A World You Do Not Know
Description
A World You Do Not Know explores the wilful ignorance demonstrated by NorthAmerica's settlers in establishing their societies on lands already occupied by indigenous nations. Using the Innu of Labrador-Quebec as one powerful contemporary example, Colin Samson shows how the processes of displacement and assimilation today resemble those of the 19th century as the state and corporations scramble for Innu lands. While nation building, capitalism and industrialisation are shown to have undermined indigenous peoples' wellbeing, the values that guide societies like the Innu are very much alive. The book ends by showcasing how ideas and land-based activities of indigenous groups in Canada and the US are being maintained and recast as ways to address the attack on cultural diversity and move forward to more positive futures.
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Person
Colin Samson is professor of sociology and director of the BA Liberal Arts program at the University of Essex. He has been working with the Innu of the Labrador-Quebec peninsula since 1994. His associations with these indigenous peoples led to coauthoring the human rights report Canada's Tibet: The Killing of the Innu, which won the Italian Pio Manzo Peace Prize in 2000. His book A Way of Life That Does Not Exist: Canada and the Extinguishment of the Innu won the Pierre Savard Award given by the International Council for Canadian Studies in 2006. Since 2009, Samson has worked in creative partnerships with filmmaker Sarah Sandring, who produced the documentaries Nutshimit (2010), and Nutak (2013) for Nirgun Films.