Invisibility, Disappearance and Reclamation: A Sociological Investigation into the Location(s) of Aboriginal and African Women in Canada

Abstract

This thesis focuses on issues of the growing level of violence that continues to be leveled at two groups of women in Canada; Aboriginal women and African Canadian women. I propose that a combination of State racism, sexism, colonialism, poverty and societal indifference are responsible for the marginalization and oppression that both these groups of women are facing in Canada today. I will make use of three key tenets of sociological discourse that are built on the theoretical frameworks of anti-colonial, Indigenous and Black Feminism. These frameworks describe ways in which the interlocking systems of oppression maintain a Eurocentric, colonial hegemony that continues to perpetuate violence against Aboriginal and African Canadian women. This comparative approach opens an investigative lens into the ways that ideologies (including cultural representations in the media) demean both Aboriginal and African Canadian women.