indigenous feminism

Margaret "Marge" Tucker was a 20th-century Australian Aboriginal activist, organizer, and writer.

Born on the Moonahculla Reservein 1904, Tucker (at the age of 13) and her sister (who was 11) were forcibly separated from their mother and sent to Cootamundra Girls' Home, where they were trained to be domestic workers for two years. She then went to work for little pay for white families, some of whom were abusive. These relocations came courtesy of the Aboriginal Protection Board, where "protection" in this case meant protecting Aboriginal people from themselves—separating families and dictating employment, residence, and education for Aboriginal people.

I'm proud to be an Indigenous feminist and I'm not apologizing for it. In fact this very statement "Native Feminisms Without Apology" was the title of an incredible conference in 2006 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign I so wish I would have been at.

So why am I not apologizing for being a Native feminist? Because I get serious flack for it - from all sides. On the one hand I'm not Native enough if I call myself a feminist. On the other hand I'm not feminist enough since I'm pointing out there's a mainstream movement I really don't like.

Now I've written about Indigenous feminism here, here, and here, but based on several recent requests I've received about it, I thought I'd also make a mini reference list of some great resources to check out.