Decolonization and Healing with Diane Obed

Most of us are wanting to better support Indigenous people on the lands we now also call home. We want to learn and understand more about the connections between current ecological catastrophes and colonization, and about coming into right relationship with the land and the first peoples of the land. Join us for this conversation about the lifelong journey of living respectfully within Mi’kma’ki, or wherever you may be, and contributing to regeneration and healing.

On a beautiful summer day, I met Diane Obed to talk about decolonization, including its importance in environmental movements.

Diane Obed is an Inuk woman mixed with white settler ancestry. She is a mother, writer and community member originally from Hopedale, Nunatsiavut, Labrador, currently living, studying and working in Mi'kma'ki, Nova Scotia. She is presently enrolled in the Educational Foundations PhD program at Mount Saint Vincent University, exploring decolonization and contemplative land-based studies.

In this conversation, Diane shares wisdom, gentleness and many helpful resources, including why cultural diversity loss leads to loss of biodiversity, and the importance of practices that help oneself be grounded in these uncertain times. The connection is explored between current ecological crisis and Indigenous dispossession from their lands. The more people who explore these topics together of the continued effects of colonization, of what decolonization means, and ideas of how we can contribute, the better the chances for a healthier and more whole world.

Episode resources:

Indigenous Climate Action website

website for Healing Haunted Histories, the book by Elaine Enns and Ched Myers

Book referenced by Diane by Inuit Elder: The Qaggiq Model, toward a theory of Inuktut knowledge renewal link to Good Reads

The Land Back paper Diane referenced

Kira Jewel Lingo's website

Kira's episode The way out is in

Developing Stamina for Decolonizing Higher Education: A Workbook for Non-Indigenous People(2021). (This workbook is relevant for anyone, despite it being written for a context of higher education.)

Land Water Spirit on Mighty Networks (an interactive platform through How We Thrive)

Mi’kmaw place and language resources:

Mi'kmaw place names interactive map

Native land .ca

www.mikmaqonline.org and the section specific to trees

Other resources:

Treaty Education,  Nova Scotia: 13 minute YouTube video “We are all Treaty People”

An article from the UN library: Biocultural Resilience for Systems Change, which includes ideas of Dr. Luisa Maffi