Behind the colonial wall: the chains that bind resistance
Date
2014-03-20
Authors
St. Germain, Brenda
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The “colonial wall” is the analogy drawn between a visible, physical barrier designed to confine, control, and contain a nation and a psychological barrier designed to control, confine, and contain a nation by internalized colonialist subjugation or colonizer domination. This thesis answers the question, “How are colonial policies and ideologies internalized by Indigenous and Settler populations to maintain the relationship of domination and oppression in modern society?” The secondary questions explore how colonialism is perpetuated by both colonizer and colonized and ask if there are situations occurring in society today to indicate a correlation to the Indigenous Seven Prophecies and Eighth Fire Prophecy. Research constitutes a review of literature to explore the questions from thematic categories that emerged from the analysis: economics, epistemology, politics, and patriarchy. There are numerous literary contributions on the colonial phenomenon but few offered explanations about how it affected the psychology of a colonized individual or even how cognitive function is affiliated with acts of domination that affect the psyche of the colonizer. This thesis documents and offers emerging theories on how colonial policies and practices are taken up to influence the dyadic relationship between Settler peoples and Aboriginal populations in Canada today.
Description
Keywords
internalized colonialism, colonization, decolonization, settler mentality