Brubaker, Rogers. “The ‘diaspora’ Diaspora.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 28.1 (2005): 1-19. ROUTLEDGE TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD, Jan. 2005. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.
Rogers Brubanker is currently a professor of Sociology at the University of California, he has written on the topics of social theory, immigration, citizenship, nationalism, and ethnicity. His article “The ‘Diaspora’ diaspora” explains the origin of the term Diaspora, as well as the progression and extensions of the word. In his article,
Burbanker, briefly addresses the original use for the word ” the Jewish diaspora”, referring to this as the “paradigmatic case”. As, Burbanker goes on to address the other many groups of people who have recently, been conceptualizes as diasporas, he explains the danger of “universalizing” this word and addresses certain criteria ( Dispersion, Homeland Orientation, and Boundary- Maintenance) of Diasporic individuals. As Winfried Siemerling articles addresses the issue of diasporic writing, Burbankers article provides supplementary information on these concepts.
Cooper, Brenda. “Women Dancing on Water: A Diasporic Feminist Fantastic?”. Contemporary Women’s Writing 7.3 (2013): 140-15. Web. 26 Mar 2014.
Domininguez, Pilar, C. “On Black Canadian Writing: In Conversation with George Elliott Clarke”. Atlantis 23.2 (2001): 187-200. JSTOR. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.
This article takes the shape of an interview between journalist Pilar Cuder Dominguez, and George Elliott Clarke, a “seventh-generation Black Nova Scotian poet, scholar and professor at the University of Toronto. Clarke’s work as a writer sees him writing about, among other subjects, African-Canadian writing and what it means to be part of, and write from the perspective of, certain Black Canadian cultures. The bulk of this interview follows Clarke’s thoughts on the current situation of African-Canadian writing and how the different experiences that groups of African-Canadians face, shape their identity and writing.
He is sure to distinguish between the different experiences of these groups, stating that “Caribbean Blacks have a particular orientation, or culture from Africa that is quite different from what Blacks were able to hold onto (through slavery) in the United States”, for example. He explains that the experiences that “particularise” each group also go on to define how groups identify and express themselves. In Canada, Clarke says, “we do not have any kind of coherent idea or notion of Blackness”, but because of the fact that many Black people in Canada are first or second-generation immigrants with first ties to the homeland, cultural influences are very strong. As such, the voices of “minority” writers in Canada represent diverse cultural and historical backgrounds while painting pictures of their unique experiences in and with Canada. Tied to these stories are issues of home, homeland, diaspora, community, appropriation, alienation and performance in storytelling. Dominguez sparks an interesting discussion on these topics and how they relate to Clarke, as well as literature in Canada, throughout the interview.
The interview tackles the subjects of identity, culture and African-Canadian writing in Canada, while highlighting the influence that environment has on individual writers. More than this, it deals with race and racism in Canada and Canadian literature. The interview explores the terms that are in use for the literature of people from African descent in North America, such as African-American, African-Canadian, and Clarke’s own term, Africadian, which describes “Blacks in the Maritimes”. By explaining and expanding on these terms, Clarke is able to describe the struggle to define Black culture in Canada, as well as his own experience of being an African-Canadian writer in Canada.
Garner, Steve. “Dissolving the Diaspora.” Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology 18.4 (2008): 382-86. Wiley Online Library. 15 Jan. 2008. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.
Steve Garner is a sociologist of racism, his qualifications include, a masters degree in ethnic relations and caribbean studies and a doctorate in sociology. His publications centralize around the topics of Racism, Gendered and classed identities, Immigration policies and discourses, citizenship, Irish studies and Caribbean studies.
His article “Dissolving the Diaspora” provides a canadian perspective on the three key themes; Diversities, Diaspora and Dialogue. Garner also critically engages with the concept of “multiculturalism” in his article. As these themes are critical to understanding the central concepts of Winfried Siemerling’s article “Canadian literatures, language and race” Garner’s article will help to provide a further understanding of the topics discussed in Siemerling’s article.
