Decolonizing Indigenous Social Mobility: Uniting Identity and Wealth, talk given by Assistant Professor Rochelle Côté
Location: Leacock Bldg., Room 738;Â 855 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Quebec
Department of Sociology Presents a talk by
Assistant Professor Rochelle Côté, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s
Abstract: To understand the processes of social mobility for Indigenous People, this talk argues that we need to interrogate how the literature and related discourses surrounding the emergent Indigenous middle class entraps issues of cultural identity as being ‘at stake’. Social status movement in first world countries by Indigenous people can be seen in the growth of successful professional and entrepreneurial classes where both wealth creation and social power are significant resources. Data from Australia, Canada and the United States on a variety of social mobility indicators show an increase over the past two decades as Indigenous people become increasingly upwardly mobile. But the public and academic discourses continue to perpetuate the belief that social mobility impacts somewhat negatively on Indigenous people by placing cultural identity in conflict with colonial capitalism. Indigenous entrepreneurs are used as a case study example in this article to reveal how the duality between ‘profit’ and ‘purpose’ creates an impossible tension when Indigenous cultural identity is framed as ‘at risk’ for individuals who are working towards being socially mobile. A discursive colonial mindset is thus a central and enduring problematic organising principle of the field of Indigenous entrepreneurship, and other fields such as the media, policy and entertainment requiring future research to discharge.
