Toward a Sociology of the Reconciliation of Conflicting Desires

Desire-based research provides people and communities the opportunity to share their dreams and hopes for a better future. However, conflicting desires are difficult to reconcile. We suggest that sociological research to understand conflicting desires is required to support reconciliation work by Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada. Our contribution begins by identifying much of current and past sociological research about Indigenous people and communities as damaged-centered, that is, identifying problems and obstacles in the hope that the knowledge will lead to change. This model of social change is flawed. We believe that most Canadians desire justice for Indigenous peoples while at the same time desiring land and access to resources, desires that deny that justice. How we as a society reconcile these desires will determine the extent to which true justice for Indigenous peoples will be achieved. We propose a sociology of the reconciliation of conflicting desires and suggest some practical ways that this type of research could move forward

Economic Justice · Environmental ethics · Indigenous · Political science · Social justice · Social science · Sociology · Canadian Identity and History · Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights · Indigenous Studies and Ecology · Law

• A Troubling Presence

  Open Access•Vaibhav Watts, Gregory Hooks et al.•Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue…•2020

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• CRS Symposium on Reconciling Indigenous‐Settler Relations in Canada

  Open Access•Jennifer Matsunaga, David Long et al.•Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue…•2016

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• Suspending Damage

  Eve Tuck•Harvard Educational Review•2009

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