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ABSTRACT
This article calls for a reconceptualization of Indigenous girlhoods as they are shaped under a western neocolonial state and in the midst of overlapping forms of colonial violence targeting Indigenous girls. By disrupting the persistent construction of Indigenous girl bodies as insignificant and dispensable, I explore alternative conceptualizations of trauma, place, and girlhood that might enact a more critical, politicized girlhood studies. I link this analysis to Leanne Simpson's (2011) notion of "presence" as a form of decolonizing resurgence. Drawing from participatory research studies and community-change projects conducted with and by Indigenous girls between the ages of 12 and 19 years in western British Columbia, Canada, girls' everyday processes of resurgence and presencing are highlighted in the hope of expanding understandings of their cumulative effects as decolonizing forces.
KEYWORDS
colonialism, decolonization, Indigenous girls, presencing, trauma
Introduction
Like other Western liberal democracies, Canada-despite its global reputation as a progressive, multicultural country-owes its existence to centuries of colonial dominion over places and societies. As a result of the insatiable drive of European nations to expand their empires into new places, incalculable physical, spiritual, political, economic, and sociocultural traumas have been, and continue to be, enacted on Indigenous Peoples, with women and girls as prime targets. Over the course of my work with Indigenous1 girls as a front-line worker, community-based researcher, educator, and advocate, many encounters have profoundly affected me. In this article, I revisit conversations that spurred radical shifts in both my girlhood praxis and my evolving understanding of how girlhood is produced and lived in the context of a colonial state. In the following dialogue, part of a participatory research study with young people in care,2 four First Nations girls unpack persistent stereotypes of Indigenous girlhood.3
There's not any Natives on media and stuff, Native girls in magazines or TV, video games, you know... we're not really shown in a real way. (Kristin-Lee, 14, Cree/Métis/Irish)
We're kind of left out. (Danielle, 17, Tsimshian/Haisla)
Yeah, the beauty of our culture gets left out. (Kristin-Lee)
I feel like people just think Native women complain and complain and complain all the time, we just want something for nothing. (Cindy, 16, First Nations)
Uh-huh, and yeah, why is nobody paying attention to the actual history? (Kristin-Lee)
It's...