory meant for White people. Black people would never say any of that because among Black people things like that GO WITHOUT SAYING for a reason. I guess there is one sort of interesting argument that the character named Andrew makes, which is obviously Vowel's argument. It is about how alien depictions in settler science fiction are settler moves to innocence. "In fact, because there is an existential threat posed by an alien species, whiteness is absolved, in a way. Something much more pressing than addressing the vast inequality within our global communities wipes the slate clean" (315). This is interesting because settlers don't merely fight aliens to claim innocence in science fiction, they become aliens to justify genocide in historical fiction as well. The Book of Mormon is the prime example of claiming that anything praiseworthy that ever happened on Turtle Island was orchistrated by "aliens" (not extraterrestrials in this case, but the History Channel satisfies that urge) because Indigenous people couldn't have possibly done something important like build the temple of Kukulcan or Serpent Mound. And since the Indigenous people (Lamanites) killed off these superior, civilized and--importantly--White aliens (Nephites), they deserve to be killed off by the new White aliens, the United States Army. So, when it suits them, settlers get to both be aliens and fight aliens. We settlers are good shapeshifters in that way.
You usually don't get to read the pre-writing journal of an award-winning author, especially before they win any awards. That is what this is. It is an intimate glimpse into the author's universe of futurist ideas. Hopefully Vowel develops these ideas into something greater and becomes an award-winning author, and, better yet, a revolutionary who makes the ideas real.
As a settler, my personal existence is certainly not necessary and is, if I'm being honest, probably detrimental for the decolonial future that is sure to come. However, since I kinda like existing, I appreciated how Vowel generously makes space for me as a settler author and teacher in a decolonial future (if I can kill the settler in my head). You don't have to be Indigenous to explore at least some aspects of her research questions (though you do have to locate yourself with extreme care): "What knowledges could we remember or learn anew if we were more open to the global epistemological diversities of Indigenous pedagogies? How will we continue to use technology in ways that facilitate our cultural and physical survival as Indigenous peoples, and as a human race?"
September 15, 2023
These stories were great
October 6, 2022
Excellent set of short stories with educational explanations.
October 5, 2022
I loved I, Bison and Unsettled!
May 9, 2023
Nine queer indigenous stories that strongly represent history folklore and even sci-fi. Great reads for when you only have time to commit to a few pages.
August 14, 2022
Superb! Vowel describes her work as “Métis-futurist”; I find it difficult to pigeonhole because each story is so different in style and form. One common thread is Indigenous strength and agency in the face of crushing, often brutal, settler colonialism; another common factor is grace. Oh, and intelligence: Vowel is hella smart, but she writes in a way that brings the reader to her.
Some of the stories demand effort from the reader. Primary difficulty: language. Vowel liberally sprinkles Cree throughout, usually without translating, and often in contexts where the reader can get only a vague idea of the tone. I found this especially challenging because words like ‘kimiywêyihtên’ and ‘okanawêyihcikêwak’ do not register in my old brain. Secondary difficulty: the scholarly footnotes. They do add value in a few places, but their use in the first story is waaaaay excessive: “[20] (Vincent 2013) This is an accurate depiction of where the moon would have been close to dawn in May in the northern hemisphere”?! Okay, she’s done her research, but please let the reader trust you, and get absorbed in the story, without breaking their reading flow.
Gripes over. And, the first story is by far the worst in that sense; I recommend reading it without the footnotes. It’s a worthwhile and lovely story -- and the following ones are even better.
Some of the stories demand effort from the reader. Primary difficulty: language. Vowel liberally sprinkles Cree throughout, usually without translating, and often in contexts where the reader can get only a vague idea of the tone. I found this especially challenging because words like ‘kimiywêyihtên’ and ‘okanawêyihcikêwak’ do not register in my old brain. Secondary difficulty: the scholarly footnotes. They do add value in a few places, but their use in the first story is waaaaay excessive: “[20] (Vincent 2013) This is an accurate depiction of where the moon would have been close to dawn in May in the northern hemisphere”?! Okay, she’s done her research, but please let the reader trust you, and get absorbed in the story, without breaking their reading flow.
Gripes over. And, the first story is by far the worst in that sense; I recommend reading it without the footnotes. It’s a worthwhile and lovely story -- and the following ones are even better.
November 18, 2024
Uneven collection that often overexplained itself.
The author really doesn't believe in "show don't tell" and footnoted and explained every little thing, especially in "Buffalo Bird". One egregious example: Text from story - "like a child hiding during a telling of the Rolling Head story" footnote: "The is a particularly terrifying sacred story that Cree and Métis people tell during the winter months." Yes, Chelsea, I gathered that from context!
Favorites were "Michif Man" and "Maggie Sue" (the latter I seem to like more than most reviewers). These had the most compelling characters and did the most conceptually.
Seeing some praise for "Unsettled", which I find surprising, I thought the worldbuilding there made little sense.
Wavered between 2 and 3, but it brought enough new and interesting ideas to the table for 3. Just wish the author let the reader figure it out a little more.
The author really doesn't believe in "show don't tell" and footnoted and explained every little thing, especially in "Buffalo Bird". One egregious example: Text from story - "like a child hiding during a telling of the Rolling Head story" footnote: "The is a particularly terrifying sacred story that Cree and Métis people tell during the winter months." Yes, Chelsea, I gathered that from context!
Favorites were "Michif Man" and "Maggie Sue" (the latter I seem to like more than most reviewers). These had the most compelling characters and did the most conceptually.
Seeing some praise for "Unsettled", which I find surprising, I thought the worldbuilding there made little sense.
Wavered between 2 and 3, but it brought enough new and interesting ideas to the table for 3. Just wish the author let the reader figure it out a little more.
January 24, 2025
Michif Man favourite. I've seen lots of other people enjoying I, Bison the most, but I read it on the plane so I had trouble focusing on it.
The first story was the hardest to read because of all the footnotes but if you're worried about that, they clear up WAY more in all the later ones. I did like the story itself when I ignored and revisited the footnotes later. I also appreciated all of the essays for providing more context to each story. Though I still don't think I fully understand the ending of I, Bison... :(
The first story was the hardest to read because of all the footnotes but if you're worried about that, they clear up WAY more in all the later ones. I did like the story itself when I ignored and revisited the footnotes later. I also appreciated all of the essays for providing more context to each story. Though I still don't think I fully understand the ending of I, Bison... :(
July 22, 2022
I really enjoyed the stories that subverted the uses of technology.
As a history nerd I appreciated the footnotes that gave more historical context and insight into Metis culture. I think my favourite stories are Metis Man or I Bison, they are the ones I come back to often in my memory. When I was reading this book, I carried it with me everywhere I went.
Thank you very much for writing it.
As a history nerd I appreciated the footnotes that gave more historical context and insight into Metis culture. I think my favourite stories are Metis Man or I Bison, they are the ones I come back to often in my memory. When I was reading this book, I carried it with me everywhere I went.
Thank you very much for writing it.
June 6, 2023
I don't think I've ever read fiction with as many new-to-me ideas and perspectives! Wonderful way to integrate questions and flesh out some what-ifs when it comes to grappling with ongoing colonialism. We need more original work like this to be published (or maybe I just need to find them)!
June 29, 2022
feels like home as a nehiyaw iskew from Treaty 6. taught me so much as well. and made me use my brain in terms of not just reading in English.
February 25, 2023
Had some interesting ideas but kinda clunky in execution.
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