Firstly, let me apologize for posting this late. I have been through a lot of stress this this week. Case and point, my cabin on Ruxton Island almost collapsed and I’ve had to move out of it to Coquitlam.
Now for this weeks assignment:
John Lutz’s article, “First Contact As A Spiritual Performance: Encounters on the North American West Coast” is not as thought out as it could be and is full of assumptions and at least one contradiction that undermines his own argument.
Lutz assumes that the participation of Indigenous peoples in spiritual performances during first contact is difficult for his readers to comprehend, he assumes that his readers are of European descent. This is not a fair assumption because the majority of people reading his work are most likely students, and in British Columbia over twenty percent of students attending post secondary institutions are international students, the majority of which are of Asian descent. Meanwhile according to articles from popular news sources such as the Globe And Mail and Maclean’s Magazine approximately forty percent of UBC students are of Asian descent. Other Universities in Canada share similar statistics such as the University of Toronto. News sources tend to bend the truth so those statistics may not be completely accurate, but that is not the point. The point is that in an age where UBC prides itself for being the most International university in Canada, Lutz’s assumptions do not fit in.
Lutz’s assumption that Indigenous peoples understand performances of people of European descent better than vice versa is fair, but not completely thought out. The reason that Lutz gives is that the mythical identity of ‘the European’ in Indigenous cultures was force-ably shifted over a long period of time due to the implementation of European superiority over other cultures in Christian European spirituality. Meanwhile it is that same idea of superiority over other cultures that has kept those of European descent from understanding Indigenous spirituality and mythical performance such as contact zones fully. The part of the his assumption that is not thought out is that he states that ALL people of European descent could not understand Indigenous performance fully. As people of European descent read his essay and understand it, they either begin or continue the process of decolonizing their outlooks. These outlooks make up part of their mythic identity as people whose ancestors were colonizers, and those mythic identities are shifted. Lutz undermines his own argument.
Professor Paterson is being fair when she points out Lutz’s assumptions. As an academic, Lutz is accountable for the research that he publishes an is released to the world. As we remember from an earlier week this term, once a story is told, it cannot be taken back.
Works Cited:
Hello Sarah,
First, I hope you have been able to set up a home for yourself in Coquitlam, that your cabin is ok and you can get back to island life soon.
I’ve enjoyed reading your entry on Assumptions and Differences. You have made a clear argument, outlining the two points and concluded well. I particularly liked how you described the diverse student body in Canada with International students making up a large percentage of post-secondary students. I thought to add statistics regarding Aboriginal people being some of the diversity in the post-secondary student population. In looking at Canadian Census 2011 statistics, close to 50% of aboriginal adults have a post-secondary education, and as we have seen in, “What I Learnt In Class Today:Aboriginal Issues in the Classroom” these assumptions and their voices must be considered.
https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/as-sa/99-012-x/99-012-x2011003_3-eng.cfm.
Thanks,
Alison
Hi Alison, thank you for your kind words about this week’s assignment. I think that the integration of many different cultures in post secondary institutions is very important. It prevents ghettoization because cultures inhabit the same space physically and in doing so become socialized to the ideas of multiculturalism and cultural sensitivity.
There is a story that my Uncle Chuck told me about that exact kind of socialization, except through primary and secondary school. He was born during the time after World War Two when a lot of Jews immigrated to Canada from Europe. My family was lucky enough to get out of Poland a generation before Hitler’s reign, but it wasn’t until Chuck and his siblings went into public school that many Jews had taken advantage of Canada’s public school system. Before then, many Jews such as my grandfather went to Jewish-lead learning institutions.
Long story short, Chuck remembers being called a “kike” and taking it negatively, but then he joined the basketball team, did exceptionally well, made many friends, and many of the children in his school became socialized to his “Jewish-ness”. Likewise he became socialized to the other cultures going to his school. The same thing happened with my Uncle David who was academically amazing, my Aunt Susan who thrived socially, and eventually my mother thirteen years later, although she went to school half a generation later and many of the inhabitants of the school, Including teachers were socialized to Jews.
It is important to keep the idea of Canada as a cultural mosaic because it allows cultural sensitivity to thrive. The more that we learn about each other, the better we can create multicultural communities.
Alison again! With a question…
Funny timing but, I was watching the Gord Downie interview on CBC tonight and hearing about his upcoming show. He tells and sings the true story of an Indigenous boy from the North West Territories who died while running away from a Residential School in an attempt to return to his home. Did you see this interview as well? And do you think that this relates at all to our topic questions this week (or weeks past for that matter)? Gord Downie has really gone to bat on increasing awareness about the disconnect between non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal people in Canada and has a vision of how great we could be as a Nation if this was bridged and sees it as possible.
Hi Ali, I missed that interview unfortunately. I do agree with you though that thee is a disconnect between those who have been colonized and the colonizers of Canada – even in this so called-post colonial society.
I also agree that we should bridge the gap between the many First Nations cultures that make up Canada and those cultures whom are not indigenous to Canada. One way is to create relevant, up to date, mandatory education in primary, secondary, an post secondary institutions about First Nations cultures within Canada – possibly taught by people of the bands in the communities where the education is being taught. An example of this is UBC’s hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language learning program taught partially by Larry Grant, a Musqueam elder. The language is taught along with cultural history about the unceded territory where Salish bands have lived, some content about the effects of residential schooling on indigenous languages, and some Musqeuam lore about leaders past and present.