Settler Colonial Ways of Seeing

Presented by Danielle Taschereau Mamers.

Attend in person: FNB 4130
Attend virtually: Zoom link

Settler Colonial Ways of Seeing was published by Fordham University Press in December 2023.

Abstract: How are documents good for thinking about settler colonial policies? And how can art help us look at documents and the policies they bring into being? For many decades, Canadian state agents have used paperwork to materialize the category of Indian status. From the text of the Indian Act to registration forms, status cards, and reports, administrative documents have been tools that the state has used to make visible—and invisible—Indigenous peoples. In practices of looking back at law, Indigenous artists and activists have been guides to thinking disobediently with administrative archives. This talk will present decolonial and feminist artistic strategies as guides for analyzing settler bureaucratic practice while creating decolonial futures.

Bio: Taschereau Mamers holds a PhD in Media Studies and is the Managing Director of the Critical Digital Humanities Initiative at the University of Toronto. Previously, she has held a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at McMaster University, as well as Andrew W. Mellon postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wolf Humanities Center and the University of Toronto’s Jackman Humanities Institute. Danielle contributes essays and criticism to a variety of publications; leads workshops on post-academic careers, strategic planning, and research impact; and creates collaborative research comics and zines.