Many Nations Longhouse

Cook’s paper will consider a Native feminist analysis of settler denial in light of recent work in epistemologies of ignorance. The Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission has shown, if anything, the robustness of settler denial in Canada. A series of events meant to make non-Natives remember the country’s colonial past has further entrenched a sustained ignorance of a settler colonial past and present. Recent work in the epistemology of ignorance, as developed by Nancy Tuana and Linda Martìn Alcoff, argues that ignorance is not a lack of knowledge but is rather actively produced and maintained, often to one’s social benefit. While work in the epistemology of ignorance has often been employed to tackle racial and gender inequities, it is necessary to identify and evaluate the distinct epistemology and ontology that supports the sustained denial of settler colonialism. An analysis of settler denial as an epistemology of ignorance exposes the pressing need for settlers to decolonize how they/we hear Native experiential testimonies of colonial violence as a call to fundamentally rethink and re-remember our settler past and present.

Anna Cook (M.A.) is a Ph.D student in the Philosophy department at the University of Oregon specializing in feminist philosophy, social/political philosophy and early modern philosophy (esp. Spinoza). She is interested in questions of affect and vulnerability as it pertains to violence prevention education. She has previously worked as an instructor for a non-profit assault prevention centre, offering prevention and self-defense workshops to elementary and high school students. She is currently working on a project looking at Native feminist interventions on the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission. She is the co-coordinator of the UO’s Indigenous Philosophy RIG.

The colloquium is free and open to the public. Bring your own lunch!