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Unreconciled : family, truth, and Indigenous resistance  Cover Image Book Book

Unreconciled : family, truth, and Indigenous resistance / Jesse Wente.

Wente, Jesse, (author.).

Summary:

Part memoir and part manifesto, Unreconciled is a stirring call to arms to put truth over the flawed concept of reconciliation, and to build a new, respectful relationship between the nation of Canada and Indigenous peoples. Jesse Wente remembers the exact moment he realized that he was a certain kind of Indian--a stereotypical cartoon Indian. He was playing softball as a child when the opposing team began to war-whoop when he was at bat. It was just one of many incidents that formed Wente's understanding of what it means to be a modern Indigenous person in a society still overwhelmingly colonial in its attitudes and institutions. As the child of an American father and an Anishinaabe mother, Wente grew up in Toronto with frequent visits to the reserve where his maternal relations lived. By exploring his family's history, including his grandmother's experience in residential school, and citing his own frequent incidents of racial profiling by police who'd stop him on the streets, Wente unpacks the discrepancies between his personal identity and how non-Indigenous people view him. Wente analyzes and gives voice to the differences between Hollywood portrayals of Indigenous peoples and lived culture. Through the lens of art, pop culture, and personal stories, and with disarming humour, he links his love of baseball and movies to such issues as cultural appropriation, Indigenous representation and identity, and Indigenous narrative sovereignty. Indeed, he argues that storytelling in all its forms is one of Indigenous peoples' best weapons in the fight to reclaim their rightful place. Wente explores and exposes the lies that Canada tells itself, unravels "the two founding nations" myth, and insists that the notion of "reconciliation" is not a realistic path forward. Peace between First Nations and the state of Canada can't be recovered through reconciliation--because no such relationship ever existed.

Record details

  • ISBN: 9780735235731 (hardcover)
  • Physical Description: 198 pages ; 24 cm
  • Publisher: [Toronto] : Allen Lane, 2021.

Content descriptions

Formatted Contents Note:
Part I: The Stories I was told. 1. Nookomis in the Kitchen -- 2. Big City and Small Country -- 3. My Little Nuisance -- 4. Other Half -- 5. Empire Strikes Pretty Much Continuously -- 6. "Go Back to Oka" -- 7. Ojibwe Enough -- Part II: The Story I Told Myself. 8. "Do You Know This Guy?" -- 9. Radio? Really? -- 10. Finding My Footing on Native Earth -- 11. This Ride Costs One Token -- Part III: The Stories We Tell Each Other. 12. Learning to Live with Death Threats -- 13. Power to Tell Our Stories -- 14. Director's Chair -- 15. Unreconciled.
Subject: Wente, Jesse.
Indigenous men > Canada > Identity.
Indigenous peoples > Canada > Biography.
Indigenous peoples > Canada > Social conditions.
Canada > Ethnic relations.
Canada > Race relations.
Genre: Autobiographies.
Memoir/Autobiography
First Nations/All
Topic Heading: Festival of the Written Arts 2022 > Sechelt (B.C.)
Indigenous collection.

Available copies

  • 21 of 28 copies available at BC Interlibrary Connect. (Show)
  • 1 of 1 copy available at Prince Rupert Library.

Holds

  • 0 current holds with 28 total copies.
Show Only Available Copies
Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Holdable? Status Due Date
Prince Rupert Library 305.897333 Went (Text) 33294002118701 Adult Non-Fiction Volume hold Available -


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