| PEGI EYERS  |
My essay "Our Struggles Are Not The Same: Inspired Solidarity with Turtle Island First Nations Women" has been published in an excellent anthology of voices from diverse, multicultural and multifaith women. From the powerhouse editing team of Trista Hendren and Pat Daly (The Girl God) The authors, activists, scholars, academics, mystics, artists, practitioners and priestesses in Whatever Works speak out on issues that matter, and their "risky conversations" break new ground for feminists and all those empowered by the rise of the Divine Feminine today. With personal narratives that reject the patriarchy of religion, explore individual experiences of the sacred and the nature of spiritual life, unpack toxic ideologies, and analyze important new directions in Goddess Spirituality, Whatever Works is an invaluable guide to the ongoing healing and empowerment of women.
"Our Struggles Are Not The Same: Inspired Solidarity with Turtle Island First Nations Women" is a discussion on the interface between those of us in the Settler Society and First Nations women, the original Earthkeepers of Turtle Island. Speaking truth to power, I examine how our privilege as white feminists has blinded us to the ways First Nations women continue to be marginalized and oppressed by our colonial "habits" of cultural appropriation, knowledge domination, implicit racism, and the assumption we are on the same page in our liberation strategies. In the so-called inclusive spaces we create, the tokenistic, objectifying, or voyeuristic presence of women of colour is just as disempowering as exclusion.
As white women we need to do much better, to set aside our "white gaze," and embrace social justice in order to reverse habitual power relationships. Luckily for us, we have models to follow through solidarity and the Allyship framework, and it is only by placing ourselves behind the most oppressed and moving them forward will true progress be made. Dismantling the construct of white superiority and the intersectional oppressions will allow the sovereignty of the original Earthkeepers of Turtle Island to be reclaimed. Relinquishing our privilege is not such a difficult thing, and our own liberation cannot be achieved without the liberation of all.
As white women we need to do much better, to set aside our "white gaze," and embrace social justice in order to reverse habitual power relationships. Luckily for us, we have models to follow through solidarity and the Allyship framework, and it is only by placing ourselves behind the most oppressed and moving them forward will true progress be made. Dismantling the construct of white superiority and the intersectional oppressions will allow the sovereignty of the original Earthkeepers of Turtle Island to be reclaimed. Relinquishing our privilege is not such a difficult thing, and our own liberation cannot be achieved without the liberation of all.
You can learn more about the First Nations/Settler interface and other empowering insights in the pages of Whatever Works: Feminists of Faith Speak ~ available through Amazon or The Girl God.
 | Pegi Eyers is the author of "Ancient Spirit Rising: Reclaiming Your Roots & Restoring Earth Community," a new book that explores strategies for intercultural competency, healing our relationships with Turtle Island First Nations, decolonization, recovering an ecocentric worldview, rewilding, creating a sustainable future and reclaiming peaceful co-existence in Earth Community. Amazon.com Stone Circle Press |
