Sparke suggests a number of possible inspirations for Judge McEarchern’s “map that roared” comment. All three possibilities suggest that Judge McEachern was disdainful and condescending of the map presented at trial.
First, Sparke makes reference to the turn of phrase “paper tiger.” The “colloquial notion of a ‘paper tiger'” is taken from a Chinese expression (Sparke 468). The expression describes someone/something that has a threatening appearance but is harmless in reality (Bourque). When applied to McEachern’s comments regarding the Gitxsan and Wet’suet’wen territory map, the “paper tiger” interpretation is patronizing. Rather than interpreting and evaluating the map as a textual authority in the way that the maps of the colonizers would be viewed, it segments the Gitxsan and Wet’suet’wen attempt to chart their land into a threat, or an act of bravado with little authority.
Sparke also mentions that the “map that roared” might refer to the Peter Sellers film The Mouse That Roared. The film is about the world’s smallest country which decides to declare war on the United States of America. The punch line of the film is that a primitive, under-dog of a country would deign to take on one of the large super power nations of the world. The trailer declares that it is “the funniest war ever waged…the war that had to be lost to be won.” In this respect, comparing The Mouse That Roared to the Gitxsan and Wet’suet’wen Territories trial is an apt assessment. It is doubtful, however, that Judge McEachern was sufficiently clairvoyant to foresee that his ruling against the Gitxsan and Wet’suet’wen claims would pave the way for the eventual Delgamuukw Decision in favor of recognizing aboriginal title as a property right to land.
In both the “paper tiger” and The Mouse That Roared interpretations, Sparke justly interprets a “derisory scripting of the plaintiffs as a ramshackled, anachronistic nation” (Sparke 468).
Sparke’s third interpretation is likely more in line with the Gitxsan and Wet’suet’wen understanding of what they were trying to achieve. The idea of “a roaring map simultaneously evoked the resistance in the First Nations’ remapping of the land: the cartography’s roaring refusal of…Canadian colonialsim on native land” (Sparke 468). The word roar certainly has revolutionary connotations: Exhibit A, Exhibit B. The map presented to Judge McEachern thus reads as a battle cry issued by people who will no longer suffer injustice. Sparke’s interpretation of the map as a revolutionary roar is strengthened by his grounding his investigation within a musical framework. Sparke suggests that narratives about land should be understood as a musical score (468). While “the Canadian state takes the position that jurisdiction over the land belongs to the settlers” the Gitxsan and Wet’suet’wen cartographic narrative roars its own (hi)story about the land we now call Canada (Asch 30). The two story lines are independent but they are interdependent in their harmony like a musical composition. They complement and contribute to one another when they are considered as harmonious works. Narratives about the land must be given “contrapuntal voicing…[to] enable [the] national Canadian audience to rethink the colonial frontiers of national knowledge itself” (Sparke 468).
The Gitxsan Wet’suet’wen roaring map therefore “subverts any punctual notion of a singular national origin, displacing it with an invitation to readers to reevaluate the ways in which the template of contemporary Canada is imposed proleptically on a heterogeneous past” (Sparke 468). When viewed in such a way, the map that roared may be seen not only as a counterpoint but as an elaboration, a fleshing out, of the story of the land we live in.
Works Cited
Aisthesis. “J.S. Bach – The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080 – T. Koopman and T. Mathot.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 25 Oct. 2011. Web. 22 Feb. 2014.
Asch, Michael. “Canadian Sovereignty and Universal History.” Storied Communities: Narratives of Contact and Arrival in Constituting Political Community. Ed. Rebecca Johnson and Jeremy Webber Hester Lessard. Vancouver: University of British Columbia P, 2011. 29-39. Print.
Bourque, Jeremiah. “A Paper Tiger.” English Idioms. English Idioms. 9 Apr. 2011. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.
Collier, Russell and Martine Rose. “The Gitxsan Model: A Vision for the Land and the People.” The ESRI Conservation Program. ESRI, May 2007. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.
ROAR Magazine. ROARMag.org: Reflections on a Revolution, 22 Feb. 2014. Web. 22 Feb. 2014.
