A Short History of the Blockade: Giant Beavers, Diplomacy, and Regeneration in Nishnaabewin

By Leanne Betasamosake Simpson and Jordan Abel

In A Short History of the Blockade, award-winning writer Leanne Betasamosake Simpson uses Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg stories, storytelling aesthetics, and practices to explore the generative nature of Indigenous blockades through our relative, the beaver—or in Nishnaabemowin, Amik. Moving through genres, shifting through time, amikwag stories become a lens for the life-giving possibilities of dams and the world-building possibilities of blockades, deepening our understanding of Indigenous resistance as both a negation and an affirmation. Widely recognized as one of the most compelling Indigenous voices of her generation, Simpson’s work breaks open the intersections between politics, story, and song, bringing audiences into a rich and layered world of sound, light, and sovereign creativity. A Short History of the Blockade reveals how the practice of telling stories is also a culture of listening, “a thinking through together,” and ultimately, like the dam or the blockade, an affirmation of life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The University of Alberta Press
• Release date: Feb 24, 2021
• ISBN: 9781772125528

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson (she/her/hers) is a Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg scholar, writer, and musician with a PhD from the University of Manitoba. She is the author of A Short History of the Blockade, Noopiming, As We Have Always Done, Dancing on Our Turtle’s Back, Islands of Decolonial Love, and This Accident of Being Lost. Leanne is a member of Alderville First Nation, in Ontario, Canada. Leanne's fourth album, Theory of Ice will be released in March 2021 with You've Changed Records.

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