Beyond guilt, shame, and blame to compassion, respect and empowerment : young aboriginal mothers and the first nations and inuit fetal alcohol syndrome/fetal alcohol effects initiative ...

• Main Author: Salmon, Amy
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2009
• Subjects: First Nations; inuit
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0055618; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0055618

Over the past decade, the "problem" of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Effects among Aboriginal peoples has received increasing attention from the Canadian nation-state. However, few feminist, anti-racist, anti-ableist, and anti-colonial scholars have offered a critique of FAS/E "prevention" policies aimed at Aboriginal women. In this dissertation, I present my analysis of the "official knowledge" and "public pedagogies" articulated in one such policy, The First Nations and Inuit Fetal Alcohol Syndrome/ Fetal Alcohol Effects Initiative (herein "the Initiative"). This analysis unravels the complex and contradictory tensions in contemporary state policy formation. My findings show how the Initiative paradoxically supports the development of inclusive, grassroots approaches to FAS/E prevention in Aboriginal communities while at the same time eclipsing the voices and concerns of Aboriginal women. Though neglected in the official policy texts and talk of the Initiative, young Aboriginal mothers' agency ...