Hello Everyone!

My name is Cathy Oh and I am very excited to study Canadian literature with you during our upcoming semester! I am in my 3^rdyear at UBC, majoring in psychology. After I graduate, I plan to study more at UBC to become an Elementary school teacher. I was born in South Korea and moved to Vancouver when I was 10 years old. Since then, I have been living and studying in Canada until last year. I went to South Korea as an exchange student for a year and currently I am still residing in Korea right now because of health issues.

Brief course description

ENGL 470 course is a study of Canadian literature in a historical context with a focus on colonial and Indigenous experiences.  We will be reading some written works and examining the roles orality plays in Indigenous literature. The goal of this course is to be able to recognize how stories are used in nation building, canonization and colonization.

Expectations

Although I have lived in Canada for most of my life, I’m very embarrassed to say that I know very little of the history of the Indigenous people and the genre of Canadian literature. I was very shocked when I first learned about how the First Nations were the ones to arrive in Canada but European Canadians tried to assimilate the culture and “civilize” the aboriginal people.

I can still remember the day I went on a field trip in my grade 10 social studies class to a past residential school to experience and learn about what it was like. Before going on the field trip, I learned about the cruelty of the residential schools and when I saw the place with my own eyes, I teared up and got very upset imagining how the young children had to suffer sexual abuses, beatings and mistreatments at the place. Through this course, I expect to become more familiar with Indigenous literature, hearing their voices and being aware of all the sacrifices they have made. I hope to broaden my perspective about the country I will always call home and not be ignorant or have discrimination towards the history of Indigenous people.

Works Cited 

“Residental schools overview. ” National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, University of Manitoba, 20 April 2016, https://web.archive.org/web/20160420012021/http://umanitoba.ca/centres/nctr/overview.html

Northern Affairs Canada. “First Nations in Canada.” Government of Canada; Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, 2 May 2017, www.rcaanccirnac.gc.ca/eng/1307460755710/1536862806124