ÍY SȻÁĆEL, čačim hihak kʷaa, Gilakas’la, Hello friend and relations, Welcome to Learning to Listen, a community-based phd project. Let’s walk together for a little while.
For the most up to date detail on what is involved with this project, and where it’s at, please see the About > Project page.
What does Indigenous Resurgence look like to Indigenous people?
How can settlers support Indigenous ways of knowing and being without continuing to colonize them?
How can settlers grow to support living in Indigenous sovereignty?
The purpose of this project is to see how settler-descended people can:
- stop actively supporting the continued colonization and extermination of Indigenous territory and people,
- experience life in a relational manner, allowing us to better support and honour Indigenous Resurgence without repeating & (re)producing colonial violence,
- enter into a meaningful relationship with the Earth that promotes a transition to sustainable lifeways and mitigate climate change on a local level.
The aims of this project are:
- to support Indigenous Resurgence, Land Back, and Indigenous self-determination on their territories
- to support a return to a perspective of being in settler societies that is not at odds with the environment, but that actively support ecological wellbeing, climate change mitigation, and increased biodiversity.
This will be accomplished through settler’s of all lineage/descent changing the way they experience the world.
“…if overnight we said seriously ‘I’m not going to treat Water, or the Earth, or Air, or this forest as a resource anymore, I’m going to see if I can establish a relationship as relatives,’ would we continue to live the way we do?”
–Daniel Wildcat
Learning to Listen is grounded in Place, in seeing the truth of our being here, together, and in relational ways of being and knowing that ground us in place.
For Indigenous Land Defenders: Here you will find resources that can help support your movement. As we work through this project, we will develop materials that centre your aims, voices, and movement without re-producing the colonial violence that is an integral part of Euro-settler culture.
For Indigenous Nations: here you will witness how we walk this path , and what traditional ways have been helpful guide settlers to become better supporters and, hopefully, accomplices. The resources that developed will help centre Indigenous perspectives during interactions with settlers and their organizations.
For settler environmentalists and activists: On this site you will find resources that can help guide you on your decolonial journey. From learning how to take the first few steps on the path to becoming a supporter of Indigenous resurgence to more detailed, in-depth explorations of why white supremacy is built into our so-called “normal” way of life in the colonies. You will find the tools to help support Indigenous resurgence, Land Defence, and other Indigenous-led movements without continuing the colonial violence we tend to bring to these things – even if we don’t mean to. Does Indigenous Resurgence need our support? Were we asked to support Indigenous Resurgence?