To position my work, you may find my self-location here.

“Terra nullius” is an expression in international law that means “empty land” – or unoccupied land. When settlers first came to this continent, they claimed this land was unoccupied by a sovereign state – when actually this land was occupied and controlled by Inuit and First Nations. The newcomers refused recognize our political and economic systems, because our social orders looked different then theirs. Instead the settlers used the law of “terra nullius” to justify the theft of Indigenous lands. 

DTES Women’s Memorial March Vancouver – https://www.facebook.com/events/154666328355768/ 

It Starts With Us – Support for Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and their Families – http://www.itstartswithus-mmiw.com

Stolen Sisters Memorial March Victoria February 12th – https://www.facebook.com/events/1899247296973512/

6th Annual Moosehide Campaign Gathering Victoria February 16th – https://www.facebook.com/events/1830970777148590/

This is a collaboration piece by UBC students Clara Salter, Olivia Santacroce and Lisa Girbav. We acknowledge that this podcast was written and produced on the traditional, ancestral and unceded lands of the hunkemenum speaking Musqueam people.

Our podcast A Story About A Dream started out as a poem. Our team, comprised of three women of mixed ancestry, set out to create a poem that focused on Indigenous new media and digital storytelling, while drawing on remix theory. We sat down with an idea to create a remixed poem by selecting quotes from Indigenous authors, activists and storytellers to incorporate into a new piece. What we didn’t know was the theme we wanted to focus on.

We met up moments after the federal government had announced its approval of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline. In BC, this was the second major resource extraction project approved by the federal government within two months, which followed the approval of the emissions intensive Pacific Northwest LNG export facility slated for Lax U’u’la (Lelu Island) in the Tsimshian Territory. Both of these projects face significant opposition. We were three women, sitting in a pizza shop, and our concern for violence against Indigenous land quickly took hold of the piece.

As we began to pull quotes from authors and activists, Lisa offered to share her story. Lisa is Tsimshian from the Tsimshian territory of the Pacific Northwest coast. The resulting narrative is a creative non-fiction about a dream that she had about her home territory, which is located at the western end of Highway 16, the Highway of Tears. The theme of violence against Indigenous land quickly became synonymous with violence against Indigenous women.

The Highway of Tears is a site of violence against Indigenous women in the pacific northwest. The Highway of Tears is a 720 km stretch of highway on Highway 16 that runs from Prince Rupert to Prince George. It’s called the Highway of Tears because multiple women – sisters, mothers, daughters, aunts, teens, children – have gone missing or have been murdered while traveling the Highway of Tears. For many who live in isolated reservations, traveling on the Highway of Tears is a necessity to get to city centres for basic necessities.

The podcast tells a story about the Highway of Tears through a dreamt/ lived experience, where Lisa adds her own anecdotes to the dream she experienced. The dream involves a message from a shape shifter, a warning for northern girls. Messengers in our dreams are our ancestors. Lisa remembers, “The first time I had this dream, it was really vivid. The message from the dream world left a lasting memory, one that I still reflect on over a year later.” The narrative of the account in this podcast is as accurate as she can remember. At first, the visit from the shapeshifter makes the listener uneasy because the initial perception is that it is here to cause harm. But as you listen to the message from the shapeshifter, upon repetition you realize that the shapeshifter is here to provide a warning and to protect you from harm. Dreams are very powerful, especially where you are visited by the supernatural.

Lisa’s account of her dream brings to the foreground the reality of living in a community that lacks basic transportation infrastructure that many of us take for granted. Her story instills the listener with a sense of the innocence of wanting to visit family on a sunny afternoon. Spending time in nature is a major aspect of living a northern lifestyle. Many people use the highway to gain access to fishing spots, hiking trails, hunting grounds and campsites. While it is enjoyable to use the highway for easier access to these places, the highway is also a site of violence disproportionately against Indigenous women. First Nations relationship to land is complicated by the power dynamics that play out through the (ab)use of the highway. The podcast seeks to challenge the normalization of violence against Indigenous women. “Does everyone do this?” Lisa asks, of the precautions her and her family take when going about northern travel, that many of us would do without second thought.

The lines quoted from various Indigenous and non-Indigenous poets, storytellers, journalists and activists aim to both invoke the voices of women who have gone missing along the highway and to situate Lisa’s story within a wider dialogue about and resistance to violence against women. Through the use of remix theory, we played with how different lines interacted with one another to create new meaning within the context of that piece while also drawing on the original meaning of the artist’s’ work. As the podcast began to take shape, we were surprised with the varying interpretations that were being brought forth by listeners.

The poem For Northern Girls by Erica Violet Lee was an influential starting point in shaping this piece. The poem conveys the triumph of Indigenous girls who survive systems of colonial violence in northern communities. By placing Lee’s lines alongside Maggie Smith’s line “right? You could make this place beautiful”, from her poem Good Bones, we aim to give the listener a desire and sense of responsibility to resist the forms of colonial violence we explore in this piece.

