'I Want to Move Forward. You Can Move Forward too.' Articulating Indigenous Self-Determination at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

The proliferation of truth and reconciliation commissions has raised serious concerns about the potential that "speaking truth to power" must transform dominant power relations. Critics argue that by employing corporal metaphors of shared wounds in need of healing for the good of the natio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inHuman rights quarterly Vol. 43; no. 2; pp. 355 - 377
Main Author Vanthuyne, Karine
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Baltimore Johns Hopkins University Press 01.05.2021
Subjects
Case studies
Colonialism
Decolonization
Ethnography
Healing
Human rights
Immunities of foreign states
Indigenous peoples
International law
Metaphor
National reconciliation
Native North Americans
Pain
Political violence
Power
Reconciliation
Schools
Self determination
Sovereignty
Trauma
Truth
Truth and reconciliation commissions
Victims
CANADA
Canada
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Summary:The proliferation of truth and reconciliation commissions has raised serious concerns about the potential that "speaking truth to power" must transform dominant power relations. Critics argue that by employing corporal metaphors of shared wounds in need of healing for the good of the nation, these human rights instruments compel participants to speak solely about suffering and identify primarily as victims. However, drawing on ethnographic field work conducted at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, I challenge this assessment. Testimonies were not merely expressions of pain from victims of colonialism; they were also articulations of self-determination from decolonizing Indigenous subjects.
Bibliography:HUMAN RIGHTS QUARTERLY, Vol. 43, No. 2, May 2021, [355]-377
Informit, Melbourne (Vic)
ISSN:0275-0392
1085-794X
1085-794X
DOI:10.1353/hrq.2021.0023