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Power and Place: Mapping Indigenous Grassroots Organizing and Mobilizing for the MMIWG2S+ People

Vicki Chartrand (Bishop’s University, CAN)

Diversity in Criminology and Criminal Justice Studies

ISBN: 978-1-80117-002-4, eISBN: 978-1-80117-001-7

Publication date: 12 May 2022

Abstract

PurposeHaving concluded that the long-term and ongoing murders and disappearances of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA (MMIWG2S+) people is genocide, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (NIMMIWG) (2019) made 231 Calls for Justice in relation to culture, health, security, and criminal justice to broadly address the ongoing colonial dispossession and systemic, racialized, and gendered violence against MMIWG2S+ people. In response to these Calls for Justice, this article traces Indigenous grassroots initiatives to show the many ways that justice can be broadly conceived and mobilized to address the murders and disappearances.

Methodology/ApproachDrawing on the Unearthing Justices Resource Collection of 500+ Indigenous grassroots initiatives for the MMIWG2S+ people, this work theorizes a spatial approach to justice using mapping methodologies.

FindingsNot only have Indigenous families and communities been calling for justice, but they have also been cultivating justice across the land by building constellations of resource and support. The author traces the land-based activities specific to community patrols, land-based commemorations, search support, and walks and journeys to show the vast resources, skills, and strengths that already exist in Indigenous communities and how justice can be conceptualized within its local and spatial arrangements, and beyond the imaginaries of a criminal justice system.

Originality/ValueWhere the ongoing colonial dispossession and systemic, racialized, and gendered violence against MMIWG2S+ people is well documented, there has been less consideration of how Indigenous families and communities have navigated a terrain where justice continues to be absent,elusive, or invasive.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

Pm8wzowinnoak Bishop’s kchi adalagakidimek aoak kzalziwi w8banakii aln8baïkik. I acknowledge that I work and live on the unceded traditional territories of the Abenaki people. I acknowledge the wisdom and knowledge of all the traditional custodians as a vital resource and energy not only for this work, but for this world, for who I am, for how I raise my daughter, and for how she raises me. Thank you to the anonymous reviewers for your spirit and energy. I would like to acknowledge Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture (FRQSC) for funding this research project.

Citation

Chartrand, V. (2022), "Power and Place: Mapping Indigenous Grassroots Organizing and Mobilizing for the MMIWG2S+ People", Silva, D.M.D. and Deflem, M. (Ed.) Diversity in Criminology and Criminal Justice Studies (Sociology of Crime, Law and Deviance, Vol. 27), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 83-98. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1521-613620220000027006

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2022 Vicki Chartrand