Before I begin to answer question 5, sometimes I feel as though I take the “easy way” by answering the open-ended questions that are based on my thoughts more than the readings. But for me, I feel as though I have so many things to say, and these questions draw me in a way that the others don’t. Maybe eventually I’ll feel the same pull from those questions, or maybe I’ll try to challenge myself a bit more. That being said, when I read the story, I had many thoughts that connected with the readings for this week. So here we go.

Reading this story of the twins and Coyote, it really seemed like a rationalization to me. That whoever created this story did so to rationalize the events (or rather “contact zone” (Lutz 4)) around them. I believe it’s part of human nature to attempt to rationalize the unexplainable. Of course, something like “first contact” is, to put it colloquially, mind-blowing. So naturally, they had to rationalize it, almost in a way where we now try to rationalize supernatural or other inexplicable events. Lutz states that “for the peoples of the northeastern Pacific shores, spiritual power animated the whole world, and every action had a spiritual component” (31). What’s interesting is that though the Indigenous peoples (as far as I can tell) are much more accepting of certain situations, particularly when pertaining to the natural world (and as far as I can tell Europeans are au-natural), they still felt the need to rationalize these contact zones.

Edit (6/21): Upon further reflection, I can see that I’m viewing this story from a very Westernized, colonized perspective. It’s not that the Indigenous peoples felt the need to rationalize the contact zones more than the Europeans, it’s just that I’m accustomed to the European version of history, so it appears to me as though the Indigenous are rationalizing more.

Part of the need to rationalize comes from our need to understand in terms of where we specifically are coming from. As Lutz mentions in the introduction, there is no such things as “new contact”, instead, there is only contact in terms of our perception. Neither side can go into a contact situation without preconceived notions, and perhaps, like with the Europeans, they are self-fulfilling. It’s interesting how different these two groups coming in contact with each other were, and yet there are still similar behaviors and customs that they both adhere to, regardless of language (I’m thinking of their needs to impress the other group).

Another one of the blogs I read regularly is Urooba Jamal’s “Under Urooba’s Umbrella“. She’s a student at UBC, and we worked together in residence a few years ago. She’s a social justice advocate, a fashionista, and just an all around amazing person. Check her out.

Anyway, on May 31, she posted a…post about her struggle with international travel and the questions of western privilege. If you want to read it, click here. I won’t go into too much detail about what she says (you can read it yourself, right? she’s amazingly eloquent), but when I read Robinson’s story about the stolen paper, it emphasized for me the idea of colonialism in travel. The younger twin travelled back across the ocean with new and strange customs to impose on the elder twin. When I travel, I am imposing myself and what I represent (usually Western culture) onto where I am. That is, I enter my travel from my perspective, and very rarely think of how the natives of wherever I’m traveling view me (aside from maybe cute boys hahaha). I’m not sure that made sense, so I’ll give an example:

In February, I travelled to Belgium with UBC GoGlobal, and while I interacted with the students from the University of Mons, I couldn’t help but berate myself for not being able to speak French. Who am I, that I “invade” their country, and force them to speak English to me? How is that even fair, or even allowed? I was in their country, in their home, being immersed in their culture, and yet I could not speak their language. Our only hope of communication was through their attempts to speak my language. I can’t help but be reminded of how the Europeans imposed their language on the Indigenous peoples. It truly makes me a bit heartbroken and frustrated with myself. I guess I have a lot more questioning to do about my traveling.

I guess that this all ties back to the questions presented in Lesson 2.2:

What necessitated the criminalization of Indigenous cultural and political practices? What was the rational behind taking children from families? What did the First Nations do to deserve such a harsh and relentless attack upon their political and cultural institutions, their communities and even their children? Did they ruthlessly attack and slaughter the first Europeans? Were they brutal and, according to the norms of the centuries past, deserved brutal punishments? (Paterson, 2.2)

To take it one step further, and maybe one step towards the obvious, who were the Europeans to colonize North America? What prompted them to sail across the Atlantic? What right did they have to dominate and force their culture on the Indigenous peoples? Lutz brings in the influence of spiritual ideology, which coming from the Europeans, was Christian, and convinced them of their own superiority (40). But is spiritual influence enough of a motivator, or is it primarily their need for dominance, power, recognition, or to simply fulfill their curiosity? Questions, questions, questions.

To visualize the horror of colonization, here’s a time lapse of the colonization of America and change to the “reservation system”. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a Canadian equivalent, but I think it really illustrates what I’m trying to get at. The link also leads to this page, which gives detailed accounts of the take over (is this starting to sound more like an alien invasion to you? it is to me). I’m not sure if it’s accurate or scholarly, but I still thought it was interesting.

CLICK HERE (because it won’t display the interactivity on this blog)

Forgive my ineloquence this post, I hope it all made sense; it’s been a long week.

Edit (6/21): Reading it over, I’m not sure this post made any sense. Please comment/shoot me a message if there’s anything I can clarify.

Works Cited

“Invasion of America.” Slate.com 2014. Web. 19 June 2014.

“Invasion of America: How the United States Took Over an Eighth of the World.” Web. 19 June 2014.

Jamal, Urooba. “Under Urooba’s Umbrella.” Tumblr 2013. Web. 19 June, 2014.

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.

Lutz, John. “Contact Over and Over Again.” Myth and Memory: Rethinking Stories of Indignenous- European Contact. Ed. Lutz. Vancouver: U of British Columbia P, 2007. 1-15. Print.