I was reading Decolonization is Not a Metaphor by Eve Tuck & K. Wayne Yang. I find this essay an insightful counterpoint. Thank you for your work - I just subscribed.
Hi Jimmy, really enjoyed this thank you. I came here because I was troubled by the far right protests in Dublin again today and I’ve been thinking about the kind of things you speak about in your article a lot lately and what to do with them. I only came across you on IG recently and this is the first time I’ve sat down to read one of your pieces, really enjoyed it and found it a balm after the scenes in Dublin today.
Two points.
First is that I diverge with your thinking only in your conclusion. Not because I disagree with your summary overall but simply because I feel we are in the early days of the withering away of the importance of “the state” as an entity. How long that process will take I am unsure and it I’m not even suggesting that it will necessarily be a good thing when that happens as it seems that corporations are beginning to effect more control over our daily lives than the state. However my hope is that we can formulate some alternate new entities which might cater towards some kind of a return to land connected societies in the future.
Second is just to direct your attention to a recent podcast episode from Guerrilla History on Indigeneity with Nick Estes and Mohamed Abdou. It’s just a fascinating discussion on the whole topic of what indigineity means.
At one point Abdou provides this definition of indigineity which I think is beautiful:
“Indigineity is nothing to do with bloodlines or colour of skin but actually with the embodiment of fulfilling acts of compassion…and to honour communal bonds and reciprocal non-materialist horizontal ethical, political, spiritual commitments in relationship to the land and non-human life”
Thanks for adding to the discussion around this and for sharing other resources. Its clear more and more people are waking to the understanding that capitalism and settler colonialism have removed so many from their connection to the land. The learning of this history (and our role in the current atrocities) can be quite disorienting.
It seems many people wanting to use Indigenous as an identity are looking for community but also trying (intentionally or not) to establish innocence. “Not my ancestors” “couldnt be me” etc.
Indigenous has a very specific political identity, esp in todays context. I’ve seem some discussion of using indigenous with a lowercase “i” to indicate a slightly different meaning (but also what does indigenous mean in a colonizers language -english??) I wonder if it bears some similarity to Queer, a term that in mainstream has been reclaimed to mean same sex attraction, but really means “Queer as in hostile to state systems of gender oppression and a reclamation of biodiversity”.
It seems valuable maybe in trying to reckon and heal all of this to use Indigenous/indigenous, not as a way of creating in/out groups, but as a way of identifying the leaders in our own communities. The people whose voices we need to uplift and who we need to center in our journeys of reunification with our ecologies.
Thanks, have had similar fruitful discussion with certain parts of the local farming and food movement in regions of England using agroecology etc.
I havent looked into it properly but I so wonder about people terming Palestinianess indigenous, within the context of fighting for statehood. Just wondering if you had any thoughts or suggested readings.
No mention of the Irish people you privileged many in the south have forgotten. You protray yourself so enlightened and yet only the slightest mention of those still under colonial rule. You are no different to anyone else in the Republic. Have forgotten us all, we do not even get entered into the equation when discussing "irishness".
I was reading Decolonization is Not a Metaphor by Eve Tuck & K. Wayne Yang. I find this essay an insightful counterpoint. Thank you for your work - I just subscribed.
I loved this in 2022 and I love it again now. Thank you.
Hi Jimmy, really enjoyed this thank you. I came here because I was troubled by the far right protests in Dublin again today and I’ve been thinking about the kind of things you speak about in your article a lot lately and what to do with them. I only came across you on IG recently and this is the first time I’ve sat down to read one of your pieces, really enjoyed it and found it a balm after the scenes in Dublin today.
Two points.
First is that I diverge with your thinking only in your conclusion. Not because I disagree with your summary overall but simply because I feel we are in the early days of the withering away of the importance of “the state” as an entity. How long that process will take I am unsure and it I’m not even suggesting that it will necessarily be a good thing when that happens as it seems that corporations are beginning to effect more control over our daily lives than the state. However my hope is that we can formulate some alternate new entities which might cater towards some kind of a return to land connected societies in the future.
Second is just to direct your attention to a recent podcast episode from Guerrilla History on Indigeneity with Nick Estes and Mohamed Abdou. It’s just a fascinating discussion on the whole topic of what indigineity means.
At one point Abdou provides this definition of indigineity which I think is beautiful:
“Indigineity is nothing to do with bloodlines or colour of skin but actually with the embodiment of fulfilling acts of compassion…and to honour communal bonds and reciprocal non-materialist horizontal ethical, political, spiritual commitments in relationship to the land and non-human life”
Looking forward to reading the rest of your work.
Le meas,
Ciarán
1 is
Thanks for adding to the discussion around this and for sharing other resources. Its clear more and more people are waking to the understanding that capitalism and settler colonialism have removed so many from their connection to the land. The learning of this history (and our role in the current atrocities) can be quite disorienting.
It seems many people wanting to use Indigenous as an identity are looking for community but also trying (intentionally or not) to establish innocence. “Not my ancestors” “couldnt be me” etc.
Indigenous has a very specific political identity, esp in todays context. I’ve seem some discussion of using indigenous with a lowercase “i” to indicate a slightly different meaning (but also what does indigenous mean in a colonizers language -english??) I wonder if it bears some similarity to Queer, a term that in mainstream has been reclaimed to mean same sex attraction, but really means “Queer as in hostile to state systems of gender oppression and a reclamation of biodiversity”.
It seems valuable maybe in trying to reckon and heal all of this to use Indigenous/indigenous, not as a way of creating in/out groups, but as a way of identifying the leaders in our own communities. The people whose voices we need to uplift and who we need to center in our journeys of reunification with our ecologies.
Thanks, have had similar fruitful discussion with certain parts of the local farming and food movement in regions of England using agroecology etc.
I havent looked into it properly but I so wonder about people terming Palestinianess indigenous, within the context of fighting for statehood. Just wondering if you had any thoughts or suggested readings.
No mention of the Irish people you privileged many in the south have forgotten. You protray yourself so enlightened and yet only the slightest mention of those still under colonial rule. You are no different to anyone else in the Republic. Have forgotten us all, we do not even get entered into the equation when discussing "irishness".