Why Is Sex a “Thing”? Making Relations against a Colonial World Settler-colonial states like Canada and the US have forged their societies and governance systems with theories of what is natural, and have centered specific property regimes while doing so. Concepts of nature and property have been at the heart of violence toward first peoples of the Americas, peoples of African descent, women, children, the differently abled, and queer people. What is deemed to be natural and who gets to define and manage “nature” have kept straight, white, property-owning men on top. Nature and property are also key to settler-colonial society’s ideas and regulation of sex. In this talk, Dr. Kim TallBear explains how the very notion of “sexuality” (like “nature”) makes networks of relations into controllable objects. She draws on Critical Indigenous and sexuality studies frameworks to offer alternatives to making intimate relations into “things” to be managed and controlled. This
Action in eastern ukraine, and frankly, i think it is the right thing for president obama to be stepping up pressure against russia, to get them to keep their part of the minsk according that could bring resolution. we do have a very strained relationship, and i think that s appropriate. what is russia trying to do, trying to set the stage for making relations look really bad and maybe thawing them to curry favor with a trump administration? that s entirely possible. and while i understand the possible benefits of reviewing our relationship with russia, of negotiating for a reset, i don t think the trump administration should step back one inch from our insistence that we not allow putin to get away with the invasion and occupation of a neighboring country, that we not allow putin to get away with the massacres in aleppo, and the