The prompt for this week:

In this lesson I say that it should be clear that the discourse on nationalism is also about ethnicity and ideologies of “race.” If you trace the historical overview of nationalism in Canada in the CanLit guide, you will find many examples of state legislation and policies that excluded and discriminated against certain peoples based on ideas about racial inferiority and capacities to assimilate. – and in turn, state legislation and policies that worked to try to rectify early policies of exclusion and racial discrimination. As the guide points out, the nation is an imagined community, whereas the state is a “governed group of people.”For this blog assignment, I would like you to research and summarize one of the state or governing activities, such as The Royal Proclamation 1763, the Indian Act 1876, Immigration Act 1910, or the Multiculturalism Act 1989 – you choose the legislation or policy or commission you find most interesting. Write a blog about your findings and in your conclusion comment on whether or not your findings support Coleman’s argument about the project of white civility. – Dr. Erica Paterson

For this week I decided to focus on The Royal Proclamation of 1763. This proclamation is a document set out for guild lines for European settlement of Aboriginal areas in North America. King George III issued this in 1763 to try and “officially” claim this as British territory after the Seven Years War. King George issued this to claim all ownership of this new land and he did give the Aboriginals a large area of reserve in the interior of North America west of the Appalachian Mountains. He did however proclaim that settlers were forbade to take land from Aboriginal occupants unless the crown had bought if first and then sold off. This was until King George changed him mind and made sure that only the crown would be able to buy the land from the Aboriginals.

This also had significant relevance because it contributed to the cause of the American Revolution in 1775, which legally defined the North American interior west of the Appalachian Mountains for the Aboriginal peoples. This caused problems for the ever-expanding Thirteen Colonies who still wanted for land for expansion. The other issue is that the western border for this land was not specifically defined as King George wasn’t in the area and didn’t have concrete maps of the area. Having no defined line didn’t cope well with either the Aboriginals that was promised land in one area and the ever-expanding Colonies.This would make things very difficult between people trying to understand the nation that is being pushed on them and those who are trying to define them as being their own body.

In the years since there has been lots of debate about what they should do to this treaty. Some thought that this only really applied to British Columbia where the majority of the land remains un-surrendered by treaty. This however is still being legally enforced in other areas like the Yukon, Eastern Artic, parts of Quebec and the Maritime Provinces.

In the proclamation it references section 25 of the Constitution Act of 1982, this dictated that nothing in Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms diminishes Aboriginals people’s rights as it expressed in the Royal Proclamation.

This makes it really hard to see in the “eyes of the law” what people’s rights should be. If there are contradictory statements out there how is anyone supposed to understand what is right? It is what you believe, or is it the law that we hold so dear?

Work cited

Historica Canada. Royal Proclamation of 1763. Web. Accessed June 26. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/royal-proclamation-of-1763/

Paterson, Erika. “Lesson 3:1.” ENGL 470A Canadian Literary Genres May 2015. U of British Columbia. Web. 26 June 2015.

University of British Columbia. Royal Proclamation, 1763. Web. Accessed June 26. http://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/home/government-policy/royal-proclamation-1763.html

The prompt that I picked for this week is:

“To raise the question of ‘authenticity’ is to challenge not only the narrative but also the ‘truth’ behind Salish ways of knowing “(Carlson 59). Explain why this is so according to Carlson, and explain why it is important to recognize this point.

Authenticity is being able to prove something without doubt. The stories of the Salish peoples do not usually have the distinction of being authentic, as there is no proof to their stories. This doesn’t mean that their stories are any less correct; there is just no physical proof that these things happened. This “inaccuracy” isn’t something that is unique to just the Salish peoples. These “inaccuracies” also happen in the history of Westerners as well. Most non-Natives have generally not been overly concerned with historical legitimacy of the Aboriginal legends and myths, but people are considered with their overall legitimacy that others believe they either have or do not have (56). Carlson’s biggest point from the above prompt is that he thinks those who raise too many questions try to challenge a certain way of life and the ways that they consider to be their ways of knowing their past. This isn’t to say people shouldn’t ask about their ways to be able to understand them. People don’t need to question someone’s authenticity when they are curious about his or her ways of life. Asking questions is a natural fact of life, everyone will ask something. The manner in which questions are asked, and the intentions behind those questions, are two of the most important aspects of asking a question.

