Indigenous feminism

Indigenous feminism is an intersectional theory and practice of feminism that focuses on decolonization and indigenous sovereignty. The focus is upon empowering indigenous women in the context of indigenous cultural values and priorities, rather than mainstream, white, patriarchal ones. In this cultural perspective, it can be compared to womanism in the African-American communities.Western feminism is unpalatable because it is about rights rather than responsibilities, then we should all take responsibility seriously and ask if we are being responsible to all members of our societies. If we are to reject equality in favour of difference, then we need to make sure those differences are embedded in systems that empower all members. If we see feminism as being too invested in Western liberalism and individual autonomy, then we need to ensure that our collectivist approaches serve everyone in the collective. And if we want to embrace essential elements of womanhood that have been problematic for Western feminists ... then we have to ensure that these concepts don't get stuck in literal or patriarchal interpretations.'We, as Inuit women, have been striving for such things as equal pay for equal work, equal share of roles for the good of the family, equal rights to participate in the decision-making processes of our governments, equal rights for the hiring of women at all levels of commerce and science, equal rights in education, and most importantly, equal rights to raise our children in safe, healthy, and positive conditions. This means, among other things, above the poverty line. I look at these aspirations not as women's liberation, but as people's liberation. In fact, we need and love our men, and similarly, we need to liberate them from the concepts that bind them to unbreakable traditional roles that, in turn, keep the status quo intact in many regions of the world.''They see that the dominant feminist paradigm is based on an unacknowledged model of centre and periphery. In this model, Indigenous, African-descendent, and poor women occupy the periphery and must accept the ideas and conceptualization of feminism as defined by those at the centre. In other words, we Indigenous women are expected to accept the dominant picture of what constitutes women's oppression and women's liberation. The trouble is, this picture is only a partial match with our own experiences. Elements of our experience that do not match this picture are denied or marginalized. This dominant model tries to homogenize the women's movement, claiming that all women have the same demands and the same access to the enjoyment of their rights. This flawed assumption denies the diverse cultural, linguistic and social needs and visions of distinct groups of women.' Indigenous feminism is an intersectional theory and practice of feminism that focuses on decolonization and indigenous sovereignty. The focus is upon empowering indigenous women in the context of indigenous cultural values and priorities, rather than mainstream, white, patriarchal ones. In this cultural perspective, it can be compared to womanism in the African-American communities. Indigenous feminism developed out of a need to prioritize the issues indigenous women face due to racialisation, ethnicity, and cultural differences, in addition to sex and gender, such as the Missing and murdered Indigenous women crisis, forced sterilisation, and higher rates of assault and sexual violence, specifically as targets of white men. In particular, the ongoing attempted genocide of indigenous women is of utmost priority in indigenous feminism, while in mainstream feminism this femicide is rarely prioritized, unless it is non-indigenous women being murdered. Indigenous feminism has grown from postcolonial feminism as it acknowledges the devastating consequences of colonization on Indigenous peoples and the lands they inhabit, and the importance of decolonization in dismantling oppressive systems that were introduced as a result of colonization. The central role of the ancestral landbase, and current land rights and environmental struggles, connects Indigenous feminism to some aspects of ecofeminism. Differentiating indigenous feminism from mainstream white feminism and its related forms of feminism (including liberal feminism and Orientalist feminism) is important because 'indigenous women will have different concrete experiences that shape our relation to core themes' than those of non-indigenous women. Indigenous feminism is also known by other, geographically specific, names such as: Native American feminism in the United States and Canada, Aboriginal or Indigenous Australian feminism in Australia. Despite the use of the more globally-applicable word 'indigenous', the majority of text that refers to 'Indigenous feminism' tends to focus on North American indigenous populations (Native American, First Nations, Inuit and Métis). Before colonization, many Indigenous communities experienced a type of equality between the sexes that was not practiced by European colonizers. Some Indigenous communities historically placed a great deal of value on women and their roles within society. In many Indigenous cultures, such as within Indigenous Australian communities, women enjoyed far more respect, power, and autonomy than their European settler counterparts did. In many, not all, Indigenous communities, it is due to the effects of colonization and Christianity that