CENS 202: Indigenous Survivance and (Mis)Representation in Central, Eastern, and Northern European Studies

This course explores Indigenous self-representation and narratives of Indigenous presence and agency (survivance) alongside the misrepresentation and cultural appropriation of Indigenous identities in what is now called Central, Eastern, and Northern Europe. Framed through the work and theory of Indigenous studies while also engaging the Indigenous culture and history of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people, students will read Chukchi literature from the shores of the Chukchi Sea region of the Arctic Ocean and Sami poetry and folktales from what is now known as Fenno-Scandinavia. We will also explore examples of digital survivance in the games to emerge out of the 2018 Sami Game Jam and consider the role of social media in global Indigenous activism. Lastly, we will explore issues of Indigeneity in Disney’s Frozen franchise and the problematic cultural appropriation and misrepresentation of North America’s Aboriginal peoples in German popular culture. Ultimately, this course seeks to engage literature, new media, and other platforms for digital and traditional forms of storytelling to unsettle European settler colonialism, privileging the voices of Indigenous authors and artists from other parts of the world, while drawing connections between the experience and consequences of settler colonialism abroad and within Canada.

In addition to course readings, class discussion, group work, short response assignments, and a final creative project and reflective essay, students will attend several virtual events with Indigenous speakers. I’ve organized this speakers series in order to foreground Indigenous experience and Indigenous voices in our conversations on Indigenous literature and new media, since I am conscious of how my own subject position as a white settler might otherwise problematically dominate the perspectives shared in our class discussion, reiterating the politics and power relations of settler colonialism even while I am trying to destabilize them. Moreover, by intellectually (and financially) supporting the work of Indigenous scholars, activists, and entrepreneurs, I am finding new ways to be an ally to members of Indigenous communities. The first event will feature Dr. Renae Watchman (McMaster University), who will talk about diasporic Indigenous presence from Turtle Island in Europe. The second virtual event will be a documentary film screening of Searching For Winnetou (2018), Ojibway author and humourist Drew Hayden Taylor’s quest to understand the roots of the German obsession with Native North Americans, which will conclude with a virtual conversation with the director. A third event will feature Indigenous entrepreneurs and board game experts, David Plamondon and Jayde Gravel, who will introduce students to issues around representation in transnational board game cultures. Finally, the course will conclude with virtual visits from Sami game studies scholar and Sami Game Jam co-organizer Dr. Outi Laiti (University of Helsinki) and Indigenous researcher Keeta Gladue (University of Calgary), who will present her work on Decolonizing Disney.

Please see here for the Speaker Schedule.

As a non-Indigenous white settler, I approach the work of Indigenous studies and my teaching of its materials humbly, acknowledging outright that I am still in the process of learning how to be an ally to the Indigenous peoples of what is now called Canada and around the world. Moreover, I am cautious in my teaching of this content, knowing that my approach to teaching about global Indigenous cultures has the potential to reinscribe the problematic power relations that have existed around the world since the onset of settle colonialism in the classroom environment. However, I am committed to striving to meet the goals of truth and reconciliation through my research and teaching (and #62 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action, in particular). I therefore see it as my duty as a settler to work towards unsettling settler colonialism in all aspects of my personal and professional life.