Indigenous Men and Masculinities ― Legacies, Identities, Regeneration

The sixteen essays in Robert Alexander Innes and Kim Anderson’s Indigenous Men and Masculinities: Legacies, Identities, Regenerationexplore the complex and diverse experiences of Indigenous men and those who assert Indigenous masculine identities. Editors Kim Anderson and Robert Alexander Innes show that expressions of contemporary Indigenous masculinity have been influenced by the racial and gender biases rooted in colonial policies and structures that have disrupted traditional roles and distanced Indigenous men from their families and communities––whether through disempowering traditional forms of governance, residential schools, incarceration, or other means of dislocation.

This collection of diverse academic and community voices from Canada, New Zealand, and the United States tackles a wide range of issues facing Indigenous men to arrive at multiple meanings of Indigenous masculinity. Taken together, these essays challenge the imposed stereotypical notions of Indigenous masculinity that, once internalized, act to subjugate Indigenous women, children, and Elders, and further reinforce the colonial structures that oppress Indigenous people. The essays illustrate the ways that some Indigenous men are caught up in this cycle of dysfunction, violence, and living up to or even defending false stereotypes, but also how others are building on cultural foundations that point toward the decolonization and healthy expression of Indigenous masculine identities.

Robert Alexander Innes is a Plains Cree member of Cowessess First Nation and is Assistant Professor in the department of Native Studies at the University of Saskatchewan.

Kim Anderson is a Cree/Metis educator and is Associate Professor in Indigenous Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University.