470: a summer delve into Canadian literature

Like a road map, Green Grass Running Water is full of allusion and word play connects the novel not only linearly, but also inter-connectively–it forces you to make connections at various points throughout the novel. Here is my “hyper-text” reading for pages 194 to 206. Page 194 opens with Coyote and a story about Changing Woman. Coyote is known as “the trickster” in Native American mythology, and is considered one of the First People (Flick 142). Changing Woman is a Navajo deity who was born “in the fifth world” of the subterranean…read more

In the opening of Marlene Goldman’s article “Mapping and Dreaming; Native Resistance in Green Grass Running Water”, she explains how Hugh Brody’s experience “testifies to the fact that Native American peoples have repeatedly asserted the legitimacy of their own maps and contested European maps and strategies of mapping, which have played such a central role in conceptualizing, codifying and regulating the vision of the settler-invader society” (17, emphasis mine). This can be seen in the very maps we use today, where Africa and South America are much smaller in terms…read more

According to a StatCan study conducted in 2006, by 2031, 47% of “second generation Canadians would belong to a visible minority group, nearly double the proportion of the 24% in 2006”. Specifically in Vancouver, B.C., “Chinese would be the largest visible minority group, with a population of around 809,000…account[ing] for about 23% of the Vancouver’s population, up from 18% in 2006” (StatCan, 2006). Despite these exponential predictions, the population diversity, specifically the population of Chinese in Canada was at one point actively discouraged. The CanLit guide on Nationalism states that “as a result of…read more

When Carlson states: “To raise the question of ‘authenticity’ is to challenge not only the narrative but also the ‘truth’ behind Salish ways of knowing” (59), there is a question that begs to be asked: How do the Salish define authenticity? Before I (inexpertly) try to explain this idea, for many non-Natives, their idea of authenticity incorporates elements of historical legitimacy and genuinity; authenticity stems from a tradition, or history of ‘truth’. It is at this point where ideas of authenticity overlap: for both Natives and non-Natives, authenticity stems from history and…read more

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…read more

Home is something that’s been written about in music, books, and is arguably a quintessential part of life. But what is it exactly? To take a page from Jenny’s blog, I’ll try to illustrate some similar concepts in our blogs through the magic of song lyrics (being a music major and all. just kidding, I barely listen to music. ironic, right?) 1. “There is a place built out of stone…This is a place where I don’t feel alone/ This is a place where I feel at home” x For almost everybody,…read more

“Maybe home is nothing but two arms holding you when you’re at your worst.” –Yara Bashraheel A dark hallway. A giggle here, a soft snore there. Then from the end of the hall, a soft sob. Room 317. This night was not so different from the last few. Unlike many others, I did not cry because I was homesick. I cried because I was not–because there was no sense of home for me. I felt no feeling for the home where my parents were, but no inclination for where I…read more

I have a great story to tell you. “Most people think that time is like a river, that flows swift and sure in one direction.” “What most fail to grasp is that the river is circular.” (Da Vinci’s Demons 1.1) (haha pop culture references–let’s pretend that the videos are in parentheses).     A long time, the world was once as it is now, with similar structures and society. There was one difference. There was only good. Evil did not yet exist. Only scary. It was a common occurrence for college…read more

but sometimes I feel like a potato whenever I read other people’s posts. They sound so proper and academic, and I feel as though my writing is not nearly as sophisticated as theirs. I think a large part of my struggle is this form of blogging: something about the internet in combination with my own writing is extremely personal, and although I can’t articulate the difference, this is nothing like writing a weekly response journal or paper. Hopefully I can reconcile this struggle within myself before this course is over!…read more