American Indian Culture and Research Journal

This article explores the imbrication of history, fiction, and biopolitics in a variety of specific confrontations between the Canadian state and the Anishnaabeg in Michel Noël's teen novel Nipishish (2004). Situated in Southwest Québec during the second half of the 20th century, the novel lends itself readily to a biopolitical reading which gleans from and expands on the theories of Foucault, Agamben, and Pratt. Focusing on deconstructing biopolitical strategies of the settler colonial state and agentive Native practices, the analysis underscores how Noël's depiction of Indigenous lifeways and resistance constitute an invaluable political message to Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth alike.