Indigenous Feminisms Roundtable

Unsettling Feminism in Social Work: Toward an Indigenous Decolonial Feminism

“…Native women continue to rightfully side-eye white women as the beneficiaries of whitestream feminism as they are the first constituents of the same white supremacy and colonization that continues to oppress Indigenous communities (Grande, 2003). Feminism has historically been a vehicle for colonial and imperial projects (Aikau et al, 2015). Several scholars have written extensively about the role of white women in the long history of violence against communities of color within the United States, particularly how white feminism universalizes the experiences of white women to mobilize the ideal of white womanhood to support racism and colonialism (Bonds, 2020;Wells, 1997;Lorde, 2007;Carby, 1997;hooks, 1981;Hill Collins, 2000).…”

“…Before scaling up and out, Indigenous feminism localizes the struggle first. Scholars call us to resist the "Free Tibet syndrome" in which progressive individuals are eager to demonstrate solidarity by "freeing" whatever country currently in the media, but largely miss the decolonial struggles in the areas that they work and live (Aikau et al, 2015).…”

“…Similar to the mindset of the "Free Tibet syndrome" is the parachuting nature of white saviorism where white outsiders to the community parachute in to save the individuals or communities they deem in need of saving. As a remedy to this, it is important to ground the work where you currently are, considering how multiple intersecting forces of race, class, gender, and sovereignty are operating in our own backyards (Aikau et al, 2015). From this grounded understanding, only from there can we then begin to establish strategies of resistance than can then be scaled up to the regional or global level (Aikau et al, 2015).…”

“…Centering praxis in both critical and decolonial feminisms embodies the idea that knowing is not the same as doing, valuing embodied approaches and community action to address these wicked problems of our time. To move Indigenous decolonial feminist work forward, we must go beyond critiquing structures of power, such as settler colonialism, from the classroom and actively engage with the community (Aikau et al, 2015). Through praxis, we are called to go beyond the why of colonization and patriarchy and shift our focus to the how of decolonization (Aikau et al, 2015).…”

“…We are all called to pay attention to and be accountable to how these colonial processes play out on Indigenous bodies, especially in the places where we live (Aikau et al, 2015). Qwo-Li Driskill, a queer Indigenous studies scholar, calls us to re-evaluate the land we live on, at bare minimum whose land it is (Aikau et al, 2015). Ultimately, place matters.…”