Two Prophecies

Abstract

Pending whose knowledge you seek and which rationality you chose, the history of uranium mining in Canada entails both pessimistic and optimistic perspectives. The miners believed in a rationality of prosperity at the expense of the existing First Nation lifestyles and beliefs. It’s a history of settler colonialism in which the process of conquer generated counter claims of defeat. The ongoing clash between claims and counter-claims, prophecies and counter-prophecies, traditional and scientific knowledge, mark the history of Canadian mining along with the larger history of nuclear industries and weaponry. And these stories are rarely resolved.

Keywords

• uranium mining
• nuclear history
• atomic weapons
• canada
• indigenous studies