Coulthard, Simpson & Walcott - final - June 22 18


Correspondence Address: Glen Coulthard, Department of Political Science, University of British 
Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Toronto, ON, L2S 3A1; Email: V6T 1Z1 

ISSN: 1911-4788 

Volume 12, Issue 1, 90-91, 2018 

Video Presentation 

Situating Indigenous and Black Resistance in 
the Global Movement Assemblage 

GLEN COULTHARD 
Yellowknives Dene 
University of British Columbia, Canada 

LEANNE BETASAMOSAKE SIMPSON 
Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg scholar 

RINALDO WALCOTT 
University of Toronto, Canada 

“Situating Indigenous and Black Resistance in the Global Movement 
Assemblage” includes Glen Coulthard’s keynote address at the Global 
Movement Assemblages symposium along with a panel exchange with 
Renaldo Walcott and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson. Coulthard presents the 
idea of a global assemblage of anti-imperialist radicalism, connecting 
Indigenous resistance and resurgence to the radical Black tradition. He 
recounts the 20th century history of political alliance-building between Dene 
leaders and Africian anti-colonial movements, informed by “grounded 
normativity”: ethics based on a relational ontology of deep reciprocity 
between people and place, and including non-human life forms. This is 
followed by presentations by Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg scholar Leanne 
Betasamosake Simpson and Black Studies scholar Rinaldo Walcott speaking 
about Idle No More and Black Lives Matter respectively, with Yellowknives 
Dene scholar Glen Coulthard responding to them both. Simpson and Walcott 
each situate these movements within longer histories of struggle for freedom 
and being, and address translocal connectivities, but notably without using 
the language of assemblage. Each for their own reasons rejects assemblage 
thinking in favour of forms of critical thought arising from histories of 
resistance with which they are identified: the radical Black tradition for 
Walcott and Nissnaabeg intelligence and Indigenous resurgence more 



Situating Indigenous & Black Resistance 

 
Studies in Social Justice, Volume 12, Issue 1, 90-91, 2018 

91 

generally for Simpson. Simpson offers a compelling alternative to 
assemblage in the image of “constellations of co-resistance.”  

 
 

The video may be downloaded from: 
 
http://hdl.handle.net/10464/13529 
 
or viewed on YouTube at: 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfuBOA_Yqzg