The Over-Incarceration of Indigenous Women

A Look at Meeting Needs in Community Organizations

Abstract

Indigenous women make up a disproportionate percentage of incarcerated women in Canada. The effects of settler-colonialism are ever present, as these women experience marginalized lives. The violence they experience is twofold – in their everyday lives and in prison. This study is grounded in penal abolitionism and explores how the needs of Indigenous women in trouble are being met within the community – keeping them out of contact with the criminal justice system. I look at community organizations within Edmonton through a content analysis of website and Facebook data, analyzing the discourse for emerging themes related to identifying and attending to social and economic needs. While the organizations are virtuous in their intent, I find that they are an extension of and strengthen the values of settler-colonialism in assimilative ways. I draw on Foucault’s work on ‘docile bodies’ and G. Coulthard’s work on the ‘liberal politics of recognition’ to situate my analysis that Indigenous women are being disciplined and produced through incarceration and community organizations, thus increasing their utility in society. Community organizations that attend to the needs of Indigenous women have been designed and formulated within a society that is predicated on settler-colonialism. In order for Indigenous women to have their needs met, the Indigenous community must be a self-determining sovereign body.

Discipline: Sociology

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Amanda Nelund