The Decolonization of Violence

The Decolonization of Violence

“The whites told only one side. Told it to please themselves. Told much that is not true. Only his own best deeds, only the worst deeds of the Indians, has the white man told.” Yellow Wolf, Nez Perce, c 18771

This study was interested in how seven Native women-led programs might be creatively

using a positive core of attributes of the Appreciative Inquiry approach to transform their

projects to address the disproportionate rates of violence against Alaska Native women. The

attributes are: knowledge, strengths, capacities creativity, resilience, skills, talents, wisdom, and

resources. It goes without saying that this violence should be condemned and prevented, and all

actions and measures should be pursued to curb the rates of violence and make them a thing of

the past; which is precisely what the leaders and workers in these programs are striving towards.

However, it is important to recognize that the phenomenon of violence is widespread and

complex throughout all of society and, for some, it is generational and intense. Many Alaska

Native communities are marginalized and isolated which exacerbates their situation.

Moreover, there is a lack funding to develop prevention, treatment, and aftercare

programs for survivors and perpetrators of violence. Given these myriad challenges it is not

always possible for organizations, workers, and communities to draw from a positive core.

Finally, another difficulty related to controlling and eliminating violence against Native women is

that a significant amount of violence comes from non-Native offenders, which are often immune

from prosecution due to state and federal laws that suppress Native justice and sovereignty.

The rest of this introduction focuses on several key areas: (1) the importance of

understanding how colonialism and settler colonialism drive violence against Native women; (2)

1 In “Stolen Continents: The ‘New World’ Through Indian Eyes by Ronald Wright. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Penguin Books (p. 4).