Jeff Aitken lays it out
My friend Jeff Aitken has been a strangely influential person in my life. He has been an interesting guide across intercultural spaces, helping me to frame and see my own journey as a person of mixed ancestry facilitating cross-cultural groups and helping to find the creative spark in the space that are created when we all claim our centres and show up whole. Jeff and I met in 2001 and have had a few conversations over the years, but I’ve always felt very close to him.
Now at his blog rio grand-i-o, he is posting his doctoral thesis which documents his journey to his complex and liquid centre, as a man of mixed ancesrty cultivating an indigenous relationship with the land upon which he lives. Worth a read, worth subscribing to and worth following if you are interested in how white people can participate in the decolonization process on this continent.
“Ah the wannabes are harmless.” – anonymous Indigenous woman
Whoa there pal…I’ll take issue with that tag, BIG TIME. The last thing Jeff is, is a wannabe. Instead he has been reflecting on his relationship to the indigenous nations of North America and using that to understand his own background and ancestry with relation to the colonial nightmare that has been perpetrated here.
Don’t jump too quick. I’m trying to bring a little bit of interesting chaos to this conversation. You don’t want to engage, fine. But careful who you slag.
chris, this all moves me so. i’m so glad to read that you feel the same way about our connection tho we don’t really hang much.
i totally empathize with skeptical comments about this work i found my way into. which makes me all the more glad about our alliance and the vision of the possibilities.
to be continued!
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