Violence against Indigenous women and violence against the land are not only linked – they reinforce one another. For example, polluted waterways affect the traditional food sources that Indigenous people have relied on since time immemorial and therefore harm the community’s health and their access to cultural food harvesting and food security. Over and over again in post-contact history, Indigenous peoples have had to protect their land from the deleterious effects of extractive resource industries. When land is threatened, it is often women as matriarchs and community leaders who step in and use their very bodies to protect the land. These women can be harmed in the process.

Colonial structures continue to use systemic and institutionalized oppression to gain access to Indigenous land. In particular, Indigenous women are being disempowered in order to break down their roles as important matriarchs, for the purpose of disrupting their sociopolitical positions as important leaders in communities. The oppression and marginalization of Indigenous women is designed to disrupt First Nations’ political and economic systems in order to gain access to Indigenous lands for the purpose of exploiting resources. The link between these two types of violence is evident in the dominant nature of controlling both the land and women’s bodies.

Colonialism aims to displace Indigenous peoples from their connection to land and the ways of life they have always relied on. Indigenous bodies and spirits are connected to the land in a profound way; when the land suffers, women suffer. This podcast seeks to explore the relationship between violence against women and the land within the political context of the pacific northwest, a site of ongoing colonial violence. As the final line of the podcast suggests, we hope you carry this knowledge and these conversations with you to continue to resist systems of colonial violence.

Works Cited:

Boulding, Kaitlyn. “Questions to Ask Yourself Before Giving Up.” GUTS. N.p., 2016. Web. 07 Dec. 2016. http://gutsmagazine.ca/questions-to-ask/

Brown, Brené. The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are. Center City, MN: Hazelden, 2010. Print.

Cobain, Kurt. All Apologies: Rape Me. Geffen Records, 1993. MP3.

Deerchild, Rosanna and Tagaq, Tanya. CBC Radio: Unreserved. N.p., 25 Sept. 2016. http://www.cbc.ca/radio/unreserved/creativity-that-challenges-the-status-quo-as-it-changes-the-landscape-1.3774044/tanya-tagaq-seeks-retribution-with-new-album-1.3775135

Hogan, Linda. Power. New York: W.W. Norton, 1999. Print.

King, Thomas. Green Grass, Running Water. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1993. Print.

Lee, Erica Violet. “For Northern Girls.” Moontime Warrior. N.p., 2016. Web. 06 Dec. 2016. https://moontimewarrior.com/2016/10/18/for-northern-girls/  

Maracle, Lee. Talking to the Diaspora. Winnipeg, MB: ARP, 2015. Print.

Simpson, Leanne. Islands of Decolonial Love: Stories & Songs. Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada: ARP (Arbeiter Ring), 2013. Print.

Smith, Maggie. “Good Bones,” from Weep Up, forthcoming from Tupelo Press, copyright 2017. Used with permission. https://maggiesmithpoet.com/poems/

Sparrow, Quelemia, and Noah Drew. “Ashes on the Water.” Audio blog post. Indigenous Performing Arts Alliance. Raven Spirit Dance, Neworld Theater, July 2010. Web. 07 Dec. 2016.

This is our final project for FNIS 401F Indigenous New Media and Digital Storytelling.

To position my work, you may find my self-location here.

Transcription of the podcast with references

—————————————————————–

Hello, and welcome to my third (and final!) blog of the semester for the course First Nations and Indigenous Studies #401F! My name is Lisa Girbav, and I am an urban Tsimshian student in my third year at UBC. I grew up back home, in my territory, in city of Prince Rupert, and the Tsimshian territory is situated on the northwest coast, around the mouth of the Skeena River, which is east of Haida Gwaii on the mainland, and near the southern tip of Alaska. So that’s who I am. And at this point in my life, I live, work and study as an uninvited guest on the traditional, ancestral and unceded lands of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples… and for this I am very grateful.

This blog is called Podcasting an Indigenous Future(ism) – Métis in Space. And when I threw this title together, I thought, “do we really need the ‘ism’ here? Would it still work if I left it open ended and called it Podcasting an Indigenous Future?” But this is an assignment on Indigenous futurism… as a fictional, critical and/or creative representation of an Indigenous future. So there you go.

The reason I decided to make a podcast for this blog is because I wanted to create something that would make this academic work accessible to a wide audience. Academic work can often have a lot of jargon, and I know that when I read dense stuff I tend to zone out (a.k.a. all of my academic life), but when someone is telling me information verbally, it’s a way different experience, and a different way of understanding things. That’s how I comprehend the best, anyway. And another reason I decided on a podcast format is because I know I don’t have a lot of time to read a 1500 word blog post everyday among the many other readings I have to do for school… but I can listen to a podcast on the bus without making myself feel sick.

