Land and storytelling: Indigenous pathways towards healing, spiritual regeneration and resurgence

Residential School ◽

Land Dispossession ◽

History Of ◽

Justice Process ◽

Indigenous Perspective ◽

Deep Sense

This article aims to contribute to discourses of healing, Indigenous resurgence and spiritual regeneration within the context of the Indian Residential School Truth and Reconciliation Commission that took place in Canada between 2008 and 2015. First, it considers to what extent the TRC’s restorative justice process can relate to Indigenous ways of conceptualising healing. Secondly, it reflects on the Commission’s exclusive focus on the Indian Residential School system and its legacies, which, according to many Indigenous scholars, overlooks a much broader and more complex history of colonisation, political domination, and land dispossession still ongoing. I underline that, from an Indigenous perspective, land plays a fundamental role to achieve healing, spiritual regeneration, and resurgence. In the last section, I move the discussion to the literary dimension as I explore Richard Wagamese’s 2012 novel Indian Horse. In particular, I argue that fiction, especially that fiction produced during the years of the Commission’s work, can be a crucial site for challenging the TRC’s restorative process and for bringing out the significance of storytelling and of an Indigenous deep sense of connection to the land as a source of learning, spiritual reclaiming, and healing.

The Triumph of Olemaun: Survivance, Empathic Unsettlement, and Restorying the History of Canadian Residential Schools

International Research in Children s Literature ◽

10.3366/ircl.2018.0270 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 132-146

Author(s):

Anah-Jayne Markland

Keyword(s):

Residential Schools ◽

Aboriginal Peoples ◽

Close Reading ◽

Mandatory Education ◽

Young Readers ◽

History Of ◽

Age Appropriate

The ignorance of many Canadians regarding residential schools and their traumatic legacy is emphasised in the reports of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) as a foundational obstacle to achieving reconciliation. Many of the TRC's calls to action involve education that dispels and corrects this ignorance, and the commission demands ‘age-appropriate curriculum on residential schools, Treaties, and Aboriginal peoples' historical and contemporary contributions to Canada’ to be made ‘a mandatory education requirement for Kindergarten to Grade Twelve students’ (Calls to Action 62.i). How to incorporate the history of residential schools in kindergarten and early elementary curricula has been much discussed, and one tool gaining traction is Indigenous-authored picturebooks about Canadian residential schools. This article conducts a close reading of Margaret Pokiak-Fenton and Christy Jordan-Fenton's picturebook When I Was Eight (2013). The picturebook gathers Indigenous and settler children together to contest master settler narratives regarding the history of residential schools. Using Gerald Vizenor's concept of ‘survivance’ and Dominick LaCapra's notion of ‘empathic unsettlement’, the article argues that picturebooks work to unsettle young readers empathetically as part of restorying settler myths about residential schools and implicating young readers in the work of reconciliation.

Historical Policy of the Roh Moo-hyun’s Government in South Korea: Seeking Reconciliation with the Past

RUDN Journal of Political Science ◽

10.22363/2313-1438-2021-23-2-305-315 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 23 (2) ◽

pp. 305-315

Author(s):

Natalya N. Kim

Keyword(s):

Civil Rights ◽

Korean Society ◽

Historical Justice ◽

20Th Century History ◽

History Of ◽

The Republic ◽

Historical Past

Historical policy was one of the main directions of the domestic policy of the Roh Moo-hyuns government (2003-2008). The ideological justification of revising the 20th century history of Korea was the idea of building a new Korean society based on the principles of democracy and the rule of civil rights and freedoms. Through the implementation of a new historical policy the Roh Moo-hyuns government tried to prove that the creation of such a society was impossible without revealing the truth about the historical past, in which the state repeatedly neglected civil rights and committed crimes. Increased attention to issues of restoration of the historical justice is typical for the current government of Moon Jae-in, the political successor of Roh Moo-hyun. Based on the analysis of the governmental documents, legislation this paper reveals the main disagreements between political parties of the Republic of Korea around the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, identifies the key results of its activities.

Reconciliation and Conflict: A Review of Practice

Alberta Law Review ◽

10.29173/alr136 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 48 (4) ◽

pp. 831

Author(s):

Emily Snyder

Keyword(s):

Race Relations ◽

Learning Experience ◽

Residential Schools ◽

Residential School ◽

Indian Residential Schools ◽

Ongoing Dialogue ◽

Concurrent Events

In this article I provide a review of two connected events. The first is the conference "Prairie Perspectives on Indian Residential Schools, Truth and Reconciliation," which was held in June 2010 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. This conference was just one of many concurrent events taking place at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's first national event. Specific themes and aspects of the conference are covered here. Secondly, I parallel my discussion of the conference to my experiences with the national event - experiences can be complex and do not happen in isolation from the broader context around them. Overall, I argue that while the conference and the national event made some meaningful contributions to ongoing dialogue about reconciliation in Canada, it is clear that understanding how to deal with and discuss the conflict that arises from discussions of residential school, "race relations," and reconciliation more broadly is an ongoing learning experience. I offer some recommendations concerning how conflict could be better dealt with at future conferences and national events. Reconciliation processes can be more effective if there is not only space for dissent but, most importantly, that mechanisms are in place for encouraging productive discussions about the conflict that arises and that will continue to arise.

