Hello Everyone! My name is Grace Owens and I am a third-year student here at UBC, majoring in English literature with a minor in theatre studies. I am excited to be pursuing this course yet at the same time a little worried, as with previous experience Canadian literature has definitely not been my favorite stream – however the study of articles in this course is a different perspective and I am excited to explore something new during this term. Throughout this term I look forward to delving deep into concepts that are very close to home for me and trying to encourage new ideas and insights within myself about the country that I have lived in my entire life.
I am a fourth generation Canadian who loves Canada more than anything and plans to never leave. I am hoping to be a secondary school teacher, teaching drama and English, so incorporating the history and literature of this country will be very important and I am hoping this class will help to excite me about the topic. The reintroduction of indigenous cultural representation has been on the up rise (rightfully and thankfully so) all throughout my schooling journey, hopefully not to cease soon, and I look forward to learning more about the native Canadian culture that is overall the basis for our mosaic of a country, so that in turn I may instill the importance of such teachings when I have my own classroom. This link provides a short but insightful look at the History of Reconciliation in Canada which I look forward to learning more about the ups and downs throughout this term.
I truly believe that there is no place like Canada, with its endlessly extensive opportunities, its access to resources, various nature exposures such as the mountain – ocean boarder that we have here, and the mixture of cultures and peoples that live here. I have been so lucky to grow up here experiencing these endless opportunities, but in this course, I am excited to see things from a new perspective and place myself into new shoes.
One current story that I have been following is the Trans Mountain pipeline and the battle and effects of this issue on the first nations communities along the pipelines. I found this particular article interesting as it looks at the fact that first nations communities want to buy the pipeline as opposed to stopping it due to concern for the nature. This is such a hearty issue that is so representative of the lack of respect that our government has had for the first peoples, and that even in our country of changing mosaics there are still so many holes and issues.
I look forward to getting to know you guys and having conversations with you! Thank you for reading my first post!
Works cited:
“Our Story.” Reconciliation Canada Our Story Comments, https://reconciliationcanada.ca/about/history-and-background/our-story/.
“’I Wanna Own This Thing’: Meet the Indigenous Groups Trying to Buy the Trans Mountain Pipeline | CBC News.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 5 Oct. 2019, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/trans-mountain-pipeline-first-nations-purchase-1.5279387.
Georgia
January 10, 2020 — 9:42 pm
Hi Grace! I really enjoyed reading your first blog post and learning a bit about you and your interests. I’m a third-year English-lit student as well, but my minor in law & society seems far less exciting than your theatre minor!
Your dream of being a high-school teacher is so inspiring. I have always had such respect for teachers growing up– my mom is an English teacher and now college professor herself. So, I know how hard teachers work and how crucial teachers are to creating an engaged, intelligent, and compassionate society. I, unfortunately, know that I will never have the patience to be a teacher myself, so I’ll just continue to root for the wonderful people who are passionate about shaping future generations through the sharing of knowledge.
I do have an observation and further question, upon reading your blog post. It struck me how, in common practice, we always capitalize the word “Canadian” but never the term “indigenous.” In particular, your use of the phrase “native Canadian” was something I haven’t seen before. The importance of labels and naming is so important in language and culture, so I am curious whether you think the ways by which we refer to “indigenous people” in comparison with “Canadian people” confers a power imbalance, where indigenous groups are thought of as non-Canadian, and thereby, less than the ‘normal’ Canadian citizen. It’s interesting that we hardly ever say, for example, “the First Nations and Inuit people and the settlers.” What do you think of this? Do you think that our terminology conveys some sort of settler-colonial culture?
grace owens
January 12, 2020 — 7:04 pm
Hi Georgia!
Thank you so much for choosing my post to reply to! Wow I am embarrassed almost to admit that this is something I have never even thought of, and really appreciate your thoughtful question. This has caused me to really think and reflect on my own post and also how I failed to think of that when writing.
