Belonging in Unceded Territory

Belonging in Unceded Territory

Presented by the Centre for the Study of Political Behaviour

Talk by Antje Ellermann
Professor of Political Science (Comparative Politics)
Founding Director of the Centre for Migration Studies
University of British Columbia

DATE: Thursday, March 30, 2023
TIME: 2:00 -3:30 pm
LOCATION: SSC 6210

How do immigrant newcomers, non-Indigenous Canadians, and Indigenous individuals from other territories negotiate their sense of belonging in Coast Salish lands colonially known as Vancouver, British Columbia? Drawing on over 30 in-depth interviews conducted in 2021 with community leaders and activists, this talk examines the varied ways in which non-Indigenous community leaders seek to negotiate the fraught politics of settler belonging and explore possibilities for decolonizing place-based relationships. The talk further draws on talking circle conversations among Indigenous community activists to explore Indigenous understandings of belonging and decolonization. By examining the ways in which settler and Indigenous individuals negotiate their personal and organizational presence on Coast Salish lands, this research brings insights from settler colonial studies and Indigenous Studies into the study of migration and citizenship.

Antje Ellermann Is a Professor of Political Science (Comparative Politics) and Founding Director of the Centre for Migration Studies at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Her research focuses on the politics of migration and citizenship in liberal democracies. She is particularly Interested In the nexus between International migration and the politics of policy making and Implementation, especially In contexts of anti-immigration populism; coercive state power and resistance; legal precarity; and questions of Immigration and settler Identity in settler colonial states.