Welcome to my course blog for UBC’s online version of ENGL 470A Canadian Studies: Canadian Literary Genres, or “Oh Canada… Our home and native land?” as it is described by our instructor, Dr. Erika Paterson. I am a fourth year student studying Biophysics at the University of British Columbia’s Vancouver campus. Some of my interests include triathlon, knitting, and cross-country skiing. At times I also like to knit objects related to my coursework, such as this sea monkey (BIOL 140) and dissected frog (for a biology prof).
Some knitting from previous UBC courses: a sea monkey and a dissected frog
Last year I took ENGL 222 Literature in Canada with Duffy Roberts, where we focused on the stories of Vancouver. ENGL 470A is my first experience with an online course, and I hope that it will be an enriching and fulfilling one.
We will be listening to many storytelling voices throughout the course, from Thomas King’s Green Grass Running Water and The Truth About Stories to Edward Chamberlin’s If This Is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories? and many more. Drawing from readings and other media presented in the course, we will identify aspects of storytelling and relate them to the identity of the storyteller, as well as the role storytelling plays in literature. Class storytelling will take place in individual blog postings by class members and in comments on those postings and will culminate in an online conference to be held near the end of the course (Paterson “Course Syllabus”).
When I imagine my “native” land, I picture the Canadian West Coast, full of scenic and stormy oceanfront and lush with rainforest biodiversity. This is the setting where I grew up and where I feel most at home. Of course, I didn’t really grow up in the forest — I attended a city high school in Victoria, BC, rode my bike through trafficky streets, and enjoyed all the urban conveniences from microwave ovens to Gore-tex. But beyond the picturesque backdrop that the coastline of the Straits of Georgia and Juan de Fuca, or Salish Sea as it has recently been renamed, provides us, I have long been fascinated by the minutiae of the living environment, from birds to plants to echinoderms. In fact, recognizing and understanding so many of the organisms that live on the coast comforts me, as I am familiar with and can imagine my part in each of their stories. Victoria is the homeland of several Coast Salish groups, who traditionally shared my preoccupation with the living environment, as this was their medicine cabinet, hardware and grocery store rolled into one (Turner 28). Going further than I in their storytelling, however, they spoke words of blessing to the living materials they collected, physically imbuing them with stories and thereby increasing their value and significance (Turner 8).
During this course, I would like to become more aware of the many layers of story a single object can hold. In particular, I am interested to hear about how applying different stories to the same place or object affect how “useful” we consider it to be.
Blue Camas in a Garry Oak meadow, Victoria, BC. This was an essential food plant for Coast Salish people before other starchy foods became available (Turner 118).
Works Cited:
Paterson, Erika. “Course Syllabus.” ENGL 470A Canadian Studies: Canadian Literary Genres. Web. 08 January 2014.
Paterson, Erika. “Instructor’s Bio.” ENGL 470A Canadian Studies: Canadian Literary Genres. Web. 08 January 2014.
“Duffy Roberts.” Department of English. University of British Columbia, 28 July 2011. Web. 08 January 2014.
Turner, Nancy J. Saanich Ethnobotany: Culturally Important Plants of the WSÁNEC People. Victoria, BC: Royal BC Museum, 2012. Print.
Wow – another remarkable introductory blog – thank you.I am especially interested in your desire to ” become more aware of the many layers of story a single object can hold.” A most interesting quest which I hope you will fulfill through this course of studies which is designed to encourage you to follow the paths that most interest you. Indeed, if you find that you’d like to compose you own blog assignment question around your desire to investigate the layers of story in a single object, you are free to do so – just let me know. Thank you.
Nice to meet you Keely. Wow, I love your knitting! So creative and intricate!
Hello Keely, Thanks for your great introduction and for sharing your artful knitting. I identified with your explanation of being connected to the living environment on the west coast of Canada, so I thought that I would respond with some of my own thoughts. I am also intrigued by your desire to understand how the layers of stories, when applied to a single object, affect our perception of that object or place. I hope to address this point as well.
Growing up as an urbanite on the edge of Pacific Spirit Park in Vancouver and spending a lot of time in nature around British Columbia, I have always felt a strong connection to the forest, the ocean and the power of nature around me. I have spent a lot of time on the west coast of Vancouver Island as well. I feel very privileged to live in a city where I have access to the wilderness and also to the “urban conveniences” that a city affords me. In consideration of this, I have always been interested in the dialogue surrounding my privilege of living and studying on Musqueum land and what that means to us all. I am always eager to learn more about this dynamic and I hope that we will be exploring this more in our course. I believe that we have much to learn from stories and information about the natural living environments that we inhabit.
