Abstract:
Indigenous Invisibility in the City contextualises the significant social change in
Indigenous life circumstances and resurgence that came out of social movements
in cities. It is about Indigenous resurgence and community development by First
Nations people for First Nations people in cities.
Seventy-five years ago, First Nations peoples began a significant post-war period
of relocation to cities in the United States, Canada, Australia, and Aotearoa New
Zealand. First Nations peoples engaged in projects of resurgence and community
development in the cities of the four settler states. First Nations peoples, who
were motivated by aspirations for autonomy and empowerment, went on to create
the foundations of Indigenous social infrastructure. This book explains the ways
First Nations people in cities created and took control of their own futures. A fact
largely wilfully ignored in policy contexts.
Today, differences exist over the way governments and First Nations peoples
see the role and responsibilities of Indigenous institutions in cities. What remains
hidden in plain sight is their societal function as a social and political apparatus
through which much of the social processes of Indigenous resurgence and
community development in cities occurred. The struggle for self-determination in
settler cities plays out through First Nations people’s efforts to sustain their own
institutions and resurgence, but also rights and recognition in cities. This book will
be of interest to Indigenous studies scholars, urban sociologists, urban political
scientists, urban studies scholars, and development studies scholars interested in
urban issues and community building and development.
