Assembling Unity: Indigenous Politics, Gender, and the Union of BC Indian Chiefs (Women and Indigenous Studies) - Softcover

Nickel, Sarah A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0774837993 ISBN 13: 9780774837996

Publisher: UBC Press, 2019

Synopsis

Established narratives portray Indigenous unity as emerging solely in response to the political agenda of the settler state. But the concept of unity has long shaped the modern Indigenous political movement.

With Indigenous perspectives and frameworks in the foreground, Assembling Unity explores the relationship between global political ideologies and pan-Indigenous politics in British Columbia through the history of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC). Sarah Nickel demonstrates that while unity has been an enduring goal for BC Indigenous peoples, its expression was heavily negotiated between UBCIC members, grassroots constituents, and Indigenous women’s organizations.

Nickel draws on oral interviews, newspaper articles, government documents, and UBCIC records to expose the uniquely gendered nature of political work, as well as the economic and emotional sacrifices that activists make. This incisive work unsettles dominant Western and patriarchal political ideals that cast Indigenous men as reactive and Indigenous women as invisible and apolitical.

About this title

About the Author

Sarah A. Nickel is Tk’emlupsemc (Kamloops Secwépemc), French Canadian, and Ukrainian. She is an assistant professor in the Department of Indigenous Studies at the University of Saskatchewan and has contributed to American Indian Quarterly and BC Studies.

Edition details

• Publisher: UBC Press
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0774837993
• ISBN 13: 9780774837996
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 236