The Fourth World: An Indian Reality 1517906067, 9781517906061

Citation preview

The Fourth World

BRITISH

The Shuswap Territories

The Fourth World An Indian Reality G E O R G E M A N U E L A N D M I C H A E L POSLUNS I N T R O D U C T I O N BY G L E N SEAN C O U L T H A R D FOREWORD BY V I N E D E L O R I A JR. AFTERWORD BY D O R E E N M A N U E L

M IN NE SO TA University of Minnesota Press Minneapolis London

Map by Maralyn Horsdal and Frank Zsigo Originally published in 1974 by The Free Press Published in 2019 in the United States by the University of Minnesota Press Copyright 1974 by George Manuel and Michael Posluns Introduction copyright 2019 by Glen Sean Coulthard Afterword copyright 2019 by Doreen Manuel All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Published by the University of Minnesota Press 111 Third Avenue South, Suite 290 Minneapolis, MN 55401-2520 http://www.upress.umn.edu Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper The University of Minnesota is an equal-opportunity educator and employer. 25 24 23 22 21 20 19

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Manuel, George, author. | Posluns, Michael, author. Title: The Fourth World : an Indian reality / George Manuel and Michael Posluns ; foreword by Vine Deloria Jr. ; introduction by Glen Sean Coulthard ; afterword by Doreen Manuel. Description: Minneapolis, Minnesota : University of Minnesota Press, [2019] Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2018020840 | ISBN 978-1-5179-0606-1 (pb) Subjects: LCSH: Indians of North America—Canada—Government relations. Classification: LCC E92 .M36 2018 | DDC 323.1197/071—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018020840

7KHVHZRUGVDUHZULWWHQIRUP\JUDQGFKLOGUHQDQGIRU WKHLUFKLOGUHQ V FKLOGUHQ G. M.

7RWKHPHPRU\RIWKUHHJUDQGIDWKHUVZKRGRQRWRWKHUZLVHDSSHDULQ WKHVWRU\$EUDKDP3RVOXQV6DPXHO%UHQ]HODQG-RKQ 0F,OYULGH 6WRULHVDERXW=HLGH3RVOXQVDQGP\UHFROOHFWLRQVRI=HLGH%UHQ]HODQG *UDQGD0F,OYULGHQXUWXUHGLQPHWKHIHHOLQJVWKDWZHKDYHERWKWULHG WRFRQYH\LQWKLVERRN M.P.

7KLVHGLWLRQLVGHGLFDWHGWRODQGDLUDQGZDWHUGHIHQGHUVZKRSURWHFW RXU$ERULJLQDOWLWOHDQG,QGLJHQRXVULJKWVIURP WKHFRORQL]DWLRQ RI GHIRUHVWDWLRQ PLQLQJDQGSLSHOLQHV D . M.

This page intentionally left blank

Contents ,QWURGXFWLRQ$)RXUWK :RUOG5HVXUJHQW

L[

G L E N SEAN COULTHARD T h e Fo u rt h W o rl d )RUHZRUG

[[[YLL

V I N E DELORIA JR. $XWKRUV 1RWH $FNQRZOHGJPHQWV Introduction: "D o e s Indians Have Feelings?"

[OL [OLLL 

1.

Mutual Dependence



2.

Strong Medicine



3.

Th e Earth and My Grandmother



4.

We Ho n o ur O u r Grandfathers W h o Kept U s Alive



5.

Scratching for a Start



6.

Becoming a Fish e r of Me n



7.

Th e Decade of Consultation



8.

Th e Daily Struggle N o w



9.

Th e Fourth W orld



$IWHUZRUG



DOREEN MANUEL 1RWHV



,QGH[



This page intentionally left blank

Introduction A Fourth World Resurgent G L E N SEAN COULTHARD

29(5 7+( 3$67 ten to fifteen years, Indigenous UHVXUJHQFH has emerged as a central theoretical framework in much Indigenous writings on colonization and decolonization. Resurgence calls on Indigenous people and communities to combat the violence of colonial social relations through the revitalization of Indigenous epistemologies, political structures, and place-based economic practices. As an ethicopolitical practice, resurgence demands that w e decolonize "o n our ow n terms," to quote one of its core theorists, Nishnaabeg scholar and activist Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, "w ithout the sanction, permission, or engagement of the state."1 W hile theories of resurgence are at their core rooted i n land and place, they also recognize that w e are "intrinsically linked to and [are] influencing global phenomena; indeed, our systems of ethics require us to consider these influences and relationships i n all of our decision making."2 For Simpson, then, resurgence must be vigilantly global i n scope, both ethically and politically. Secw epemc leader George Manuel's foundational book 7KH )RXUWK:RUOG$Q,QGLDQ5HDOLW\ (cowritten w ith Michael Posluns and

L[

published i n 1974) 3 provides an early, paradigm-setting example of Simpson's resurgent internationalism. Indeed, the theoretical crossfertilizations Manuel draws between the "Th i rd " and "Fo urth " worlds are productive precisely because of their grounding in the normative frameworks informed by Indigenous connections to land and place. Th e same goes for Manuel's critique of colonization and his views on decolonization: as a globally layered and interconnected phenomenon, settler-colonization operates simultaneously at the local, national, and international levels, intersecting w ith other colonial social formations and relationships. For Manuel, this requires that w e confront the violence of colonialism at all scales of operation, w ith the support of and in solidarity w ith all those affected by it. Manuel spent most ofhis life putting these insights into practice. Th i s new Introduction to the long-awaited republication of7KH )RXUWK:RUOG by the University of Minnesota Press w ill situate the text in the historical ideological and political context w ithin w hich it intervened, both domestically and internationally. It is productive to read the book as a crucial Indigenous intervention into the ideological influence that the decolonization struggles of the "Th i rd W o rl d" had on the North American left's critique of racial capitalism and imperialism in the 1960s and early 1970s. 4 1 suggest that the inherited conceptual apparatus associated w ith this "turn to the Th i rd W o rl d" provided Indigenous organizers w ith an appealing international language ofpolitical contestation structured around the concept ofVHOIGHWHUPLQDWLRQ² economically, politically, and culturally—that they not only inherited but also fundamentally adapted and transformed through a critical engagement w ith their ow n local, land-informed situations. Despite this intervention, the right of self-determination has since been interpreted, indeed institutionalized, i n such a politically narrow manner at both international and domestic levels as to render its critical purchase minimal, at least in relation to the transformative potential of its original articulation and aspirations. T h e Fo u rt h W o rl d Th e fact that 7KH)RXUWK:RUOG is only now being reissued for the first time since its original publication in 1974 is shocking given that it is unquestionably one of the core texts i n the wave of Re d Power literature that emerged from the tumultuous politics of the global 1960s

[

and '70s. Suc h core books (all of w hich, to my knowledge, are still in print) include Vine Deloria Jr.'s classic &XVWHU'LHGIRU