Leanne Betasamosake Simpson is a Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg scholar, writer, artist and activist whose resurgence theory fundamentally transformed Critical Indigenous Studies. Her articulation of Indigenous nation-building through land-based practices, her creative methodology combining scholarship with storytelling and music, and her theorisation of radical resurgence as alternative to settler recognition politics prove essential for contemporary decolonisation.
Resurgence theory
Simpson’s most influential contribution articulates resurgence as Indigenous peoples regenerating nations and cultures through land-based practices outside settler frameworks. Her book As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom Through Radical Resurgence (2017) centres grounded normativity and everyday acts of resistance as pathways to decolonisation.
Resurgence differs from resistance alone. Where resistance opposes settler power, resurgence centres Indigenous practices and relationships. It involves recovering languages, ceremonial practices and governance systems. Resurgence asserts Indigenous presence rather than merely refusing settler dominance.
Simpson demonstrates how resurgence operates through embodied practices rather than abstract theory or political recognition. Learning to harvest, participating in ceremonies, speaking languages and caring for territories transmit normative orders intergenerationally. Knowledge lives in practice.
This challenges state-centred reconciliation narratives. Canadian reconciliation discourse offers apologies whilst maintaining colonial structures. Simpson argues Indigenous peoples should focus energy on rebuilding nations according to Indigenous values rather than seeking settler approval.
Grounded normativity
Simpson developed grounded normativity concept alongside Glen Coulthard. Her formulation emphasises how Nishnaabeg ethical frameworks and political orders emerge from reciprocal relationships with land. These relationships generate normative systems grounded in particular places rather than abstract universal principles.
Land relationships constitute politics rather than merely providing setting. Nishnaabeg laws emerged from sustained engagement with specific territories, plants, animals and waters. Dislocation from land profoundly affects sovereignty practice but does not eliminate it.
Simpson’s articulation connects grounded normativity to gender-egalitarian and gender-diverse Nishnaabeg practices. Many Indigenous traditions featured women’s political authority. Recovering Indigenous political systems means recovering women’s leadership as integral feature rather than later addition.
The concept offers alternative to both liberal multiculturalism and socialist universalism. It asserts Indigenous political orders operating outside these frameworks. Grounded normativity provides foundation for resurgence practice.
Land-based pedagogy
Simpson articulates land-based pedagogy as Indigenous educational approach fundamentally different from Western schooling. Her work Dancing on Our Turtle’s Back (2011) examines how Nishnaabeg knowledge transmission occurs through direct engagement with land and relationships.
Traditional Nishnaabeg education involved experiential learning through harvesting, ceremony and storytelling. Elders guided learning without coercion. Students learned through observation, practice and relationships with more-than-human beings. This contrasts sharply with Western classroom-based instruction.
Simpson demonstrates how residential schools violently disrupted land-based pedagogy. Removing children from families and territories severed knowledge transmission. Schools imposed Western epistemologies whilst punishing Indigenous languages and practices.
Contemporary land-based education programmes constitute resurgence practice. When Indigenous communities bring youth onto land to learn languages, harvesting and ceremonies, they regenerate nations, proving more transformative than including Indigenous content in Western curricula.
Indigenous feminism
Simpson’s work exemplifies Indigenous feminism centring land relationships alongside gender justice. She demonstrates how colonial violence targeted Indigenous women specifically through sexual assault, child removal and disruption of women’s political authority.
Many Nishnaabeg traditions featured women’s leadership and gender diversity. Colonisation imposed heteropatriarchy through missionary activity, Indian Act legislation and economic transformation. This served multiple colonial objectives simultaneously.
Simpson argues that resurgence requires restoring women’s and gender-diverse peoples’ authority. Appeals to tradition that exclude women reproduce colonial impositions rather than recovering Indigenous systems. Decolonisation and gender justice prove inseparable.
Her analysis connects violence against land to violence against Indigenous women. These constitute linked colonial projects targeting reproduction of Indigenous nations. Protecting territories and protecting Indigenous women and children form single struggle.
