Karen Stote

My research thus far has focused on colonialism and the history of Indigenous-settler relations in Canada, the ways Indian policy has targeted /impacted Indigenous women, and the political and economic interests served.

My first book is entitled An Act of Genocide: Colonialism and the Sterilization of Aboriginal Women (Fernwood Publishing, 2015). It considers the coerced sterilization of Indigenous women from the 1930s-70s as the practice arose out of the eugenics movement. Through archival research, I began formally documenting the coerced sterilization of Indigenous women, while seeking to ground the practice within the larger context of colonialism, the oppression of women and the denial of Indigenous sovereignty. I argue that coerced sterilization was one of many policies and practices employed to separate Aboriginal peoples from their lands and resources while reducing the numbers of those to whom the federal government has obligations.

I continue to pursue questions that remain around this practice. I am currently working on a SSHRC funded project entitled “Family Planning and Forced Sterilization of Indigenous Women in Saskatchewan (1970-2015): An Archival Case Study.” This project will generate, based on extensive historical records, a better understanding of the coerced sterilization of Indigenous women in the province of Saskatchewan since the 1970s. Central to this project is to examine how the formation of family planning policy and practice in Saskatchewan is linked to a larger historical, political, economic and social context, and how this shapes societal approaches to Indigenous reproduction. This project employs a historical materialist, critical feminist, and decolonial theoretical perspective centered on Indigenous specificities of experience.

I am also interested in critiquing western notions of feminism and the ways it has participated in/reinforced colonial relations, and what is means to "decolonize feminism."

I was previously involved in the Living Archives on Eugenics in Western Canada, a five year Community-University Research Alliances-funded project seeking to produce an accessible history of eugenics in Alberta.

• Merit Award 2022
• 2019 SSHRC Insight Development Grant
• 2019 Internal Category A Research Grant

For research opportunities, please contact me directly.

Books

• Stote, Karen. An Act of Genocide: Colonialism and the Sterilization of Aboriginal Women. Halifax: Fernwood Publishing (2015).

Articles

• Stote, Karen. "Reflections on the Coerced Sterilization of Indigenous Women: Toward Seeing the Humanity of Indigenous Peoples," in Sacred Bundles Unborn, by Morningstar Mercredi and the Firekeepers. Manitoba: Friesen Press, 2022.
• Stote, Karen. "From Eugenics to Family Planning: The Coerced Sterilization of Indigenous Women in Post-1970 Saskatchewan," NAIS: Journal of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association 9, 1 (2022): 102-132.
• Stote, Karen. "Decolonizing Feminism: From Reproductive Abuse to Reproductive Justice," Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture & Social Justice/Études critiques sur le genre, la culture, et la justice sociale 38, 1 (2017): 110-124. (available online at http://journals.msvu.ca/index.php/atlantis/article/view/4767)
• Stote, Karen, "The Myth of Reproductive Choice: A Call for Radical Change," in Without Apology: Writings on Abortion in Canada. Shannon Stettner, ed. (Athabasca University Press, 2016), 277-288.
• Stote, Karen. “The Coercive Sterilization of Aboriginal Women in Canada,” American Indian Journal of Culture and Research, 36, 3 (2012): 117-150.

Dissertation

• Stote, Karen. An Act of Genocide: Eugenics, Indian Policy, and the Coercive Sterilization of Aboriginal Women in Canada. PhD Dissertation, University of New Brunswick (2012).

Other Works

• Stote, Karen. “Sterilization of Indigenous Women in Canada,” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 17 April, 2019. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/sterilization-of-indigenous-women-in-canada
• Stote, Karen. Submission to the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights, 3 April, 2019.
  https://sencanada.ca/content/sen/committee/421/RIDR/Briefs/RIDR_KarenStote_Brief_e.pdf
• Stote, Karen, contributing editor, with Chris Arsenault and Ardath Whynacht. Hoping Against Hope: The Struggle Against Colonialism in Canada. Executive Producer, Pierre Loiselle. Audio Documentary, Halifax: Praxis Media Productions & Nova Scotia Public Interest Research Group (2007).

• Reconciliation Book Club: An Act of Genocide: Colonialism and the Sterilization of Aboriginal Women
• APTN Investigates: Against Their Will – The Coerced Sterilization of Indigenous Women in Canada
• A Broad Vision for Reproductive Justice
• Senators Study Coerced Sterilization in Canada
• Professor Karen Stote's research reveals details of coercive sterilization of indigenous women in Canada in the 1970s
• Aboriginal women claim forced sterilization at a Saskatoon hospital
• An act of genocide: Canada's coerced sterilization of First Nations women