Author Archives: David Gaertner
Reconciliation: “Like an Echo Turned Inside Out”
On the penultimate page of her 2017 dystopian speculative fiction novel, The Marrow Thieves, Métis author and editor Cherie Dimaline evokes the sound of an echo as a means elucidate the reunification of two residential school surviours: The scene is significant for a number of reasons, not least of all because it contains the only […]
Towards a Methodology of Closure
The colonial gaze is characterized not only by scopophilia, a drive to look, but also by an urge to penetrate, to traverse, to know, to translate, to own and exploit. The attitude assumes that everything should be accessible to those with the means and will to access them. (David Garneau, “Imaginary Space of Conciliation and […]
FNIS 220: Representation and Indigenous Cultural Politics
FNSP 220 explores the ways that Indigenous peoples seek to overcome the legacies of settler colonialism and claim sovereignty and self-determination through cultural production and critique. In this course, we will examine contemporary articulations of Indigenous identity, politics, and cultural traditions in the fields of literature, film, video games, and other modes of resurgent cultural […]
FNIS 300: Writing for Indigenous Studies
Click the link below for the full syllabus. In this course, we will be honing writing skills for Indigenous studies with emphasis on writing for and with community and against patriarchy, racism, and settler colonialism. Through this course, you will work towards becoming more aware of your writing process: which means being mindful (and sometimes […]
Welcome to the Desert of Reconciliation
An excerpt from my forthcoming book The Theatre of Regret: Troubling Reconciliation in Canada. Available soon from UBC Press.
FNIS 401W: New Media Practices and Applications in Indigenous Studies
Course Description: In an interview with Liza Yeager, Anishinaabe comedian, writer, and media maker, Ryan McMahon talks about why he thinks podcasting is specifically useful medium for Indigenous storytellers: “I just think the medium is so exciting. It’s relatively inexpensive to produce; it’s a flexible creative medium that allows us to be publishers, you know? […]
Beyond the Unexpected: Land, Decolonization, and Self-Determination in Network Sovereignty
There is a famous photograph of Bedonkohe Apache leader Geronimo sitting in a Cadillac. It was taken in 1905. Geronimo was in captivity at the time, having surrendered to the US government in 1886, and the photograph was shot as a publicity stunt for Oklahoma’s Gala Day. Geronimo is behind the wheel of the car, […]