For this podcast, I aim to look at how the Indian and Cowboy podcast Métis in Space has effectively created a sovereign Métis space on the Internet, while actively challenging colonial perceptions in the science fiction genre and imagining original Indigenous futurisms. Grace Dillon describes Indigenous futurism as, quote, “a growing movement of writing, both fictional and critical, that envisions the future from the point of view of Indigenous histories, traditions, and knowledges,” end quote (as cited in Gaertner, 2014). For the purpose of this blog, I will focus on the episode Métis in Space Season 2 Episode 3 – Futurama “Where The Buggalo Roam” (Indian and Cowboy, 2015).

[CLIP 1] “Otipêyimsiw-iskwêwak kihci-kîsikohk, Métis in Space. Alright so, um anyway, yeah um episode. Yeah we went really far into the future with this one, father into the future than we have ever been. Exactly” (Indian and Cowboy, 2015, 4:48-5:06)

Metis in Space is co-hosted by Molly Swain who is Métis from Calgary, Alberta, and Chelsea Vowel who is Métis from the Plains Cree and Michif speaking community of Lac Ste. Anne, Alberta. The two hosts have created a unique multi-platform online space, that discusses a science fiction movie or television episode that features, quote, “Indigenous peoples, tropes and themes” from a “tipsy decolonial perspective,” end quote (Metis in Space, About, para 1).

The opening line of the article Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace by Jason Lewis & Skawennati Tricia Fragnito (2005) states quote, “Indigenous peoples are making their own spaces online, using art as the backdrop for cross cultural dialogue.” end quote (Introduction section, para. 1). Métis in Space has created an Indigenous space online, with the opportunity for cross-cultural dialogue rooted in a decolonial perspective. The website is a Métis defined space, where the user must cross the initial threshold to enter “their” site from the home page, which I argue signifies a sovereign controlled Métis cyberspace. As Lewis and Skawennati (2005) describe, the Internet can be quote, “a valuable tool for community-building.” end quote (Learning from CyberPowWow, para 2). The hosts are readily accessible to their audience via their website, email and through Twitter, where both Twitter handles for Molly and Chelsea are linked to their bios. This provides an invitation for the audience to engage with the hosts, on the hosts’ terms, before the podcast even begins. Throughout the podcast they consistently encourage their audience to engage with the show.

In Season 2 Episode 3 “Where the Buggalo Roam” the hosts offer entry points for Indigenous and settler people to enter the conversation. While I think that the target audience for Métis in Space is meant to be an Indigenous audience (there are often references that are not made explicit), I believe the concepts discussed in the show are primarily targeted for an academic audience – narrowing the accessibility. However, the hosts are able to make the topics accessible by presenting these critiques with humor, through oral storytelling, and this makes it more accessible for listeners to engage with the dialogue–regardless of Indigeneity or educational background. In one example, Molly and Chelsea open the door for a critique of Futurama’s use of satire, making it relatable to all their audience members.

[CLIP 2] “Satire is tough right because like you, if you’re just replicating sort of oppressive ideas and stereotypes and stuff like that, that’s not satire that’s just how shit is, right? And sometimes Futurama gets it right and really like makes fun of it in such an obvious way that it’s cringe, you know … you’re supposed to cringe at satire and be like oh my gosh that’s so terrible, that’s obviously wrong. But if you’re kinda like ‘hahaha yeah right’ that’s not satire.” (Indian and Cowboy, 2015, 6:51- 7:22)

They go on to address the inappropriate use of “Asian stereotypes” through their formula of what they qualify as satire versus racial stereotypes. Topics like these open the door for cross-cultural dialogue in a Métis defined space.

The podcast functions as a contemporary Indigenous critique on colonial representations of Indigenous people in the science fiction genre. This episode of Métis in Space effectively challenges how Futurama presents colonial perceptions of Indigenous culture. In the podcast, the hosts describe how the Native martians were “gently encouraged” to live in reservations deep underground (Indian and Cowboy, 2015, 26:27-26:44).

[CLIP 3] “The martians have no land, they were gently encouraged to live on reservations deep underground and no-one ever goes there. Yup. Gently encouraged. Reservations deep underground, which you know is where they would have fucking put us if they could. Yup. Out of sight, out of mind. Seriously.” (Indian and Cowboy, 2015, 26:27-26:44)

Groening, M. (Creator/writer) (2013). Where the buggalo roam [Television series episode]. Retrieved from Netflix, https://www.netflix.com/watch/70140734?trkid=13752289&tctx=0%252C0%252C1f13fd29054576d06144c17c919ef139ed7b93be%253A06449b0377000391f616679008fd000dc9946e9b 

This reference to putting the Native martians on reservations deep underground is contextualized within the show and related back to the settler colonial state we exist in now. They draw direct connections between the context of the plot and the current settler state, not bothering to differentiate between fiction and reality, past, present or future. They frame the representation on the screen as being directly correlated with the current state, blurring the lines between fiction and real life/ IRL.

