On Wholeness

A brilliant exploration of the body as a site of settler colonial impact, centring embodied wholeness as a pathway to our collective liberation. This fierce and enlightening book reimagines the way we understand settler colonialism--through the body itself. Anishinaabeg visual artist Quill Christie-Peters takes us on a journey that begins before birth, in a realm where ancestors and spirits swirl like smoke in the great beyond. But once we enter the world, our bodies are shaped and scarred by colonial forces. In poetic and raw storytelling, Quill shares her own experiences of gendered violence and her father's survival of residential school, revealing how colonialism disconnects us from ourselves. Yet, through an Anishinaabeg lens, the body is more than just flesh--it extends to ancestors, homelands, spirit relations, and animal kin. Through reflections on childbirth, parenting, creative practice, and expansive responsibility as pathways to wholeness, Quill explores how reconnecting with the body can be an act of resistance and healing. She shows that wholeness--despite pain and displacement--is not just possible but essential for liberation, not only for Indigenous people but for all of us.