The contradiction that Chamberlin identifies at the heart of ‘home’ aptly speaks to the feeling of unease held by many Canadians of European heritage. How am I, as a Canadian of European descent able to reconcile the fact that my narrative of home, in all the ways in which it has come to define me, is implicated in the erasure of the home narratives of others? Querying narratives

The time has come to tell your story. Lesson 2:1 asks you to explore and express your values and the stories you use to connect yourself to your sense of home. Remember what Thomas Kings says, “we are the stories we tell ourselves.” Remember what Edward Chamberlain says, “stories give meaning and value to the places we call home.”  And, take some time to reflect on the stories your grew up with that shaped how you value your home, reflect on the how these stories have shaped your sense of belonging, or not – to your home and your homeland.

In the introduction to this lesson I speak about examining our common assumptions and our diverse backgrounds in an effort to create an environment for learning and exploring difficult topics — together. My hope is that you will enjoy this process and that as a class we will create a more comfortable space to explore difficult questions with the knowledge that we do not all have the same perspectives because we do not all have the same stories. At the same time, we will discover some commonalties that will surprise us; and that always delight me. Write your story for your peers. Include the usual two hyperlinks and feel free to use visuals as well.

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I am reading your stories about how Evil came into the world this week, you will notice my smiley faces that indicate I have finished reading that particular blog. I will sometimes stop and comment, but for the most part, I leave the dialoguing to you and your peers. Your first round of evaluations will come midterm – at the end of Unit 2. You will receive an evaluation page with feedback and commentary at that point, via email. In the meantime, If your blogs are not reaching me expectations, I will contact you via email with advice and encouragement.

Please remember, you need to reply to the comments on your posts. If you are in a hurry, at least pause long enough to let your peer know you have read and appreciate the contribution. Thanks

Please remember – no wiki links, take a look at the Blogging guidelines to see my logic in this request, Thanks.

And now, I must say I am very pleased indeed with the overall quality and insightfulness and entertaining nature of your blogging and dialoguing to date. Thank you all. Here are some interesting quotes from a collection of your blogs and dialogues; enjoy.

As Chamberlin articulates– stories of home shape us. It is through stories of home, of belonging, that we come to understand ourselves. As children, it is through understandings of home that we first come to understand the world. “Home” allows us to pinpoint ourselves on a conceptual map, to overlay an orderly schematic onto on an otherwise unruly understanding of self and world. It this sense we could say that home “liberates” us. It plays a fundamental role in the formation of our sense of self.  Querying narratives

The contradiction that Chamberlin identifies at the heart of ‘home’ aptly speaks to the feeling of unease held by many Canadians of European heritage. How am I, as a Canadian of European descent able to reconcile the fact that my narrative of home, in all the ways in which it has come to define me, is implicated in the erasure of the home narratives of others? Or as Chamberlin puts it, how do you come to terms with the way your nation’s narrative of home is implicated in a “history of dismissing a different belief or behaviour as unbelief or misbehaviour” (78). Perhaps, according to Chamberlin’s views on contradiction, home must necessarily exist in a state of tension and paradox. Perhaps this keeps us from getting too comfortable with notions of home. Maybe home needs to be perpetually held in a state of questioning to ward off the possibility of re-inscribing the “belief/unbelief” binary. Querying narratives

In the context of discussion around colonization, forgetting and unlearning, power seems to be a separate factor: something that is not entirely born from shared stories and belief, but something that pre-exists due to histories of violence and misunderstanding (I fear that misunderstanding is too gentle a term, but alas I am limited in the world of words). When histories are intentionally forgotten on an institutional (and thus, national) level, not only do the connotations and meanings of words veer strongly out of the favour of certain (read First Nations) groups, but ways of using words to exhibit knowledge, belief and consequent reality are challenged and ignored. Story time

For so many people, language (speaking and writing) is a primary medium for self-expression. Self-expression is a confirmation of self: a cumulation of experiences that confirms one’s existence, reality and validity. To force Eurocentric ideals, and colonial languages is to challenge the realities of groups, histories and individuals. THIS IS IN NO WAY MEANT TO BE ME TELLING THE STORY OF THE “DISEMPOWERMENT” OF THE PEOPLE IN BUSOLWE. I feel vulnerable in my own words here, because I hope in no way to be taking some kind of anthropological, “look what we’ve done”, labelling of the “victims” of colonialism. This is just one slice, one story/perspective to illustrate a point of the power of words and language and how tied to history “legitimate” ways of knowing can be. Story time
 

These examples of current-day colonization exhibit the delicate relationship between language and reality. While there is the micro relationship between how words articulate imagination, thus creating this quasi-reality is present, on a macro level, how we determine what types and uses of language are valuable and legitimate feeds into create and denying entire histories and bodies of knowledge. This is where unlearning, though SO difficult, is valuable. Story time

I think that one point which gets neglected in the written vs. oral debate is that although the written form was indeed crucial for the development of knowledge, so was the oral form. It was not as if people stopped talking to each other once writing became viable. Critical discussion and research did not become limited to paper exchanges and education still involved teachers speaking to students. Now, this is a bit of an ironic point to make in a distance course. However, one thing I’ve noticed is that rather than pushing more towards the written, technology seems to be pushing more towards the oral. Written or Oral

This is where home gets tricky. Chamberlain says, “home may be in another time and place, and yet it holds us in its power here and now.” This is the case with many Indigenous people living in Vancouver, in the Unceded Coast Salish Territories. Home doesn’t exist here anymore. Since contact, white settlers have been taking things away from the Indigenous people. Language and land, two powerful aspects of any culture, were stolen from the Aboriginal people. Today, things are still being taken away. Entire city blocks are being gentrified to be more appealing to white middle class Canadians, who are colonizing the DTES by destroying the area because they think it’s their right to do so. There Goes the Neighbourhood

The problem that I have with gentrification is that I feel that it sanitizes places of memory, and rewrites them to reflect Vancouver’s image as a dream world class city. In this case I am referring to the DTES and the missing and murdered Indigenous Women who were victims of Robert Pickton. Vancouver is seen as a city mapped in memory, which is emphasized by David Harvey’s expansion of the theory of “genius loci” (guardian spirit). He argues that buildings and places absorb relations that occur within them, and it determines the essence of one’s identity. Although these places hold traumatic memories for victims and their families, to break them down would trivialize what had occurred. The places continually serve as a reminder of the past, making the victims experiences visible, while also showing the negligence of those who made little effort to solve the crimes. There Goes the Neighbourhood