IN-PERSON Barcelona. Section A

Abstract

The reclaiming of place identities and reinstating of First Nation presence in everyday spaces and the recognition and protection of significant sites is not merely a symbolic act but an integral part of the reassertion of Indigenous authority over lands and territories in cities. Recognition can operate as a powerful act of decolonisation. Recognition can heal deep wounds and unfinished business in cities. Nonetheless, recognition is a complex phenomenon. Acts of recognition juxtapose ongoing acts of settler colonialism via development. Development continues to destroy tangible and intangible Indigenous cultural heritage, artefacts, burial sites and cultural landscapes in cities. Injustice and settler colonialism continue through the building of modern architecture over Indigenous sites. The paper considers what remains hidden in plain sight with the struggle that First Nations peoples engage in around reclaiming, belonging, and Indigenous landscape-shaping for and by First Nations peoples in Australian, New Zealand and North American cities. The paper situates the struggle for First Nations visibility in the city as a complex struggle from renaming to protecting significant sites and land claims. The paper illustrates this point through reference to examples of extraction of resources, construction of stadiums, commercial development, and housing developments in settler colonial cities, such as Canberra, Newcastle, Montreal, Perth, San Francisco Bay and Wellington.