Indigenous affairs, cultural politics, & (de)colonization
Welcome to Unsettle. I am Kim TallBear, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience & Environment in the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Native Studies @UANativeStudies. I am still figuring out the format of Unsettle, so please bear with me. I am a frequent (social) media commentator, Indigenous public intellectual, and critic of settler-colonial politics so I will figure out quickly what and how this newsletter wants to be. I’m a news and cultural politics junkie so am considering posts, some free and some for subscribers only (once or twice per week), that analyze topics across a range of my usual topics of interest from the politics of science and technology, environment, race, and sexuality. My posts will always be written from an Indigenous and anti-colonial lens. Some posts may be short commentaries on the news of the day that interests me—often as it reflects or challenges the colonial politics of settler states. Occasionally, I’ll post longer essays on a topic.
I also intend these posts as seed for my next book that I will be writing over the course of the next year. I am motivated by instant gratification and this type of format gets me writing far more than plotting out book chapters that won’t see the light of day for a couple of years. I also value learning in public with my co-thinkers, all of you who engage my words.
You can also follow me @KimTallBear and follow my work and that of my research and creative groups, including students and affiliated researchers @Indigenous_STS, @RELABresearch, and @TipiConfess. And you can follow Rick Harp’s @mediaINDIGENA podcast, where I am a regular panelist. I am a Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate citizen who hails from US-occupied Dakota lands.
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In the meantime, tell your friends!