Decolonizing Antiracism
A study guide of Lawrence and Dua’s academic 2005 article ‘Decolonizing Antiracism’
Summary, part 1
Introduction
Lawrence and Dua begin by stating that:
“Aboriginal people and perspectives are excluded within antiracism” so they “cannot see themselves in antiracism contexts, and Aboriginal activism against settler domination takes place without people of color as allies” (p. 120).
Next, they each go on to outline their positionality (i.e., “the stance or positioning of the researcher in relation to the social and political context of the study” as defined by SAGE Research Methods).
Additional Information
Positionality: The stance or positioning of the researcher in relation to the social and political context of the study.
Indigeneity: “Indigeneity, as applied to First People, is not as simple as opposition to identity erasure or a push back against colonization. Indigeneity is woven through diverse experiences and histories and is often described as a pan-political identity in a postcolonial time….Diverse Indigenous communities weave Indigeneity through a multifaceted array of space and time to revive identities and cultural practices and to regain or retain land, human rights, heritage, and political standing” (Steeves, 2018).
Lawrence (Mi’kmaq) looked to antiracism and feminism to explain her family’s circumstances but found that both theories ignored her family’s Indigeneity. Growing up, she also had a hard time learning about her Indigeneity because immigration and urbanization led many Native people like her to marry white people (as is the case for many mixed-blood families). To add to her struggle with identity, Lawrence’s light skin separates her from other people of color. The political aims of the Canadian government have destroyed Aboriginal communities and fragmented their identities. Today, she is one of a few Aboriginal scholars in academia. Non-Indigenous people often ask her to prove the relationship between Aboriginal people and postcolonial theory and antiracism theory, which is one of the things that prompted her to write this book with Dua.
Additional Information
Post-colonial theory: "Postcolonial theory is a body of thought primarily concerned with accounting for the political, aesthetic, economic, historical, and social impact of European colonial rule around the world in the 18th through the 20th century. Postcolonial theory takes many different shapes and interventions, but all share a fundamental claim: that the world we inhabit is impossible to understand except in relationship to the history of imperialism and colonial rule" (Elam, 2019).
Antiracism theory: "[The act of] supporting an antiracist policy... or expressing an antiracist idea"
See more definitions from this study guide here.
Dua was born in India, moved to the United States, and then Canada––each place teaching her about Indigeneity. She saw herself as allied with Indigenous people but didn’t realize she was part of an ongoing project of colonization (1) as an inhabitant of Canada, she lives on land that is appropriated from Aboriginal people, (2) as a citizen of Canada, she has rights and privileges denied to Aboriginal people collectively, and (3) as an antiracist and progressive scholar, the knowledge she has contributed has been framed in ways that contribute to the active colonization of Aboriginal people. Further, as an antiracist and feminist scholar, she has observed that the discipline has “failed to make Aboriginality foundational” (p. 122). So, she turned to critical race theory, postcolonial studies, and cultural theory, only to find that they “also fail to center the ongoing colonization of Aboriginal peoples” (p. 122).