[CLIP 4] “They, yeah, they go into the entrance and… there’s this sign that says, uh, ‘Martian Reservation, trespassers will be guilt ridden.’ So ok, lets just look at that for a second… Basically there’s the idea that of course like, they have no power to do anything about people who trespass, right? For one thing, so there’s this powerlessness, but it’s also this idea of white guilt, right? Like, Native people make you feel guilty, and so when you’re dealing with Native people just be prepared to be guilt ridden.” (Indian and Cowboy, 2015, 29:12-30:33)

Here, Chelsea and Molly confront the narratives in Futurama, and elaborate on the misrepresentation of power differences in the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized, and bring in the concept of white guilt.

The critique on the Futurama episode by Métis in Space draws similarities between the science fiction narrative in this episode and colonial narratives IRL.

[CLIP 5] “It’s like they take all these narrative strains and layer them on top of each other. So it’s like, you know, Western movies, colonialism, masculinity, and then also of course like the science fiction is all happening kind of at once and like teasing these things apart is like really, really interesting. But it kind of goes to show that a lot of these things, you know, they put all this together and create a very recognizable coherent narrative.” (Indian and Cowboy, 2015, 27:59-28.33)

What I found interesting about this episode, is that Métis in Space not only critiques mainstream science fiction, but also incorporates original Indigenous futurisms within the context of the podcast. In this case, the hosts receive a transmission from the future, approximately 250 years in the future.

[CLIP 6] “Oh, wait! Hey, I think, are we getting a transmission? Oh, oh is that what that is? I heard something buzzing. Yeah, ok ok, lets… we’re going to have to take a pause here, lets get this in because we never know if we’re gonna get it again, so lets yeah hold on one sec…” “Dispatches from the future. Incoming, in three, two, one…” “So, as we, we set up here in orbit and kinda watch what’s, what’s going down, ahh, below us… ahh, we’re kind of seeing an interesting kind of situation play out…” (Indian and Cowboy, 2015, 37:20-37:50)

Molly and Chelsea envision themselves as characters in the future, that describe a future scenario from an Métis perspective. The transmission emphasizes the juxtaposition of their Métis perspective with a non-Métis perspective to relationship making. The future selves of Molly and Chelsea observe attempts to be Indigenous by claiming to be Métis, yet deny a relationship to one another. The hosts describe this as an attempt at a quote “colonial move to innocence,” and describe this as an “archaic twist on this worldview” end quote. In their representation of an Indigenous futurism, this settler move to innocence is framed as an antiquated practice.

[CLIP 7] “They had decided that they were Indigenous and that they had replaced the other Indigenous peoples so there, there were some pretty strong claims that they created their own communities and their federations and you know tribes and stuff like that, but now these people are saying “no we’re not related to you at all, thus we can’t have a relationship. Yeah, and of course, like, this is one of kind of those moves to innocence, those colonial moves to innocence that were really distorted during the … in like 2018-2021, so these, this is like, kind of a really, kind of like archaic twist on this world view. Ahh, it just seems strange that they haven’t moved past this.” (Indian and Cowboy, 2015, 40:07-40:45)

The Indigenous futurism Molly and Chelsea describe emphasizes the importance of an ongoing future framework that involves the continued relationship to land and one another. Nalo Hopkinson describes how people of colour take narratives in science fiction of quote, “colonizing the natives” and effectively “critique it, pervert it, fuck with it, with irony, with anger, with humor and also, with love and respect for the genre of science fiction that makes it possible to think about new ways of doing things.” end quote (as cited in Cornum, 2015, para. 2). I argue that Métis in Space does this effectively. As David Gaertner succinctly put it, Indigenous futurism can be described as, quote “imagining the future from an Indigenous perspective” that “projects Indigenous people into the future” end quote (personal communication, October 31, 2016).

[CLIP 8] “Métis in Space. Otipêyimsiw-iskwêwak kihci-kîsikohk, Métis in Space. (Indian and Cowboy, 2015, 108:10-108:27)

Métis in Space has created a sovereign digital Métis space through their website and social media platforms. It is my belief that Métis in Space speaks to a contemporary Indigenous critique on colonial representations of Indigenous people in science fiction, while offering an alternative representation of Indigenous futurism. Metis in Space challenges the production of the mainstream genre of science fiction by producing counter narratives in an accessible format for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.

Thank you for listening! My name is Lisa Girbav and this is my podcast titled Podcasting an Indigenous Future(ism) – Métis in Space. And thank you to the hosts of Métis in Space for allowing me to use their audio for this podcast.