Greenwood M, “Being Indigenous.” Human Development 56 (2013): 98-105
This piece is a commentary response to Michael J. Chandler’s On Being Indigenous: An Essay on the Hermeneutics of ‘Cultural Identity’. Greenwood, as a mixed blood Cree mother with three children and a professional in indigenous childhood education, provides both a personal and critical dialogue with Chandler’s research on how culture should be transmitted down to indigenous children.
Greenwood begins with identifying the importance of Indigenous epistemology, a philosophical branch concerned with the nature of learning and knowledge. Citing from Shawn Wilson, Greenwood emphasises that Indigenous epistemology is built upon understanding the relationships between things rather than the things themselves. This fits well with many creation myths and spiritual beliefs belonging to various indigenous peoples, and as a personal note, Greenwood recalls that she was exposed to these beliefs at an early age from listening to elders’ stories.
This traditional form of Indigenous epistemology, however, can be disrupted by changing environments, especially in colonized societies. Greenwood points to poverty and its widespread effects, as well as assimilationist policies and institutions, as the leading causes of the marginalization of indigenous cultures. This marginalization decreases the ability of indigenous educators and elders to pass on knowledge to future generations of children, threatening the preservation of traditional teachings such as language, storytelling, and ceremonies.
Greenwood concludes by stating that “Children are not separate from their collective or its way of knowing and being in the world”, and that the continuation of Indigenous epistemology depends on offering children the opportunities of learning that derive from their communities and its members. This would require the continued breakdown of indigenous marginalization in society.
Joseph, Janelle. “The practice of capoeira: diasporic black culture in Canada”. Ethnic and Racial Studies 35.6 (2012): 1078-1095. Web. 26 Mar 2014.
Dr. Janelle Joseph is currently a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the School of Physical Education at the University of Otago in New Zealand. In conjunction with Simon Darnell, she has also published a book entitled Race and Sport in Canada.
Joseph’s article, “The practice of capoeira: diasporic black culture in Canada,” investigates black diaspora, especially within Canada, and in relation to cultural traditions, such as sports – capoeira in particular. Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art, called a jogo, which does not adhere to the typical western idea of sport, as there are no points awarded, and no one can “win.” Some “capoeiristas,” or capoeira adepts, practice capoeira in order to preserve their ‘African’ heritage through “symbols and embodiments of ancestral gestures,” while others use capoeira to “display antiphony, innovations, and transnational dialogues” (1079). Canadian capoeiristas engage in physical, musical and verbal dialogues that maintain African and black diasporic cultures. Joseph investigates the practice of Capoeira in order to gain insights to the formation, performance, and understanding of African heritage, black circulating cultures, and Canadian national identity.
Joseph argues that Black cultural identity cannot be examined in isolation, as it has diasporic influences on it. For Black Canadians, identifying as Canadian is still difficult, when not seen as being part of the Canadian identity – not being white. Paul Gilroy, referenced in Joseph’s article, reconceptualizes black diaspora as ‘outer-national’ or ‘transcultural’, implying that the black identity doesn’t fit within the limits of ‘Canadian’ or ‘African’, but exists somewhere in between. Diaspora cultures include an ‘elsewhere’, but also come to include a ‘here’, which keeps them from fully identifying as a part of the Canadian culture, erasing black cultures from representations of Canadianness.
Moore, Lindsey. “Editorial: Glocal Diasporas”. Journal of Commonwealth Literature 45 (2010): 319-322. Sage Publications. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.
