The Sleeping Giant Awakens: Genocide, Indian Residential Schools, and the Challenge of Conciliation

— —

David B. MacDonald

The Sleeping Giant Awakens

Genocide, Indian Residential Schools, and the Challenge of Conciliation

David B. MacDonald

$145

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

University of Toronto Press
31 May 2019

Refugees & political asylum; Human rights; Civil rights & citizenship; Political oppression & persecution; International human rights law

Series: UTP Insights

Confronting the truths of Canada's Indian residential school system has been likened to waking a sleeping giant. In The Sleeping Giant Awakens, David B. MacDonald uses genocide as an analytical tool to better understand Canada's past and present relationships between settlers and Indigenous peoples. Starting with a discussion of how genocide is defined in domestic and international law, the book applies the concept to the forced transfer of Indigenous children to residential schools and the ""Sixties Scoop,"" in which Indigenous children were taken from their communities and placed in foster homes or adopted.

Based on archival research, extensive interviews with residential school Survivors, and officials at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, among others, The Sleeping Giant Awakens offers a unique and timely perspective on the prospects for conciliation after genocide, exploring the difficulties in moving forward in a context where many settlers know little of the residential schools and ongoing legacies of colonization and need to have a better conception of Indigenous rights. It provides a detailed analysis of how the TRC approached genocide in its deliberations and in its Final Report.

Crucially, MacDonald engages critics who argue that the term genocide impedes understanding of the IRS system and imperils prospects for conciliation. By contrast, this book sees genocide recognition as an important basis for meaningful discussions of how to engage Indigenous-settler relations in respectful and proactive ways.

By: David B. MacDonald
Imprint: University of Toronto Press
Country of Publication: Canada
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 163mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 500g
ISBN: 9781487503499
ISBN 10: 1487503490
Series: UTP Insights
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 31 May 2019
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Introduction 1. Understanding Genocide: Raphael Lemkin, the UN Genocide Convention, and International Law 2. Pluralists, Indigenous Peoples, and Colonial Genocide 3. Forcible Transfer as Genocide in the Indian Residential Schools 4. The Sixties and Seventies Scoop and the Genocide Convention 5. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and the Question of Genocide 6. The TRC, Indigenous Death, Inside and Outside the Residential Schools 7. Indigenous Genocide: Remembering, Commemorating, Forgetting 8. Indigenous Peoples and Genocide: Challenges of Recognition and Remembering 9. Reconciliation, Resurgence, and Rollback in the Aftermath of Genocide

David B. MacDonald is a professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Guelph and Research Leadership Chair for the College of Social and Applied Human Sciences

Reviews for The Sleeping Giant Awakens: Genocide, Indian Residential Schools, and the Challenge of Conciliation

“In addition to residential school survivor memoirs, the superb The Sleeping Giant Awakens should be mandatory reading for all Canadians.” -- Jane Griffith * <em>Ontario History</em> * ""MacDonald’s argument that the harms of forcible transfer are genocidal is compelling and well made. As he also acknowledges, however, the settler state cannot resolve or fully address these harms unless it is prepared to enter into a new relationship with First Nations on profoundly different terms."" -- Sarah Maddison * <EM>The British Journal</EM> *

Short-listed for Best Subsequent Book of 2019 in Native American and Indigenous Studies 2020 (United States)
Short-listed for Best Subsequent Book of 2019 in Native American and Indigenous Studies Nativa American and Ind 2020 (United States)
Short-listed for Shortlisted for the 2020 Donald Smiley Prize 2020 (Canada)