Wasáse: Indigenous Pathways of Action and Freedom

Table of Contents:
Foreword Acknowledgements First Words Rebellion of the Truth Paths of Least Resistance The Ethics of Courage Regardless of the Consequences Sacred Protectors Colonial Stains on our Existence Imperial Arrogances The Other Side of Fear Spaces We Occupy My Grandmother, She Raised Me Up Again Indigenous Resurgence Liberatory Fantasies The Great Law of Change Old Roots Into the Earth Vigilant Consciousness Glossary Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Taiaiake Alfred is a Kahnawà:ke Mohawk philosopher and political strategist with more than three decades of experience in First Nations governance, political activism, and cultural restoration. After twenty-five years as a university professor, he now works directly with Indigenous nations to help breathe life into their visions of self-determination. He has been awarded a Canada Research Chair, a National Aboriginal Achievement/Indspire Award, and the Native American Journalists Association award for best column writing. He is the author of three highly acclaimed books: Heeding the Voices of Our Ancestors: Kahnawake Mohawk Politics and the Rise of Native Nationalism; Peace, Power, Righteousness: An Indigenous Manifesto; and Wasáse: Indigenous Pathways of Action and Freedom.

Review :
Taiaiake Alfred's way is the warrior's way, which is to say that he speaks truly dangerous words about Canadian colonialism, the need for substantive restitution rather than mere recognition of 'Aboriginal rights, ' for autonomy rather than dependent forms of 'self-government, ' and for peaceful coexistence between and among indigenous and non-indigenous peoples. In this book he rejects Aboriginalism as a legalistic, integrating ideology that destroys individuals and communities, and argues instead for an anarcho-indigenist perspective that is non-capitalist, non-statist, pro-feminist, and based on a sustainable relation to nature. --Richard Day, Queen's University This eminent scholar of North American indigenism boldly proposes new strategies for the new warriors of cultural and spiritual resurgence. Taiaiake Alfred does not shy away from the really hard issues of war and peace in a genuinely innovative text embedded in many tens of thousands of years of human history on Turtle Island and in more than five centuries of concerted resistance to the ongoing violence of the Columbian conquests. --Anthony J. Hall, Founding Coordinator of Globalization Studies at the University of Lethbridge and author of The American Empire and the Fourth World With each of his books, Taiaiake Alfred challenges us to confront the future with new ways of thinking about where we as indigenous communities have been, where we are now and what thinking tools and warrior tools we need to move forward as indigenous nations. This is a book that needs to be read by indigenous leaders, activists, politicians, scholars, community workers, artists, teachers-in fact anyone who sees their future as an indigenous person in an indigenous world. --Linda Smith, University of Auckland, New Zealand