This editorial piece by Dr. Lindsey Moore outlines the main ideas coming from a 2010 symposium on “glocal diasporas”. More specifically, the theories explained in this editorial are rooted in content taken from the international conference, “Glocal Imaginaries: Writing/Migration/Place”, held in 2009. Moore, who is a lecturer at County College, Lancaster University in the UK, highlights this symposium’s main themes, sighting contributions on the topic from several authors. She provides a short description of a number of proposals for how we might be viewing postcolonial studies historically, conceptually, and politically. The symposium uses the term “glocal” so that the contributors can focus on ‘local’, ‘national’ and ‘global’ frameworks while explaining their thoughts and examples of how diasporas are articulated through literature and the arts.
The “Glocal Imaginaries” conference, which focused on the “agency of writers, filmmakers, and artists in shaping, as well as responding to, discourse of migration and place, including those that subtend postcolonial studies and cognate fields such as migration, diaspora, the transnational, globalization and cosmopolitan studies”, sparked the need for this symposium to address what Moore calls the “current crisis in postcolonial studies”. By this, and in relation to the symposium’s purpose, Moore means, the crisis between the nation state and peoples ability to move between homes and avoid the exclusionary, discriminatory, and exploitative structures of the state.
Within this framework, this symposium focuses on the “articulation of the colonial past and globalizing present in relations of hegemony and marginalization”, as well as the relationship between home and homeland as explained through literature. Drawing on “transnational uprootings and regroundings” of the “lived experience and/or genealogical inheritance of many contemporary writers and, by extension (some of) their fictional subjects”, Moore takes us through various definitions of home and what it means to be displaced. Furthermore, the symposium focuses on the effect that postcolonial authors have on the literary landscape. Understanding the relationship between nation state and the idea of home and homeland through this postcolonial lens opens up a discussion on globalization and the misuse of power. It also highlights the importance of literature and the power of the arts.
Settee, Priscilla. “Education, Native Languages, and Supporting Indigenous Knowledge”. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives 19 (2009): 87-93
This short report for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternative was written by Professor Priscilla Settee from the Department of Native Studies at the University of Saskatchewan, and gives a brief description on the importance of preserving Indigenous languages and provides a variety of recommendations to prevent the destruction of cultural diversity.
The continued erosion of Indigenous languages is a product of deliberate and state-imposed policies of cultural genocide against First Nations peoples throughout the 20th century. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission gave many Residential School survivors a place to share their experiences – many had faced physical and emotional abuse for speaking their languages and this policy has stripped an entire generation of their link to Indigenous culture, knowledge, and identity.
In order to preserve the remaining Indigenous languages, Settee suggests a two-pronged approach that require community-based initiatives and wider institutional support from the government and places of higher-learning. Verna Kirkness is an Indigenous Language proponent cited by Settee for both her writing and her ongoing development of knowledge banks to preserve the language and stories of elders within Aboriginal communities. In addition, Universities have been singled out as environments in which their English-only attitudes remains problematic for First Nations Peoples and are in dire need of diversification from the “dominant and colonizer worldview”. The First Nations University of Canada is one of a kind in providing adequate resources and staff for the training of Indigenous linguistics experts and educators. Lastly, Settee points to several NGOs, including Terralingua, that promote similar policies on an international scale and are examples in which governments and NGOs within Canada can learn from.
Language is no doubt at the heart of First Nations culture and identity, and remains at great risk. Without an adequate knowledge-base, these languages will eventually disappear forever and countless stories that give us a deeper understanding of First Nations history and culture will be lost.
A most impressive looking bibliography – I am looking forward to reading your annotations, be sure to check our the examples of hyper-linked annotations in Lesson 4:2. Thanks :0
Oh – I just realized you are hyper- linking the resource to an annotation. That makes for a lot of jumping around and I imagine the dialogue will be rather disjointed. Please write your annotation directly below the citation – and then all your dialogue with the other team will be on this page in the comment boxes – K
Thanks Erika! I just changed the page up and got rid of the individual hyperlinks. Will fix the hyperlinks in the Brubanker annotation soon!!
Comment on the Domininguez article.
