She Must Be Civilized, She Paints Her Toenails

Colonization has subjected Indigenous Peoples to slavery, genocide, disease and forced displacement. Indigenous Peoples, however, fight on in resistance and resurgence. The continued survival of Indigenous Peoples threatens colonizer’s settler occupation of Indigenous lands. Racial classification systems are used by colonizers to define Indigeneity, such as Blood Quantum (percentage of Indigenous blood), and doctrines like Terra Nullius are continually employed to justify theft of Indigenous lands. Indigeneity has been made into a political identity, rather than a racial one, by colonizers who allow cultural practices but deny Indigenous Peoples their rights and sovereignty. Environmental destruction by colonizers leads to direct destruction of Indigenous culture, well-being and land connections. Indigenous resistance to destruction and colonial science prevails through environmental protection, legal measures, self-governance and activism, and Venne’s work is important to this pursuit.