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Can a critical examination of Indigenous masculinities be an honour
song-one that celebrates rather than pathologizes; one that seeks
diversity and strength; one that overturns heteropatriarchy without
centering settler colonialism? Can a critical examination of
Indigenous masculinities even be creative, inclusive, erotic?
Carrying the Burden of Peace answers affirmatively. Countering the
perception that "masculinity" has been so contaminated as to be
irredeemable, the book explores Indigenous literary art for
understandings of masculinity that exceed the impoverished
inheritance of colonialism. Sam McKegney's argument is simple: if
we understand that masculinity pertains to maleness, and that there
are those within Indigenous families, communities and nations who
identify as male, then the concession that masculinity concerns
only negative characteristics bears stark consequences. It would
mean that the resources available to affirm those subjectivities
will be constrained, and perhaps even contaminated by shame.
Indigenous masculinities are more than what settler colonialism has
told us. To deny the beauty, vulnerability, and grace that can be
expressed and experienced as masculinity is to concede to settler
colonialism's limiting vision of the world; it is to eschew the
creativity that is among our greatest strengths. Carrying the
Burden of Peace weaves together stories of Indigenous life, love,
eroticism, pain, and joy to map the contours of diverse, empowered,
and non-dominative Indigenous masculinities. It is from here that a
more balanced world may be pursued.
What do we know of masculinities in non-patriarchal societies?
Indigenous peoples of the Americas and beyond come from traditions
of gender equity, complementarity, and the sacred feminine,
concepts that were unimaginable and shocking to Euro-western
peoples at contact. Indigenous Men and Masculinities, edited by Kim
Anderson and Robert Alexander Innes, brings together prominent
thinkers to explore the meaning of masculinities and being a man
within such traditions, further examining the colonial disruption
and imposition of patriarchy on Indigenous men. Building on
Indigenous knowledge systems, Indigenous feminism, and queer
theory, the sixteen essays by scholars and activists from Canada,
the U.S., and New Zealand open pathways for the nascent field of
Indigenous masculinities. The authors explore subjects of
representation through art and literature, as well as Indigenous
masculinities in sport, prisons, and gangs. Indigenous Men and
Masculinities highlights voices of Indigenous male writers,
traditional knowledge keepers, ex-gang members, war veterans,
fathers, youth, two-spirited people, and Indigenous men working to
end violence against women. It offers a refreshing vision toward
equitable societies that celebrate healthy and diverse
masculinities.
The legacy of the residential school system ripples throughout
Native Canada, its fingerprints on the domestic violence, poverty,
alcoholism, drug abuse, and suicide rates that continue to cripple
many Native communities. Magic Weapons is the first major survey of
Indigenous writings on the residential school system, and provides
groundbreaking readings of life writings by Rita Joe (Mi'kmaq) and
Anthony Apakark Thrasher (Inuit) as well as in-depth critical
studies of better known life writings by Basil Johnston (Ojibway)
and Tomson Highway (Cree). Magic Weapons examines the ways in which
Indigenous survivors of residential school mobilize narrative in
their struggles for personal and communal empowerment in the shadow
of attempted cultural genocide. By treating Indigenous
life-writings as carefully crafted aesthetic creations and
interrogating their relationship to more overtly politicized
historical discourses, Sam McKegney argues that Indigenous
life-writings are culturally generative in ways that go beyond
disclosure and recompense, re-envisioning what it means to live and
write as Indigenous individuals in post-residential school Canada.
The legacy of the residential school system ripples throughout
Native Canada, its fingerprints on the domestic violence, poverty,
alcoholism, drug abuse, and suicide rates that continue to cripple
many Native communities. Magic Weapons is the first major survey of
Indigenous writings on the residential school system, and provides
groundbreaking readings of life writings by Rita Joe (Mi'kmaq) and
Anthony Apakark Thrasher (Inuit) as well as in-depth critical
studies of better known life writings by Basil Johnston (Ojibway)
and Tomson Highway (Cree). Magic Weapons examines the ways in which
Indigenous survivors of residential school mobilize narrative in
their struggles for personal and communal empowerment in the shadow
of attempted cultural genocide. By treating Indigenous
life-writings as carefully crafted aesthetic creations and
interrogating their relationship to more overtly politicized
historical discourses, Sam McKegney argues that Indigenous
life-writings are culturally generative in ways that go beyond
disclosure and recompense, re-envisioning what it means to live and
write as Indigenous individuals in post-residential school Canada.
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