References:

Cornum, L. C. (2015). The space NDN’s star map. Retrieved from http://thenewinquiry.com/essays/the-space-ndns-star-map/

Gaertner, D. (2014). Traditional innovation: The turn to a decolonial new media studies. Retrieved from https://novelalliances.com/2014/11/25/traditional-innovation-the-turn-to-a-decolonial-new-media-studies/

Groening, M. (2013) [Where the buggalo roam]. From Futurama. Retrieved from https://www.netflix.com/watch/70140734?trkid=13752289&tctx=0%252C0%252C1f13fd29054576d06144c17c919ef139ed7b93be%253A06449b0377000391f616679008fd000dc9946e9b 

Indian and Cowboy (2015). Otipêyimsiw-iskwêwak kihci-kîsikohk, Métis in Space (S.2) EP#3 – Futurama “Where The Buggalo Roam.” Retrieved November 12, 2016 from http://www.metisinspace.com/episodes/2016/4/2/mtis-in-space-s2-ep3-futurama-where-the-buggalo-roam

Indian and Cowboy (n.d.) [Métis in Space]. Retrieved from https://static1.squarespace.com/static/531df8c1e4b089910ebaf2fc/54177c62e4b06556b717752b/54205963e4b03f1e88166441/1419064268993/?format=500w

Lewis, J. & Fragnito, S. T. (2005). Aboriginal territories in cyber space. Cultural Survival, 29.2. Retrieved from https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/canada/aboriginal-territories-cyberspace

To position my work, you may find my self-location here.

FYI – as graphic novels go, this video is pretty graphic.

For this bog entry, I was fixated on the visual story of The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book (Hill, 2010) and the auditory story  of A Tribe Called Red‘s The Virus (2016). I thought this blog was the perfect opportunity to create a visual and auditory remix of these two forms of art to create a story to exemplify screen sovereignty through the use of mixed media. This was my attempt to avoid writing an academic paper, however, I’ve since chosen to write a post to put this video into the context of screen sovereignty.

Dowell (2013) describes visual sovereignty as “the articulation of Aboriginal people’s distinct cultural traditions, political status, and collective identities through aesthetic and cinematic means” (p. 2)

In my view, screen sovereignty is the right to self representation in a digital space through multiple mediums and forms of communication. For myself, screen sovereignty happens through diverse digital spaces, including this blog where you will find my self-location linked at the top of the page. I always include a link to my self-location with my blog posts to allow the reader to understand my worldview, “as there is no singular Aboriginal media aesthetic” (Dowell, p. 2). I find this is an effective tool that allows me to define my own image as a Tsimshian person through media, rather than to have it dictated to me or ascribed on my being. Screen sovereignty can also be exemplified on social media, like Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Periscope and Vine, where the content creator has control over what is being produced (I also wonder which of these mediums will be outdated in the next five years). There are a number of avenues for self-representation in a digital space, but the key to screen sovereignty is having control over what your image is that is put forward.

For this blog, I explored a combination of graphic art and music to create a narrative on the screen. I believe my own screen sovereignty is happening through the video I created above, remixing the visual component of Hill’s book The 500 Years Of Resistance Comic Book (2010) with A Tribe Called Red’s song The Virus (2016). I read Hill (2010) at the same time that A Tribe Called Red’s latest concept album came out – We Are The Halluci Nation (2016). The visual imagery of the comic book fit so perfectly in my mind with the song The Virus that I felt compelled to re-mix the two into a unique new combination for others to experience. The song, and the entire album, captured my attention and created an emotional response for me, as I’m sure it has for many others. Recollet (2016) reflects on the concept of decolonial love, as described by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, in media as “Indigenous forms of holding spaces for each other through, within, and despite the rupturous inter-stices of settler colonialism.” (p. 96). Thus, in my immediate admiration (lets be honest, it’s an obsession) with the A Tribe Called Red album, I too am engaging in radical decolonial love for this art form.  As I was making the film, I felt more and more satisfied with the outcome, and once it was complete I felt proud of what I had created. As Recollet describes, at that “moment of decolonization” (p. 96) there is “an unclean break from a colonial condition” (Tuck & Yang, 2012, p. 20). 

Recollet (2016) describes the purpose of modern Indigenous remix as to “reconfigure space to produce the protocol of urban spaces” allowing the viewer to time travel remixing past, present, and future (p. 94).

I created this re-mix of visual and auditory components as a representation of connecting past atrocities of colonization and re-presenting them through modern mediums. The act of finding new and creative ways of presenting Indigenous information “resist[s] and intervene[s] in the hyper-representational mode of describing Indigeneity and Indigenous world(s) as anachronistic and stuck in the primordial past.” (Recollet, 2016, p. 95). The act of creating something in the present depicting the past projects a new way of understanding into the future (2016). 

