To rob the world of a people

Language Removal as an Instance of Colonial Genocide in the Fort Alexander Indian Residential School

Bibliographic Data

ID12967168
AuthorsNatalia Ilyniak (University of South Florida, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume9
Issue2
Pages76-97
Publication date2015-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGenocide Studies and Prevention (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1911-0359 • E-ISSN: 1911-9933
PublisherInternational Association of Genocide Scholars (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.5038/1911-9933.9.2.1291
OpenAlexW1834974183
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited19

This paper demonstrates, through Sagkeeng First Nation narratives, how the Fort Alexander Indian Residential School (FAIRS) is a micro-instance of genocide in the context of language. An understanding is offered from the perspective of a settler colonial academic, in consideration of decolonizing principles. Using relational theory, namely Actor-Network Theory, this paper discusses how FAIRS’s practices were designed and operated to disrupt relations between children and their community by removing Anishinaabe language, and the ways children and their families negotiated and undermined these practices. Data was collected through critical narrative analysis and sociohistoric inquiry to identify and unpack the practice of language removal in FAIRS, as identified in Survivors’ testimonies, interviews, stories, and memoir

Ancient history · Archaeology · Colonialism · Genocide · Political science · Sociology · African history and culture studies · Colonial History and Postcolonial Studies · History · Law · South Asian Studies and Conflicts