Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grants
Earth, Religion and Community in Mi'kmaw activism.
Department
Liberal Studies Department
College
Brooks College of Interdisciplinary Studies
Date Range
2013-2014
Disciplines
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Abstract
Full Title: "...that reconnection to the unseen life": Earth, Religion and Community in Mi'kmaw activism. At Burnt Church/Esgenoôpetitj N.B., Mikmaq community members participated in a prolonged and violent conflict with the Canadian government and their neighbours over access to a fishery, after the Supreme Court of Canadas 1999 Marshall decision. This paper explores the Mikmaw understanding of their relationships to the ancestors&, the human relations and the non-human relations, as it was expressed by leaders and elders at Burnt Church. The significance of these traditional teachings and practices of relationship are explored in light of similar articulations across Mikmaw territory (Mikmaki), such as those by Sable and Francis (2012), and by community members involved in more recent protests at Rexton/Elsipogtog. In light of these teachings, movements for Mikmaq sovereignty can be seen not only as movements for political self-determination, but as attempts to protect and support traditional Mikmaw environmental relatedness.
Conference Name
Canadian Society for the Study of Religion Annual Meeting - Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Canada
Conference Location
St, Catharines, ON Canada
ScholarWorks Citation
King, Sarah, "Earth, Religion and Community in Mi'kmaw activism." (2014). Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grants. 869.
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/fsdg/869
