Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future

By Patty Krawec and Nick Estes

We find our way forward by going back.

The invented history of the Western world is crumbling fast, Anishinaabe writer Patty Krawec says, but we can still honor the bonds between us. Settlers dominated and divided, but Indigenous peoples won't just send them all "home."

Weaving her own story with the story of her ancestors and with the broader themes of creation, replacement, and disappearance, Krawec helps readers see settler colonialism through the eyes of an Indigenous writer. Settler colonialism tried to force us into one particular way of living, but the old ways of kinship can help us imagine a different future. Krawec asks, What would it look like to remember that we are all related? How might we become better relatives to the land, to one another, and to Indigenous movements for solidarity? Braiding together historical, scientific, and cultural analysis, Indigenous ways of knowing, and the vivid threads of communal memory, Krawec crafts a stunning, forceful call to "unforget" our history.

This remarkable sojourn through Native and settler history, myth, identity, and spirituality helps us retrace our steps and pick up what was lost along the way: chances to honor rather than violate treaties, to see the land as a relative rather than a resource, and to unravel the history we have been taught.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Broadleaf Books
• Release date: Sep 27, 2022
• ISBN: 9781506478265

Book preview

Reviews for Becoming Kin

[amaryann21 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a challenging book. Not because of the readability, but because it challenges the reader to take a hard look at the history most of us have come to accept as truth in the United States and see the centuries of damage it has wrought. There is hard love in this book, and love in abundance. The invitation is to love back, to acknowledge the systems still in power that continue to divide us as harmful and to change our minds and actions to dismantle them so that we all become kin.

[twogreys · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Krawec calls us to review the treatment of the Indigenous peoples (North America specifically, but equally applicable elsewhere, e.g., Australia) “discovered” and colonized since the 15th century and the Doctrine of Discovery by European Christians. Rather than concentrating on broken treaties and promises, though, she speaks of broken relationships and the need to acknowledge the break and reestablish the relationships. By weaving her own story as an Anishinaabe and Ukrainian woman into the history of North America, she makes it personal. Not as a memoir, but rather to legitimize her credentials for telling the story and proposing a solution. This is not a theoretical academic treatise, nor is it a radical rant for justice. Rather, it is a heartfelt examination of where we have been, and the better future we could all have, if we reestablish our relationships with the land, one another, and Indigenous peoples.

[nsc1234 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fantastic book. Krawec uses Indigenous languages and their words to explain Indigenous people's approach to and outlook on important topics like relationships, community building, reconciliation. She goes into great detail explaining how and why our modern Canadian society is failing to pursue meaningful reconciliation and then, at the end of each chapter, suggests to the reader how they can, in their own life, do better to understand and become kin.

[scarlett_rose-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have read through this book twice, something that I don't do very often, before doing this review. It presents some very serious viewpoints with historical references that take time and meditation to try to understand and absorb into my personal worldview. While I was (somewhat, I see now) aware of the issues facing indigenous peoples, I did not truly get the depth of their loss. I'm sure I don't completely understand since I have not lived their life and dealt with their struggles.

But the hope shines through in this book and that is something I can try to help along as much as it is possible for me. My ancestors made different choices, choosing to adapt to the dominant culture for the most part. Some relatives are in denial about what that means. I am in search of the truth, no matter where it leads me.

[mitchellray · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Anishinaabe author Patty Krawec writes with conviction, compassion, and clarity about the history of relations between Indigenous peoples and White settlers of Canada and the United States. Her impactful writing makes clear the impact of colonialism on past and present Native populations. She then outlines what can be done to build kinship between peoples and the land. Krawec demythologizes North American history so all peoples may join together to nurture relationships based on kinship. This is a book to be read by all those who are willing to open their minds and hearts to the pain of the past and the possibilities for the future.