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Buffalo Is the New Buffalo

Buffalo Is the New Buffalo

Current price: $23.05
Publication Date: June 7th, 2022
Publisher:
Arsenal Pulp Press
ISBN:
9781551528793
Pages:
272
Usually Ships in 1 to 5 Days

Description

Powerful stories of "M tis futurism" that envision a world without violence, capitalism, and colonization.

"Education is the new buffalo" is a metaphor widely used among Indigenous peoples in Canada to signify the importance of education to their survival and ability to support themselves, as once Plains nations supported themselves as buffalo peoples. The assumption is that many of the pre-Contact ways of living are forever gone, so adaptation is necessary. But Chelsea Vowel asks, "Instead of accepting that the buffalo, and our ancestral ways, will never come back, what if we simply ensure that they do?"

Inspired by classic and contemporary speculative fiction, Buffalo Is the New Buffalo explores science fiction tropes through a M tis lens: a Two-Spirit rougarou (shapeshifter) in the nineteenth century tries to solve a murder in her community and joins the n hiyaw-pwat (Iron Confederacy) in order to successfully stop Canadian colonial expansion into the West. A M tis man is gored by a radioactive bison, gaining super strength, but losing the ability to be remembered by anyone not related to him by blood. Nanites babble to babies in Cree, virtual reality teaches transformation, foxes take human form and wreak havoc on hearts, buffalo roam free, and beings grapple with the thorny problem of healing from colonialism.

Indigenous futurisms seek to discover the impact of colonization, remove its psychological baggage, and recover ancestral traditions. These eight short stories of "M tis futurism" explore Indigenous existence and resistance through the specific lens of being M tis. Expansive and eye-opening, Buffalo Is the New Buffalo rewrites our shared history in provocative and exciting ways.

About the Author

Chelsea Vowel is Métis from manitow-sâkahikan (Lac Ste. Anne), Alberta, and currently residing in amiskwacîwâskihikan (Edmonton). Mother to six girls, she is a writer and educator, co-host of Indigenous feminist sci-fi podcast Métis in Space, co-founder of the Métis in Space Land Trust, and author of Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis & Inuit Issues in Canada.