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A Magnificent Work is an autobiographical exploration of the interconnectedness of toxic masculinity, White supremacy, and settler colonialism within the context of Canadian-occupied territories. It is a work of "documentary fiction" (to use the term of W. G. Sebald) or "autotheory" (as proposed by Maggie Nelson). Oudshoorn moves from relating his personal experiences as both a son and a father to exploring the ways in which similar events have played out on a much larger scale within the Canadian occupation. Special attention is given to the history of the Mohawk Institute, Canada's oldest and longest-running "Indian Residential School." Thus, although an Anglican bishop once described the Mohawk Institute as "a magnificent work," Oudshoorn argues that the truly magnificent work that awaits people like him--notably, cishet male settlers of Christian and European descent--is the process of embodying a gentle masculinity, recovering a sense of one's proper place of connectedness within a network of relationships with varying degrees of responsibility and accountability, and striving towards decolonization.
Daniel Oudshoorn is a father, lover, fighter, friend, and failure. He has spent more than twenty years actively pursuing life and mutually liberating solidarity in the company of the oppressed, abandoned, dispossessed, colonized, and left for dead.
“Daniel Oudshoorn is not a typical writer, but he is very good at telling you the story you need to hear. In his new book, A Magnificent Work, his truths cut like a knife, while at the same time, his insight and wisdom offer the kind of hope and healing he has seen in his own life and as learned wisdom he offers to society. You will not regret taking the time to hear A Magnificent Work speak to your own heart and mind, but you will be changed by it.”
—Randy Woodley, author, activist, farmer, Eloheh Indigenous Center for Earth Justice
“Oudshoorn’s prose is relentless. He deftly weaves lived experience with poignant social commentary to produce a text that is both deeply personal and universally relevant. His insight is striking, and he incites grief, rage, and hope while contextualizing these emotions within broader patterns of inequality. Evocative and timely, A Magnificent Work is a painfully necessary read.”
—Nicole Luongo, Professor of Sociology, Keyano College
“Dan is generous in his vulnerability, sharing with the reader his inner self and hard thoughts in such a way that readers willingly travel with him on a tough yet enlightening trip. A Magnificent Work is extremely moving and demonstrates the deep-rooted connection between the well-being of self, community, and the environment. A read that opens up an invitation to have a fresh perspective on your own life and new awareness of the vital importance of the life around you.”
—Julie Baumann, Executive Director, SafeSpace London
“This book could have been called ‘the sins of the fathers’; it is hard to read, but for some of us, necessary. Dancing between autobiography, national history, and geological time, Oudshoorn calls out the brutal patterns that link sexual violence, racist colonial violence, and ecocide. Starting from his own place of damage and complicity he stumbles towards a traitorous white masculinity, one that gets schooled, de-centers itself, and knows the cost of seeking to serve tenderness.”
—Laurel Dykstra, Priest of Salal + Cedar Watershed Discipleship Community, Coast Salish Territory, British Columbia