Creative methodology
Simpson’s work distinctively combines academic scholarship with creative writing and music. She publishes poetry collections, fiction and albums alongside theoretical texts. This demonstrates Indigenous knowledge production occurring through multiple forms rather than academic monographs alone.
Her poetry collection A Short History of the Blockade (2021) theorises Indigenous resistance through verse. The creative form enables emotional and political expression that academic prose constrains. Simpson refuses division between intellectual and artistic work.
She performs music incorporating Nishnaabeg language and stories. This constitutes knowledge transmission and cultural resurgence. Performance reaches audiences beyond academic circles whilst maintaining theoretical depth.
Simpson’s creative methodology reflects Indigenous epistemologies valuing storytelling, oral tradition and embodied knowledge. Theory emerges from stories rather than stories merely illustrating pre-existing theory. This challenges Western academic demands separating analysis from narrative.
Nishnaabeg intelligence
Simpson articulates Nishnaabeg intelligence as sophisticated knowledge system providing alternatives to Western thought. This includes ecological knowledge, governance practices, ceremonial protocols and ethical frameworks developed across generations of engagement with territories.
She demonstrates how Nishnaabeg knowledge proves future-oriented rather than merely traditional. Indigenous peoples continuously adapted knowledge to changing circumstances whilst maintaining core values. This challenges colonial narratives positioning Indigenous cultures as static.
Nishnaabeg intelligence operates through principles like consent, reciprocity and collective decision-making. These differ fundamentally from Western individualism and hierarchical authority. Understanding these principles proves essential for resurgence.
Simpson’s emphasis on Nishnaabeg specificity whilst contributing to broader Indigenous Studies demonstrates commitment to particular Indigenous nations. Theory emerges from rather than being imposed on specific peoples’ knowledge systems and struggles.
Refusal and consent
Simpson articulates consent as crucial Nishnaabeg political principle. This extends beyond liberal frameworks to encompass relationships with land and more-than-human beings. Consent requires ongoing negotiation and respect for autonomy rather than single agreement.
She demonstrates how settler colonialism violates Indigenous consent through land theft, resource extraction and imposed governance. Canadian state claims jurisdiction without Nishnaabeg permission. This exposes colonial violence underlying settler sovereignty.
Simpson connects Audra Simpson’s concept of refusal to resurgence theory. When Indigenous peoples refuse settler state jurisdiction, this exposes violence and asserts alternatives. Refusal operates from Indigenous legal orders as primary authorities.
Consent proves particularly important for gender justice. Simpson analyses how sexual violence against Indigenous women violates bodily autonomy whilst targeting nations’ future. Asserting consent requires addressing violence alongside rebuilding respectful relationships.
Radical resurgence
Simpson distinguishes radical resurgence from liberal inclusion or reformist recognition. Radical resurgence fundamentally challenges settler colonialism rather than seeking accommodation within it. This proves necessarily confrontational.
She argues that Indigenous peoples should not limit themselves to tactics acceptable within settler frameworks. Blockades, occupations and direct action assert Indigenous jurisdiction. These prove more effective than polite requests for recognition.
Radical resurgence requires willingness to make settlers uncomfortable. Decolonisation cannot occur without disrupting settler possession. Simpson refuses apologising for asserting Indigenous sovereignty on Indigenous lands.
This connects to broader radical traditions whilst maintaining Indigenous specificity. Simpson engages anarchist and anti-capitalist theory whilst insisting on Indigenous sovereignty as foundation. Solidarity requires supporting rather than appropriating Indigenous struggles.
Climate crisis and Indigenous knowledge
Simpson addresses climate crisis through Indigenous knowledge and resurgence. She argues that capitalist extraction causing climate change constitutes intensification of colonialism. Climate justice requires decolonisation.
Nishnaabeg knowledge systems offer alternatives to extractive relationships with land. Reciprocity, consent and long-term thinking provide frameworks for addressing climate crisis. These prove more sophisticated than technocratic solutions maintaining capitalism.
Simpson challenges how settler environmentalism sometimes reproduces colonialism. Green energy projects displacing Indigenous peoples or conservation excluding Indigenous land use continue colonial patterns. Climate response must centre Indigenous sovereignty.
