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"(listen to the women)": Rethinking Representations of Violence Against Indigenous Women in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside

  • Author / Creator
    Vigneux, Sylvie L
  • This thesis investigates contemporary representations of violence against Indigenous women in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. I argue that sensationalist representations of violence serve to distance readers from their own implication in systems of colonial violence and sever individual acts of violence from their broader colonial context. In contrast, I turn in my first chapter to a memoir written by the sister of one of Vancouver’s missing women. I argue that, although this text eschews the sensationalism of mainstream coverage and seeks to humanize the victims of violence, its political potential is circumscribed by its unacknowledged Western cultural investments. In my second chapter, I take up the work of Mohawk/Tuscarora poet Janet Marie Rogers alongside first-hand narratives of women from the DTES. Together, these representations offer a more nuanced understanding of ongoing violence in Canada and a vision for a decolonial future that moves to reconnect Indigenous women to the land.

  • Subjects / Keywords
  • Graduation date
    Fall 2015
  • Type of Item
    Thesis
  • Degree
    Master of Arts
  • DOI
    https://doi.org/10.7939/R3DF6KJ5Z
  • License
    This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.