Decolonizing Motherhood in Indigenous Cinema from Quebec

Sponsored by the Midwest Canadian Studies Network

Friday, March 14, 12- 1 PM (EST) via Zoom 

Cinematic representations of Indigenous mothers have long relied on colonial stereotypes depicting them as troubled young women, unwilling or unable to care properly for their children. Absent and “bad” mothers are omnipresent in Indigenous films as well, and while some of these representations may at first seem complicit with settler stereotypes, they often ultimately reaffirm the crucial role of motherhood in resisting cultural genocide and open onto a broader, empowering understanding of mothering and care in Indigenous communities. I discuss two films that ostensibly portray motherhood in very different ways: Jeff Barnaby’s Rhymes for Young Ghouls (2013) and Hélène Cousineau and Madeline Ivalu's Restless River (2019). I argue that both are ultimately coming-of-age narratives that challenge the trope of the "colonized mother" reduced to vulnerability and abjection, by emphasizing agency, resilience, and intergenerational connection. Without objectifying their protagonists as perfect heroes, these sovereign representations militantly depict decolonial mothers mothering under extreme circumstances.

Ioana Pribiag teaches French and Francophone studies at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. She is particularly interested in thought on the relationships between politics and aesthetics, and the developing dialogue between French and postcolonial theory. She has published work on Caribbean, Québécois and Indigenous authors and filmmakers. Her book project, Shards: Fragmentation in Francophone Postcolonial Literature, examines the specificities of thematic and formal fragmentation in postcolonial contexts.

Join the Canadian Studies Center and the Department of Romance and Classical Studies for a screening of the Quebec films Louis Riel ou le ciel touche la terre (dir. Meyer, 2024, 83 minutes) and Les maines sales (dir. Bellefleur-Kaltush & Marcotte, 2023, 17 minutes). 

Both films will be shown in French with English subtitles. 

With support from the province of Quebec.