While I have never studied these wonderful surroundings in any academic detail, I have always found comfort in listening to the stories that the forest and the ocean have to tell me. Feelings such as hope, sadness, rejuvenation, guilt, and love that often wash over me when I am in nature seem to be part of a historical narrative that speaks to us all, and that also connects us to the stories that explain these feelings and the greatness of nature. This sentiment must be considered in relation to the stories and oral traditions of the coasts indigenous groups, as they are what serve to explain our profound connection to the history of this land. I can also see how having specialized knowledge of many of the plants and animals on the west coast would enhance your connection to the unique story of each organism and the environment in general, I can appreciate how one is able to join the story of these organisms by attending to them with interest and care. I certainly envy your knowledge of the living environment that is so important to all of us. It is great that you still live in the west coast environment.
I automatically thought about music when you mentioned your interest in the layers of story in a single object. I thought first about how an object, such as a drum, can choose to tell the same story in many different ways. The instrument as object, in this example, has the potential to convey many layers of a story through a performance. Each performance can be considered a new chance for the story to be told in a different way, uncovering its layered history as it, or the performer, chooses. In this way, the object has an unlimited capacity to hold knowledge, information and layers of story.
If you get a chance, I would love to hear if this musical thought is at all connected to your interest in the layers of story in a single story – Thanks
Hello Paul! Thanks for your inspiring comments! I apologize for taking so long to reply. Your musical thoughts are very much connected to the layers of story I imagined. Music tells very interesting stories, especially in that many people personally connect to it on its own, apart from the composer or artist who is presumably the storyteller. The story of the music would probably change, in fact, if the listener heard more of the story of its making. Certainly the layers of a musical story are dependent on its medium of dissemination— a live performance carries different storytelling potential than a recorded one. Actually, it’s interesting to think that although our culture cherishes the written word over the oral one when it comes to literary traditions, the opposite is true of music. I would much rather see the Berlin Philharmonic live than listen to a recorded version, but I don’t think I could sit through an entire recitation of my favourite novel. I seem to have strayed a bit away from the idea of layers here, but your comments really were thought-provoking for me. Maybe more on this in another post. Thanks again!
Hi Keely,
Firstly, your knitting is AMAZING… do you design those patterns yourself or find them online/in books? Secondly, I found that your perception of your “native” land being lush coastal landscapes and forests similar to my own. I grew up on the North Shore here in Vancouver and despite growing up in an urban metropolis with traffic and concrete, I still picture my “native” Vancouver as an idyllic uninhabited Emily Carr-esque landscape. Isn’t it funny that what resonates with us most is the natural/geographical aspects of our homes? I also took English 222 and wonder what your experience was like reading literature exclusively about Vancouver? What was the focus in the literature you read (did the authors tend to focus on the natural landscapes like we do or more of social, political, urban concerns)? I wonder if literature and experiences pertaining to Vancouver (and more broadly, BC) tend to invoke a visceral and enduring reaction to the land and geography. Perhaps this fascination with the land has to do with the unsettling history of unceded territory.
Thanks, Jessica
Hi Jessica! Sorry to take so long to reply! With regards to knitting, sometimes I use patterns (not for those two little guys in the picture though) but more often I look at pictures of stuff I like and try to copy it on my own. Ravelry is the best for looking at inspirational photos of others’ knitting as well as finding many free patterns for knitting and crochet. It’s kind of like Facebook for knitters.
As far as Vancouver literature goes, we focused mainly on the experience of newcomers and immigrants as well as marginalized folks in the area. We read the anthology V6A, writings from members of the Downtown Eastside community as well as the story of a Mennonite family that moves first from Germany to farm in the Fraser Valley, then to urban Vancouver in the mid-1990s (Renovating Heaven, Andreas Schroeder). So the overall focus of the readings was less on the natural world and more on the urban setting and social concerns, I would say. Although outside of that course, I recently read the novel Stanley Park, by Timothy Taylor, which does a good job of combining the two. As part of ENGL 222, we also collected our own “cultural artifacts” — photos, stories and observations of Vancouver that we wrote about and linked together with our readings. It was a great class, and I still catch myself looking around at my surroundings for exciting cultural artifacts to record. I am also very intrigued by your speculation of a “visceral and enduring reaction to the land.” What was your experience of ENGL 222 like?
Hey Keely,
Much like the above comments I am amazed with your knitting skills!
That seems like such a good out let to have during an overwhelming semester at UBC!
I too am from the West Coast, a small little city on Vancouver Island called Courtenay.
Your description of the West Coast was almost identical to how I imagine my “native” land.
Growing up in Courtenay I spent many summers on Denman and Hornby both Islands are surrounded by lush green forests and the most beautiful lakes and beaches.
Since you are from Victoria you may have heard of these breath taking islands located northwest of Vancouver?
If you haven’t been to Denman or Hornby I highly recommend going! It is only a two hour drive and a couple short ferry rides away!
-Maya
Sorry to take so long to reply, Maya! I too have spent time on Hornby Island over the summertime (once or twice in the winter too). One of my favourite moments on Hornby was seeing whales swim by the shore while I was eating dinner in a friend’s waterfront backyard 🙂 Courtenay is a lovely town too; I stayed there last summer when I did the Snow-To-Surf adventure race with some friends. Glad to get to know someone else from the Island in this class!