Dowell (2013) describes Aboriginal sovereignty as a political act, and one of a process. Both The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book (2010) and The Virus (2016) have political messages, and combined into this video, the message is amplified. While this video only required myself and my laptop to produce, the work of Gord Hill and A Tribe Called Red required multiple people and countless hours of research, editing and creating to bring their work together. This video is a continuation of the process of creation that Hill and A Tribe Called Red started. Through this video, I aim to challenge unequal power dynamics using accessible media for the masses (ie. Youtube).

As I was making this video I was unsure whether or not the piece I was creating was something that embodied screen sovereignty. I could not decide whether the song should tell the story of The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book (2010), or whether the comic book should illustrate the story of The Virus (2016). Ultimately, I could not justify either of these two scenarios as I did not want to use one to tell the other. I felt this would undermine these separate but related pieces and may do a disservice to either of the artists who allowed me to use their work for this project. I cannot conclude that this is an example of screen sovereignty of either Hill or A Tribe Called Red, and until they tell me otherwise, I cannot assume that this is a true and accurate representation of their messages as the parties have only given me expressed written consent to use their content for this purpose of creating this video. Ultimately, this video is a representation of my own thoughts that have been percolating about these two forms of art. The video is my re-presentation of these two storytelling methods, and depicts the storyline that I attempted to convey by pairing the images of the comic with the lyrics of the song. 

It was also a fine line to walk as to whether or not I would be representing these artists in a good way. As I set out my shot list, I questioned whether or not to include or remove the text in the comic book strip. I decided I would leave the text in as much as possible, as it’s an integral part of the original artwork from Hill (2010), and I did not want to take the images out of context for fear of misrepresenting the authors’ message. I do not intend for the viewer to read every slide, as the imagery was the main part that moved me to make this video.  However, I did remove the text of a few slides for continuity as I felt the images matched the context of the story I was trying to tell, but the text did not line up with the message at the particular point that I was emphasizing. I also altered the audio to include clips from Joseph Boyden that appear elsewhere in We Are The Halluci Nation (2016), as I wanted to incorporate my favourite quotes into this piece.

Hope you enjoy the video!

References:

Boyden, J. (2016). BEFORE [Recorded by A Tribe Called Red]. On We Are The Halluci Nation [mp3]. Radicalized Records. (2016, September 16).

Boyden, J. (2016). SOON [Recorded by A Tribe Called Red]. On We Are The Halluci Nation [mp3]. Radicalized Records. (2016, September 16).

Dowell, K. (2013). Sovereign Screens: Aboriginal Media on the Canadian West Coast. University of Nebraska Press.

Hill, G. (2010). The 500 years of resistance comic book. Arsenal Pulp Press.

Recollet, K. (2016). Gesturing Indigenous futurities through the remix. Dance Research Journal, 48(1), 91-105. doi:10.1017/S0149767715000492

Tuck, E., & Yang, K. W. (2012). Decolonization is not a metaphor. Decolonization: Indignity, Education & Society, 1(1), 1-40.

Williams, S, Black Bear. (2016). The Virus [Recorded by A Tribe Called Red]. On We Are The Halluci Nation [mp3]. Radicalized Records. (2016, September 16).

To position my work, you may find my self-location here.

Here is a basic flowchart of what “Nation to Nation” consultation looks like between the Tsimshian Nation and the Canadian State.

There is a lot of “Nation to Nation” rhetoric from the federal and provincial governments in getting First Nations free, prior and informed contest. Here I’ve made a handy flowchart of the two legal traditions and systems of governance. This may explain how “Nation to Nation” negotiation has gone awry in the Tsimshian Territory.

On the left, the Tsimshian Nation occupies the Tsimshian Territory. The Tsimshian people are grouped into Tribes, where each Tribe has the right to specific territory and resources (ie. fishing, hunting, harvesting rights).

The Tribes are lead by Hereditary Chiefs, also called Simoyget in the Sm’algyax language, who are spokes people for the Tribe. The Hereditary Chiefs have an obligation to represent a Tribe based on consensus decision making. The Hereditary Chiefs must have a feast to recognize their status, whereby attending the feast and consuming the food, you are agreeing to the business taking place.

On the right, the Canadian state/ crown has imposed and monopolized their legal system over First Nations law. The state created the Indian act legislation to govern First Nations – deciding membership and displacing First Nations from their territory to live on reservations designated by the state.

The Indian Act laid out the band council and reservation system. Therefore the band council operates by the rules and regulations of the Indian Act and thus the Canadian state. This interaction between the state and the band council is intergovernmental, not Nation to Nation.

Band Councils represent a reservation within a territory, sometimes coinciding with a Tribe – but not always. Lax Kw’alaams represents the 9 allied Tribes, which are on the left side of the above list.

It is important to recognize that the people elected to the band council are also members of the community. These representatives are often experienced leaders who have built relationships and trust with the members of the community. Participation in the band system is a way to use the means that are available to advocate and provide for the community, while the remainder of our territory and wealth is occupied/ forcibly controlled but the State. This only complicates the path of garnering “Nation to Nation” consent.

