Kanien’kehaka Educator, Author and Activist Taiaiake Alfred talks about the realities and challenges of nativism, decolonization and indigeneity in this lecture, entitled, From Noble Savage to Righteous Warrior: Regenerating and Reinscribing Indigenous Presence.
An internationally recognized Kanien’kehaka (Mohwak) intellectual and political advisor, Taiaiake Alfred is well known for his incisive critiques and groundbreaking work in the fields of Indigenous governance and political philosophy.
In the past, Taiaiake has served as an advisor on land and governance and cultural restoration issues for many indigenous governments and organizations, and he has authored several important books including Wasáse: Indigenous Pathways of Action and Freedom and Peace, Power, Righteousness. Currently, Taiaiake serves as a Professor of Indigenous Governance at the University of Victoria.
On March 6, 2010, Taiaiake was in Vancouver to deliver this welcomed lecture as part of the Global Encounters Initiative Symposium at the University of British Columbia (UBC).
Speaking for a little under an hour, Taiaiake takes the time to explore a number of essential observations concerning the realities and consequences of nativism, the process of decolonization on a personal and collective level, and the heart of what it means to be “indigenous.”
A big thanks to UBC for fixing this video. To see more great lectures from the Global Encounters Initiative Symposium, please visit http://www.youtube.com/user/UBC
John Ahniwanika Schertow is an indigenous rights activist of Mohawk (Kanienkehaka) and mixed-European descent. For the past 8 years, he has served as the e... 
Due to DSL geographic limitations, I am presently unable to listen to this talk, but I will bookmark it for future listening. That said, having heard Professor Alfred before, I am grateful for his focus on indigenous governance and activism. Proper emphasis on preparing for effective action — through research, education and organizing — is a niche I share with Taiaiake as associate scholars of the Center for World Indigenous Studies, and have written on in my papers freely available at Public Good Project.
Understanding the difference between models of engagement — i.e., diplomatic versus oppositional — helps those righteous warriors benefit from the body of knowledge I have termed communications in conflict. Developing a strategy based on this knowledge is vital to their continuity and success.
As many elders have learned, being right is not enough; we must also be intelligent, and that implies a willingness to reexamine what we think we know about social change.
Well said, Jay. I completely agree. Too many of us get caught up in what we think is right that we end up isolating ourselves, undermining our efforts and betraying our hopes.
I’ve also seen it happen where, activists so rigidly believe that “they’re right” that they run themselves into political obscurity and, to coin a phrase, “contaminate their minds” with irrational ideas about who we are, and the kinds of things we need to do.
That said, I hope you can get things working for you again, Jay. I think you’ll appreciate this talk. It’s way more engaging then the last one
One of the reports I did as a grad student — Research as Organizing Tool — was based on a national survey of four leading political researchers. One of their observations, noted in my report, was that researchers, analysts, and activists have different skill sets, and that rarely does any single individual possess them all.
The point made was that organizers need to establish and maintain working relations with researchers and analysts in order to make sure they stay on track. It was also made abundantly clear that activists who do not do this have blind spots that make them especially vulnerable to their enemies.
Often times, these enemies operate covertly, which means the activists who are flying blind don’t even know they exist, let alone what they are doing to undermine them. You could say this arrogance and ignorance on the part of poorly informed organizers is a fatal flaw.
Interesting lecture however I much rather engage in dialectic as more progress can be made. I am glad to see someone is out there displaying proper diplomacy and intelligence with respect to the First Nations People. There is much work to be done and it seems that there is not enough time. We cannot let them forget that they are in our lands and territories using our resources for their survival…we never asked them for anything…and why should we…I can’t stand to see our people with their hands cupped begging Ottawa and provinces for their grains of oats…the Roman era is over!
Generally speaking, I completely agree, Melissa. Dialectics enables us to compel growth on many different levels, as long as we know what we’re doing, and we refuse to degrade ourselves. But rhetoric is good too. It all depends on the environment.
And you’re right to say that we don’t have much time. To me, it feels like, for every one step we take forward, the agents of colonialism and their sycophants take six or seven steps of their own. So many times, even are victories are losses but we don’t see it because we’re blinded by the glitz and glitter, and because we’re not really looking at things on our own.
That said, I would love to see Taiaiake speak up more, maybe even challenge someone (Like Tom Flanagan or Joesph Quesnel) to a public debate. Actually, it’d be great to see a series of debates…
Maybe you could forward a message to Taiaiake? I’ve been noting that the public libraries around this part of the country have been censoring Tai’s blog (www.taiaiake.com) even when they turn the automated filters off. I haven’t been able to find out which censorship service the public libraries here use (i.e. Net Nanny), but will share when i find out.
Noting that many of the small towns censor his blog, but the bigger towns do not.
Trying to go through various proxy/anonymous servers didn’t work either.
Any advice you have, or actions i might take, i’d like to hear them.
Interesting. Let me think about that for a little bit
Hey Chu-uck. Ok, a couple thoughts. First, what kind of error are you getting? and have you been able to access his site from anywhere? I just tried, and I’m getting the standard “403″ and “404″ messages, which, by the looks of it, means the site’s been axed. I also just realized that his Facebook account is gone…it was there a couple weeks ago. Sadly, I think he might have walked away from the net, like what happened with the Wasase site (though “we” were ultimately to blame for that one!)
In any event, Melissa has sent him a message, so hopefully he gets back to her to clarify things. Thanks for the heads up.
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