I really appreciated the lengthy and detailed discussion on “sub-groups” of ethnic groups. I think too often are identities generalized. The comment “We do not have any kind of coherent idea or notion of Blackness” is interesting not because all are excluded from this category, but because all can be included. Individual stories are bound by time and place, so of course their identities would be different.
The Africadian term is cool! I remember having a friend who described herself as Mongolese Canadian (being Mongolian, Chinese, and Canadian). Just as these terms are a mesh of identities, so are the individuals.
There is a common question that irritates “Asians” when asked: what kind of Asian are you? I can imagine those with any sort of African heritage or connection being annoyed when pressed about their background.
Here’s a YouTube clip of live poetry performed by one such “Asian”.
A great in-depth description of your source.
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Button Poetry. “Alex Dang – ‘What Kind of Asian Are You?’ (NPS 2013)” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 29 Jan. 2014. Web. 8 Apr. 2014.
Chris – what a great poem, thanks for that addition!
Bringing poetry into this discussion made me think of the Harlem Renaissance movement of poetry, and how it took place during modernism. Modernism was a recreation of elements of poetry, with the focus on “making it new” as Ezra Pound said. The Harlem Renaissance took place during the modernist era, and its poetry can be classified as “modernist”, but because this poetry was written and created by African Americans, it was redubbed as belonging to the Harlem Renaissance. Seems sort of ‘separate but equal’ to me?
The Harlem Renaissance doesn’t take into account separate experiences and backgrounds of the poets, but lumps them all together into the category of “black writer”.
Just comparing the lack of identity of black Americans versus the attempt in Dominguez’s article to establish black Canadian identity is interesting to me.
Hello partners! I am keen to start weaving together some of the threads of our research so far.
I’ve been taking a look at Steve Garner’s article on understanding diasporic events leading to people immigrating to Canada and how they fit in to Canadian multiculturalism. I was particularly struck with Garner’s observation that “the supposition of homogeneity among minority subjects [is a] hangover from racial ideologies” (383). The way I understand his statement is that by repeatedly describing ethnic or cultural groups in the same broad terms, without any allowance for cultural shift or diversity within the group, the group’s true identity and potential are muffled. Taking the example of Canadian Muslims (look, I just did it— summarizing a large and very diverse group with one attribute, religious affiliation; however, I did add ‘Canadian’ to my description), Garner asks, “if an objective of Canadian deep multiculturalism is to have everyone imagining they are above all Canadian, can this ever logically be an outcome of habitually constructing them institutionally as Muslims?” (385).
My questions in response are threefold. Firstly, is it true that multiculturalism imagines us first as Canadians, then as members of various other cultural, economic, ethnic, and social groups? Next, how does this matter in the context of Canadian literature, and do we need to classify literature by Canadian authors as being first and foremost Canadian for it to be important on a national scale? This question ties into our team’s bibliography entry on Canada Reads , where an array of truly ‘Canadian’ novels is annually selected for broad public dissemination. Finally, in relation to your team’s questions, how do we determine the significance of race or ethnic background in literature in the context of a multicultural Canada?
Pardon me, I actually have a fourth question— how does ranking ‘Canadian-ness’ as the first priority of multiculturalism alienate First Nations people from conversations about multiculturalism? To me it seems like this is another way of erasing underlying aboriginal title of Canada’s lands, disguised cleverly as a way of putting everybody on an equal footing. Perhaps this is a controversial interpretation, so I would be interested to hear what others think of it.
Works Cited
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Canada Reads 2014, Days 1 – 4. CBC, March 2014. Web. 29 March 2014.
Hi pals, I will attempt to build upon Keely’s building upon our research!
The Greenwood source is a great example of knowledge (and the world) as a network. Children learn their place in the world and how everything exists in harmony. This term we have been studying community and circles in Aboriginal culture, and the idea of examining individuals in relation to one another made me think of King. The Aboriginal creation story involves many parties who add a little bit of the world, whereas the Genesis account has a single creator. However, if we are to understand relationships between individuals rather than individuals themselves, what would be the purpose of our findings? Would we simply be uncovering information about how history and society has led to that relationship? Is our identity defined by our connections with others? What happens when an identity, simply due to a difference in personality, clashes with another?