This is a description of the two active forms of governance in the Tsimshian Territory. The Tsimshian Nation is not currently represented by a contemporary political organization, such as a tribal council.

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To break down the Tsimshian governance structure even further, the Tribes are broken down into familial houses, and then a crest/clan system. It is common practice at First Nations events to reassert and recognize our position in society and our governance structure before proceeding with an event.

The Tsimshian governance structure is very complex and has been developed over thousands of years to ensure territorial rights are kept in line and kinship ties are accounted for. This is all recoded though our Adaawk, a formal collectively owned oral history (Marsden, 2002), and our Ayook, the traditional Tsimshian law.

Hereditary Chiefs have an obligation to lead in accordance with our Adaawk and Ayook.

To position my work, you may find my self-location here.

Those in media have heard at some point the words of Canadian academic Marshall McLuhan: “the medium is the massage [sic]” (1967/1996, p. 26), or more commonly “the medium is the message.” These are McLuhan’s famous words, his everlasting claim to academic fame that distracts from the prejudice at the foundation of his romanticized, colonial description of media. I will begin by identifying the faults in McLuhan’s sociological perspective before analyzing his theories. For McLuhan, media is a tool that is an extension of ones self, and “The extension of any one sense alters the way we think and act–the way we perceive the world.” (p. 148). I will explore the idea of media as an extension of the self by using the example of academic writing. McLuhan observes that we create environments through the use of media (p. 26). Indigenous people working in a variety of mediums create environments for decolonization and self-representation. I will use two examples of First Nations artists creating environments for Indigenous community through new media. I begin by identifying McLuhan’s prejudice, then I describe media as an extension of self, and finish with contemporary examples of Indigenous people decolonizing new media environments.

McLuhan succeeds at tokenizing and dehumanizing Indigenous culture within the context, and for the benefit of, explaining Western culture. While McLuhan was revolutionary in describing new theories of how media works, he simultaneously develops his ideas around colonial concepts, including his assertion that a “multidimensional space orientation” is “primitive” (1967/1996, p. 56). Many Indigenous people view the world from a non-linear worldview.

Many Indigenous people view the world from a non-linear worldview.

Stephen Loft (2012) envisions, and reclaims the concept of “multidimensional space orientation” as cosmology–the connections of the past to the present, of one another to the ancestors, and of the material to the spiritual (p. 175), as a way of viewing media within a contemporary environment. Despite the position of McLuhan being a white settler academic, he flippantly states in his book, “the new electronic interdependence recreates the world in the image of a global village,” coupled with an image of an Afrikan tribe (p. 67) to describe the West’s “new found interconnectedness.” McLuhan makes uninformed sweeping statements that literacy divorced “us” [ie. Western culture, those reading The Medium is the Massage] from “tribal emotions” (p. 63). This description trivializes tribal people as having distinct non-human emotions aside from the Western definition of emotion. Despite the incorrect use of terminology, tokenizing of Indigenous culture, and the demeaning perspective of Indigenous worldviews as “primitive” in the eyes of the West, the use of McLuhan’s conceptualization of media may be applied in understanding Indigenous uses of new media.

McLuhan argues that the medium is a tool that represents an extension of self (1967/1996, p. 26). He states, “all media are extensions of some human faculty–psychic or physical” (p. 26). The various mediums we use for communication work in different ways as an extension of self, and thus have an effect on how we organize socially within those environments. It has taken me some time to articulate this in a meaningful way, but I will use the example of academic writing as an extension of self. Just as “Clothing, [is] an extension of the skin”, “electric circuitry, [is] an extension of the central nervous system” (p. 38-40), and the “academic paper” can be an extension of the Western pedagogy. Writing, albeit academic, is very personal. I felt my first blog did not adequately represent my ideas, my community, my family or myself in the good intentioned way I meant to convey my ideas (lets face it, a lot of terrible things have happened from good intentions–colonization and assimilation for instance). As any “good” student I set out to write an “academic paper,” which was technically what I wrote (I took a very linear path to writing an academic paper). The problem was that it did not feel authentic. For a moment I forgot my intention, to be critical through an Indigenous lens.

For a moment I forgot my intention, to be critical through an Indigenous lens.

I did not position myself within the academy in my first edition, neglected to include a self-location to put my perspective into context (you’ll see I now have a separate category in this blog called Self Location which will apply to my work moving forward), and when I reflect back I realize how crucial this step is. This is a convoluted way to say that the medium, the “academic paper,” was an extension of myself within the framework of a Western academic education. As McLuhan so eloquently put it, “all media work us over completely” (p. 26). I was caught in the Western academic trap. Perhaps this is what happened to McLuhan as well, as once I went down that path of writing an “academic paper,” I had to take a step back and question if this was how I wanted to be represented as an extension of myself. So how do other Indigenous artists and media makers represent themselves through media?

