The Gatherings: New book reimagines Indigenous-settler relations [video]

The lead author of a new book, titled The Gatherings: Reimagining Indigenous-Settler Relation, hopes it will serve as a model for relations between groups with histories of conflict.

The launch took place at the University of New Brunswick on Thursday evening.

“It was my honour and privilege to be among the students and staff of UNB last night, and to have the opportunity to once again sit in a Circle with my co-authors of The Gatherings,” said Shirley N. Hager, in an email to the NB Media Co-op.

The book is a product of gatherings on Wabanaki territory held from 1987 to 1993, coordinated by Hager. The gatherings were a series of weekend-long meetings between Indigenous and non-Native individuals throughout the Gulf of Maine bioregion.

The book is co-authored by fourteen writers, and the group’s name is Mawopiyane, which in Passamaquoddy means “let us sit together.”

“One of the hopes that we had for the book is that not only would it be a model for Indigenous-settler relations, but that the principles in the book could be used by any group that has a difficult history, any group that is at odds or in conflict, and we have plenty of those, you know, around the world,” Hager said at Thursday’s event.

A total of 40 students from the Mi’kmaq-Wolastoqey Centre’s Wabanaki Bachelor of Education program were in attendance. Many of these students participated in the circle by reading passages written by authors who could not be present. All authors were introduced by Natasha Simon, the director of the Mi’kmaq-Wolastoqey Centre.

The book will now be available through the Mi’kmaq-Wolastoqey Centre. The remaining copies will be on sale at the University of New Brunswick campus bookstore. The book is being sold for $26.20, including tax.

The book was released in April 2021 by the University of Toronto Press, and you can read an excerpt here.

Arun Budhathoki is a journalist with the NB Media Co-op. This project has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada, administered by the Canadian Association of Community Television Stations and Users (CACTUS).