Sarah Nickel

Active Women uncovers the widespread, collaborative, adaptive, and transformative activism of Indigenous women in Kanata’s West from the 1930s to the 1980s. It shows how Indigenous women responded to social injustices with political action rooted in community. This book emphasizes how everyday acts – caregiving, organizing, legal activism, and advocacy – formed a powerful political movement reshaping Indigenous politics and challenging colonial and patriarchal systems. Historian and Indigenous politics scholar Sarah Nickel traces the emergence and maturation of the Indigenous women’s movement by taking a thematic and embedded case study approach to examine the threads of women’s struggles as they emerged and became enmeshed in local, regional, national, and transnational considerations. Nickel redefines Indigenous politics as gendered, fluid, and rooted in kinship and resistance, exploring women’s involvement in urban centres, grassroots initiatives, and political organizations. Framing Indigenous feminism as a flexible set of practices challenging colonialism, sexism, and gender inequality, the work draws on scholars like Joyce Green and Maile Arvin. The research follows decolonial practices, centring Indigenous women’s voices within colonial archives and promoting empathy in historical research. By chronicling a vibrant era of Indigenous women’s politicization and organization, this book documents the revolutionary impact they had in their communities and beyond.

Active Women uncovers the widespread, collaborative, adaptive, and transformative activism of Indigenous women in Kanata’s West from the 1930s to the 1980s. It shows how Indigenous women responded to social injustices with political action rooted in community. This book emphasizes how everyday acts – caregiving, organizing, legal activism, and advocacy – formed a powerful political movement reshaping Indigenous politics and challenging colonial and patriarchal systems. Historian and Indigenous politics scholar Sarah Nickel traces the emergence and maturation of the Indigenous women’s movement by taking a thematic and embedded case study approach to examine the threads of women’s struggles as they emerged and became enmeshed in local, regional, national, and transnational considerations. Nickel redefines Indigenous politics as gendered, fluid, and rooted in kinship and resistance, exploring women’s involvement in urban centres, grassroots initiatives, and political organizations. Framing Indigenous feminism as a flexible set of practices challenging colonialism, sexism, and gender inequality, the work draws on scholars like Joyce Green and Maile Arvin. The research follows decolonial practices, centring Indigenous women’s voices within colonial archives and promoting empathy in historical research. By chronicling a vibrant era of Indigenous women’s politicization and organization, this book documents the revolutionary impact they had in their communities and beyond.

An Introduction to Indigenous Feminisms introduces important concepts and approaches for understanding what Indigenous feminisms are, why we use the term in plural, and why Indigenous feminisms are not just for academics. This engaging and accessible textbook, the first of its kind in this subject, provides instructors and students with the historical contexts, analytical tools, and the practice-driven possibilities for creative and epistemic engagement with Indigenous feminist knowledge. Besides including useful pedagogical features, the volume explores:How Indigenous feminist conversations have evolvedWhat political practices have developed over timeStories, theories, and histories about Indigenous women’s experiencesAn Introduction to Indigenous Feminisms provides students with ways to practice Indigenous ways of thinking, learning, especially those studying Gender Studies, Social and Cultural History, Sociology and Politics.

An Introduction to Indigenous Feminisms introduces important concepts and approaches for understanding what Indigenous feminisms are, why we use the term in plural, and why Indigenous feminisms are not just for academics. This engaging and accessible textbook, the first of its kind in this subject, provides instructors and students with the historical contexts, analytical tools, and the practice-driven possibilities for creative and epistemic engagement with Indigenous feminist knowledge. Besides including useful pedagogical features, the volume explores:How Indigenous feminist conversations have evolvedWhat political practices have developed over timeStories, theories, and histories about Indigenous women’s experiencesAn Introduction to Indigenous Feminisms provides students with ways to practice Indigenous ways of thinking, learning, especially those studying Gender Studies, Social and Cultural History, Sociology and Politics.