Saw1110. “Helen Reddy – ‘I Am Woman’ (Live) 1975.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 4 Jun. 2009. Web. 22 Feb. 2014.
Sparke, Matthew. “A Map that Roared and an Original Atlas: Canada, Cartography, and the Narration of Nation Author(s).” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 88.3 (Sep. 1998): 463-495. JSTOR. Web. 21 Feb 2014.
Troz2000. “The Mouse that Roared Trailer.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 17 May 2008. Web. 22 Feb. 2014.
Thanks for explaining those three points so eloquently, I had some trouble wrapping my head around them. Can you comment on how you think having a physical manifestation of a map lends to strengthen authority? I think it echoes some of the differences highlighted through our readings on stories and literature, and how written word appears to have greater credence or is accepted as truth.
Thanks, Duncan. I think that there are likely a number of factors that made the “paper map” important in this context. Rather than “arriv[ing] open-handed and ask[ing] to enter into a relationship with those who already tell the stories of this land” the colonizers arrived with closed stories (Asch 37). Their pieces of paper established that “jurisdiction over the land belongs to the settlers” (30). The Gitxsan may have been fighting fire with fire by introducing their own piece of paper in an effort to expand the dialogue and tell their stories. The stories that existed before the settlers arrived with their legislation and arbitrary declarations.
It also may be seen as a revolution. If, as Carlson argues, “Aboriginal truths regard literacy as something indigenous that was itself once taken away” the act of presenting a map as evidence might be seen as a reclamation of sorts (Carlson 43). The Gitxsan may therefore be using the “powerful force” of literacy to “precipitat[e] transformations in people’s lives” (51). When the oral tradition of Gitxsan story telling failed to garner the respect and authority that Judge McEachern (and all that he represents) they resorted to another method. I have a clear mental image of the black twin presenting the white twin with his own piece of paper. When viewed in this light, the revolutionary connotations of a roaring map are amplified, I think.
Hope that makes sense!
Works Cited
Asch, Michael. “Canadian Soverignty and Universal History.” Storied Communities: Narratives of Contact and Arrival in Constituting Political Community. Ed. Rebecca Johnson, and Jeremy Webber Hester Lessard. Vancouver: U of British Columbia Press, 2011. 29-39. Print.
Carlson, Keith Thor. “Orality and Literacy: The ‘Black and White’ of Salish History.” Orality and Literacy: Reflections Across Disciplines. Ed. Carlson, Kristina Fagna, & Natalia Khamemko-Frieson. Toronto: U of Toronto Press, 2011. 43-72.
Hi Lauren,
Thank you for your sharp and multi-faceted answer to the interesting controversy over the value of cartography in Gitxsan and Wet’suet’wen nations. You said that:
“Sparke suggests that narratives about land should be understood as a musical score (468). While ‘the Canadian state takes the position that jurisdiction over the land belongs to the settlers” the Gitxsan and Wet’suet’wen cartographic narrative roars its own (hi)story about the land we now call Canada (Asch 30).'”
I liked how you married history with music in a metaphor here. I noticed that your hyperlink titled “Exhibit B” leads us to Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman” (hear me roar). This proves the power of your metaphor to influence culture and tell a story through song. Songs and music seem to reach people in powerful ways that are unattainable just by using the spoken word. Songs have brought people together and torn them apart. But what is a song if not a story put to music? There is that famous old country saying, “Country music is three chords and the truth.” I just wanted to further your metaphor by suggesting that the “roaring map” could be a reference to music, but it is also a metaphor for a story about land, people, and nations come to life. “Roar” is a powerful verb. In order to roar you need something to roar about, you need something that produces that all-encompassing, guttural battle-cry. As you said so eloquently: “The map presented to Judge McEachern thus reads as a battle cry issued by people who will no longer suffer injustice.” A roar is not an act of desperation, it is an act of evolution.
Thank you for your always engaging blogs. I look forward to working with you in the group seminar later this month and combining our opinions and ideas about this fascinating material.