McLuhan asserts that we create environments for communication (1967/1996, p. 26). McLuhan states, “These environments are invisible. Their groundrules, [sic] pervasive structure, and overall patterns elude easy perception.” (p. 84, 85). Loft (2012) envisions new media as a means of creating a space for interconnectedness among Indigenous people in cyber space (p. 175). In my earlier rendering of this blog, I attempted to apply McLuhan’s concepts to the work of Anishinaabe filmmaker Lisa Jackson. As I was writing, I felt very conflicted about my approach. I still feel as though Jackson does not deserve to be vetted within the context of McLuhan’s Western prejudicial linear worldview, however, Jackson is an important influencer in the Indigenous film community and I am still very compelled to use her work as an example of an Indigenous environment for communication and decolonization.

Jackson, L. [Catrina Longmuir]. (2013). How A People Live [Video file]. Retrieved from http://lisajackson.ca/How-a-People-Live

In the movie trailer for How A People Live (2013), Jackson creates a space–an environment–for the Gwa’sala-‘Nakwaxda’xw First Nations for self-representation through interviews with people telling their story from their perspective; and visual sovereignty by allowing these subjects to define their image on the screen. Another example of an Indigenous defined environment is A Tribe Called Red’s latest album We Are The Halluci Nation. These Mohawk, Cayuga and Nipissing Anishnabe artists use their medium for the purpose of creating Indigenous spaces while acting as role models for the Indigenous community. Their website sums it up in their words: “at their shows, a crowd of Aboriginal Canadians (which includes First Nations people, Métis, Inuit, and 631 other nations) mix with social activists, music heads and anyone looking for a great party and a safe space to come together.” (A Tribe Called Red Press Kit, n.d., para 3). A Tribe Called Red actively decolonize space by challenging racial stereotypes and reclaiming Indigenous representations in “movies, cartoons and media” by incorporating these images into their live performances for the purpose of creating “a new political context” (para 3).

A Tribe Called Red promotes inclusivity, empathy and acceptance amongst all races and genders in the name of social justice. They believe that indigenous people need to define their identity on their own terms. (Press Kit, n.d., para. 7).

A Tribe Called Red, Trudell, J. Northern Voice. [A Tribe Called Red]. (2016, July 12). We Are The Halluci Nation Ft. John Trudell & Northern Voice [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4xwN3yPZA0

In this seemingly simple video, A Tribe Called Red utilizes multiple means of visual and verbal communication. At their disposal, they use spoken word for storytelling and envisioning a space outside of reality (“we are the tribe they cannot see”), imagery of the land, symbolism in lieu of written words (the DNA symbol at 51 seconds), the symbolism of circular ways of thinking (“we are the evolution, the continuation” at 1 minute 4 seconds) (A Tribe Called Red et al., “We Are The Halluci Nation,” 2016). Both Jackson and A Tribe Called Red embody Loft’s vision of cyberspace while creating McLuhan’s concept of environment.

McLuhan was a visionary for his time, regardless of his misguided approach to describing media and the new environment(s) it creates. Before looking at the work of McLuhan, it is vital to recognize the prejudice underlying his body of work. Despite his inability to place Indigenous culture in a Western framework, we can still apply some of McLuhan’s concepts to Indigenous new media. McLuhan argues that the media is a means of communication that is an extension of self, which effects our social organization (1967/1996, p. 26, 41). There are plenty of examples of Indigenous people using new media to create decolonized environments, where I look at two contemporary examples of film and music. The book The Medium Is The Massage is a starting point for understanding media, however additional sources are required to put these concepts into ones own worldview.

Allen, W. (Director). [Tralfaz666]. (2011, December 1). Woody Allen meets Marshall McLuhan [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/sXJ8tKRlW3E?t=2m1s 

References:

A Tribe Called Red Press Kit [Web page]. (n.d.) Retrieved from http://atribecalledred.com/bio/

A Tribe Called Red, Trudell, J. Northern Voice. [A Tribe Called Red]. (2016, July 12). We Are The Halluci Nation Ft. John Trudell & Northern Voice [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4xwN3yPZA0

Allen, W. (Director). [Tralfaz666]. (2011, December 1). Woody Allen meets Marshall McLuhan [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/sXJ8tKRlW3E?t=2m1s

Jackson, L. [Catrina Longmuir]. (2013). How A People Live [Video file]. Retrieved from http://lisajackson.ca/How-a-People-Live

Loft, S., Swanson, K. (Eds.) (2012). Coded territories: Tracing Indigenous pathways in new media art. Calgary, Alberta: University of Calgary Press.

McLuhan, M., Fiore, Q., & Agel, J. (1996). The medium is the massage: An inventory of effects. London: Penguin. (Original work published 1967)