Dionne Brand and Alanis Obomsawin: polyphony in the poetics of resistance

  Activist artists Dionne Brand and Alanis Obomsawin have much in common in their poetics of resistance. Brand's writings and documentaries explore issues of displacement, race, gender, and colonialism, revealing a constant determination in giving voice to what was silenced or marginalized by...

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Main Author: Maria Lúcia Milléo Martins
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina 2009-01-01
Series:Ilha do Desterro
Online Access:https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/desterro/article/view/16390
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author Maria Lúcia Milléo Martins
author_facet Maria Lúcia Milléo Martins
author_sort Maria Lúcia Milléo Martins
collection DOAJ
description   Activist artists Dionne Brand and Alanis Obomsawin have much in common in their poetics of resistance. Brand's writings and documentaries explore issues of displacement, race, gender, and colonialism, revealing a constant determination in giving voice to what was silenced or marginalized by the dominant culture. Similarly, Obomsawin's documentaries show a long commitment to the history of aboriginal people, reclaiming their sovereignty of voice. Making use of polyphony, these two artists contest hegemonic discourses and a nationalist aesthetic that either ignores or appropriates difference. This study discusses the implications of polyphony in Brand's poetry and two documentaries, Sisters in the Struggle and Long Time Comin', and in Obomsawin's documentaries, Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance and Rocks at Whiskey Trench. All evidences demonstrate fine specimens of applied poetics, faithful to their ethics of resistance.
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spelling doaj-art-c131db8d27894469a348a222d18fef4a2025-08-20T02:42:57ZengUniversidade Federal de Santa CatarinaIlha do Desterro0101-48462175-80262009-01-015610.5007/2175-8026.2009n56p15113156Dionne Brand and Alanis Obomsawin: polyphony in the poetics of resistanceMaria Lúcia Milléo Martins0UFSC   Activist artists Dionne Brand and Alanis Obomsawin have much in common in their poetics of resistance. Brand's writings and documentaries explore issues of displacement, race, gender, and colonialism, revealing a constant determination in giving voice to what was silenced or marginalized by the dominant culture. Similarly, Obomsawin's documentaries show a long commitment to the history of aboriginal people, reclaiming their sovereignty of voice. Making use of polyphony, these two artists contest hegemonic discourses and a nationalist aesthetic that either ignores or appropriates difference. This study discusses the implications of polyphony in Brand's poetry and two documentaries, Sisters in the Struggle and Long Time Comin', and in Obomsawin's documentaries, Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance and Rocks at Whiskey Trench. All evidences demonstrate fine specimens of applied poetics, faithful to their ethics of resistance. https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/desterro/article/view/16390
spellingShingle Maria Lúcia Milléo Martins
Dionne Brand and Alanis Obomsawin: polyphony in the poetics of resistance
Ilha do Desterro
title Dionne Brand and Alanis Obomsawin: polyphony in the poetics of resistance
title_full Dionne Brand and Alanis Obomsawin: polyphony in the poetics of resistance
title_fullStr Dionne Brand and Alanis Obomsawin: polyphony in the poetics of resistance
title_full_unstemmed Dionne Brand and Alanis Obomsawin: polyphony in the poetics of resistance
title_short Dionne Brand and Alanis Obomsawin: polyphony in the poetics of resistance
title_sort dionne brand and alanis obomsawin polyphony in the poetics of resistance
url https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/desterro/article/view/16390
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