Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2022
Abstract
In a letter to her great-great-grandfather, Morgan Mannella presents the journey of her identity exploration alongside the Indigenous research that she discovered during her role as an assistant to the editors of the 3rd Edition of Racism, Colonialism, and Indigeneity in Canada. The letter includes discussions with Morgan’s mentor, Dr. Lina Sunseri, one of the editors of the textbook. Morgan offers her personal story to express her position as an emerging Indigenous scholar. As a woman of both Indigenous and white settler heritage, Morgan demonstrates anxiety and disorientation early in her identity and project journey but displays optimism that assisting with the textbook will ease her head and heart. In four sections, Morgan describes several Indigenous topics including criminality and criminalization, environmental racism, poverty and development, and resistance. The four topics exemplify settler colonial racism against Indigenous peoples and present ways of how Indigenous peoples can combat the various forms of non-Indigenous oppression. At times, Morgan offers her personal thoughts and feelings regarding the knowledge that she has learned as she allows herself to decolonize her Eurocentric knowledge biases and listen to several Indigenous voices. The topics, alongside the accumulation of water droplets that have been drawn on the pages of the letter, represent Morgan’s growth in knowledge and understanding as she discovers more information and findings during her reading. The conclusion of the letter reveals a reconciliation of Morgan’s dual identity and a commitment to using the knowledge that she has learned to continue to decolonize and indigenize her life in honour of her ancestors who had long been unknown to her.