Lighting the Eighth Fire: The Liberation, Resurgence, and Protection of Indigenous Nations

This remarkable collection of essays by leading Indigenous scholars focuses on the themes of freedom, liberation and Indigenous resurgence as they relate to the land. They analyze treaties, political culture, governance, environmental issues, economy, and radical social movements from an anti-colonial Indigenous perspective in a Canadian context. Editor Leanne Simpson (Nishnaabekwe) has solicited Indigenous writers that place Indigenous freedom as their highest political goal, while turning to the knowledge, traditions, and culture of specific Indigenous nations to achieve that goal. The authors offer frank and political analysis and commentary of the kind not normally found in mainstream books, journals, and magazines.

About the Author :
Leanne Simpson is a researcher, writer, and educator of Mississauga and Scottish ancestry. She is a member of the gidigaa bzhiw dodem and a citizen of the Nishnaabeg nation. Leanne holds a PhD from the University of Manitoba and is the past director of Indigenous Environmental Studies at Trent University. Her research interests include Indigenist theory and methodology, Indigenous political cultures and traditional governance, Nishnaabeg women, Indigenous Knowledge, and Indigenous philosophies on land and the environment. Leanne currently teaches at the Centre for World Indigenous Knowledgeat Athabasca University and has previously taught at Trent University, the University of Victoria, the University of Manitoba, and Tampere University in Finland.

Review :
This important book will appeal to readers of both local and national Canadian history as well as to those with an interest in sustainability. Both subjects are presented from an Indigenous perspective still largely missing from mainstream publications. Activists involved in environmental and First Nations causes will find much to learn from and be inspired by. -- Ursula Pflug, The Niagra Falls Review ...it should still be catalogued in every provincial and university library. The publication of this book clearly accentuates that there exists in the Native community an active and articulate group of writers who will continue to press ahead with the First Nations agenda. -- John W. Friesen, Canadian Ethnic Studies