Yellowhead Fire
Yellowhead Fire brings together established and emerging scholars, activists, and artists to discuss pressing concerns and issues, exchange ideas, and offer critical Indigenous perspectives on settler colonialism and the reclamation of Indigenous land and “the good life”. Yellowhead Fire events take different forms to respond to community needs and interests, from public education events, to community building opportunities and land-based initiatives.
Upcoming Yellowhead Fires
NOVEMBER 21, 2024
Making Space for Indigenous Feminism | Book Launch
Join us on November 21, 2024 from 5:30 – 8pm to celebrate the most recent edition of the iconic collection, Making Space for Indigenous Feminism! Yellowhead School will host editor Gina Starblanket and book contributors Megan Scribe and Eva Jewell for a conversation reflecting on Indigenous feminism’s intergenerational longevity and ongoing relevance in contemporary contexts and debates. This Yellowhead Fire will also feature Indigenous Feminism trivia! Join us to test your knowledge against the book’s contributors.
About the Book: This book bridges generations of powerful Indigenous feminist thinking to demonstrate the movement’s cruciality for today. Indigenous feminists in the first edition fought for feminism to be considered a valid and essential intellectual and activist position. The second edition animated Indigenous feminisms through real-world applications. This third edition reflects and celebrates Indigenous feminism’s intergenerational longevity through the changing landscape of anti-colonial struggle and theory. Diverse contributors examine Indigenous feminism’s ongoing relevance to contemporary contexts and debates, including queer and Two-Spirit approaches to decolonization, gendered and sexualized violence, storytelling and narrative, land-based presence, Black and Indigenous relationalities and more.
*This event will be held in person at 1 Roof Garden Lane in Toronto, ON. It will not be offered online.
Gina Starblanket
Cree/Saulteaux, Star Blanket Cree Nation, Treaty 4 territory
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Dr. Gina Starblanket is an associate professor in the School of Indigenous Governance at the University of Victoria. She is Cree/Saulteaux and a member of the Star Blanket Cree Nation in Treaty 4. Dr. Starblanket studies Indigenous–settler political relations with a specific focus on Indigenous politics in the prairies, the politics of treaty implementation and Indigenous movements towards social and political transformation. She is the author of important sole and co-authored interventions theorizing relational responsibilities to the land, including Storying Violence: Unravelling Colonial Narratives in the Stanley Trial and the fifth edition of Visions of the Heart: Issues Involving Indigenous Peoples in Canada. She is also a Yellowhead Institute Fellow.
Megan Scribe
Ininiw iskwew, Norway House Cree Nation
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Megan Scribe (Ininiw iskwew, Norway House Cree Nation) is an interdisciplinary Indigenous feminist researcher, writer, and educator. Scribe is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Toronto Metropolitan University and Education Director at Yellowhead Institute. Her research establishes connections between violence in the lives of Indigenous girls and settler colonialism. She is a longtime Community Council Member for Aboriginal Legal Services’ Diversion Program and a member of the Planning Committee for the annual Strawberry Ceremony.
Eva Jewell
Deshkan Ziibiing Anishinaabekwe
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Eva Jewell is Deshkan Ziibiing Anishinaabekwe (Chippewas of the Thames First Nation) with paternal lineage from Oneida Nation of the Thames. Her scholarship supports community-led inquiry on topics of reclaiming Anishinaabe governance, with interest on the role of women/femmes. Dr. Jewell’s recent research areas include urban Indigenous perspectives on gender, work, and care; and accountability in reconciliation. She is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Toronto Metropolitan University and Research Director at Yellowhead Institute.
Past Yellowhead Fires
SEPTEMBER 30th 2024
Truth & Land Back
This event will launch Yellowhead Online (YO) with the release of our first course based on the Yellowhead Red Paper, Land Back. This fire will include a panel discussion with course collaborators and Yellowhead Fellows, Shady Hafez & Riley Yesno, moderated by Hayden King. We will also be screening of Yellowhead’s first short film, Return to Gale Creek, which is featured in the Reclamation module of the Land Back curriculum. Hosted by Megan Scribe, this fire will engage the tensions in the Land Back movement against the backdrop of Truth & Reconciliation.
Shady Hafez
Algonquin & Syrian, Kitigan Zibi
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Shady Hafez is Algonquin Anishinabe from Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg and Syrian. He is a passionate advocate for the liberation of Indigenous nations through the revitalization of Indigenous ways of knowing and being. Shady is currently a PhD student in Sociology at the University of Toronto, a Yellowhead Institute Research Fellow and is also the Projects Manager to the National Association of Friendship Centres.
Riley Yesno
Anishinaabe, Eabametoong First Nation
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Riley Yesno (she/her) is a queer Anishinaabe scholar, writer, and public intellectual from Eabametoong First Nation. She is highly sought after for her words and analysis— called an ‘Indigenous powerhouse’ by the Toronto Star— she has been a contributor and commentator for some of the largest media outlets in Canada and the world, including the New York Times, BBC World News, The Globe and Mail, and CBC National News. Riley has also travelled the globe speaking at internationally renowned institutions and events, including the UN climate negotiations, the Stockholm Forum on Gender Equality, TEDx stages, and many others. Her major project right now is teaching at TMU while finishing her Ph.D. at the University of Toronto. She studies Indigenous/Canadian politics and is a Vanier Scholar.
Hayden King
Anishinaabe, Beausoleil First Nation
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Hayden is Anishinaabe from Beausoleil First Nation on Gchi’mnissing. Hayden is the executive director of Yellowhead Institute at Toronto Metropolitan University and has taught at McMaster and Carleton Universities as well as the First Nations Technical Institute, held senior fellowships at Massey College and the Conference Board of Canada, and served in advisory roles to provincial and tribal governments and Inuit organizations. His writing, analysis and commentary on Indigenous politics and policy is published widely.
Megan Scribe
Ininiw iskwew, Norway House Cree Nation
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Megan Scribe (Ininiw iskwew, Norway House Cree Nation) is an interdisciplinary Indigenous feminist researcher, writer, and educator. Scribe is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Toronto Metropolitan University. Her research establishes connections between violence in the lives of Indigenous girls and settler colonialism. She is a longtime Community Council Member for Aboriginal Legal Services’ Diversion Program and a member of the Planning Committee for the annual Strawberry Ceremony.
Yellowhead Sparks
Yellowhead Sparks are small-scale events responsive to community interests, topical in nature, and often generated by the themes, topics, and issues explored in the Yellowhead Fire series.
PAST EVENT | Bad Cree X The Big Melt Book Launch
In March 2023, Yellowhead School teamed up with Another Story Bookshop to celebrate the highly-anticipated works of two Nehiyaw writers. Jessica Johns’ debut novel, Bad Cree (2023 Amazon Canada First Novel Finalist), and Emily Riddle’s debut poetry collection, The Big Melt (2023 Winner of Griffin Poetry Prize’s Canadian First Book Prize). This Yellowhead Spark event featured readings, moderated discussion, and a friendly round of bingo.
