Dispossession in urban settler parks: Katherine Yee, Indigenous Resurgence in Colonial Urban Parks: Possibilities and potential for urban Indigenous land-based practices, MA dissertation, University of Toronto, 2022 | settler colonial studies blog

Dispossession in urban settler parks: Katherine Yee, Indigenous Resurgence in Colonial Urban Parks: Possibilities and potential for urban Indigenous land-based practices, MA dissertation, University of Toronto, 2022

05Jul22

Abstract: This thesis is an exploration of colonial dispossession within cities and specifically urban parks
recognizing all parks in so-called Canada exist on the traditional territories of Indigenous peoples. Within this thesis I utilize mixed methods, first conceptual analysis is used to discuss the structural-materialist emergence of urban parks as colonial spaces. Secondly, drawing from my own embodied experience earthworking with Two-Spirit Indigiqueer community in High Park, Tkaronto, I engage with land-based theoretical frameworks including land as pedagogy, kincentric ecologies, and reciprocal restoration to story ongoing Indigenous resurgence and futurities. This research considers the colonization of urban parks, and the possibilities and need for improved access for urban Indigenous peoples to engage in land-based practices. I argue, Indigenous inclusion within urban parks, at various levels, is required for the future ecological sustainability of parks and to create safe and accessible spaces for urban Indigenous peoples to enact land-based cultural practices.

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