In
A
Short History of the Blockade,
award-winning writer Leanne Betasamosake Simpson uses Michi Saagiig
Nishnaabeg stories, storytelling aesthetics, and practices to explore
the generative nature of Indigenous blockades through our relative,
the beaver—or in Nishnaabemowin, Amik. Moving through genres,
shifting through time, amikwag stories become a lens for the
life-giving possibilities of dams and the world-building
possibilities of blockades, deepening our understanding of Indigenous
resistance as both a negation and an affirmation. Widely recognized
as one of the most compelling Indigenous voices of her generation,
Simpson’s work breaks open the intersections between politics,
story, and song, bringing audiences into a rich and layered world of
sound, light, and sovereign creativity. A
Short History of the Blockade
reveals how the practice of telling stories is also a culture of
listening, “a thinking through together,” and ultimately, like
the dam or the blockade, an affirmation of life.