When young was mountain under moon;

Situwuka and Katkwachsnea, Native American couple, 1912

White Hot Rage  (via ho-ho-my-lad)

GOD THIS IS SO FUCKING IMPORTANT 

wikipedia page for the École Polytechnique massacre

men are violent against women, and when women point this out, they are threatened with more violence

Sylvia Plath

NPR: If He’s Sexually Aggressive in Bars, It’s Not Because He’s Drunk (via intlwomenshealth)

right, because abusers are really good at what they do and since rape culture has created an idea that drunk women are at fault when people choose to abuse them abusers know that they’re more likely to get away with the abuse without any consequences if they choose a drunk girl.  congratulations all you concern trolling assholes who claim you’re just trying to “keep women safe” by telling them not to drink, you’ve made them targets for sexual predators!

birth control and abortion were considered sinful for the same reason.

anti-choice sentiment started because people (men) wanted women to be punished, and these misogynistic ideas have carried on for hundreds of years.

Good lord I had a really hard time tracking this down, even though I’ve been taught it in numerous classes. But I found it! It seems that it has mostly been passed on through direct teacher-student (Stevenson is a prof in Saskatoon), community education sessions, conferences, etc. rather than published in academic journals, which is why it was difficult to find.

However, this has been taught in a lot of my classes, and many university level Indig studies intro courses in SK. It was created by Dr. Winona Stevenson (Wheeler), a Cree woman who knows her shit. I thought I’d share it. This is very much localized to the experiences of Indigenous people in Canada (i.e. use of terms like “Indian problem” and aspects relating to the Indian Act), however, it is definitely relateable to the experiences of Indigenous people all over.

I’d very much recommend looking up the work of Dr. Stevenson.

Five Stages of Colonialism

Phase 1:

The Steady State

Traditional world views, philosophies, and spiritual intact

Aboriginal laws and customs function to maintain social cohesion in families and communities

Aboriginal family structures are healthy and balanced

Aboriginal communities are autonomous and self-sufficient

Land and resources held in common

Equal access to resources (human, spiritual, environmental)

Negotiated territories and international relations

Phase 2:

First Encounter

Colonial agents (merchants) arrive seeking economic profits

Aboriginal peoples enter the global market system, created by the Europeans, as producers of resources

Aboriginal peoples become increasingly dependent on foreign commodities which draw them further into colonial economy

Aboriginal peoples start increasing their production for trade (hunting, trapping, supplying) which places undue strain on local resources

Aboriginal peoples adjust their philosophical and spiritual relationships with the animal peoples in order to exploit them for profit

Pre-contact international relations destroyed over competition for resources and access to European commodities.  Inter-tribal confrontations increase dramatically

Aboriginal peoples enter into social relations with colonial agents through trade, intermarriage, and prolonged contact

Aboriginal peoples start adopting some of the ideas, values, and socio-cultural practices of colonial agents  I.E.,  hierarchal power structures, patriarchal family structures, material accumulation, individualism, alcohol)

Introduction of foreign disease epidemics I.E., dramatic decline in population, (between 30% and 90%) target groups:  children (future) and old people (knowledge)

 demoralization: lose faith in traditional medicine and healers, guilt, self-hate

Phase 3:

The Imposition of Colonial Relations

(Dominant vs Subordinate)

Colonial presence increases (settlement)

Demand for Aboriginal land increases (displacement)

Aboriginal labour and skills not needed anymore i.e. colonial economy shift from trade to agriculture

Relationship shifts from interdependence to dominate/subordinate

Aboriginal peoples become obstacles to progress and settlement

Racialization theories popularized to justify colonial theft

Creation of the Indian Problem —-> solution:  extinction or assimilation

Missionaries impose Euro-Canadian ideals, values, and practices…

 -> family structures (patriarchal), hierarchy (deference to authority), material accumulation, private property, and individualism

  ->Christianity:  religious justification for political, social, and economic domination

Colonial administration, later federal government , uses its laws to impose European ideals, values, and practices (The Indian Act) i.e., confinement and external political and social control

                disempowered local authority

                residential schools:  psychological and physical violence

                economic sanctions

                prohibition of traditional spiritual practices

                low-quality services and educational opportunities

                exclusion

Racialization structurally entrenched denying Aboriginal peoples equal access and opportunity

                kept in a state of dependence, subordination, and demoralization

                creation of a huge and dehumanizing social service-delivery

Phase 4:

Manifestations of Internalized Colonialism

Economic marginalization (high unemployment)

environmental exploitation and destruction

Dramatic socio-cultural disequilibrium (chaos)

                 i.e., violent crimes, high suicide rates, penal incarceration, social assistance dependency, chemical dependence, low education levels

                generational cycles of the above

Family dysfunction and estrangement

                 i.e., family violence, wife battery, child abuse, child abandonment, children in social service care, sexual assault, and incest

                generational cycles of the above

Dehumanization and alienation

                 i.e.., cultural differences, schizophrenia, low self-esteem and confidence, self-hate, feelings of inferiority, apathy and lethargy, feelings of hopelessness, increase in health problems, and increase in psychological and mental disorders

                generational cycles of the above

Phase 5:

Decolonization

Individual.  Rejection of the colonizer and his victimization

Appropriate tools (such as schooling, life skills, etc.) of the oppressor to challenge oppression

Resist in direct and indirect ways

Reclaim languages, culture, spirituality, ceremonies, communities

The individual needs to recover the sense of: safety, identity, power, integrity, possibility, abundance, connection, strength, compassion, self-protection, autonomy, faith