While Chamberlain brings the notion of the “imaginary” and “reality” to discussion, in regards to the history of settlement in the lives of the Indigenous, I would like to discuss, in my post, the importance and differences of both “ways.” To begin with, I would like to discuss the “imaginary.” As Chamberlain puts it, the stories and storytelling of indigenous’ homes, or the “imaginary” “tells different truths about religions, sciences, histories, and the arts; these truths are the answers to our questions about where we came from and why we are here.”(par.2) As to summarize, these “beliefs” or “truths” gave indigenous people a sense of national pride, as their “beliefs” helped define their identity, history and culture, in regards to the formation of their home. These stories gave reality to who the indigenous people, shaped by their land, to which what they consider to be their “home.”
The “reality” portion does not focus on these “beliefs”, as a part of the history of settlement in the lives of Indigenous. Instead they focus and documented the supposed “truth” as “the peoples who arrived to make this land their home… they had left their homes behind. The peoples that these “settlers” encountered were at home on their land. The settlers did indeed make their home, and the Indigenous peoples became homeless in their own land.” (par.7) The reality, was that the land that the Indigenous people built their home on, was now being taken over by European settlers, so they can build their own home.
One of the key differences in the “imaginary” and the “reality” is how the “home” for the Indigenous people and European settlement was created. The stories, about the formation of their home, for the Indigenous people, was created by stories, and passed on through generations, by means of storytelling. The invasion of European settlement meant that the Indigenous people lost their culture, and history upon the land, they created their home on. The European invasion into the lands of the Indigenous people, made the Indigenous people lose their homes, and became “homeless.” At no fault of their own, the Indigenous people’s culture, history were forgotten, and their “beliefs” were forgotten for the “reality” of the European settlement. The European settlement pushed the boundaries of the Indigenous peoples’ homes and saw the land that they built their home on, being taken away from them, which, I argue is a possible consequence of understanding the history of settlement in Canada, in regards to using the “imaginary” and the “reality.”
Works Cited
Chamberlin, Edward. If This is Your Land, Where are Your Stories? Finding Common Ground. AA. Knopf. Toronto. 2003. Print.
Chamberlin, Edward. “Interview with J. Edward Chamberlin”. Writer’s Café. Web April 04 2013.