Indigenous professor vows to stop using capitalization to ‘resist acknowledging the power structures that oppress’

The associate vice-president of indigenization and decolonization at Mt. Royal University in Alberta, Canada issued a statement this week indicating she would cease using capitalization in order to protest the “symbols of hierarchy” wherever they are found.

Dr. linda manyguns, who was named to her current post in May 2021, said she would be joining the “lowercase movement” to protest what she sees as the mistreatment of Indigenous people.

“We resist acknowledging the power structures that oppress and join the movement that does not capitalize,” manyguns said in her statement.

“Indigenous people have been actively engaged in a multidimensional struggle for equality, since time immemorial,” manyguns said. “we strive for historical-cultural recognition and acknowledgment of colonial oppression that persistently devalues the diversity of our unique cultural heritages.”