In The Medicine of Peace, Jeffrey Ansloos explores the complex intersections of colonial violence, the current status of Indigenous youth in Canada in regards to violence and the possibilities of critical-Indigenous psychologies of nonviolence. Indigenous youth are disproportionately at risk for violent victimization and incarceration within the justice system. They are also marginalized and oppressed within our systems of academia, mental health and social work.
By linking the contemporary experiences of Indigenous youth with broader contexts of intergenerational colonial violence in Canadian society and history, Ansloos highlights the colonial nature of current approaches to Indigenous youth care. Using a critical-Indigenous discourse to critique, deconstruct and de-legitimize the hegemony of Western social science, Ansloos advances an Indigenous peace psychology to promote the revitalization of Indigenous identity for these youth.