Chapter published in:
Identity Struggles: Evidence from workplaces around the world
Edited by Dorien Van De Mieroop and Stephanie Schnurr
[Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture 69] 2017
► pp. 299–316

A kind of work

Narratives from Canadian indigenous women

| University of Manitoba
| American University of Paris
What is work for present day indigenous women living on reserve and how does it affect the way they perceive their identities? In our chapter we explore notions and practices of work that were investigated during various research projects involving First Nations women living on reserves in Western Canada. Our main resource is narratives of work, stories told by the women that capture the particular reality of indigenous life. In keeping with indigenous conceptions of non-compartmentalized ways of existence, the stories of the women with whom we worked blur the borders among different spheres of life. They see work as righting a gender imbalance resulting from the imposition of patriarchy brought with colonialism. We describe their identity as a life-work hybrid, which although stressful is also a source of meaning, strength, and resilience.
Keywords: balance, Canada, care, colonialism, First Nation, indigenous, gender, reserve, women, work
Published online: 26 April 2017
https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.69.16med
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