Earlier in the year, as a preliminary approach to Geography with Professor Glassman, we covered the emergence of a racialized North America. Our first official unit went over the Transatlantic Slave Trade and how different factors such as common language, community, and knowledge of the land affected enslaved Africans and Indigenous peoples; the former having none of those things characterized a drastically different relationship with European settlers, yet both groups were equally vilified and constrained within the foreign invention of race. With previous schooling, I was familiar with early North American history, but more so with timelines and events rather than why these events happened and the ideologies behind them. The common underscoring of the tragedies that befell Indigenous communities was twisted and mangled in order to fulfil the deluded European idea of Manifest Destiny. The Portmanteau biota is a theory that many factors such as disease, warfare, famine, and many others colluded together to wreak devastation through Indigenous communications. Some of the most sinister include viewing small pox as means of “thinning out” Native populations in order to “make room” for Puritans, and John Locke’s labor theory and notion of waste; Locke thought that Natives were wasting their land, and that the subsequent clearing of said land (through colonialism and genocide) was God choosing European settlers as His people. This ultimately led to early beginnings of capitalism and a hardened stratum of race evolving out of ethnic chauvinism, as well as the white American principle of using their supposed God-given right to mistreat others for private gain.
In tandem with learning about the history of Indigenous struggles, we also became acquainted with current manifestations of such struggles. We focused on the #IdleNoMore movement, which has been described as a mounting of frustration surrounding Indigenous communities in Canada, and how, thirty years later, justice is far from being properly served. This notion is especially pertinent after reading Indian Horse. Despite Indian Horse being a work of fiction, it depicts very real horrors that plagued children in residential schools, and the racism and trauma that followed the main character, Saul, even after he got out. Indian Horseis a complicated and personal account that is modern, yet timeless in its grief. Having both of these perspectives, from a bird’s eye point-of-view to the more biographical level, is important in developing a multi-faceted understanding of extenuating issues, so that we can hope to facilitate intelligent conversations.
Hey Sadie,
I thought it was really interesting how you tied together lessons from both our geography and astu classes. I like how you brought light to the importance of diversifying your understandings of Indigenous struggles with personal and objective accounts. Our geography class content (which gave historical/modern context) in tandem with the personal/raw account of Wagamese’s Indian Horse has definitely helped me broaden my scope of knowledge. I really enjoyed reading this post– you did a great job!!
–Isabelle Printz
Wonderfully written post Sadie! I like how you linked the #IdleNoMore movement that was taught in Geography with the Saul’s story regarding his experiences in residential schools in Indian Horse. I definitely agree with your concluding point that Geography, which gave a bird’s eye view of both the historical and contemporary struggles of indigenous peoples in Canada. As well as the detailed and indigenous personal story that ASTU has taught us through Indian Horse and how the combination of the two scopes helps in providing a more definitive understanding of these indigenous issues.
– Ethan Warner