Prairie Rising: Indigenous Youth, Decolonization, and the Politics of Intervention

Jaskiran Dhillon, Prairie Rising: Indigenous Youth, Decolonization, and the Politics of Intervention. Toronto: UTP, 2017.326 pages. ISBN 9781442614710. $34.95 paperback.

Prairie Rising is an ethnographic investigation of Indigenous-state relations in the city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Through interviews and participatory observation, Jaskiran Dhillon invites readers to think critically about the ways in which state actors intervene in the lives of Indigenous youth. Following the everyday interactions of Indigenous youth with social workers, educators and personnel in the justice system, Dhillon observes how the state perpetuates settler colonialism through the promotion of alliances between Indigenous and state actors. She argues that the contemporary push for inclusionary governance through the neoliberal discourse of participation ultimately fails to unsettle the larger structure of dominance that governs Indigenous-state relations.

In the preface to the book, Dhillon presents Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's bold promise for a renewed relationship between Indigenous peoples and Canada as the "most recent extension of liberal tactics to recalibrate Indigenous-settler state relations" (x). This book is not about contemporary politics nor do decision-makers like Trudeau appear in the...