Choreographies for the living brings together the writings of two activists who reach out to each other in an epistolary relationship spanning the years of the COVID-19 pandemic. The reader is invited to enter the intellectual and material intimacy of a Black woman and a Nishnaabeg woman, through their reflections on a new world, a world to come, an ecologically responsible world that would be completely free of the capitalist and colonial poison—because all of this is, according to them, firmly interconnected.
Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, a musician and writer, has taken part in several protest movements, such as Idle No More in 2012. Robyn Maynard, a professor of black feminisms at the University of Toronto, is particularly involved in the fight to defund the police and abolish the prison system.
“We need to abolish and review every aspect of life in North America and elsewhere,” says the first. “It is vital to get some fresh air,” adds her friend.
Air in the literal sense, that is to say in the ecological sense of the term. Air in the sense of melody, a tune that comes back tirelessly and that it is absolutely time to get rid of. And change of air in the familiar sense, because a lethal fatigue is felt by the peoples oppressed by the history of contemporary America, namely the black and indigenous populations, who are experiencing the consequences of the climate crisis at the forefront because of their precariousness.
The links — and the places of divergence — between black and indigenous struggles are woven through their letters, both anecdotal and erudite. Decolonization, anti-police and anti-prison discourse, refusal of property, sharing and generosity, territory and ecology are all themes explored by these seasoned authors, who are not new to writing and transmitting ideas.
However, this thought, tested many times by books, conferences and music, does not translate into popularization for the general public. Choreographies for the living is aimed at informed readers, already sensitive and familiar with the concepts covered, which are increasingly studied in North American university circles, even though intellectuals criticize American institutions for being poorly adapted to the realities of their respective communities.
The subject flows a little with difficulty, it follows a winding course, like a meander. The body of the text is in motion, and its heart is sometimes blurred by agitated but effervescent eddies. The underlying vein always ends up sucking up the ideas evoked to refocus them, then to recycle them in iterations that are both similar and renewed. Thus, regardless of its detours, its examples, the stories used to illustrate the thought, the words of Simpson and Maynard are constantly brought back to this powerful, invisible force, which silently proclaims that “it is vital to change air”.
Resolutely revolutionary in its spirit, this militant work cannot obviously be read alone if one wishes to have a nuanced portrait of the subject treated. As for the solutions envisaged, fertile and fascinating, they would deserve to be deepened or clarified to be truly convincing.