Forests & Oceans for the Future Discussion and News

June 18-20, 2018. Unceded Indigenous lands of the Kanien’kehá:ka Nation 

Tiohtiá:ke/Montreal.

CICADA is a research centre based at McGill designed to spark collaborative research between universities, First Nations, and NGOs that rests upon rests on “a foundation of relationships of partnered knowledge coproduction with indigenous partners” (Scott 2018). Organizationally CICADA has a set of core research themes, each with a triumvirate of leaders. I was a participant in the recent CICADA Leaders meeting as a co-leader (along with John Galaty and Ismael Vaccaro) of the Customary Tenure and Territorial Rights research axis.

For reference here are the current research and methodological axis:

• Life project, and relational ontologies.
• Customary tenure and territorial rights.
• Livelihoods, food sovereignty and neoliberal growth.
• Violence, criminalization, and conflict transformation in resource extractive contexts.
• Community based protected areas and conservation governance.
• Cultural heritage in conservation and territorial identity.
• Indigenous rights and inter-legalities.
• Community mapping.
• Community video.

The value of these kinds of coordination meetings is always debatable – it costs a lot of time and money and comes with a high carbon footprint. At the same time humans are gregarious creatures and these types of opportunities creates space for sparking novel ideas, effective collaborations, and new constellations of effort. I marvel at the institutional fortitude of the CICADA Director, Colin Scott, and his support team – putting something like this together is a Herculean task. They did an amazing job and, at least from my vantage point, it went smoothly.

The meeting consisted of short presentations by axis leaders and presentations of individual projects followed by longer periods of discussion. The idea behind of these presentations was to explore the range and form of research action to be undertaken by CICADA members, partners, and collaborators. I always feel that when I am able to attend an event like this its rather like a special seminar or advanced workshop. For these kinds of meetings I try to sit back and allow myself to follow the passion of each speaker. While not always successful in setting aside my critiques, I find appreciating the presentations from the presenter’s vantage point is an effective approach to learning. Though some things do require critical reflection and comment.

Of the 30 or so presenters only five were Indigenous (which is actually pretty good for this kind of meeting, normally the ratio would is more like 30:1). At one point during the meeting I commented that by rights at least half of the people in the room should be Indigenous; especially so, given CICADA’s research focus. I understand the difficulty that settler organizations have, irrespective of their good intentions and hard work, finding enough of us to meet the various criteria often imposed. For example, just how many Indigenous faculty members are at McGill, how many are members of McGill’s anthropology department? UBC likes to boast about the 25 (or so) of us they have on faculty: but, out 3500 odd fulltime faculty 25 seems rather paltry. So I get it that there aren’t a lot of us yet on faculty. Just the same, there are things that could be done and one of them would be to start replacing some of the experts on Indigenous people with Indigenous experts. Another would be to make a commitment to ensure 50% of graduate students attached to and funded by CICADA are Indigenous.

Back to the presentations

Some of the presentations were more technical in nature – the community mapping and video sessions, for example. Here the speakers shared a range of things that they had done. We are past the point were mapping and video are novelties, but there is still much to learn through listening and observing other people’s experiences. The usual discussion of whether one should or shouldn’t map or film came up, as did the standard let’s make it better by putting the tools into the hands of the people. For me, these remain useful questions when implementing, but I would rather move beyond to more detailed case-to-case comparisons. Most of us have heard variations of this set of presentations before which led me to wonder if it might be more interesting and useful in the future to do some cross-case comparisons rather than revisiting of individual projects. As a dabbler in digital documentaries I am interested in seeing where things are going in the form as opposed to what we have been doing.

The life project and relation ontologies session is always a challenge for me as I take issue with the entirety of the ontological turn. I’ve recently penned a critique of one variant of the approach, which I term “defensive essentialism” (forthcoming Dialectical Anthropology). It also strikes me as yet another extraction of data from Indigenous communities wherein our ideas, worldviews, and intellectual traditions become yet again the fodder for externally imposed theories and models. That said, I can appreciate the delight in which the presenters take in learning about indigenous ways of life and in how we relate to all our relations.

The most engaging presentation was by Dr. Treena Wasonti:io Delormier, is Kanienke’há:ka (Mohawk) from the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawá:ke and an associate professor at McGill. Her presentation touched on the life course of her research from community health worker (in nutrition) to graduate research with the Cree and then ongoing work linked to her own community. Currently a member of the Centre for Indigenous Peoples’ Nutrition and Environment, she talked about the importance of the wider social connections between colonialism, foodways, and the possibility for health Indigenous futures. It was an inspiring talk that resonated with concerns, hopes, and issues back home on BC’s north coast. I look forward to learning more about her work and projects she is engaged with.

CICADA is a big idea with big intentions, directed by people with big hearts. The approach they take is exemplary. As with all things human there is always room for growth. But the growth that CICADA will spark is one built on a solid foundation, with strong partners, and individuals dedicated to putting their words into action.