journal article
Open Access
Aug 23, 2024
State Complicity: Settler Colonialism, Multisided Violence, and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Canada
Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society
Vol. 32
No. 3
pp. 560-583
·
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Abstract
Abstract
This article theorizes and analyzes the Canadian state’s complicity in the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG) in terms of the acts of omission (inaction) and commission (action) of the police and courts. Building on the intersectional perspective of Indigenous and antiracist feminist scholarship on MMIWG, I argue that these acts of omission and commission are rooted in a context of “multisided violence” that is colonial in nature: state action and inaction reproduce and normalize the conditions in which Indigenous women and girls can be murdered with impunity. I analyze reports by Indigenous and feminist civil society organizations as part of their transnational advocacy to compel the Canadian state to address MMIWG. I show that state acts of omission and commission are intertwined and reinforce each other through a pattern of inconsistent, deficient, and contradictory institutional responses to violence against Indigenous women and girls.
This article theorizes and analyzes the Canadian state’s complicity in the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG) in terms of the acts of omission (inaction) and commission (action) of the police and courts. Building on the intersectional perspective of Indigenous and antiracist feminist scholarship on MMIWG, I argue that these acts of omission and commission are rooted in a context of “multisided violence” that is colonial in nature: state action and inaction reproduce and normalize the conditions in which Indigenous women and girls can be murdered with impunity. I analyze reports by Indigenous and feminist civil society organizations as part of their transnational advocacy to compel the Canadian state to address MMIWG. I show that state acts of omission and commission are intertwined and reinforce each other through a pattern of inconsistent, deficient, and contradictory institutional responses to violence against Indigenous women and girls.
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Showing 50 of 71 references
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References
Details
- Published
- Aug 23, 2024
- Vol/Issue
- 32(3)
- Pages
- 560-583
- License
- View
Funding
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Award: 430-2019-00098
Cite This Article
Paulina García-Del Moral (2024). State Complicity: Settler Colonialism, Multisided Violence, and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Canada. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, 32(3), 560-583. https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxae013
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