CARVING SPACE
Carving Space is an Indigenous radio documentary series highlighting unique Indigenous voices across a variety of topics. Consisting of five episodes, it originally aired from April – May 2018.[1] The episode featured here is the third in the series, titled “Indigenous Feminisms.” Published on April 30, 2018, producer Autumn Schnell guides us through a conversation on feminism centering two Indigenous women – Dory Naison (Anishinaabe heritage) and Crystal Fraser (Gwich’in heritage).
Episode Discussion | audio
“Indigenous Feminisms”
Both Naison and Fraser are academics, and both maintain an intersectional and inclusive understanding of Indigenous feminism. Autumn first speaks with Naison, who notes the centrality of Indigenous feminist scholarship to critical indigenous studies. About thirteen minutes into the podcast, Naison ground this thought by asserting one cannot afford to think about colonization without a gendered analysis. The effects of colonialism reverberate in present day life, a statement echoed by Fraser later in the episode. Fraser, whose academic focus is residential schools[2], contends around twenty minutes into the episode that Indigenous families are still coping with the trauma resulting from residential schools, noting that the last residential school closed fairly recently in the past 20 years.
Other Indigenous feminist scholars support this assessment. One such scholar is Deborah A. Miranda, who wrote an academic article titled “Extermination of the Joyas” detailing what she calls the gendercide of third-gender people in the midst of Spanish colonialism in the Americas. Miranda goes on to describe how the effects of Spanish gendercide reverberate today, where people with same-sex orientation are “feared, discriminated, and locked out of tribal and familial homes.” Miranda also asserts that through the lens of gendercide, we force ourselves to rethink Indigenous assimilation derived from Euro-American dominant culture.[3] Saylesh Wesley is another scholar whose work is relevant to this analysis. Wesley wrote “Two-Spirited Woman”, a personal essay describing her journey as a mtf transgendered Sto´:lo˜ citizen. Wesley speaks to her grandmother, who has difficulty engaging with Wesley’s queerness. For Wesley, this difficulty stems from the Catholic assimilation that resulted from the colonial project.[4]
Autumn’s conversations with Naison and Fraser are thoughtful, informative, and highly engaging. As Naison notes early on in the episode, Spanish colonialism brought “all sorts of things… in categories that meant to harm [Indigenous people] more than help.” Alongside Fraser’s analysis of residential schools and the effect they have had on Indigenous communities, this episode provides a wealth of unique and necessary learning. Autumn is an incredibly skilled host, navigating both conversations with ease and injecting her own unique perspective into both conversations. One could only highly recommend this episode and all others in the series as insightful learning from unique Indigenous voices on an array of interesting topics.
[1] https://www.citr.ca/2018/04/11/carving-space-an-indigenous-radio-doc-series-84625/
[2] In Canada, residential schools were boarding schools funded by the Canadian government with the explicit mandate to assimilate Indigenous children into the dominant Canadian culture.
[3] Deborah A. Miranda; EXTERMINATION OF THE JOYAS: Gendercide in Spanish California. GLQ 1 April 2010; 16 (1-2): 253–284. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/10642684-2009-022
[4] Saylesh Wesley; Twin-Spirited Woman: Sts'iyóye smestíyexw slhá:li. TSQ 1 August 2014; 1 (3): 338–351. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/23289252-2685624