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katharina90's review
4.0
The essays touch on many facets of the Indigenous lived experience, both past and present, while also highlighting other interconnected issues from capitalism and state violence to homophobia and transphobia.
Because the author has lived in the US and Canada, off and on reservation, and is a biracial individual with the ability to pass, I think she brings a unique perspective to the conversation.
I really enjoyed her comparison of nation states/governments to abusers who dehumanize and gaslight whomever they don't view as people, in order to extract from them.
"We're here, in diaspora on our own lands."
"What do you want? Are those desires based on extraction? Are they dependent upon capitalism or colonialism?"
"Racism, for many people, seems to occupy space in very much the same way as dark matter: it forms the skeleton of our world, yet remains ultimately invisible, undetectable. This is convenient. If nothing is racist, then nothing needs to be done to address it."
"No, 'diversity,' as Tania Canas so succinctly puts it in her essay 'Diversity is a White Word,' is about making sense of difference "through the white lens…by creating, curating and demanding palatable definitions of ‘diversity’ but only in relation to what this means in terms of whiteness." It’s the literary equivalent of 'ethnic' restaurants: they please white people because they provide them with 'exotic' new flavours, but if they don’t appease white people’s sensitive taste buds they’re not worth a damn."
Graphic: Genocide, Mental illness, Police brutality, and Colonisation
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Transphobia, Murder, and Gaslighting
Minor: Addiction, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Slavery, Torture, Religious bigotry, and Cultural appropriation
biancafrancisco's review against another edition
5.0
The book teaches you a lot about the issues indigenous communities and individuals struggle with (most that were imposed on them by colonizers), and how not only they are still dealing with and trying to heal from the very real and tangibly present damage this legacy of colonialism and genocide has transfered through generations, but are simultaneously dealing with modern versions of the same violence nowadays.
I was surprised to see, that through the connections she makes between several systemic structures, there was much for me to relate to as well. I'm an immensely priviledged white european, but I'm still a woman, I'm still a daughter, I'm still bound by the constraints of capitalism and the patriarchy as well as witness to intergenerational trauma, to mention a few, and, in the end, you can't accurately assess any structural issue without it intertwining with the others.
All in all, I recommend it to literally everyone, as I think there's learning opportunities in this book for all of us. I'm extremely glad I picked it up.
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Grief, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation
rini's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Racism, Forced institutionalization, and Police brutality
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Trafficking, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Cancer and Drug abuse