In my own moccasins : a memoir of resilience
Record details
- ISBN: 088977644X
- ISBN: 9780889776449
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Physical Description:
xvi, 313 pages ; 18 cm.
print - Publisher: [Regina], Saskatchewan : University of Regina Press, [2019]
- Copyright: ©2019
Content descriptions
General Note: | "Foreword by Eden Robinson"--cover. Series statement from CIP data. |
Formatted Contents Note: | Foreword -- Introduction -- The dreamless void -- The in-between -- The healing -- To indigenous folk contemplating suicide -- Afterword. |
Biographical or Historical Data: | From the Prophet River First Nation, Helen Knott is of Dane-Zaa, Nehiyaw, Métis, and European descent. |
Search for related items by subject
Genre: | Autobiographies. |
Topic Heading: | Indigenous women. Aboriginal. GoodMinds. Indigenous collection. |
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Available copies
- 27 of 32 copies available at BC Interlibrary Connect. (Show)
- 0 of 0 copies available at Terrace Public Library.
Holds
- 1 current hold with 32 total copies.
Other Formats and Editions
Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
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- Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2019 June #1
"My truth is all that I have. Truth is my offering," begins Knott's memoir of grappling with addiction, sexual assault, and her identity as an Indigenous woman. Writing with raw honesty and in prose that both lulls and jolts the reader, she interweaves stories of her addiction to drugs and alcohol and the abandonment of her child with visits to the United Nations and trips to build schools in Nicaragua. The pairing of such disparate events makes her and her complex story impossible to boil down or forget. Her exploration of her identity and discovery of new possibilities for her spirituality that embrace her heritage lead her on a path to recovery, self-forgiveness, and community. This powerful memoir proclaims healing a revolutionary act, and emotions a sign of strength. Knott's complex portrait evokes empathy for those struggling with addiction and opens a window into a story that makes space to tell abuse survivors they are not alone, it is not their fault, and she will remember them. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews. - ForeWord Magazine Reviews : ForeWord Magazine Reviews 2019 - July/August
A childhood and early adulthood marked by sexual abuse and rape led Dane Zaa and Cree woman Helen Knott into deep addiction. Despite her descent, she also managed to travel to Switzerland at the behest of the Nobel Women's Initiative as one of sixteen global change makers dedicated to ending gender-based violence. This duality of light and dark pervades In My Own Moccasins, an inspiring memoir about recovery and healing.
Knott grew up in Canada understanding that to be Indigenous was to be less-thanâto the extent that, when their father told Knott and her brothers that they were Indigenous, her brother asked "But we're still part human, right?" Knott helps to make sense of the impact of reservations on First Nations people forced to rely on outsiders for their basic needs, showing how such marginalization often resulted in self-hatred. Fearful readings of the Bible, which seemed to condemn Knott for being a survivor of sexual abuse, combined with these stresses in a toxic way.
Knott's story illuminates how government treatments of Indigenous people harmed and destroyed generations. Knott found relief and recovery when she actively sought her culture, relied on a medicine man, engaged in smudging, and advocated for Indigenous people to guide her healing.
Knott's accounts are movingâas when she recalls an appointment with her gynecologist, made to assess the damage of a brutal rape and to see whether she would be able to have children. Such violence often goes unanswered for in Knott's story, and a large part of her life's work becomes about ending violence against Indigenous women.
Powerful and unsettling, In My Own Moccasins shies away from nothing, enacting Knott's claims that writing brings healing. It is an important addition to the histories of First Nations people in Canada.
© 2019 Foreword Magazine, Inc. All Rights Reserved.