The Land Back Movement, Assemblage Theory, and Risks to the Canadian State

This article applies Deleuze and Guattari’s theory of “assemblages” to analyze the Land Back movement of decolonial resistance, which formed in response to the failures of Canadian reconciliation. It explores how the identity of Land Back and its participants emerge through interactions and practices within the assemblage, shaping the movement’s capacity to become more creative and experimental in its resistance. Land Back has the potential to increase its connections with other social movements, which augment the movement’s ability to challenge colonial institutions. Land Back’s creative actualizations could challenge the identity of the Canadian state. The state views Land Back as a “risk” because of its ability to affect the identity of an increased number of Canadians and potentially threaten both it and its control of land. Land Back’s potential lies in its capacity to mobilize through creative resistance, undermine settler-colonial structures, and actualize new forms of governance.