ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the development of Indigenous feminisms, which refers to in the plural as a reminder of the multiple and diverse approaches employed by those who identify their work with Indigenous feminisms. It focuses on the intergenerational processes that facilitate the transfer of Indigenous feminist knowledges and practices. Writers and activists of the 1980s and 1990s thus articulated the inadequacy of Western feminist theory and practice for Indigenous women, and they began to form theories that would address the particular ways sexism and patriarchy impacted women’s lives in their own communities and nations. The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Women and Girls in Canada also reported on the link between resource extraction projects and violence against Indigenous women. Indigenous queer theory and Indigenous feminisms are thus closely aligned in their analysis of disruption to Indigenous kinship systems and reclaiming of non-heteronormative relations.
