Global Friday Presents

Liam Midzain-Gobin
PhD Candidate
Department of Political Science
McMaster University

ABSTRACT:  My project looks at the implications of data collection on Indigenous communities, and the ways in which Indigenous knowledge is erased in a settler colonial policymaking system. Taking seriously calls for increased data collection coming from Indigenous organizations, it juxtaposes this with a conceptual understanding of the ways in which data collection has been — and continues to be — a core tool of the settler state in its governance of Indigenous peoples. The talk itself makes the case for studying Indigenous-settler relations within what is today Canada through the lens of inter-national relations, drawing on government policy and practice, such as the Aboriginal Peoples Survey and land-use policy to understand how governments produce particular understandings of Indigenous peoples and and territories, which are then used to further reinforce the legitimacy of the settler state. Finally, it also to highlights resistance to it this reinforcing of settler colonialism, including speaking to the ways in which Indigenous nations and organizations are undertaking their own data collection based on their own knowledges.

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Global Friday gratefully acknowledges funding from the Dean of CASHS.