Faculty note: Prof. Cary Waubanascum discusses settler colonialist Trauma

The pandemic has contributed to a growing understanding of the impacts of collective trauma and indigenous communities have long navigated this in terms of settler colonialist harm. For Native Americans, this began in 1492, following the arrival of Columbus, and continues today.

…Assistant professor in Social Work at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Cary B. Waubanascum, MSW, PhD, is a member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, Wakeny^ta (Turtle Clan), with ancestral roots in the Menominee, Forest County Potawatomi, and Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Nations of Wisconsin.

With her research that delves into the harms of ongoing colonialism, Waubanascum draws on the work of María Lugones and Anibal Quijano, as she explains, “Colonialism is defined as the Western-imposed society of capitalism, racism, and a modern colonial gender system, a dichotomous hierarchical construct to create dominance and control and justify violence against Indigenous peoples.”

In this way, Waubanascum notes how the violence perpetrated at Standing Rock is just one example of settler colonialist violence that is rampant. It is why Indigenous scholars, Eve Tuck and Patrick Wolfe describe colonialism, not as an event in history, but as the whole structure.

Source: How Native Americans Are Healing Despite Ongoing Settler Colonialist Trauma