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  • Indigenous Writes

  • A Guide to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Issues in Canada
  • Written by: Chelsea Vowel
  • Narrated by: Brianne Tucker
  • Length: 16 hrs and 1 min
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (75 ratings)

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Indigenous Writes

Written by: Chelsea Vowel
Narrated by: Brianne Tucker
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Publisher's Summary

Delgamuukw. Sixties Scoop. Bill C-31. Blood quantum. Appropriation. Two-Spirit. Tsilhqot’in. Status. TRC. RCAP. FNPOA. Pass and permit. Numbered Treaties. Terra nullius. The Great Peace....

Are you familiar with the terms listed above? In Indigenous Writes, Chelsea Vowel, legal scholar, teacher, and intellectual, opens an important dialogue about these (and more) concepts and the wider social beliefs associated with the relationship between Indigenous peoples and Canada.

In 31 essays, Chelsea explores the Indigenous experience from the time of contact to the present, through five categories - Terminology of Relationships; Culture and Identity; Myth-Busting; State Violence; and Land, Learning, Law, and Treaties. She answers the questions that many people have on these topics to spark further conversations at home, in the classroom, and in the larger community.

Indigenous Writes is one title in The Debwe Series.

©2016 Chelsea Vowel (P)2020 HighWater Press

What the critics say

“A convincing case for rejecting the prevailing policies of ‘assimilation, control, intrusion and coercion’ regarding aboriginal people.” (Kirkus Reviews)

“Vowel’s voice and personality remain present throughout each essay. Her use of vernacular, humour, and at times, sarcasm add layers of meaning, underscore arguments and carry her and her readers through discussions of infuriating facts and difficult, often painful issues.” (McGill Journal of Education)

Indigenous Writes is a timely book...and contains enough critical information to challenge harmful assumptions and facilitate understanding. This is a book for everyone - but particularly for non-Indigenous people wishing to better understand their own place in the history of violence against Indigenous peoples, and to find ways to move toward true solutions and right relationships.” (Daniel Rück, Montreal Review of Books)

What listeners say about Indigenous Writes

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Every Canadian needs to experience and understand this book

Please listen, read and share this incredible piece. It has the power to better us all

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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eye opening

an incredible in-depth description of what First Nations are dealing with on a day-to-day basis for the last two centuries as a Métis individual this book has been life changing in my perspectives of Canada.

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great primer on Indigenous issues in Canada

it's a good 101 on understanding Indigenous issues in Canada. the narrator does a great job and is good in capturing the emotions of the author. There were a lot of end notes to this book, which is great in terms of being properly cited but definitely required active management to skip through that part. would have been great if there was an accompanying PDF with the end notes to reference.

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1 person found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Disappointing audiobook production

I am not here to comment on the content of this book. I cannot seem to move forward with the listening because of the excessive spelled out citation links. I wanted to listen to this book for the contents of the book and the important value that it potentially contains. But when you cant sit back and listen to the content then one feels disappointed in the book. I have put in 1 hour, 10min and 3 chapters and I cannot bring myself to continue any further :(.

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3 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Amazing content - but consider changing the footnotes

This is an incredible book! Really lovely that you’re so thorough with your references - but a better listening experience would be to let people know do download your footnotes.

I’ve never listened to a more annoying footnote section - and every chapter! It really disrupts the flow and learning.

The content is amazing. The reader is amazing. I’m learning so much.

Please consider adapting the ends of your chapter and treatments of footnotes in your audio version.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

MUCH Better as a hard copy!

Oh, man. Where do I even start here? First and foremost, the content is GREAT! It's very educational and informative. HIGHLY recommended if you are a non-indigenous Canadian looking to understand the common terminology used and current (and past) issues indigenous communities face. It's well written and the narrator is lovely.
But I found it EXTREMELY DIFFICULT to get through as an audiobook. The audiobook format just does not work for this piece because it's constantly referencing source material and footnotes and websites. I want to take this information in, but it would be much easier to do so with a hard copy of the book.
Again, GREAT CONTENT! But I definitely think it's formatted in a way that does not lend itself well to audiobook and would be better recieved through physically reading through a hardcopy of the book.

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    1 out of 5 stars
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WHY READ OUT FOOTNOTES!?!?!?

The audio book starts out quite interesting.
The narrator has a good voice.
But why the *@## are the footnotes being read out at the end of each chapter!?!?!?
It destroys the joy of listening!!!
Please rerecord the book without the footnotes and just add a PDF file!!!!
It's sad that a good narrator and possibly an interesting book is rendered useless by such a bad decision!!!
I've been an Audible member for over 20 years at least.
I always review the books that I listened to.
This is the first time that I've been so critical. But I must be truthful.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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Excellent book, great narration, but this is unlistenable.

Definitely buy this book, but buy a physical copy. Even though the narration here is excellent, the book’s flow is constantly disrupted by the decision to read out the hyperlinks in full for every footnote and endnote. Why not just include a pdf with links? Or at least set up a short url system? The choice baffles me.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Indigenous writes, but reads references poorly

This may be a good book to read, but has been poorly treated by the audible format. Verbalizing each reference as it appears at the end of each chapter is the most ridiculous treatment of a text I have ever listened to. It is long, unnecessary and I am sure nobody at Audible took the time to listen to an entire chapter or this would have been corrected. A website article reference sounds like this: double U, double U, double U, dot …. Open bracket, 2017, close bracket etc. Unbelievable. I stopped after 2 chapters. Life is too short.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

The references ruin the entire audiobook!!!

This book probably is a lot better if you read it. I think it’s very informative, particularly pertaining to indigenous understanding and issues. Trying to listen to this audiobook was very difficult! Having to repeat out loud the references and citations is a write off! I was very disappointed in this because I think it has a lot of potential but the delivery is horrible! I would like to clarify that it’s not the delivery of the individual narrating the book, but more how she hast to deliver it to be considered “proper”.

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1 person found this helpful