Decolonize Your 2023 Reading List: 5 Books For This Year
Welcome to 2023!
Happy New Year!
If you're a lover of fresh starts, goal setting, and planning ahead like me - January is a great time to be thinking about your 2023 reading list.
Whether you are a mood reader or you like a detailed plan, the importance of diversifying your reading list is only increasing this year. Over the last few years we have seen increased racial violence, increased awareness of disparities faced by Indigenous peoples in Canada, and political action (such as new days of recognition) being taken to move towards reconciliation.
You may be overwhelmed by this. You may be learning new vocabulary to join these conversations. You may be actively un-learning the history you have come to know as false (I know I am!) You may be searching for information to challenge the dominant narratives that are proving to be false, or the lack of information itself.
I turn to books.
Who better to teach you than the storytellers of the Indigenous community?
While it is important to recognize the history and validity of oral story storytelling, the written word is a beautiful way to share information. It is also a beautiful way to share resources. Buy Indigenous books and support those authors financially, in turn supporting their communities, and in turn again increasing demand for more authors to break into the publishing industry. (The publishing industry where in 2022, the majority of published authors identified as white.)
I suggest to you a New Year's Resolution: read more Indigenous authors.
Here are 5 incredible books worth adding to your 2023 list.
1. Five Little Indians by Michelle Good
Trigger Warnings: sexual assault, drug use and addiction, violence, racism
Five Little Indians is a novel that follows the lives of several survivors of the Residential School System. It is a work of fiction but deeply rooted in real history and the present day crisis in Vancouver's downtown east side.
All the characters are former students of the same Residential School. Their interconnected stories demonstrate and explore the ways that trauma infiltrates your being, your self-worth, and your choices. * Trauma is not to be confused with damage. Healing is a journey.
I highly recommend that you share this novel with anyone in your life who still says that the Indigenous community needs to "get over it already."
2. Elements of Indigenous Style by Gregory Younging
For Writers. For Editors. For Publishers. For Teachers. For Journalists. For Bloggers.
If you write or work with writing about Indigenous peoples at any time, this book is a must-have. Gregory Younging has provided the very first style guide that addresses the complex and nuanced task of writing respectfully about Indigenous peoples and communities.
When do we capitalize the I? When do you need to specify a person's nation? What vocabulary is acceptable and what is out of date and offensive?
If you are unclear about any of these questions - please purchase this book and refer to it often!
As a teacher and curriculum designer, I reference this book ALL THE TIME.
3. Daughters of the Deer by Danielle Daniel
Trigger warnings: sexual violence, physical violence, racism, spiritual violence
Daughters of the Deer was by far my favourite book of 2022.
Historical fiction - Check.
Indigenous education - Check.
LGBTQ2S+ representation - Check.
This matriarchal novel is the(a) story of Indigenous & Métis women of the 1600's. Daniel takes you into the tense and life-changing moments of contact between the French fur traders and the Algonquin peoples - specifically the Weskarini Deer Clan. We see the world through the eyes of the women in the family and their forced adaptation of new ways of being.
The novel is a work of historical fiction, but the characters and events are based on real ancestral connections to the author's family.
It's a powerful read that challenges you to re-imagine the rights of women as they could have been. It challenges you to re-imagine the ways of living that were forcefully changed. It asks you to learn more about your own family tree and the stories that you carry in your blood.
I could not recommend this novel enough. All the stars! ★★★★★★★★
4. Cut To Fortress by Tawahum Bige
If you prefer poetry, a gorgeous collection to pick up is Tawahum Bige's Cut To Fortress.
Their debut poetry collection is a heart-wrenching and bold statement on colonialism, inter-generational trauma, environmental destruction, and more. Bige is an Indigenous, two-spirit, activist and author who threads the complex landscape of today's political and racial issues together with their own history ad experience. The poems in this collection are skillfully written and incredibly powerful.
They left me facing some intense questions about my own impact and family history. They also left me with a strong awareness of how little my own experience has prepared me to understand the realities of colonialism. Being non-Indigenous with European ancestry and living in a Commonwealth country is in itself a violent identity if you take no action to understand your own history.
Poetry should not be gentle, and this collection uses literature as a "Loaded Cartridge."
*Did you know April is Poetry Month? Try picking this one up for your April book clubs!
5. Unreconciled by Jesse Wente
Of course, this list would be incomplete without a strong memoir.
Unreconciled by Jesse Wente is my favourite memoir by an Indigenous author and a multi-faceted book that will educate you in so many ways.
Wente has a background in radio, film, and media in general. Wente is also of mixed Indigenous heritage and writes about his experience of identity and community.
This is a memoir with a personal story, yes. This is also a memoir with professional commentary on Indigenous representation in the media, the education system, and the office.
A strong moment in this book was Wente's explanation of the colonial violence represented in the movie Avatar - and how his choice to speak out against it while working in the industry was a defining moment.
With the long-awaited release of Avatar 2 now here: this would be a section of the book to pay particular attention to.
