The Chosen People at Grouse Mountain

A powerful idealized cognitive metaphor related to conquest and dominance paired with ideological commitments to individual human rights frame the dominant way of assessing and valuing land in what is now the United States. By examining this correlation, it becomes possible to challenge hegemonic assumptions that have become so commonsensical they are rarely seen for what they are – imaginative constructs. By illuminating the connection, we can envision and mobilize traditional Indigenous ways-of-being that are life-affirming and offer an alternative to reckless acquisition and alienation from all our relatives.