I first talked about Decolonizing Genealogy in my post Township 1, Range 4. (1) In this post I want to talk about the major obstacle we face when it comes to decolonizing: the uncomfortable feelings we have that result from confronting our privilege as settlers and colonizers. Even if this is not the first time we are encountering these ideas and even if we are willing participants who want to learn more in order to work towards justice as an ally, it can still be very unsettling.

And maybe that’s the point.

I started reading an excerpt from Unsettling the Settler Within by Paulette Regan (2) and she writes about becoming “unsettled” as the way to transform ourselves from settlers to allies. Her writing applies to the context of learning about residential schools, but this could easily apply to learning about any disturbing events that are a direct result of colonization.

This isn’t the first time I’ve encountered this idea. Several years ago, I read Ijeoma Oluo’s article “When We Talk About Cultural Appropriation, We’re Missing The Point” (3) in which she writes about white struggles to navigate cultural appropriation. I don’t want to go into detail about cultural appropriation here (she explains it in the article), but what she writes about it applies equally to unsettling:

When well-meaning white people say, “Help me define cultural appropriation so I know what to do and not to do,” what they are actually saying, even if they aren’t aware, is, “Help me understand how to continue in this system of privilege and oppression without feeling bad.”

(4)

Our urge to be comfortable is not compatible with creating a just and equal society. Unless we are more committed to creating a just and equal society than we are to feeling comfortable, we will be “regifting of the old package of settler promises, wrapped in pretty new paper” (5). We as settlers and colonizers cannot solve the problems that are a direct result of a colonial mindset without first disrupting that mindset.

Sitting with our uncomfortable feelings is difficult to do. Knowing that it is an important part of the process helps. We have a difficult but important task to walk the path between being paralyzed with guilt and unhelpful actions that are “a way to put the past, and our guilt, behind us quickly” (6). Instead, we can view these uncomfortable feelings as “disquieting moments in which we can change our beliefs, attitudes, and actions.” (7)

Instead of seeing these feelings as something we need to fix, Regan invites us to see them as the gift that they are: “Perhaps we do not recognize it as a gift because it feels like a burden, like a heavy responsibility that we don’t quite know how to carry, and we are afraid that we will do so poorly.” (8) Only once we accept the gift of being unsettled can we begin to openly listen and learn so we can avoid repeating the past.

If you’re interested in learning more, I highly recommend the books So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo and Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge. These books discuss race in the context of the USA and the UK respectively. I also appreciate White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo. The author doesn’t pull any punches and while it was a difficult read, it was also enlightening. I’m looking forward to reading the entirety of Unsettling the Settler Within and seeing the uncomfortable feelings it will inevitably bring up as a sign that I’m on the right path.

---

1) Jennifer Wiebe, “Township 1, Range 4W,” Jennealogie (https://maltsoda.wordpress.com/2019/04/16/township-1-range-4w/ : accessed 3 Sept 2021).

2) Paulette Regan, Exceprt from “Unsettling the Settler Within” (https://www.ubcpress.ca/asset/9215/1/9780774817776.pdf : accessed 3 Sept 2021).

3) Ijeoma Oluo, “When We Talk About Cultural Appropriation, We’re Missing The Point,” Medium (https://medium.com/the-establishment/when-we-talk-about-cultural-appropriation-were-missing-the-point-abe853ff3376 : accessed Sept 9 2021).

4) Oluo, Cultural Appropriation

5) Paulette Regan, Unsettling the Settler Within: Indian Residential Schools, Truth Telling, and Reconciliation in Canada (Vancouver, BC: UBC Press, 2010), p. 16.

6) Regan, Unsettling, p. 17.

7) Regan, Unsettling, p. 13.

8) Regan, Unsettling, p. 18.