A continuation of the previous discussion of decolonial praxis, this panel refocuses on personal practices and personas that are intimately involved in the dismantling of surrounding colonial regimes. alea adigweme will introduce short excerpts of her creative work that re-situates and challenges Christian/colonial regimes through queer black-femme contemplation. Kelly Panchyshyn will discuss the practice of wild plant harvesting in her hometown of Whitehorse, Yukon, with a focus on how harvesters foster an association between their herbalist practices and the persona of the witch that encourages and honours a connection to the land and the histories of Indigenous and racialized peoples. Emma Croll-Baehre and Gina Snooks will engage in a creative-scholarly dialogue about the implications of land-based spiritual and creative practices on unceded Indigenous lands.
Speakers:
alea adigweme "UNTITLED [CANONICAL HOURS]"
alea adigweme is an anti-disciplinary Igbo-Vincentian-U.S.-ian cultural worker active in the mediums of creative writing, book arts, performance, installation, video, and other visual media. Her first experimental short film, [untitled], screened in competition at the 2020 New Orleans Film Festival. More information about her work can be found at www.alea.me.
Kelly Panchyshyn, "When Bushcraft Become Witchcraft: Exploring 'Witchy' Resistance to Patriarchal and Colonial Land Relations in Northern Canada"
Kelly lives and researches in the Traditional Territories of Kwanlin Dün First Nation and Ta’an Kwäch’än Council and ancestral lands of Tagish Kwáan, in Whitehorse, Yukon. As part of a Master’s in Community Engagement, Social Change and Equity at UBC’s Okanagan Campus, Kelly draws on feminist and decolonizing frameworks to examine and disrupt the power dynamics land and food planning.
Emma Croll-Baehre and Gina Snooks, "Negotiating (Newfound)Land-Based Creative and Spiritual Practices on Unceded Territory."
Emma Croll-Baehre is a Ph.D. candidate through the department of English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University. While Emma's central research pertains to twin cultural production in the digital age, the ‘witch’ has nonetheless figured into their creative and academic work as an effect of their upbringing in Newfoundland, where the ‘witch’ continues to hold important cultural significance.
Gina Snooks is a Pagan and a witch. She is a PhD Candidate in Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies at Western University. Her doctoral research examines Pagan women and Pagan gender variant peoples' experiences of trauma and healing. Gina is a settler whose relationship with the island of Newfoundland is shaped by the complicated histories of her ancestors.