She demonstrates how land-based resurgence simultaneously addresses cultural continuity and environmental sustainability. When Indigenous peoples practice traditional harvesting and land care, they maintain knowledge and regenerate ecosystems.
Blockades and land defence
Simpson’s work theorises Indigenous blockades and land defence as enacting sovereignty. When Indigenous peoples physically occupy territories to prevent extraction or development, they assert jurisdiction through Indigenous law.
Her poetry collection A Short History of the Blockade documents these struggles whilst theorising resistance. Blockades prove educational sites where Indigenous youth learn governance and relationship to land. They constitute resurgence practice.
Simpson participated directly in land defence movements including Idle No More. This demonstrates scholar-activism bridging theory and practice. Her work emerges from rather than merely analysing Indigenous movements.
She argues blockades expose state violence underlying settler sovereignty. When police remove land defenders, this reveals that settler authority rests on force rather than consent. Indigenous peoples never agreed to dispossession.
Relationship to institutions
Simpson operates primarily as independent scholar and artist outside universities. This proves strategic for maintaining autonomy and practising radical resurgence. University employment creates pressures toward accommodation.
Her independence enables creative work combining scholarship, poetry, music and activism without disciplinary constraints. She reaches diverse audiences through multiple platforms. This models alternatives to academic careers.
However, Simpson maintains connections to Indigenous Studies through visiting positions, collaborations and mentorship. She supports emerging Indigenous scholars whilst critiquing institutions. This demonstrates navigation of cultural interface.
Her work influences university-based Indigenous Studies significantly despite her independence. Scholars cite her resurgence theory extensively. This demonstrates that Indigenous knowledge production proves legitimate regardless of institutional location.
Contemporary relevance
Simpson’s resurgence theory remains urgently relevant as Indigenous peoples worldwide continue asserting sovereignty through land defence and cultural regeneration. Her frameworks provide language for movements refusing settler recognition in favour of Indigenous self-determination.
Climate crisis creates new urgencies for Indigenous knowledge and land-based practices. Simpson’s analysis illuminates why Indigenous sovereignty proves essential for environmental justice. Extraction continues colonialism whilst Indigenous practices offer alternatives.
Her creative methodology influences emerging Indigenous scholars combining academic work with art, poetry and music. This demonstrates Indigenous knowledge production’s diversity beyond conventional academic forms.
Critiques and limitations
Some scholars question whether resurgence adequately addresses urban Indigenous peoples or those displaced from territories. Simpson’s emphasis on land-based practices assumes access to territories. Extending frameworks to urban contexts requires development.
Others note that complete separation from settler institutions proves impossible given how thoroughly capitalism penetrates Indigenous communities. Many Indigenous people depend on wage labour. Resurgence must address these material realities.
Questions arise about gender and tradition. While Simpson critiques heteropatriarchy, debates continue about which traditional practices to recover. Some historical practices might conflict with contemporary gender justice commitments.
Her independence from universities enables autonomy but limits institutional transformation. Some argue Indigenous scholars must work within institutions to change them. However, Simpson demonstrates outside positions prove equally valuable.
Legacy
Leanne Betasamosake Simpson’s contributions fundamentally transformed how scholars understand Indigenous resurgence and decolonisation. Her articulation of resurgence as regenerating nations through land-based practices offers alternatives to recognition-seeking and reconciliation discourse.
Her creative methodology combining scholarship with poetry and music demonstrates Indigenous knowledge production’s diversity. This challenges academic constraints whilst reaching broader audiences. Simpson models scholar-artist-activist integration.
Grounded normativity concept co-developed with Glen Coulthard provides essential framework for articulating Indigenous alternatives to state-centred politics. Her land-based pedagogy articulates educational approaches fundamentally different from Western schooling.
Perhaps most importantly, Simpson provided theoretical frameworks supporting Indigenous movements asserting sovereignty through direct action and cultural resurgence. Her work demonstrates that decolonisation requires Indigenous peoples focusing energy on rebuilding nations according to Indigenous values rather than seeking settler approval. This proves essential for Indigenous political projects operating outside settler terms.