It is important to recognize Carlson’s ideas, as they are valid ones. When someone tries to pry into another person’s life that is based primarily on beliefs instead of facts, only issues can arise. People understand certain aspects of life because they have faith that what they are told is correct, and they hold it dear. When people start interrogating them and trying to strip this away, they are left with a feeling of nothing and that everything they know is incorrect. This is true about any religion or way of life, though. There are not always concrete or authentic answers for everything in this world. Some things people just have to do on faith. Faith that no matter what they do in this world, there is always something that will catch them and make everything work out as it should.

Work cited

Carlson, Keith Thor. “Orality and Literacy: The ‘Black and White’ of Salish History.” Orality & Literacy: Reflectins Across Disciplines. Ed. Carlson, Kristina Fagna, & Natalia Khamemko-Frieson. Toronto: Uof Toronto P, 2011. 43-72.

Patterson, Erika. “Lesson 2:4.” Web log post. ENGL 470A Canadian Studies: Canadian Literary Genres May 2015. UBC Blogs, n.d. Web. 9 May 2015.

Prompt for this week ” We began this unit by discussing assumptions and differences that we carry into our class. In “First Contact as Spiritual Performance,” Lutz makes an assumption about his readers (Lutz, “First Contact” 32). He asks us to begin with the assumption that comprehending the performances of the Indigenous participants is “one of the most obvious difficulties.” He explains that this is so because “one must of necessity enter a world that is distant in time and alien in culture, attempting to perceive indigenous performance through their eyes as well as those of the Europeans.” Here, Lutz is assuming either that his readers belong to the European tradition, or he is assuming that it is more difficult for a European to understand Indigenous performances – than the other way around. What do you make of this reading? Am I being fair when I point to this assumption? If so, is Lutz being fair when he makes this assumption?”

To be able to assume that Lutz thinks that the majority of the audience he is reaching out to would be ones of those with European persuasion would be correct. At this point Lutz probably thought that the majority of the settled world had European roots or something similar to the area. This is seen when he talks about how the European settlers perceived these new people.

“Undoubtedly, what was sent via the performance was imperfectly received by the audience, and the response to the misunderstood message was no doubt also misunderstood in a cycle of confusion” (30)

Lutz makes it seem that it started out with these new people’s fault and in turn making “us” not be able to understand what they are trying to communicate about. Just because something is different from what you are used to doesn’t mean it is any less wrong from what we know. What do you think it felt like for them as well? These strange people show up and them not being able to understand what you are trying to say to them. Who do you think they thought of the Europeans?

I think it would have been difficult either way, Europeans having troubles with understand Indigenous performance and Indigenous trying to figure out the Europeans why of communicating. No two ways were similar, they spoke different languages, had different actions for things and two completely different mentalities for thinking. Indigenous people drew from the land, their thoughts and feelings were in a common circle. Unlike the Europeans who were more focus on what they wanted and how they were going to get it regardless of the obstacles. There must have been some common ground for them to start on and go from there. Once you are able to understand the minimal the rest comes easier.

“The first contact was not so much “an event” for both European and Indigenous people as an initiation of a dialogue which, once commenced, could not be easily broken off.” (31)

Lutz did understand that once a dialogue between people was established there wasn’t much that could be done to separate them as they were living on the same land. The Indigenous peoples were probably wondering what they wanted to do with the land and interact with what they saw was proper. With this contact between them lots of things could be understood about what they could expect in the new land and how they could prepare for it.

Work cited

Lutz, John S. Myth and Memory Stories of Indigenous-European Contact. Vancouver: UBC, 2007. Print.

Patterson, Erika. “Lesson 2:2.” Web log post. ENGL 470A Canadian Studies: Canadian Literary Genres May 2015. UBC Blogs, n.d. Web. 9 May 2015.

