Author Description

"Like previous iterations, the sixth edition of Visions of the Heart is both a reflection of the current social, economic and political terrain in Canada and a critical engagement by a diverse collection of established and emerging scholars with it. Moreover, its editors and contributors continue to foreground the importance of being personally and politically connected to the matters that we are theorizing and writing about, and that we are also committed to working towards changing. This collection follows the approach of the previous edition by bringing together representative voices from a growing assortment of Indigenous scholars, activists, artists, and non-Indigenous allies that are aware and unapologetically critical of the limitations in the predominant ways that 'Indigenous issues' have been addressed not only in mainstream literary and scholarly works, but also in popular writings and a wide variety of mass and social media contexts. The current edition of Visions of the Heart thus features new contributors, alongside the voices of those who agreed to revise and update their contributions from the previous edition. All contributors approach their work and utilize methodologies that flow from a commitment to Indigenous life and resurgence. While there were a number of common themes and shared perspectives running through the first editions of Visions of the Heart, the addition of a new co-editor in the 5th edition was a transitional point for the volume and brought a significant change in focus from reconciliation to questions of relationship and responsibility. Contributors to this edition have maintained this focus as they have engaged Indigenous peoples' constructions and understandings of the various relationships they inhabit (with the land, waterways, other living beings, and the spirit world), specific relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples (kinship, settler-colonial relations, various forms of co-existence, treaties, and allian