The Moore source uses the helpful framework of “glocalism” to examine issues, not too different from the big picture approach that Greenwood is taking. Connecting this idea with internet communications technologies, we now have a medium that allows us to keep global ties accessibly.
Examining home and homeland post-colonially is a challenge. Can an individual have more than one home? Regarding Canadian identity in the legal realm, the government is often flexible about Canadians holding dual citizenship. However, not all countries are happy with this, forbidding individuals to hold Canadian citizenship as well as citizenship from their nation. This is a testament to the identity of Canada as a nation of nations.
The Settee source makes me sad as the fight to retain old cultures is a difficult struggle. I think of Canada as a multicultural country and I think of the world becoming increasingly globalized. I believe it is a fair prediction to imagine that all of us on the planet will intermingle more and more in the future. What will happen to our identities then? Are individuals merely a record of the past? As for mind-body duality, will individuals of the future become less attached to their “racial” designation physically? What will happen when certain individuals lose all contact with their ethnic past?
. . . . . . .
King, Thomas. The Truth about Stories: A Native Narrative. Toronto: House of Anansi Press. Inc, 2003. Print.
Hey team,
Building on Chris and Keely’s insights, perhaps we can take a detour to examine the fate of ideologies of class in addition to the fate of ethnic and racial identities in the face of globalization.
In Unit 3, we explored specific pieces of legislation used to “formulate and elaborate a specific form of [Canadian] whiteness based on the British model of civility” (Coleman 5). Among the disillusionment policies was the Indian Act of 1876, an enactment with severe psychosocial and economic repercussions on First Nations people and First Nations identity. Intergenerational trauma has given rise disproportionately higher rates of domestic violence, poverty, substance abuse, crime, rape and sex–trade work in First Nations communities. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, as Settee suggests, provides an avenue for discourse in which survivors can tell their stories. But still, we must tread with caution. The controversy surrounding the Truth and Reconciliation Commission regards the “restriction that prohibits survivors and staff from naming or otherwise identifying individuals accused of wrongdoing” (Cultural Survival). We must ask to whom are we telling the truth and to whom are we offering reconciliation? How can we justly mend such a fractured relationship? A similar stream of thinking is echoed by one of the scholars in our bibliography, Amber Dawn, who suggests in her memoir, “How Poetry Saved My Life: A Hustler’s Memoir”, “… [that] passively reading about or otherwise witnessing injustice injures us – it widens the disconnect. The part of us that is hurting does not heal in the dark; we must turn on the light to look at it. We must pay attention.” (118).
Perhaps the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is a baby step in, as Keely puts it, including First Nations people in conversations about multiculturalism and National identity. But that begs the question, what factors impact identity? In “How Poetry Saved My Life: A Hustler’s Memoir”, Dawn touches on this issue when she describes a horrific hate crime that took place in May of 2003:
“Shelby Tracy Tom’s dead body was found wrapped in a mattress cover and stuffed into a shopping cart behind a dingy motel in North Vancouver in May 2003. Jatin Patel served a nine-year sentence in prison for killing Tom, a transgender sex worker. They met on the night of May 27, in the North Vancouver Travelodge. Patel paid Tom $400 and started having sex with her, according to an agreed statement of facts entered into court records. Patel allegedly panicked after he noticed Tom’s sex-change scars. He choked her to death” (The Tyee).
As a friend of Tom, Dawn expresses intense remorse over the non–existent media coverage at the time of the homicide. She attributes the lack of media coverage to the stigma associated with Tom’s “non–conforming” sexual identity and employment in the sex–trade. Moving forward, I would like to emphasize that we must express caution when discussing identity since identity represents a complex cocktail of gender identity, status, occupation, race, religion, culture, language and ethnicity – factors, or rather, voices that we must take into account when crafting new initiatives, services and legislation.
