Métis, queer, feminist, Indigenous theory
About Dani
Hello! I am Dani (she/they), and I recently completed my SSHRC-funded MA in UBC Okanagan’s Interdisciplinary master’s degree in the Power, Conflict, and Ideas theme. I am Métis-Settler from Treaty Eight territory with family ties in Fort Nelson, B.C. I have presented my research at the Indigenous Graduate Student Symposium in Vancouver, BC and the Urban Indigenous Wellbeing Conference in Kelowna, BC. I have published my research in the inaugural issue of Pawataatamihk: Journal of Métis Thinkers (2023) and have led Rest as Resistance workshops in collaboration with UBC Okanagan’s Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Office, the Graduate Student Committee of the Student’s Union, and Canada Research
Chair Dr. Astrida Neimanis’s environmental humanities lab, the FEELed Lab.
On this website you will find a selection of my published and unpublished writing and other projects I have led and collaborated on.
Image taken by Yarrow Froehler
Publications
Pierson, D. (2025). Rest as Resistance: Visiting with Land as a Method of Rest. Journal of Indigenous Social Development, 13(1), 94–114. https://doi.org/10.55016/ojs/jisd.v13i1.79267
Pierson, D. (2023). Restful Resistance: How I Use Rest to Dream Métis Futures. Pawaatamihk: Journal of Métis Thinkers, 1(1), 19–27.
My Thesis
Rest as resistance : a Métis-feminist analysis of the relevance of rest in activism
Understanding rest and care as integral parts of activist and community organizations has been central to Black feminist and disability activist spaces for many years. Written from my perspective as a Métis-settler student and researcher invested in activist projects, this thesis intends to articulate a theory of Rest as Resistance from a Métis-feminist perspective. In this theory, I intend to illuminate a response to the deeply exhausting ways that the settler state has (historically and presently) attempted to harm Indigenous communities. This response sees rest not as succumbing to these oppressive powers but as a tool to actively resist them. In using the reflective and feminist methodology of auto-theory, combined with practice-based methods where rest is both the topic and the methodology, I aim to elucidate how a theory of Rest as Resistance may support ongoing anti- and de-colonial action. I begin with a thorough synthesis of the work of scholars, writers, and artists who have been grappling with questions of productivity and rest through varied theoretical and personal lenses. Next, utilizing reflexive methods, I name two tenets of a distinct Métis theory of Rest as Resistance: first, following Black feminist theories of Rest as Resistance, rest becomes resistance when it refuses colonial and capitalist standards and expectations of productivity. Second, rest becomes resistance when it centres knowledge and relationships that colonial capitalism attempts to devalue, discredit, or destroy. I explore these tenets through critical and creative considerations of visiting with Land and artmaking as practices of rest.
Rest as Resistance Guidebook
This booklet is a guide for activists and students invested in social justice’s often emotionally exhausting work. It materialized through my undergraduate directed studies project with Dr. Ilya Parkins. This piece will take you through some brief theorizations of the concept of rest as resistance and introduce ways to prioritize rest for yourself and your community. Black feminists and activists like Audre Lorde and Tricia Hersey have deeply influenced this guide.
Other Projects
That’s What [We] Said Student Journal
I was a member of the editorial board for UBC Okanagan’s Gender and Women Studies Undergraduate Student Journal. The mission of That’s What [We] Said is to challenge social norms, facilitate a creative platform for an intersectional feminist discourse, and offer an approachable commentary. We believe that gender studies stand to benefit from being put into more intimate conversation with other disciplines. We seek to amplify the voices of people from various backgrounds and to provide them with a space to be critical and creative. In so doing, we hope to deepen our connections with one another, acknowledging that community counters isolation.
We launched the 2023 volume in March with the theme UNLEARNING, which you can read on the link below!
The FEELed Lab
I previously held the position of Administrator in Canada Research Chair Astrida Neimanis’s humanities field lab at UBC Okanagan, the FEELed Lab. The FEELed Lab is a collaborative and interdisciplinary environmental humanities field lab located on unceded Syilx territory, in Kelowna, BC. Our activities support curiosity, inquiry and action for living well with human and non-human beings in the Okanagan watershed and beyond. Our work is grounded in hydrofeminist principles that insist on the messy and necessary amplification of feminist, queer, crip, anticolonial, and antiracist perspectives to address the tangled challenges of social and environmental crisis. We also make room for joy.
Workshops
Alongside my writing, I have held workshops for students and for a variety of organizations to ignite conversations about rest while taking on social justice oriented work. For us to say sustained and well while tackling heavy and passionate work, rest must be seen as part of the work – not outside of it. These workshops include a mix of presentations, group discussions, and practices of rest – all to the participants comfort levels! If you are interested in having me for a workshop, please reach out via the form below.
Dani Pierson, M.A. 