{"id":38,"date":"2016-11-10T20:25:34","date_gmt":"2016-11-11T03:25:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/cdnlit\/?p=38"},"modified":"2016-11-10T20:25:34","modified_gmt":"2016-11-11T03:25:34","slug":"38","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/cdnlit\/2016\/11\/10\/38\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Everyone is on the move in this novel, road trips abound and in order to hit the road what do we need? \u2014 a road map. At the same time, Lionel, Charlie and Alberta are each seeking direction in life. As Goldman says, \u201cmapping is a central metaphor\u201d (24) of this novel. Maps chart territory and provide directions, they also create borders and boundaries and they help us to find our way. There is more than one way to map, and just as this novel plays with conflicting story traditions, I think King is also playing with conflicting ways to chart territory. What do you think lies at the centre of King\u2019s mapping metaphor?<\/span><\/p>\n

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Hey everyone! I hope you\u2019re doing well! The central metaphor of mapping, a symbol for the protagonists longing to find a place in the world, in Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King<\/i> is a recurring theme in his novel.<\/span><\/p>\n

This \u201cplace\u201d can be seen in a very abstract way. While a map usually is a piece of paper with some lines and coloured areas, as a metaphor it is that and so much more. A map can act as a metaphor for your place in life; your goals. It can act as a metaphor for rough times when you have \u201clost your way\u201d and feel \u201clost.\u201d Our language is full of map-themed metaphors to symbolize our longing to find the \u201cright\u201d place in our life, and define this place.<\/span><\/p>\n

And, while maps can provide guidance, the mere existence of a map does not always help you to find your way. Not only do you have to be able to connect the map with the real world, to be able to read it and find directions, you also have to know where you are right now for a map to be useful. And even then, a map is just a tool to help you find your way. If you don\u2019t know where you are headed, a map might help you find places, but you might still feel lost. In the end, it is you who has to find your path, your way in life. A map could protect you and could help you from losing your way, but a map is just a tool, not a solution.<\/span><\/p>\n

For this blog post, I decided to do some research on what mapping means to Indigenous people. I found this interesting chapter from a book (Lewis<\/span><\/a>). For Indigenous People maps had a different meaning than for most European colonizers. While maps for European colonizers were oftentimes tools to mark territory, to show treaties, and to visualize properties and divide them up for consumption, Indigenous Peoples maps often have other meanings. Indigenous maps \u201cwere born of experience and oral tradition, not an ascribed archival history in the Western sense.\u201d Yes, the occasional Indigenous map might be used to visualize boundaries between different tribes, but maps were meant to represent nature, to show where to hunt, where to live, where to bury the dead, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

One passage in Marlene Goldman\u2019s (Goldman<\/span><\/a>). article says: <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNative American peoples have repeatedly asserted the legitimacy of their own maps and contested European maps and strategies of mapping, which have played such a central role in conceptualizing, codifying, and regulating the vision of the settler-invader society\u2026\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

This passage saddens me, as it reminds me of the brutality that colonization forced onto Indigenous people. The Indigenous people treated the land as their life, but the European colonizers, treated land as something they could consume, destroy, and discard, something which continues to this day. For example, big companies putting oil pipelines right through Indigenous people’s land (McSheffrey<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s interesting looking at the difference between Indigenous and European ways of mapping, and seeing how much it has to do with attitude and lifestyle. European colonizers using mapping for controlling, destroying, and discarding, versus Indigenous people using mapping as a way of discovering and documenting while living as one with nature.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Works cited:<\/span><\/p>\n

Goldman, Marlene. “Mapping And Dreaming Native Resistance In Green Grass, Running Water.” CanLit. N.p. 2015. 19.\u00a0 <\/span>Web. 09 Nov. 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lewis, G. Malcolm. “Chapter 4 Maps, Mapmaking, and Map Use by Native North Americans.” The History Of Cartography. Vol. 3. Chicago: U Of Chicago, 1998. 52. University Of Chicago Press. Web. 09 Nov. 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n

McSheffrey, Elizabeth. “First Nations across North America Sign Treaty Alliance against the Oilsands.” National Observer. N.p., 22 Sept. 2016. Web. 09 Nov. 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Everyone is on the move in this novel, road trips abound and in order to hit the road what do we need? \u2014 a road map. At the same time, Lionel, Charlie and Alberta are each seeking direction in life. As Goldman says, \u201cmapping is a central metaphor\u201d (24) of this novel. Maps chart territory […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43462,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/cdnlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/cdnlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/cdnlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/cdnlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43462"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/cdnlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/cdnlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/cdnlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38\/revisions\/39"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/cdnlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/cdnlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/cdnlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}