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Coleman, Daniel. White Civility: The Literary Project of English Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto, 2006. 14-56.
“Indian Residential School Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.” Cultural Survival | Partnering with Indigenous Peoples to Defend their Lands, Languages, and Cultures. Cultural Survival, Inc., 2011. Web. 11 Apr. 2014.
“Was Shelby Tom’s Death a Hate Crime?” The Tyee. The Tyee, 19 Oct. 2011. Web. 11 Apr. 2014.
Hi guys,
Thanks for sharing the poem by Alex Dang, Chris. I remember watching that a couple of months ago and feeling the impact of his words. I was particularly moved by his passion in delivery. His gestures and use of dynamics (both voice and body) helped him relay his message exactly as he saw fit for this particular reading. They also helped me understand the message more clearly. Had I read this poem, I would have been moved by it’s message, and inspired by it’s purpose, but I don’t know if I would have had a tear in my eye by the end of it.
The power of oral performance is undeniable. I would argue that being present for a performance is even more powerful, as it layers and provides a whole different perspective to the material being presented. The differences between writing and orality that we have been examined throughout our course are very interesting when considered in relation to other mediums such as music, dance, public speaking etc. The differences between attending a concert and watching one on Youtube, or even the differences between attending class or engaging in on-line learning bring up a lot of interesting questions. There are many differences to explore, both positive and negative. We have seen that we are able to combine mediums, traditions, and writings to great effect, and in a way that would not be possible without the www, in our on-line environment. It is far better to watch a performance, lecture, or broadcast on Youtube than to not watch, but I think it is important to acknowledge what is lacking in our experience when this is our only way of experiencing performance.
George Elliott Clarke actually discusses this point about performance as he talks about Black identity and diaspora in the article. He says : “It is a fact to do with Black diaspora in the New World, from our ancestors right down to the present: Performance is important to us. Orality and music are important to us. I don’t want to be reductive, but it’s not a cliche, it’s not a stereotype. We like to watch performance and we like to hear music. And we like people to be engaging with us. We want to be entertained”. It is for these reasons that Clarke says he branched out from writing books and poems to writing plays and operas – he loves the idea of live audience interpretation and interaction.
I also found it interesting that Clarke uses “we” in the above quote when referring to African Canadians. I can see how it is acceptable in some contexts (depending on who is speaking of course) to oversimplify a large group of people in order to express a collective preference or desire, like the desire for performance or music.
This differs significantly, I believe, from the thoughtless approach, of ‘lumping’ all writers who were black during the Harlem Renaissance into the category of “black writers” just because – something that Clarke argues against doing. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and info on the Harlem Renaissance, Cat. Very interesting stuff.
Hey @chrischeung!
I am glad you brought attention to citizenship and having “more than one home”. I am a dual citizen of Canada and Japan. While Canada is more progressive in its laws, according to Japanese laws, I must choose to hold either Japanese or Canadian citizenship when I turn 21. Since my father is Japanese and my mother is Canadian I am faced with a bit of a moral dilemma. I think it is very important to be able to hold citizenship of the countries you call “home” having to choose between two countries you consider your “home” seems unjust to me. I applaud Canada for allowing dual citizenship and I hope that eventually Japans laws will become more accepting in the near future.
Maya – I’m a dual citizen, too! I always hate the questions in customs line ups in airports when they ask things like “where’s home?” I have such trouble answering.
It’s sad that you’ll be forced to give up one of your citizenships – that’s like being forced to pick an identity, when you belong somewhere in between. Canada allowing multiple citizenships is a step in the right direction to recognizing that identity is not a singular thing. It is possible to belong to more than one culture.
