Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson is an Indigenous (Mississauga Nishnaabeg) writer, musician and academic. She is notable as the author of the several books and papers on Indigenous issues in Canada, and for her work with the 2012 Idle No More protests.[1]

Leanne released her first album of poetry and music called Islands of Decolonial Love in conjunction with a book of poetry and short stories of the same name in 2013 with ARP Books. She signed with RPM Records, the first Indigenous contemporary music label in June 2016, and her second album f(l)ight releases September 30, 2016.

Life and work

Simpson is a member of Alderville First Nation. She writes about contemporary Indigenous issues and realities, particularly from her own Anishinaabe nation, across a variety of genres. Islands of Decolonial Love was described by CBC Books as "a beautiful, emotional, raw and an important addition to the Canadian library"[2]

Simpson has collaborated with a variety of Indigenous and non-Indigenous musicians to record and perform stories as song. She is an alum of Jason Collett's Basement Review[3] and her new album f(l)ight was produced by Jonas Bonnetta (Evening Hymns) with James Bunton (Ohbijou, Light Fires). She regularly performs live with a core group of musician including Cris Derksen, Nick Ferrio and Ansley Simpson.

Career

Simpson earned a BSc in biology from the University of Guelph and a MSc in biology from Mount Allison University. She obtained her PhD from the University of Manitoba in 1999. Leanne is currently faculty at the Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning, and regularly teaches at universities across Canada. Most recently she was a visiting scholar in Indigenous Studies at McGill University and the Ranton McIntosh Visiting Scholar, University of Saskatchewan.

Activism

Simpson is active in Aboriginal social issues, including reform of Canada's Indian Act, gender based violence and the protection of indigenous homelands.[1] She was an active participant in the Idle No More protest movement.[4]

Her philosophy is described as an opposition to what she describes as "extractivism."[1] This term encompasses the extraction of natural resources from the Earth, the colonial "extraction" ("assimilation") of Native Americans, and the "cognitive extraction" of Native American ideas, i.e., cultural appropriation.[1] She works in the field of Indigenous resurgence and suggests an alternative ideology focused on rebuilding Indigenous nationhood using Indigenous intelligence and local engagement with land and community.[1]

Books

Simpson was inspired to write while collecting stories told by Nishnaabeg elders for her first collection, Dancing on Our Turtle's Back.[5] In 2013, Simpson published The Gift is in the Making, which reimagined traditional stories from the Nishnaabeg. She published Islands of Decolonial Love the same year, a collection of short stories.[6] She won the RBC Taylor Emerging Writer Award in 2014.[5]

She has worked as an editor for several collections, including: Lighting the Eighth Fire, This Is an Honour Song, and The Winter We Danced: Voice from the Past, the Future and the Idle No More Movement.[7]

Bibliography

Edited books

Non-fiction

Discography

Albums

Contributions

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Klein, Naomi. "Dancing the World into Being: A Conversation with Idle No More's Leanne Simpson". YES! Magazine. Archived from the original on 5 December 2013. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  2. ↑ http://www.cbc.ca/books/2014/08/islands-of-decolonial-love.html
  3. ↑ "New Journeys".
  4. ↑ McCue, Duncan. "The cultural importance of Idle No More". www.cbc.ca. CBC. Archived from the original on 19 September 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  5. 1 2 "RBC Taylor Emerging Writer Award Leanne Simpson on the significance of storytelling". www.cbc.ca. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Archived from the original on 24 April 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  6. ↑ Rogers, Shelagh; James Sinclair, Niigaanwewidiam. "Globe Books 2013: A new chapter in aboriginal literature". The Globe and Mail. Globe and Mail. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  7. ↑ Simpson, Leanne. "Leanne Simpson". leannesimpson.ca. Retrieved 22 January 2016.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/23/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.