Unsettling Spirit: A Journey into Decolonization

Description

What does it mean to be a white settler on land taken from peoples who have lived there since time immemorial? In the context of reconciliation and Indigenous resurgence, Unsettling Spirit provides a personal perspective on decolonization, informed by Indigenous traditions and lifeways, and the need to examine one's complicity with colonial structures. Applying autoethnography grounded in Indigenous and feminist methodologies, Denise Nadeau weaves together stories and reflections on how to live with integrity on stolen and occupied land. The author chronicles her early and brief experience of "Native mission" in the late 1980s and early 1990s in northern Canada and Chiapas, Mexico, and the gradual recognition that she had internalized colonialist concepts of the "good Christian" and the Great White Helper. Drawing on somatic psychotherapy, Nadeau addresses contemporary manifestations of helping and the politics of trauma. She uncovers her ancestors' settler background and the responsibilities that come with facing this history. Caught between two traditions – born and raised Catholic but challenged by Indigenous ways of life – the author traces her engagement with Indigenous values and how relationships inform her ongoing journey. A foreword by Cree-Métis author Deanna Reder places the work in a broader context of Indigenous scholarship. Incorporating insights from Indigenous ethical and legal frameworks, Unsettling Spirit offers an accessible reflection on possibilities for settler decolonization as well as for decolonizing Christian and interfaith practice. Cover Unsettling Spirit Title Copyright Contents Figures A Note on Copyright and Intellectual Property Foreword Acknowledgments Introduction PART ONE Mission Impossible 1 Missionary Musings 2 The Denendeh Seminar 3 Shifting Missions PART TWO The Great White Helper 4 From Taking Space to Making Space 5 Healing and the Politics of Trauma 6 Decolonizing the Great White Helper and Reconciliation PART THREE Going Home: Gespe’gewa’gi 7 Blood 8 Unmapping 9 Decolonizing Rivers PART FOUR Making Relations 10 Moccasins 11 Walking with Our Sisters 12 A Water Journey: Indigenous Water Laws 13 Ceremony 14 Reciprocity 15 Living Treaty PART FIVE Unsettling Spirit 16 Lejac Residential School and Rose Prince 17 Can You Hear the Drum? Indigenous Christianities 18 Returning to the Heart Afterword Notes Bibliography Index