Tag Archives: Canadian Politics
Theatre of Regret Now Available in Paperback
The Theatre of Regret: Literature, Art, and the Politics of Reconciliation in Canada is now available in paperback via UBC Press. Some of the chapters were developed out of writing that I first shared on this blog. For instance the post “Reconciliation: ‘Like an Echo Turned Inside Out’” is the basis of the book’s conclusion, […]
Theatre of Regret Now Available in Paperback
The Theatre of Regret is now available in paperback from UBC Press.
The Theatre of Regret: Establishing the Politics of Reconciliation after World War II
An immense wave of anti-colonial and anti-imperial activity, thought, and revision has overtaken the massive edifice of Western empire, challenging it, to use Gramsci’s vivid metaphor, in a mutual siege. For the first time Westerners have been required to confront themselves not simply as the Raj but as representatives of a culture and even a […]
The Unseemly Underbelly of Reconciliation
For more reading on reconciliation and residential schools see 20 Books that Will Change How You Think About Canada. According to Roy L. Brooks, “we have clearly entered what can be called the ‘Age of Apology’” (3). Now more than ever, governments are embracing models of justice that forgo retribution and work towards facilitating peaceful […]
sehtoskakew: “Aboriginal Principles of Witnessing” in the Canadian TRC
Witnessing and testimony are an essential component of every Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the Canadian TRC is no exception. However, these key terms are ideologically loaded and have historically excluded Indigenous knowledge systems (for instance Delgamuukw v. British Columbia). While “Schedule ‘N’” (which contains the Canadian TRC mandate) gestures towards “Aboriginal principles of witnessing,” there […]
Apology’s Worth It: How Canada Profits from Apology
Cathy Busby. We Are Sorry, detail; fabric panel, 610 cm x 1402 cm; Sorry (Stephen Harper), Sorry (Kevin Rudd), Sorry series inkjet prints, each 112 x 163 cm, Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2010 —— We live in an “Age of Apology“. In a way that was unimaginable during the Cold War, “sorry” is now a primary element […]
Colonial Kettle Logic: Settler Colonialism as Wish Fulfillment
Image from Nice Claim Bro As Daniel Justice has pointed out, settlers have opinions. Many of those opinions are ill-informed, hateful, and, grounded in an ill-founded, but nonetheless unwavering certainty about Indigenous identity, rights & responsibilities, authenticity, and treaty. Settlers hold these opinions despite their incoherent logic and internal contradictions. Justice writes that, The Settler […]
Novel Alliances 