Jan Hofmeyr - Restorative Justice in Post-Apartheid South Africa. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission and its Deferred Promise

The Legacy of Crimes and Crises ◽

10.3726/978-3-653-05805-5/16 ◽

2016 ◽

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Restorative Justice ◽

Truth And Reconciliation

A Knock on the Door: The Essential History of Residential Schools from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada by Aimée Craft, Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

Great Plains Research ◽

10.1353/gpr.2018.0035 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 28 (2) ◽

pp. 212-213 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

J. R. Miller

Keyword(s):

Residential Schools ◽

History Of

Reading with empathy: Sindiwe Magona’s Mother to Mother

Feminist Theory ◽

10.1177/1464700112442645 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 181-195 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Anne Whitehead

Keyword(s):

South African ◽

Affective Experience ◽

The South ◽

White Mother ◽

Political Critique ◽

History Of ◽

Black Motherhood

Through a reading of Sindiwe Magona’s Mother to Mother (1998), this article assesses claims for the empathetic potential of reading fiction, as a means of promoting cross-racial understanding. Drawing on feminist theorists Ann Cvetkovich, Clare Hemmings, and Sara Ahmed, I uncover the modes of political critique that can reside in resisting affective identification, and position Magona’s rejection of empathetic cross-racial connection as a critique of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). I focus particularly on Magona’s representation of black motherhood, and argue that Mother to Mother seeks to inscribe the systematic violation of the maternal relation under apartheid – a form of violence that was not registered by the TRC – and also to position the black mother’s affective experience outside of the empathetic reach of the white mother, precisely because it is embedded in a long history of social, political, and material dispossession.

A Long Path toward Reconciliation and Accountability: A Truth and Reconciliation Commission and a Special Chamber for Burundi?

International Criminal Law Review ◽

10.1163/157181212x621463 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 71-100 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Matteo Crippa

Keyword(s):

Peace Agreement ◽

Consultation Process ◽

History Of ◽

Accountability Mechanism ◽

Political Milieu ◽

The Government ◽

Dual Mechanism

The recent history of Burundi is characterized by cyclical ethnic strife between the Hutu majority, comprising approximately 85 per cent of the population, and the Tutsi. A peace agreement was signed in 2000, and in 2005 the UN recommended the establishment of a dual mechanism, namely a non-judicial accountability mechanism in the form of a truth commission, and a judicial accountability mechanism in the form of a special chamber. Little progress toward their establishment was achieved, however, with the process stalled by outbreaks of violence and the country’s fragmented political milieu. In 2011, significant momentum has been gained with the completion of a country-wide consultation process and the resumption of negotiations between the government and the UN. Building upon these developments, this article reviews the architecture of the proposed mechanism and sets forth various considerations for the creation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Special Chamber for Burundi.

The Inuit presence at the first Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission national event

Études/Inuit/Studies ◽

10.7202/1004096ar ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 34 (2) ◽

pp. 167-184 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Marie-Pierre Gadoua

Keyword(s):

First Nations ◽

Sense Of Community ◽

School System ◽

Residential School ◽

Cultural Group ◽

The Creation ◽

Residential Schooling

This paper addresses various forms of healing and reconciliation among Canadian Inuit and First Nations, in regards to the Indian residential school system and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). Stemming from fieldwork at the TRC’s first national event in Winnipeg (June 2010), I present observations that are supplemented by previous studies on Aboriginal healing methods in Canada. Although Inuit and First Nations healing and reconciliation strategies are based on common themes—tradition and community—in practice they diverge notably, both in their principles and in their applications. First Nations seek healing by activating a sense of community that often transcends their specific cultural group or nation, using pan-Indian spiritual traditions and ceremonies. In contrast, the Inuit most commonly seek to preserve and promote specific Inuit traditions and identity as tools in their healing practices. This divergence could be seen in Inuit and First Nations’ participation in the TRC. The creation of the Inuit sub-commission within the TRC in March 2010, resulting from intense lobbying by Inuit leaders, was a first sign of the group’s distinctive approach to healing. But the unfolding of the TRC’s first national event in Winnipeg showed again how these differences materialise in practice and contribute to a better understanding of Inuit responses to the repercussions of their colonial past and strategies for healing from the legacy of residential schooling.

History of a Failure: Attempts to Create a National Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1997–2006

International Journal of Transitional Justice ◽

10.1093/ijtj/ijw005 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 292-310 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Jasna Dragovic-Soso

Keyword(s):

Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽

History Of

Recognizing Settler Ignorance in the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Feminist Philosophy Quarterly ◽

10.5206/fpq/2018.4.6229 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 4 (4) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Anna Cook

Keyword(s):

Settler Colonialism ◽

Personal Narratives ◽

Residential School ◽

Politics Of Recognition ◽

The Past ◽

White Ignorance

The Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) has been mandated to collect testimonies from survivors of the Indian Residential Schools system. The TRC demands survivors of the residential school system to share their personal narratives under the assumption that the sharing of narratives will inform the Canadian public of the residential school legacy and will motivate a transformation of settler identity. I contend, however, that the TRC provides a concrete example of how a politics of recognition fails to transform relationships between Native and settler Canadians not only because it enacts an internalization of colonial recognition, but because it fails to account for what I call “settler ignorance.” Work in epistemologies of ignorance and epistemic oppression gives language to explain sustained denial and provide tools to further understand how settler denial is sustained, and how it can be made visible, and so challenged. For this task, Mills’s articulation of white ignorance should be expanded to a consideration of white settler ignorance. Over and above an account of white ignorance, such an account will have to consider the underlying logics of settler colonialism. This characterization of settler ignorance will show that the denial of past and ongoing violence against Indigenous peoples, through the reconstruction of the past to assert the primacy of settlers, is not explainable in terms of a lack of recognition but is rather structural ignorance.