| Abstract |
"Like previous iterations, the sixth edition of Visions of the Heart is both a reflection of the current social, economic and political terrain in Canada and a critical engagement by a diverse collection of established and emerging scholars with it. Moreover, its editors and contributors continue to foreground the importance of being personally and politically connected to the matters that we are theorizing and writing about, and that we are also committed to working towards changing. This collection follows the approach of the previous edition by bringing together representative voices from a growing assortment of Indigenous scholars, activists, artists, and non-Indigenous allies that are aware and unapologetically critical of the limitations in the predominant ways that 'Indigenous issues' have been addressed not only in mainstream literary and scholarly works, but also in popular writings and a wide variety of mass and social media contexts. The current edition of Visions of the Heart thus features new contributors, alongside the voices of those who agreed to revise and update their contributions from the previous edition. All contributors approach their work and utilize methodologies that flow from a commitment to Indigenous life and resurgence. While there were a number of common themes and shared perspectives running through the first editions of Visions of the Heart, the addition of a new co-editor in the 5th edition was a transitional point for the volume and brought a significant change in focus from reconciliation to questions of relationship and responsibility. Contributors to this edition have maintained this focus as they have engaged Indigenous peoples' constructions and understandings of the various relationships they inhabit (with the land, waterways, other living beings, and the spirit world), specific relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples (kinship, settler-colonial relations, various forms of co-existence, treaties, and alliances), and the responsibilities these many relationships entail. As discussed in more detail below, this reflects a fundamental shift that has been occurring over the past two decades in scholarly attention to 'Indigenous resurgence.' While broadly employed with context-specific connotations, this concept can generally be characterized as referring to scholarship, forms of activism, nation-building, and theorizing that are grounded in Indigenous peoples' localized worldviews and ways of knowing, philosophies, intellectual traditions, laws, and relations with creation. Importantly, the principles, ethics, and values that flow from these spiritual and cultural norms are not abstract ideals that float untethered from real-world contexts, but are embedded within everyday life; thus, resurgence is not an end goal but a practice or way of life in which the ends and means are not distinct from one another but are one and the same"-- Provided by publisher. |
