Disjunction: Indigenous Resistance Beyond Opposition and Dialectics

• In Event: Indigenous Political Thought and Pluralism

Abstract

This paper offers an interpretation of the political resistance of First Nation peoples and Native Americans – referred to as Indigenous peoples – that emphasizes its transformative and world-making features. We argue that a distinct form of resistance that goes beyond the mainstream interpretations of resistance as oppositional or dialectical can be identified in diverse movements and texts of Indigenous resistance. We refer to this distinctive form of resistance as disjunctive. Yet, due to the practical and complex nature of resistance and due to the mainstream understanding of resistance, the disjunctive features of Indigenous political movements are often not fully recognized, embraced or distinguished. We rely on the work of various Indigenous scholars and activists to correct this by highlighting the radical transformative alternatives at the heart of diverse movements and theories of Indigenous resistance and by expounding in what sense they can be seen as disjunctive, even when they rely on or appeal to oppositional forms of resistance. To conclude, we argue that a move away from resistance as oppositional or dialectical has consequences for the conduct of political theory.
We begin by explaining the mainstream interpretations of resistance. According to these interpretations, resistance is essentially a form of oppositional action. It refers to various ways in which political actors act to deny, disrupt or transgress a power relationship to which they are subjected. Resistance is then a form of reclamation of agency. More importantly for our purposes, this reclamation of agency is typically understood as directed to or against the power relationship. Political resistance is seen as a form of oppositional or dialectical engagement where agents at opposing nodes in a power relationship enter into a conflict and through their actions seek to change the relationship. In sum, resistance is paradigmatically seen as constituted by the confrontation of contradictory positions. This can take various forms, from more open violent resistance to agonistic engagements where political actors seek to change terms of governance.
In contrast, we argue that one may act in ways that deny, disrupt or transgress a power relationship without opposing or seeking to engage in a dialectical confrontation. One can reclaim agency by turning away from the power relationship, refusing its terms and acting so as to transform – not merely change or metamorphose (Krog 2003) – the world by enacting a different one (Coulthard 2014; Simpson A. 2014). We see this form of reclamation of agency as disjunctive. It does not seek to change or contradict the terms of governance, but to side-step them by redirecting political agency away from them. Such a form a resistance may still lead to confrontation, but the confrontation is not how those who reclaim their agency address a power structure; it is a by-product of the encounter of incommensurable worlds.
We contend that understanding resistance as disjunctive allows us to better apprehend core aspects of Indigenous resistance. We support this claim by considering the discourses of diverse Indigenous scholars and activists. Specifically, we engage with the idea that Indigenous peoples’ political resistance is a form of present critical enactment of their distinct traditional ways of being, doing and knowing for a future flourishing (Estes 2019; Simpson L. 2017; Green 2017). In a context of settler colonialism, Indigenous resistance can be seen as the present enactment of Indigenous peoplehood for its persistence. To expound this claim and the extent to which it is disjunctive, we engage with claims that Indigenous peoples are not protesting, but protecting (Estes 2019; Simpson and Ladner 2010); that their conflict with the settler state can be understood as jurisdictional in nature (Pasternak 2017); that their political freedom can be associated with movement (Borrows 2016) and with the transgression of imposed spatial and temporal boundaries (Bruyneel 2007); and we engage with the literature on Indigenous resurgence and prefigurative practices (Aguirre 2015; Coulthard 2014; Corntassel 2012; Alfred 2005).
To conclude, we emphasize how Indigenous disjunctive resistance is a transformative practice of world-making (Getachew 2019). We contend that this transformative movement extends to ways of knowing and thinking. More specifically, the political thoughts and practices of Indigenous peoples, as disjunctive, are not only grounds for theoretical arguments and engagements but also for theoretical transformations and disjunctions. They call into question how we think about the political world and require a transformation of political theory.

Author

• Yann Allard-Tremblay, McGill University