Prairie Rising: Indigenous Youth, Decolonization, and the Politics of Intervention

Description

In 2016, Canada's newly elected federal government publically committed to reconciling the social and material deprivation of Indigenous communities across the country. Does this outward shift in the Canadian state's approach to longstanding injustices facing Indigenous peoples reflect a "transformation with teeth," or is it merely a reconstructed attempt at colonial Indigenous-settler relations? Prairie Rising provides a series of critical reflections about the changing face of settler colonialism in Canada through an ethnographic investigation of Indigenous-state relations in the city of Saskatoon.　 Jaskiran Dhillon uncovers how various groups including state agents, youth workers, and community organizations utilize participatory politics in order to intervene in the lives of Indigenous youth living under conditions of colonial occupation and marginality. In doing so, this accessibly written book sheds light on the changing forms of settler governance and the interlocking systems of education, child welfare, and criminal justice that sustain it. Dhillon's nuanced and fine-grained analysis exposes how the push for inclusionary governance ultimately reinstates colonial settler authority and raises startling questions about the federal government's commitment to justice and political empowerment for Indigenous Nations, particularly within the context of the everyday realities facing Indigenous youth. Cover Copyright page Contents List of Figures Preface and Acknowledgments Introduction: Urban Indigenous Youth and Participatory Politics in the Paris of the Prairies Part One: A World of Invisible Things: History and Politics in the Context of Settler Colonial Encounters 1 Breakage: Colonization, Violence, and the Possibility (Still) of Self-Determined Destiny 2 The Making of Crisis Stories Part Two: The Space That Lies In Between: Ethnographic Encounters with the Land of Living Skies 3 The Seduction of Participation: They Say the Best Is Yet to Come 4 Policing the Boundaries and Debates over What’s “Real” Part Three: Pushback on the Plains: Tensions and Trials of Participation 5 Justice in a Binder: Cultural Currency and Urban Indigenous Youth 6 The Dislocation of Self Conclusion: Red Rising Notes References Index