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January 2012
Print ISBN: 9781894549219
Overview
This collection of seventeen essays presents original and critical perspectives from writers, scholars and activists on issues that are pertinent to Aboriginal women and their communities in both rural and urban settings in Canada. Their contributions explore the critical issues facing Native women as they rebuild and revive their communities.
Through topics such as the role of tradition, reclaiming identities and protecting Native children and the environment, they identify the restraints that shape their actions and the inspirations that feed their visions.The contributors address issues of youth, health and sexual identity; women's aging, sexuality and health; caring for children and adults living with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome; First Nations education and schooling; community-based activism on issues of prostitution and sex workers; and reclaiming cultural identity through art and music.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction: For the Betterment of Our Nations
Bonita Lawrence & Kim Anderson
Part I: Coming Home
Chapter 1: Where the Spirits Live: Women Rebuilding a Non-Status Mi'kmaq Community
Gertie Mai Muise
Chapter 2: The Drum Keeps Beating: Recovering a Mohawk Identity
Laura Schwager
Chapter 3: From the Stories that Women Tell: The Métis Women's Circle
Carole Leclair & Lynn Nicholson with Métis Elder Elize Hartley
Chapter 4: The Eagle Has Landed: Native Women, Leadership and Community Development
Sylvia Maracle
Chapter 5: Strong Spirit, Fractured Identity: An Ojibway Adoptee's Journey to Wholeness
Shandra Spears
Part II: Asking Questions
Chapter 6: Tribal Feminism Is a Drum Song
Rosanna Deerchild
Chapter 7: She No Speaks and Other Colonial Constructs of "The Traditional Woman"
Dawn Martin-Hill
Chapter 8: Approaching the Fourth Mountain: Native Women and the Ageing Process
Bonita Lawrence
Chapter 9: Arts and Letters Club: Two-Spirited Women Artists and Social Change
Nancy Cooper
Chapter 10: The Healing Power of Women's Voices
Zainab Amadahy
Chapter 11: Aboriginal Women's Action Network
Fay Blaney
Part III: Rebuilding Our Communities
Chapter 12: Vital Signs: reading Colonialism in Contemporary Adolescent Family Planning
Kim Anderson
Chapter 13: Creating a Community-Based School
Jean Knockwood
Chapter 14: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: The Teachers Among Us
Rebecca Martell
Chapter 15: From Victims to Leaders: Activism against Violence towards Women
Cyndy Baskin
Chapter 16: The Truth About Us: Living in the Aftermath of the Ipperwash Crisis
Shelly E. Bressette
Chapter 17: Coming Full Circle: A Young Man's Perspective on Building Gender Equity in Aboriginal Communities
Carl Fernández
Selected Bibliography
Contributors
