There is an increase of White settler Child and Youth Care (CYC) practitioners
who are questioning how to be useful in their attempts at solidarity and justice-doing
amidst precarious ethics and tensions. Meanwhile, Indigenous women, girls, trans and
two-spirit people are being murdered and taken (MMIWGT2S+) at genocidal rates with
little action from Canadian government and RCMP. Drawing from critical race theory,
intersectional feminism, and anti-oppressive praxis, this research traces my own path to
justice-doing and solidarity exploring the concept of witnessing as a White settler. With a
critical examination of self, Whiteness, and White supremacy, I attempt to answer the
research questions: In what ways can witnessing function as a useful practice framework
for White settler solidarity? Secondarily, how can art act as witness or co-conspirator?
Using an arts-based critical autoethnography, this study combines personal narratives
with arts-based reflections on researcher’s experience as White settler facilitator of the
program Youth for Dignity on unceded Kaska territory in Watson Lake, Yukon. The
research focuses on the creation of a collaborative art piece on MMIWGT2S+ to explore
witnessing as one pathway for White settlers committed to social change. Building on the
work of Vikki Reynolds (2010a, 2010b, 2012) and other literature on solidarity and
witnessing, seven witnessing intentions that inform my White Settler Emerging Solidarity
Practice surfaced from this research: (a) critical examination of self; (b) reciprocal and
respectful relationships; (c) intersectionality; (d) embodied listening; (e) honouring
resistance; (f) action; and (g) accountability. This research has the potential to provide a
possible pathway for other CYC practitioners to engage with the complexities and
tensions of White settler solidarity practice. / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/14154 |
| Date | 30 August 2022 |
| Creators | Laliberte, Julie |
| Contributors | Wright Cardinal, Sarah |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
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