On the most basic level, when writing on my computer there is my best friend I like to call Auto Correct, who assists me with all of my writing needs, but again this causes me to think deeper about the impacts of even our devices autocapitalizing Canadian for me and not Native, Indigenous, or First Nations. I actually turned to the internet to read some articles about the importance of capitalizing such words and all in all what I have done is not only improper English, but also demeaning to the very culture we are trying to raise up. I found this very basic English language definition https://www.dictionary.com/e/native-american-isnt-the-same-as-native-american-heres-why/ that again has made me reflect on why upon editing I did not even clue in to the fact that how I was writing was wrong.
I think absolutely capitalizing Canadians and not Native or Indigenous is discriminatory upon reflection but of course not something I was meaning to do in anyway. I, of course, consider First Nations people to be Canadian and truly just see everyone as equally “Canadian”, yet that is not an excuse for the closed eye, out of mind exclusion that my blog post displays, no matter how accidental.
You are completely right, naming is so important and I thank you for bringing this to my intention so that I can make sure to not comply with technologies ideas of what should be capitalized and also watch out for further posts on how I come across as comparing “Canadians” and “Indigenous peoples” as I truly did not mean for it to sound differential!
I am looking forward to continuing conversations with you this term! 🙂
ClaireTaylor
January 13, 2020 — 7:28 pm
Hi! I’m so interested to know what you didn’t like about previous Canadian Literature courses! Was it a certain subject matter or particular novels that just weren’t of interest? I didn’t have the same experience, as I absolutely LOVED my previous Canadian Literature course, and it inspired me to read more Canadian literature and enroll in this course! Also, I’m also an English Literature major and working towards becoming a teacher! I’m so excited to get my bachelor of education and start teaching as I’m sure you are too!
grace owens
January 19, 2020 — 6:38 pm
Hi Claire!
Thanks for reaching out! Awesome to hear that you are on the same path as me, I am definitely excited too.
As far as my experience with Canadian Literature, I have found it lacks depth and excitement for me. Again, I want to preface that maybe I haven’t found the right books or the right author, but from what I have read such as Trumpet by Jackie Kay, The Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munro among many many other, I find this literature to be boring and all very very very similar.
I often will blame my opinion of the lack of substance and variation of Canadian literature on the fact that Canada is a relatively new country, that has never gone through an artistic revolution or really gone through all that much in comparison to the rest of the world. Art comes from experience and often pain, so maybe that is what lacks the spark for me.
I have also found that Canadian Literature is about two things, identity/sexuality/finding yourself or spirituality/Indigenous culture, which are great things to explore in literature but one can only read so much! I admit that I am a hopeless romantic and adventurer and so I seek those qualities in my novels which I have yet to find in a piece of Canadian Lit!
That being said maybe I can change, drop some recommendations of great Canadian books you have read and I would love to check them out!
ChaseThomson
January 14, 2020 — 8:23 pm
Hello Grace! I really loved reading your first post, you’re very articulate when it comes to describing yourself and your interests.
My mother is actually a high-school English teacher and I see everyday how much she works and cares for her students and their learning, so I believe your goals of becoming a high-school teacher are very admirable. It’s good this course will give you some insight into Indigenous literature, something that you may find valuable passing on to your future students. I agree with you that it will be interesting to dive into this subject matter, as it is something I have yet to explore as well. I’m glad we can do it together!
I’m struck by your passion when it comes to being Canadian. I feel like sometimes I don’t fully appreciate how privileged I am to have been born in this country. With all of the political turmoil going on around the world right now, I’m really beginning to fully appreciate being born and raised in this wonderful country. Not only am I privileged to be in Canada, but I’m privileged to be a white man in Canada. I think acknowledgment of one’s own privilege is so important, especially going into a course about Indigenous culture and literature (seeing how horribly they have been treated in the past.)
I look forward to navigating this course and learning with you this term!
grace owens
January 19, 2020 — 6:43 pm
Hey Chase,
Thanks for your comment! I’m glad my post could insight these things for you to think about! Looking forward to the term!