•  
  •  
 

Author ORCID Identifier

0000-0003-3565-1797

Pages

24-28

Document Type

Article

DOI

10.25779/q4cc-vc23

Abstract

[First paragraph] Reading Indigenous poets such as Joséphine Bacon (Innu) and Jean Sioui (Wendat), one is struck by how marvel before “nature” is intertwined with loss and mourning. The experience of loss derives from the interrelated ills of territorial dispossession and environmental destruction caused by settlers’ violent relationship to the land. When reading their verse, we are reminded that today’s Indigenous poets are writing on occupied land. All of us on Turtle Island are writing on occupied land, of course, but it remains easy for settlers to delude ourselves into thinking the land is either everyone’s or rightfully ours. We rarely if ever see ourselves as occupying land that does not belong to us. Facing this uncomfortable truth appears crucial when thinking about what it means to “write the land:” whose land is being written? by whom? and for what purpose?

Share

COinS