Status
Available
Call number
Call number
371.829 R44 2010
Collection
Local notes
Shelved in Aboriginal Collection
Description
In 2008, Canada established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to mend the deep rifts between Aboriginal peoples and the settler society that created Canada's notorious residential school system. Unsettling the Settler Within argues that non-Aboriginal Canadians must undergo their own process of decolonization in order to truly participate in the transformative possibilities of reconciliation. Settlers must relinquish the persistent myth of themselves as peacemakers and acknowledge the destructive legacy of a society that has stubbornly ignored and devalued Indigenous experience. A compassionate call to action, this powerful book offers a new and hopeful path toward healing the wounds of the past.
Publication
Vancouver : UBC Press, [2010]
User reviews
LibraryThing member AJBraithwaite
This was a difficult book to read, and, I imagine, a hard one to write. Paulette Regan has made an extensive study of decolonization writings and put them into practice in her work with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It was interesting and instructive to read about her own experiences as
"We bear witness, and in doing so, we accept responsibility for making change in the world...As allies, we learn to listen with humility and vulnerability to the history of dispossession, racism, and oppression that is still alive. We critically reflect upon these stories as a catalyst for action...We would work in solidarity with Indigenous people to restory the IRS history and legacy through ethical testimonial exchange and in public history and commemoration projects as part of national truth telling."
Show More
a settler-Canadian as she came to terms with the shattering of the myth of Canadians as peacemakers in the context of the violence done to indigenous communities of Canada by the residential school system. Her book provides guidance in answer to the 'settler problem' of how do non-indigenous people make amends without perpetuating colonial attitudes of trying to fix things for the aboriginal population of Canada. Her advice is to listen, to review one's own actions in the context of what has gone before and to work towards challenging the myths and attitudes which pervade settler society."We bear witness, and in doing so, we accept responsibility for making change in the world...As allies, we learn to listen with humility and vulnerability to the history of dispossession, racism, and oppression that is still alive. We critically reflect upon these stories as a catalyst for action...We would work in solidarity with Indigenous people to restory the IRS history and legacy through ethical testimonial exchange and in public history and commemoration projects as part of national truth telling."
Show Less
ISBN
9780774817776