Everyone had varying views and opinions on what home meant to them, but most people had similar underlying factors that they considered when choosing what home was to them. Home isn’t simply the place you are living in, the place your mail ends up, or where you rest your head at night. In fact, almost nobody chose their residence as their home. Home is much more than your residence.

Everyone has to connect with their home in some way. Whether it’s a mountain top, a neighbourhood they grew up in, or somewhere else, there’s always a strong connection to the place. There are memories that have been formed here. It could be that they have spent every year there since they were young, or because they had their first, or their best there.

When people arrive at their home, they feel a sense of relief. They can stop worrying about what is going on, and they can be their true selves. Gone is the worry about what others are doing, what’s happening elsewhere; replacing those feelings are ones of comfort and peace. Many people talked about how they are more relaxed when they are at home, wherever it may be. Home is a special place, and it invokes special feelings within us when we are there.

One common thread amongst many of the articles was the connection to nature. In this digital world, it’s still nature that many people retreat to when they want to feel at home. I personally feel at home in nature the most, and am pleasantly surprised to see that so many others do as well. It’s good to see that even today we can still appreciate the natural beauty of this world, and put away our electronics long enough to properly appreciate it and feel at home.

I enjoyed reading about everyone’s feelings about home, and what it meant for them. This assignment has me wanting to return to home once again, and enjoy everything it has to offer.

Work cited

James Long. “Literal Home away from Home.” https://blogs.ubc.ca/canadianstudies470ajameslong/2015/05/29/literal-home-away-from-home/

No Author. “A Sense of Home.” https://blogs.ubc.ca/anyplaceanytime/sample-page/

Melissa Kuipers. “Where we Grow.” https://blogs.ubc.ca/melissakuipers/2015/06/04/home/

Home isn’t the place that you lay your head down every night, or where your family is. Home is where you are able to feel completely comfortable. Growing up I didn’t understand the concept of home. My parents fought all the time, my dad drank and my mother just tolerated it. There aren’t many memories of when I was younger that we truly felt like a family in a home. After my parents became divorced, we were all learning to cope, and were moving from place to place, never finding that one place that I could feel truly fit in. When you keep changing schools it is hard to settle into who you are supposed to be. I have lived in eleven different houses, and not one has really felt like a home. Once my parents remarried, they seemed more at peace with their choices, yet I still couldn’t find a place that I felt at “home” in. As I grow older I find the idea of having a traditional home, with all the fancy, sleek and modern items make me uncomfortable and feel like I don’t belong.

This is where I started to figure out where I truly belong. It wasn’t until I was really able to explore the wilderness and camping on my own that I was truly able to start finding myself. I have never felt more at home than when I have a beach to sit on, a body of water nearby and the wilderness surrounding me. During these moments, there is nothing that you need to focus on besides the scenery around you. There is no technology to distract you from what is going on and ruin the moment. These places are becoming harder to find, and the places that I usually end up visiting are getting busier and more populated with new people finding the area and wanting to experience it for themselves. With the addition of more people, the peace and quiet is reduced.

Don’t get me wrong – sitting down at the water and looking out at the lake with the moonlight being the brightest thing around, and suddenly a fish jumps or something rustles in the bushes – it can definitely scare you. But that moment of peace, where there is nothing happening but the stillness around you, is where I feel at home. There is nothing to judge the choices that I have made in life, there is no second guessing the decisions that need to be made, there is no worrying about the family that I come from. There is nothing but stillness. Even though sometimes the silence can be overbearing when your mind won’t shut up, it is nice to have a moment to take the time and sort these thoughts out.

Where you feel at “home” is different for everyone; they have different ideals of what they are looking for in their sense of home. Some people want to be surrounded by their love ones, either family or friends that are close to family, some people want to be completely alone and isolated, and some people want to be in the center of everything. Everyone has their own sense of how they feel when they are “home”. Personally, it is a complete sense of nothing, nothing but the scenery around me to capture my complete attention. I am a visual person; I love drawing, pictures and things that could take my breath away. This is where I feel at home.

Thanks for reading my blog!

Kathryn