In my personal experience, my family is fairly unique. We celebrate three Thanksgivings – Canadian, American, and the German Erntedankfest. Christmas is on the 24th/25th, of course, but Nikolaustag is celebrated on December 6th. My traditions come from different sides of my family – my paternal grandparents are German, while my maternal are Canadian, and my mom lives in Texas, while my dad’s stationed in Saudi Arabia. I identify as being multinational, as I can’t really pick one national identity and stick with it.
I think it’s important that we consider the boundaries national identity place on individual identity, and take steps to correcting our thought processes that create these boundaries.
Hi everyone!
What stood out most for me was Dominiguez and Clarke’s discussion on Blackness in Canada – an identity that is very visible down in the south with our neighbours. Almost all of my understanding on Black culture is derived from the United States: the struggle with racism, discrimination, poverty, economic disparity and social alienation from the “dominant” culture of the US. So I must sadly admit, I was genuinely troubled while reading your annotated bibliography that this is probably one of the few times I have thought about Black culture in Canada – a culture that seems to be, might I say, overshadowed by African-American culture, often leading to stereotypical generalizations that are harmful in the formation of Black identities both in Canada and the US.
This brings me back to what Northrop Frye writes about: how it is not “what” we are that sometimes defines who we are but “where” we are. So it is important to then to remember that identity is not solely based on, as you explained in Greenwood, what things are like but how these things relate to each other as well. Intersectionality is then even more important to consider and understand its existence in identity formation.
Hi team! Some final thoughts before we part ways to work on our papers.
I’m sure all of us at some point or another this term have felt a degree of sadness during our studies regarding injustices or a way of life that is on the verge of fading away. Your focus on linguistics as a key to unlocking stories and cultures has many instances among your sources as beginning to vanish.
Perhaps an interesting point to explore your papers from is a lament: What happens when cultures disappear? What if the people are gone? What if no one remembers them? What if the people are here, but have been assimilated? What is the importance of keeping their record or telling their stories? A rather frightening way to look at it is the disappearance of a species due to nature’s course. Obviously many cultures on this Earth have vanished at some point in time. As humans, is it our task to preserve knowledge and memory of ourselves as a collective?
Here’s something to leave you with: a clip from Human Planet (it’s like Planet Earth but explores amazing ways of life from around the globe) that shows a tribe that has never been contacted by civilization.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lWVVFHzuLE
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BBC. “Uncontacted Tribe – Human Planet.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 3 Feb. 2011. Web. 8 Apr. 2014.
In response to your bibliography entry on Mary Greenwood’s article:
I was struck by the phrase “I feel like I am home” that Greenwood brings up in the context of how First Nations people respond to their environment and societal setting. We have spent lots of time in this course examining our own feelings about home, from our very first introduction blogs to later ones that specifically dealt with our understandings of home. These types of comments are “expressions of knowing that are not bounded by objective evidence,” according to Greenwood, and are “better articulated in traditional languages and the arts rather than through the English (or other colonial/nonindigenous) language(s).” I now can appreciate the interesting intersection we were faced with when we learned how to approach our own stories from the perspective of home and its special significance for First Nations cultures in the context of an English class. Was that perhaps an act of decolonization?
Despite our own experiences trying to place ourselves within a First Nations philosophical viewpoint, Greenwood and other indigenous people indicate that often, they “find [themselves] in realities that demand expressions in knowledge systems different from the systems in which concepts [of First Nations philosophy] originate.” This is getting back again to the discussions currently underway on both team blogs related to language and its role in facilitating cultural and literary communication. Given that Canada has spent so much time on the receiving end of non-European cultures “hollering [at it] across the cultural divide,” it seems fitting for it to now be Canada’s turn to do some hollering, maybe starting off with meaningful questions. How do you think literature can advance this “hollering” process, or perhaps narrow the gap between the sides, or else build a suspension bridge, or make like Coyote and cause an earthly rearrangement that connects the two sides?