Settler City Limits: Indigenous Resurgence and Colonial Violence in the Urban Prairie West

American Indian Studies (AIS)

by Heather Dorries (Editor), Robert Henry (Editor), David Hugill (Editor)

While cities like Winnipeg, Minneapolis, Saskatoon, Rapid City, Edmonton, Missoula, Regina, and Tulsa are places where Indigenous marginalization has been most acute, they have also long been sites of Indigenous placemaking and resistance to settler colonialism. Although such cities have been denigrated as “ordinary” or banal in the broader urban literature, they are exceptional sites to study Indigenous resurgence. T​he urban centres of the continental plains have featured Indigenous housing and food co-operatives, social service agencies, and schools. The American Indian Movement initially developed in Minneapolis in 1968, and Idle No More emerged in Saskatoon in 2013. The editors and authors of Settler City Limits , both Indigenous and settler, address urban struggles involving Anishinaabek, Cree, Creek, Dakota, Flathead, Lakota, and Métis peoples. Collectively, these studies showcase how Indigenous people in the city resist ongoing processes of colonial dispossession and create spaces for themselves and their families. Working at intersections of Indigenous studies, settler colonial studies, urban studies, geography, and sociology, this book examines how the historical and political conditions of settler colonialism have shaped urban development in the Canadian Prairies and American Plains. Settler City Limits frames cities as Indigenous spaces and places, both in terms of the historical geographies of the regions in which they are embedded, and with respect to ongoing struggles for land, life, and self-determination.

Genres: Indigenous, Nonfiction

370 pages, Hardcover

Published October 4, 2019

Reviews

[Karen Kohoutek · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really appreciated this collection of (pretty academic) essays on the intersection of Indigenous life and history with urban environments, particularly in prairie states (so involving Canada, Minneapolis, Montana, South Dakota). A lot of good ground is covered, including the ways that purported media exposes on racism can highlight racist beliefs (focusing on the poverty and crime in certain neighborhoods, for example, without providing context on the causes), and debunking the idea that life on reservations, or based in nature, are more Indigenous, contrasted to cities, which are often thought of as separated constructions of white settler society. There are reminders that the cities are all on unceded or stolen land just as much as any other places are, and that many Indigenous people lived on the sites of these cities, and went back and forth seasonally between different areas, so any rural/urban, reservation/modern city divide is largely artificial. Of course, there's also some material about horrifying injustices (like case studies of people who lived and worked in Canadian cities for decades, but upon becoming disabled, were barred from help because they were still not considered residents), and the epidemic of violence against Indigenous people. Some of the essays will appeal to people with different interests, but it's a good grounding!

[Kristen Vlahiotis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved how this book was written and found it incredibly insightful. I had a huge perspective shift while reading this book, it makes so much sense that our urban spaces are extensions of colonialism and actively reinforce colonial violence. The colonial idea that urban space is a settler space and is disconnected from territorial struggles outside the city further alienates Indigenous folks who reside in the city. Most of the time Indigenous folks residing in the city are on their traditional lands but don't have the opportunity to practice their traditions or connect with the land. Reforming cities as anti-racist and anti-colonial spaces requires understanding the city as a space where Indigenous life can flourish. Highlighting connections between urban and rural spaces by affirming Indigenous territorial authority, can lead to important changes in urban development and planning. I'm so hopeful for the future and I really think we can reform and decolonize our cities. This makes me so excited to incorporate this into my research process and my scientific work!

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book!! Amazing pieces that help understand the setting of the Canadian prairies amidst ongoing colonization, and the role of prairie cities as both sites of resistance and oppression.