Hello there, and welcome to my English 470A blog. This will be a safe, creative, and open space to record my exploration of relationships between Canadian literature and storytelling with a focus on contexts at the intersection of Indigenous and European history. I welcome any comments, questions, and suggestions, and am open to hearing your thoughts on the topics I will be writing on for the duration of this course.
My name is Sandra Wu, a rising senior majoring in English Literature and minoring in Creative Writing. I was born and raised in Vancouver with full Taiwanese heritage. My mother, a Mandarin teacher of 30+ years, made it a lifetime goal to never have me lose my roots with the language or culture she was born into, and in retrospect, I am grateful to have suffered through more than a decade of grumpy Saturday mornings in Chinese school. Between learning the English alphabet with ease and rummaging through my brain to memorize the Chinese phonetics, four-year-old Sandra could not understand the importance or need to preserve one’s cultural identity until much later on.
I am eager to examine Canadian literature through the voices of indigenous people because it paves the path to truly understanding their sense of/lack of belonging in the modern Canadian landscape. ENGL 470A provides an opportunity to analyze and scrutinize the tactics used by the colonizers during the process of nation-building, and I believe it is crucial to understand the rooted tensions between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples before we can comment on how the antagonist party needs to reform its ways.
Again, I am super excited to be embarking on this journey of learning more about my culturally rich and beautifully diverse country. I look forward to sharing and changing perspectives with everyone!
Until next time,
Sandra Wu
Works Cited
“Canada’s rejection of inquiry into violence against Aboriginal women is a national disgrace.” Rabble.ca. 23 September 2013. Web. 14 May 2016. Image.
eChineseLearning. “Chinese Pinyin (Part 1).” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HjfI0n7JIM. YouTube. YouTube, 22 February 2011. Web. 14 May 2016.
“Taiwan: Culture and Heritage.” Taiwan – The Heart of Asia. 27 July 2015. Web. 14 May 2016.
Hi Sandra!
Similar to you, I, too, am eager to learn more about the injustices and voices of indigenous people. I hear about the issue a whole lot, but I have never delved too deeply into the details or reasons as to why, after so many years, the topic of reconciliation with the indigenous people would still resonate so strongly. A clear example of this would be our new prime minister, Justin Trudeau, specifically taking time out to address a plan for a new relationship with the indigenous people. I look forward to reading more about this as the course progresses!
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/justin-trudeau-afn-indigenous-aboriginal-people-1.3354747
Dear Amelia,
Thank you for your response! I’m glad we share the same thoughts.
Cheers,
Sandra
Hi Sandra,
Nice to meet you and thank you for your blog post! I appreciate your reflections on what language and literature has meant for you in your own life. It is so refreshing and inspiring to see that your mother encouraged (or perhaps forced?) you to engage in your heritage by taking language classes. Learning multiple languages is so important – it is something I wish I would have been more encouraged to pursue. It can be especially valuable learning a language of your relatives or ancestors – as you mentioned, it can be an important way to connect with your past. I think it can also be a way to connect with your “present” self, particularly through exploring your roots and learning what makes you who you are.
If I may offer one slight critique, it is with your use of the phrase “lack of belonging” with regard to Canada’s Indigenous population in the so-called “modern” landscape. The only reason that I would like to point it out is that while I believe that you have honest and kind intentions with this comment, careful and mindful use of terminology is so crucial in literature, politics, and daily life in general. In this context, some blog readers may interpret this comment as implying that Indigenous people do not “belong” in Canada, and/or may imply that all First Nations individuals are undergoing an identity crisis.
To that note, I also wonder what you mean by “before we can comment on how the antagonist party needs to reform its ways.” Is the antagonist party the First Nations people? Is it European colonizers? Are these two “groups” truly antagonists and protagonists (ie. oppositional forces) anyway? I would love to hear your thoughts!!!
Thanks again – and I do not mean to be too critical. This is a lovely introductory post, and I think I know what you mean to say! However, I think it is so crucial to challenge our terminologies, semantics, and thoughts.
Charlotte
Dear Charlotte,
Thank you for your critiques! I’ll (try to) explain myself better down below.
By “lack of belonging,” I meant the sentiment that the Indigenous people may experience in the form of “homeless in their homelands,” quoted from Chamberlin on page 77. Canada is their soil, their land, the origin of all their stories as well as their history, yet they are treated in the most inhumane ways by the colonizers (and continue to be treated in discriminatory ways today). And when I used the word “antagonist,” I used it in hopes of conveying the idea that the European colonizers, along with the tactics used during the process of nation-building and policy-making, all contribute as perpetrators of institutional prejudice.
I’ll be more mindful and clear with my terminology from now on! Thanks for the reminder.
Cheers,
Sandra
Hi Sandra,
I believe that each person carries their experiences and perspectives everywhere we go, and remembering our own culture is an important part of that. We all need to acknowledge the way our worldviews affect our interpretations of literature and history, and I hope this course will be a way for everyone to orient themselves within the mixed bag of ‘Canadian identity.’ With that said, good luck with the course!
– Mikayla
Dear Mikayla,
Thank you for your insightful response! All the best with you, too!
Cheers,
Sandra
Hi Sandra,
Thanks for a really interesting introduction. I was especially intrigued by your personal experience with attempting to maintain cultural identity. I’m curious, did stories and storytelling play a role at all in your mother’s attempt to ground you in your Taiwanese heritage? If so, it might be interesting as this course progresses to see how these stories are similar (or not) to those told by the various other cultures present within Canada, both in content and in function. I personally struggle to even identify what I would call my heritage, let alone associate stories with it, so I’m sure your insight into this question will be invaluable.
I’m looking forward to puzzling through these questions as a class over the summer.
Cam
Dear Cam,
My hybridity of Canadian as well as Taiwanese values undoubtedly influence how I perceive my identity, and I’m grateful for that. My mother would often share stories of her growing up in the rural parts of southern Taiwan, and it’s so interesting to see that no matter what the culture is, stories and storytelling always play a prominent role in preserving the history of its people.
Cheers,
Sandra