Charles Taylor Book Award Honorable Mention 2018: Shiri Pasternak, for Grounded Authority: The Algonquins of Barriere Lake Against the State

Honorable Mention: Shiri Pasternak (Trent University) for Grounded Authority: The Algonquins of Barriere Lake Against the State (University of Minnesota Press)

Grounded Authority is well poised to engage in broader debates about Indigenous resistance across settler colonies. Pasternak foregrounds jurisdiction and disentangles it from sovereignty while visualizing jurisdiction as a density of lines against orthodox notions of hierarchy and scale. This book discusses practices of state power through an ethnographic approach and contributes to interpretive scholarship by documenting experiential meaning between Indigenous and non-Indigenous bearers of those meanings, and between intersubjective conceptions of custodianship and ownership. By weaving thick description, paying attention to subjective meaning, offering sharp theoretical insights and comparative analysis it contributes to the study of power and interpretivism. This book also discusses important ethical considerations about accountability and relationship-building in field work. It will resonate widely to a readership beyond Canada and North America.

Selection Committee:

Sarah Marie Wiebe, chair (University of Hawai’i, Mānoa)

Nick Cheesman (Australia National University)

Kristen Monroe (University of California, Irvine)