De/colonized Voices

[…]
earn to hurt like it’s getting better.
whether or not your nation’s got it together
or your people are fed and their necks
are safe and stowed beneath their heads,
you’ve got to go see it. go
while you’re young and slow
and the wind is out
whistling, tag, you’re it
’cause the streets are empty
and the people are scared to pry
into the net of lives around
them, the same net they found
themselves woven into
all those decades ago
when they were promised
something bright and spangled.
but go, cuz there are other reasons
to love your country. ones
that have nothing to do
with systems or pogo
stick politics, cuz the bricks
of a nation are really blokes
like you and I. so lend your fingers
to tie knots. these are the trees
you forgot to water, the calls
you unheard, pick up the phone,
somebody’s asking, have you heard
that this place is no place to build a home,
you can tell her I know, so I’m taking
the call with my own hands,
lending my body to somebody else’s words.
watch that body grow tall.
When you open your ears to all the billion
names that make the only skyline
the soul will remember
a dozen millennia after,
the only thing that will make
this city a worthy stake
in the future of your careening
generation, go and sing
about it; go where the sun
can know your shape, can burn.
there is so much to
fix but there is also
so much to learn.
life is a game we’ve already won,
a story we’ve already told.
so learn to grow old.
from new bus stops to hobo chalk,
go teach yourself to walk

– Michelle Jia, Torontonian writer/performer/musician

As children of the digital era, we have watched mainstream Canadian literature emerge as the intersection between literature and orality. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Blogging are just a small sampling of the technological advancements in communication that allow each of us to tell our stories, and contribute to mainstream Canadian literature. Literature and storytelling represent the thread that connects individuals from diverse backgrounds with one another. The very differences that have been used to keep us apart – race, culture, religion, hate and intolerance – can be reflected on in an effort to unveil shared assumptions, values and stories in an effort to converge upon common ground and “re–imagine Them and Us” (Chamberlin 137). But this is no easy feat! Just as in learning how to walk, one must tread and sort carefully through the existing narratives, “… putting both [narratives] under the same ethnohistorical lens, [asking] the same questions of the different [narratives], regarding the relationship of spirituality to history, and of myth to history” (Lutz 32) in order to actively dismantle the predominant colonizing narrative.

In 2009, “writers, poets, playwrights, computer programmers, and critics” gathered to share their thoughts on the future of Canadian Literature at a conference held at UBC (Moss 103). The diversity of the intellectuals present reflects the diversity of issues facing the future of Canadian literature: “environmentalism, nationalism, feminism, First Nations self-governance, Quebec sovereignty, sexual rights, civil rights, protection of Canadian culture, technology, historical revisionism, trauma, migration, institutions, citizenship, postcolonialism, postmodernism, formal innovation, magic realism, globalization, cosmopolitanism, racism, terrorism, community, human rights, biopolitics” (103). So, it was fitting that the conference featured an equally diverse palate: sushi, salmon, tea, and cookies. What an interesting image of individuals sharing food while sharing stories and cultures!

It is important to reflect on and celebrate this cultural diversity in order to maintain open dialogue about multiculturalism in Canada. But we must stop and ask ourselves what we look for in a Kumbaya nation? Are we fostering a cultural mosaic, in which Canada embraces cultural diversity, or a cultural melting pot, in which immigrants are expected to fully assimilate into Canadian culture, abandoning their cultural ties? Our team is interested in examining the intersection between postcolonial voices and immigrant voices. We intend to explore questions such as:

• What happens to ethnic identities in face of globalization?
• Where is Canadian Literature headed in the future?
  • Whose voices are heard?
  • Whose voices are missing?
  • What are the genres?
  • What’s being discussed?

. . . . . . .

Scheduled Meetings

We plan to use our Facebook group, Google Docs and Skype to collaboratively prepare our research and construct our conference website.

Tuesday, March 25th from 5-8pm – Brainstorming session, dialogue, debate, criticism.
Thursday, March 27th from 5-8pm – Research description drafting
Sunday, March 30thfrom 5-8pm – Construction of annotated bibliography

. . . . . . .

Deadlines

Friday, March 28th

• Select another group to dialogue with.

Friday, April 4th

• Have a minimum of 8 annotated sources in our bibliography (2 per member).
• Welcome visitors.
• Dialogue begins. Share resources, ask questions, answer questions.

Friday, April 11th

• Dialogue ends. Begin synthesis of dialogue and research.

Friday, April 18th

• Complete 1500 – 2000 words that synthesizes dialogue in response to our goals and questions.

. . . . . . .

Works Cited

Chamberlin, Edward. If This is Your Land, Where are Your Stories? Finding Common Ground. Toronto: AA. Knopf. 2003. Print.

Lutz, John. “First Contact as a Spiritual Performance: Aboriginal — Non-Aboriginal Encounters on the North American West Coast.” Myth and Memory: Rethinking Stories of Indigenous-European Contact. Ed. Lutz. Vancouver: U of British Columbia P, 2007. 30-45. Print

Moss, Laura. “Introduction: generous and grounded connections.” Canadian Literature 204 (2010): 103. Canadian Periodicals Index Quarterly. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.

“Multiculturalism in its controversial glory: Is Canada a ‘country without a core culture’?.” National Post News. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.

“The Red Couch Project – Michelle Jia: “Timpo’s Last Announcement”.” YouTube. YouTube, 20 May 2013. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.