A Short History of the Blockade

Giant Beavers, Diplomacy, and Regeneration in Nishnaabewin

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:University of Alberta Press

Published:8th Feb '21

Should be back in stock very soon

A Short History of the Blockade cover

Simpson uses Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg storytelling to deepen our understanding of Indigenous resistance.

In A Short History of the Blockade, award-winning writer Leanne Betasamosake Simpson uses Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg stories, storytelling aesthetics, and practices to explore the generative nature of Indigenous blockades through our relative, the beaver—or in Nishnaabemowin, Amik. Moving through genres, shifting through time, amikwag stories become a lens for the life-giving possibilities of dams and the world-building possibilities of blockades, deepening our understanding of Indigenous resistance as both a negation and an affirmation. Widely recognized as one of the most compelling Indigenous voices of her generation, Simpson’s work breaks open the intersections between politics, story, and song, bringing audiences into a rich and layered world of sound, light, and sovereign creativity. A Short History of the Blockade reveals how the practice of telling stories is also a culture of listening, “a thinking through together,” and ultimately, like the dam or the blockade, an affirmation of life. Introduction by Jordan Abel.

“Simpson, a celebrated Indigenous storyteller, artist, and scholar, offers four Nishnaabeg stories from the wisdom of the beaver nation and the foundational teachings of their blockades (dams) as an established practice of world-building resistance. Together, the stories are also a commentary on current issues of social media, lateral violence, binary thinking, and surveillance that house the potential to hinder the generative, relational, and reciprocal nature of Indigenous resistance.” Morgan Mowatt, University of Toronto Quarterly, August 2023 [doi: 10.3138/utq.92.3.hr.018]

ISBN: 9781772125382

Dimensions: 229mm x 133mm x 6mm

Weight: 120g

88 pages