Established narratives portray Indigenous unity as emerging solely in response to the political agenda of the settler state. But unity has long shaped the modern Indigenous political movement. With Indigenous perspectives in the foreground, Assembling Unity explores the relationship between global political ideologies and pan-Indigenous politics in British Columbia through a detailed history of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs. Sarah Nickel demonstrates that the articulation of unity was heavily negotiated between UBCIC members, grassroots constituents, and Indigenous women’s organizations. This incisive work unsettles dominant political narratives that cast Indigenous men as reactive and Indigenous women as apolitical.

Sarah Nickel is a Tk'emlupsemc Assistant Professor of Indigenous Studies at the University of Saskatchewan. Her first book,Assembling Unity: Pan-Indigenous Politics, Gender, and the Union of BC Indian Chiefs was published in 2019. Her next project explores Indigenous women’s political work in the twentieth-century west.

Sarah Nickel's profile page