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Bionote:
Dr. Kim Anderson (Metis) is a Professor in the Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition at the University of Guelph, where she holds a Canada Research Chair in Storying Indigenous Relational Futures. Her books include the single authored A Recognition of Being: Reconstructing Native Womanhood (2nd Edition, Canadian Scholars’ Press, 2016), Life Stages and Native Women: Memory, Teachings and Story Medicine (University of Manitoba Press, 2011), and the co-edited Indigenous Men and Masculinities: Legacies, Identities, Regeneration (with Robert Innes, University of Manitoba Press, 2015), and Keetsahnak/Our Missing and Murdered Sisters (with Maria Campbell and Christi Belcourt, University of Alberta Press, 2018).
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This interview features in TMYS Review December 2024, available worldwide via Amazon.
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TMYS: How did you enter the world of Indigenous faith and practices? We understand the excitement that results during or post research, we are keen to understand your personal motivation that may have led you to commit your years into understanding the community.
As an indigenous person, one is born into indigenous practice, whether we know it or not. That is to say, many of us have been distanced from our cultures, lands and peoples, but there is always a connection, a birthright to reclaim those pieces of ourselves and our indigenous nations if and when we are ready. It’s a lifelong process and sometimes it takes a while to get started because we have been persecuted over time for engaging in indigenous practices, including ceremony, language and being in relation with the land. I grew up with my birth father, who was Metis, along with some uncles, aunts and cousins, but it wasn’t until I left home that I began to seek out a broader indigenous community. I found this in the urban indigenous community in Toronto, where I went to do my undergraduate degree.
TMYS: As per your research, what is the impact of colonial history in the lives and rights of tribal women? Does that affect their lives even today?
There is so much to say here; many books have been written! My own exploration of this began when researching my book A Recognition of Being: Reconstructing Native Womanhood (2nd Edition, Canadian Scholars’ Press, 2016), in which I explored the deliberate dismantling of indigenous women’s social, political, economic and spiritual authorities of indigenous women on Turtle Island (North America). The introduction of heteropatriarchy was a tool used to break our societies, but it didn’t wholly succeed. In terms of rights, there is plenty to explore about the legislative means used, including the introduction of the Indian Act in Canada. Because I teach in a program of family relations and human development, I often speak of the attack on our extended family systems, which happened through residential schools and other means. It’s important to remember that in spite of all these assaults, indigenous people have held on – to some extent - to non-patriarchal ways and we are working to rebuild those systems for how they might look in 2024.
TMYS: How does tribal feminism intersect with the feminist movements worldwide? Given your study of Indigenous oral history, what kind of alternate options helped sustain the ideas in the absence of a script?
I think we all have much to learn from each other, which is why it’s important to read widely and make connections. In my own work, I have pointed out that we can learn from other global cultures about how discourses of “mothers of the nation” or women as “keepers of culture” - which can be powerful acts of reclamation - can also slide into oppressive practices of controlling women or limiting their leadership. (See. “Affirmations of an Indigenous Feminist.” In Cheryl Suzack, Shari Huhndorf, Jeanne Perreault, and Jean Barman Eds., Indigenous Women and Feminism: Politics, Activism, Culture. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2010). Oral history helps us to build richer and more nuanced narratives about notions like indigenous mothering, because we can see the challenges and also strengths of the culture for the time period we are investigating.
TMYS: What, according to you, are the most common misconceptions or stereotypes about tribal women? Are the communities aware of such stereotypes? If yes, how do they respond to those?
One common stereotype that has been used against indigenous women since contact is that they are promiscuous, which was a narrative made up to excuse the abuse and violence inflicted on indigenous women by settler populations. This narrative continues to impact the lives of these women today, as the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/final-report) and other significant research has shown. Another stereotype used against Indigenous women at the time of contact and moving forward was that they were bad mothers. This narrative continues to break families apart today as is evident by the staggering numbers of indigenous children in the child welfare system.
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This interview features in TMYS Review December 2024, available worldwide via Amazon.
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TMYS: It would be wonderful if you share examples of tribal feminist movements or initiatives that have been successful in achieving tangible outcomes. This will help our audience feel the Indigenous sensibilities and intelligence, both.
I get inspiration about the work of Indigenous feminists worldwide through the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association. NAISA holds a conference every year that is attended by Indigenous scholars from around the world, with many Indigenous feminists among them. I value the key Indigenous feminist theoretical and empirical research that I learn about in this environment. There are lots of other examples of practices; the aforementioned national Inquiry on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls started out with decades of grassroots activism on the issue that continues.
TMYS: Do you think Indigenous values and practices empower tribal women's agency? If yes, how?
Again – another book! – and something I explored early on in terms of how to reclaim our authorities in multiple domains. I would simply say that if we remember that heteropatriarchy is not a given; that it is something that was introduced to our people, then we can figure out ways that it isn’t a given moving forward.
TMYS: Your research summary says that the work will integrate Indigenous social relations, lands and languages to produce holistic knowledge that is grounded in the local and conversant with the global. How do these stories and narratives help consolidate the tribal identities, especially those of women?
I am currently building a research lab in our University Arboretum, and modelling it on an Indigenous grandmother’s house. It seems that many Indigenous people still understand the strength of grandmothers and aunties. Grandmothers hold things together and create environments for younger generations to flourish, which is what I hope to do as a professor/researcher. My work is about how older women can reclaim authorities within Indigenous systems of relationality, including “all our relations:” plant, animal, land, water, sky world, spirit, human. Working with land and indigenous languages is critical to reset ourselves in this web; to build it with and for others into the future.
TMYS: As a researcher and professor, how do you inspire your students to aim for an inclusive culture? What kind of initiatives taken up by individuals and organizations to support tribal movements will help amplify your academic vision?
Inclusion is a term that has been challenged, especially by Indigenous people, many of whom are not sure they want to be included in the status quo. That being said, I try to create a welcoming space for my students by having regular “research lab” meetings where we cook, eat and visit; where we can be ourselves and build relations over time that go beyond the business of research. This is why I wanted to build a Grandmother’s house as an Indigenous research hub; to break us out of an institutional space and introduce more relational environments. It’s still a work in progress!
(Interview by Nishita Biswas)
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This interview features in TMYS Review December 2024, available worldwide via Amazon.
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