Hello, Oh Canada! team for Winter 2016

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Hello Dr. Paterson and fellow students of “Oh, Canada …. Our Home and Native Land?”.  I look forward to working with you over the next few months, as we embark on our scholarly study of Canadian literature.

In the course we will explore historical literature of Canada, which will include literature of those of European heritage and the aboriginal people of Canada.  Before Christmas, I completed History 104, which included a few units about the history of Canada, and British Columbia specifically, that really emphasized to me the critical importance of understanding who is telling the narrative and the social contacts and history of the narrator.   I gained a greater appreciation for the European narrative of Columbus’ “discovery” of the Americas and civilization of the indigenous peoples.   In meetings of Europeans and First Nations, the narrative of colonization and imperialism came into contact with the oral story-telling narrative of the First Nations.

I expect differences in the literature of those of European heritage and the aboriginal people of Canada that we will study in this course because of a difference in the history of each.  European settler literature is impacted by the literary canon and history of the people.  European literature includes a narrative of colonization and settlement – domination over land, and “discovery’ of the land and “civilizing” of its peoples.  Aboriginal literature is impacted by the experiences of a settled people and oral traditions of communicating and storytelling.

In History 104 we read some First Nations literature, Thomas King’s A Coyote Columbus Story, to see how King “re-presented” the story of Columbus’ arrival using the oral and story-telling traditions of his culture. This narrative was in sharp contrast with Christopher Columbus’ official log of the “discovery”.  King’s literature has some points of similarity with European literature in the cultural “contact spaces” where Europeans and First Nations met in North America.  For example, King is presenting written work (a more traditional European medium of story-telling) with illustrations.  King himself (and his illustrator) are of mixed European and aboriginal heritage.

I expect to enhance my skills in hearing the narrative voice of colonization and racism in European settler literature, and enhancing my appreciation for the storytelling traditions of First Nations literature.  I would also like to see where these two have “contact spaces” and how that reflects the literature.  In History 104 we also reviewed the history of multiculturalism in Canada and the failure to consider First Nations in legislation and the continued history of marginalization into the 21^st Century.

As Captain Cook and the Europeans “discovered” the West Coast of Canada, they renamed many of the places with Christian names, or names that worked better in English, further dominating the land.  Cook renamed  all aboriginal people on Vancouver Island “Nootkans” Daniel Clayton documents in Reading Beyond Words: Contexts for Native History.  Like Nicholas, my family grew up in close proximity with a number of First Nations bands.  My father was born in Port Alice, and his childhood home in Port Hardy was in the Kwakiutl traditional territory and on the water right next to the reserve.  My mother grew up in Port Alberni next to the traditional territories of the Tseshaht and Hupacasath.  Her parents later moved to Nanaimo, traditional territory of the Snuneymuxw.  Despite my childhood visits to these areas rich in First Nations history, I heard no aboriginal stories, and grew up with a love of very traditional English literature and a longing to visit the birthplace of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Austen, and Forster.  As I take my last course for graduation from U.B.C. with a B.A. majoring in English Literature, it is fitting that I learn more about the literature of my home … and borrowed land?  The map below shows Vancouver Island – as named by the Europeans and First Nations.

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A little more about me…I am finding it quite interesting reading about everyone else, so I thought I would add this in….Danielle, you are not old.  My B.A. is my second degree, which I am completing entirely out of a love of learning.  I have a very satisfying career as a C.F.O. of a software company (as a result of my first degree in business from U.B.C. and a lot of exams in accounting and business valuations after).  I will finish my degree as my oldest daughter finishes first year in Engineering at Princeton (and is on the varsity field hockey team) and my second daughter finishes grade 11.  It is great to see all of the athletic women in the class!  I love lots of sports and play a lot of tennis, ski, etc. (but do not have the talent to play in the NCAA or for UBC!!).  The big question I will face after I post my last blog in English 470 – where do I go next for a great learning experience?

Some resources for anyone who is interested:

An interesting video on the topic of whose home is this anyway?  While the film explores multiculturalism, a key theme is the importance of fitting in with English, white culture.  Professor Dixon (History 104) had us question who is represented, who is absent?  There are no First Nations people and few Chinese Asians in the news report.  The first people of Canada are not even shown or discussed in the film! In the History 104 class, many people felt that ideas had changed with their generation.  However, we also learned that this “enlightenment” was more prevalent in the “contact zones” of Vancouver and Toronto – not necessarily in rural Canada.

Who is a Real Canadian (click on the link)

Who is a Real Canadian Part II (click on the link)

Works cited:

Thomas King and William Kent Monkman, A Coyote Columbus Story (Toronto and Berkeley: Groundwood Books, House of Anansi Press, 1992) ISBN: 9780888998309.