As part of IPSMO’s Honouring Indigenous Women campaign, we aim to make space to actively listen to Indigenous women’s voices as well as to critically reflect our relations to colonialism. For these reasons, we are inviting you to tell us your stories through photography, graphics, art work, cartoon, poetry, and short writing.
We are inviting Native women from all nations – First Nations, Métis and Inuit – to tell us your stories about:
- Your life experience as Native woman;
- Your resistance to negative definitions of being;
- Your actions to reclaim your traditions;
- How you construct a positive identity by translating tradition into the contemporary context;
- How you act on that identity in a way that nourishes the overall well-being of your communities; or
- What being a Native woman means to you.
Those topics above are borrowed from and inspired by Kim Anderson’s book Recognition of Being, Reconstructing Native Womanhood (Anderson 2000: p.15).
We are also inviting non-Indigenous women, as well as both Indigenous and non-Indigenous men and Two-Spirit peoples to tell us about your relations to colonialism and your responsibilities to (re)build relationship with Indigenous women.
Submission Guideline:
- Please limit your submission to one page (feel free to send us more than one submission however.)
- Please include a short autobiography. If you are Indigenous, please also include your nation and community. Your name can be a name in your chosen language or a pen name, it’s up to you!
- For non-written submission, please send us your work in the highest resolution possible.
Our Principles:
It is our understanding that Indigenous women, as givers of life and carriers of their cultures, were highly respected in their communities. The prevalent and various forms of violence experienced by Indigenous women are the outcomes of colonization. Its ultimate objective is to facilitate the existing capitalist, patriarchal and racist system within which we live in today. The destruction of Indigenous communities and by extension, their lands, is only possible through deprivation of the power and violation of the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well-being of Indigenous women.
Furthermore, it has been said by many Indigenous activists and scholars that reclaiming the roles and responsibilities of women (as well as men) in their community is integral to reclaiming self-determination of their people and nationhood.
As non-Indigenous peoples who have participated or been complicit in the past and present colonization of Native peoples and their lands, it is paramount for us to support the work of Indigenous peoples in this regard. The survival of our species is interconnected with the healthy existence of Indigenous women because of their special relationship with the Earth.
The 2nd volume of Honouring Indigenous Women’s booklet is the continuation of our solidarity efforts not only to broaden our (i.e. all peoples) understanding of the struggle of Indigenous women and their importance to our existence, but also to explore our responsibilities as non-Indigenous women in our own decolonization and self-determination process and take actions accordingly.
Our goals are consistent with those of the Vol. 1 – we strive to break the silence on the systemic violence experienced by Indigenous women and the racial stereotypes that have been perpetrated and perpetuated by colonialism. We aim at (re)building relationships with Indigenous women.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
For inquiries: ipsmo@riseup.net (indicate Honouring Indigenous Women in the subject line)
Website: http://ipsmo.wordpress.com
This blog is no longer updated. Please instead visit Writers For Diversity for new opportunities for women/ LGBT writers and writers of color. Thank you.