has brought about the change in the standing and treatment of women within our society. In many Indigenous societies, women played a crucial role in community life and they often, although not always, were afforded 'religious, political, and economic power – not more than men but at least equal to men.' Indigenous feminism attributes modern-day gendering of indigenous issues to colonization through naming, claiming, and exploiting native people. Through colonization, Indigenous people became subject to a racist patriarchal system that significantly shifted the social, economic, and cultural practices of pre-contact Indigenous societies. The economic, political, and spiritual power granted to women in Indigenous communities was threatening to the arriving Europeans who used 'Xenophobia and a deep fear of Native spiritual practices' to justify genocide as a means of domination. Kim Anderson writes in her book A Recognition of Being: Reconstructing Native Womanhood that 'the Europeans who first arrived in Canada were shocked by the position of Aboriginal women in their respective societies. It was not long before they realized that, in order to dominate the land and the people that were occupying it, they needed to disempower the women. Indigenous systems that allocated power to women were incompatible with the kind of colonial power dynamics that would be necessary to maintain colonial power.' Additionally, 'while women's traditional roles in Indigenous communities vary widely, colonization has reordered gender relations to subordinate women, regardless of their pre-contact status.' Colonization worked to restructure Indigenous social systems to fit within the white settler ideal. The struggles faced by Indigenous people today are due to the actions taken by settlers to assert dominance through colonization. White settlers often brought a new type of economic system from their European nation that included the idea of private property, ownership, and gendered labor, which was forced onto Indigenous communities. In A Recognition of Being: Reconstructing Native Womanhood, Anderson notes, 'the split between public and private labour and the introduction of the capitalist economies disrupted the traditional economic authorities of Native women.' Poverty is a problem for many Indigenous people, and can be traced back to the artificially enforced economic ideals of the colonizer onto Indigenous groups. In order to strip women of political power, colonizers forced regulatory systems onto Indigenous people, the Indian Act of Canada is one example of this. The political and spiritual power of women are often connected, as the spiritual or theoretical role for women can inform a real political role. As a result, 'heteropatriarchal religious traditions have excluded women and two-spirited peoples from leadership roles.' The combination of loss of power from the economic, political, and spiritual leadership places Indigenous people at a heightened risk of violence. The overall argument about the effects of colonialism 'isn't just that we are being colonized, but that we are assuming that nation-state form of governance is the best way to govern the world.' The development of Indigenous feminism came out of a counterinsurgency against the attempt to apply western feminism equally and effectively to all women regardless of their experiences. Such attempts are seen as fruitless because it homogenized the very diverse experiences of women and Indigenous people. Building off of the theory of intersectionality from Kimberle Crenshaw, Indigenous feminist theory seeks to reverse the ways that White feminism 'conflates or ignores intragroup differences.' The roots of Indigenous feminism are in those of the mainstream feminist movement; however, Indigenous feminism also seeks to incorporate specifically Indigenous perspectives into both of these feminist frameworks. Indigenous feminism diverges from postcolonial feminism, as some have argued that postcolonial theory in general has largely ignored the histories of colonialism as it exists for Indigenous populations. Some other Indigenous scholars (such as Robert Warrior, Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, Craig S. Womack) have expressed concern over the limits of postcolonial theory and its application to Indigenous studies. There is often distrust of Western theoretical paradigms which can marginalize Indigenous perspectives. In 'Who Stole Native American Studies?' Elizabeth Cook-Lynn discusses the significant debate about what constitutes post-colonial, and who gets the privilege of naming when a society becomes post-colonial. As a result, many have moved to Indigenous feminism as a way to redress these issues with postcolonial feminism. Cheryl Suzack and Shari M. Huhndorf argue in Indigenous Women and Feminism: Politics, Activism and Culture that: 'Although Indigenous feminism is a nascent field of scholarly inquiry, it has arisen from histories of women's activism and culture that have aimed to combat gender discrimination, secure social justice for Indigenous women, and counter their social erasure and marginalization – endeavors that fall arguably under the rubric of feminism, despite Indigenous women's fraught relationship with the term and with mainstream feminist movements.' It is important to note that the urgent issues to address Indigenous feminism cross the boundary between what is considered feminist and what is considered indigenous.