A Short History of the Blockade: Giant Beavers, Diplomacy, and Regeneration in Nishnaabewin

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

feb 2021 · University of Alberta

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In A Short History of the Blockade, award-winning writer Leanne Betasamosake Simpson uses Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg stories, storytelling aesthetics, and practices to explore the generative nature of Indigenous blockades through our relative, the beaver—or in Nishnaabemowin, Amik. Moving through genres, shifting through time, amikwag stories become a lens for the life-giving possibilities of dams and the world-building possibilities of blockades, deepening our understanding of Indigenous resistance as both a negation and an affirmation. Widely recognized as one of the most compelling Indigenous voices of her generation, Simpson’s work breaks open the intersections between politics, story, and song, bringing audiences into a rich and layered world of sound, light, and sovereign creativity. A Short History of the Blockade reveals how the practice of telling stories is also a culture of listening, “a thinking through together,” and ultimately, like the dam or the blockade, an affirmation of life.

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Leanne Betasamosake Simpson is a Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg writer, scholar, and musician, and a member of Alderville First Nation in Ontario. She is the author of six previous books. Her newest novel is Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies and her latest album is Theory of Ice. Simpson is on the faculty at the Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning.

Jordan Abel is a Nisga'a writer who lives and works in Treaty 6 territory (Edmonton).