Five Challenges to Native Feminist Theories

Native feminist theories are those which look at the connections between settler colonialism, heteropaternalism and heteropatriarchy and how these interact with gender, race, indigeneity, sexuality, and nation. Settler scholars are welcomed to engage with these theories in meaningful ways. The issues faced by Indigenous women are inextricable from those issues faced by all Indigenous Peoples. Authors Avril, Tuck and Morrill pose five challenges that must be met for decolonization. These can help unveil the forces that have silenced Native feminist theories within the disciplines of ethnics studies, women’s studies and Indigenous studies. The authors suggest 1) Problematizing settler colonialism and its intersections which uphold heteropatriarchy, heteropaternalism and the permanence of the nation-state, 2) Refuse erasure and center Native feminist theories, 3) Acknowledge differences and create allyship between Indigenous scholars and Settler scholars, 4) Recognize Indigenous ways of knowing about land, sovereignty, futurity and decolonization, and 5) Cease practices in academia that participate in the dispossession of Indigenous land, livelihood and futures.