Publisher Description

In the summer of 1990, the Oka Crisis—or the Kanehsatake Resistance—exposed a rupture in the relationships between settlers and Indigenous peoples in Canada. In the wake of the failure of the Meech Lake Accord, the conflict made visible a contemporary Indigenous presence that Canadian society had imagined was on the verge of disappearance. The 78-day standoff also reactivated a long history of Indigenous people's resistance to colonial policies aimed at assimilation and land appropriation. The land dispute at the core of this conflict raises obvious political and judicial issues, but it is also part of a wider context that incites us to fully consider the ways in which histories are performed, called upon, staged, told, imagined, and interpreted. Stories of Oka: Land, Film, and Literature examines the standoff in relation to film and literary narratives, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous. This new English edition of St-Amand's interdisciplinary, intercultural, and multi-perspective work offers a framework for thinking through the relationships that both unite and oppose settler societies and Indigenous peoples in Canada.

Author Biography

ISABELLE ST-AMAND is an Assistant Professor in the Department of French Studies and the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at Queen's University. Her research as a settler scholar focuses on Indigenous literary criticism in Quebec and Canada.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Chapter. 1 The Event and the Impossibility of Neutrality
• Chapter. 2 The Siege in Action: Settler Crisis and Indigenous Resistance
• Chapter. 3 The Disputed Land: Performing Sovereignty
• Chapter. 4 From the Spectacular to the Documentary Okanada: Behind the Lines at Oka
• Chapter. 5 ""A record we made ourselves"" Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance
• Chapter. 6 Settler Literary Narratives
• Chapter. 7 Mohawk and other Literary Narratives
• Conclusion

Review

"This timely translation and updated edition of Isabelle St-Amand's La crise d'Oka en rcits: territoire, cinma et littrature (2015) allows her important work to circulate in a new context and reach a wider audience, something especially crucial considering the continued relevance of its topic."--Jolle Papillon "Quebec Studies"

Review Quote

"This timely translation and updated edition of Isabelle St-Amand's La crise d'Oka en r

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