Recently all the CAP classes have had a sharp focus on Aboriginals and the loss of their culture through colonialism. Aboriginals were exploited, oppressed, marginalized, and through this lost their way of life. Colonists did everything to eradicate Aboriginal life, in turn putting their own advantageous agenda first. After doing this week’s readings for both Anthropology and ASTU I began thinking that not only did Aboriginal colonization have harmful effects for Aboriginals but it had equally harmful effects for the rest of Canadian society. Such consequences are still present today, yet in our society we fail to acknowledge them.

By pursuing tactics to assimilate Aboriginal culture, through the amalgamation of Indian children into residential schools, the sixties scoop, dominating owned land, etc. The government failed to recognize how detrimental such actions could be on both ends. Early colonists and even the Canadian government today never gave the Aboriginal culture, and ways of life a chance. They were immediately referred to as savages or barbarians, looked at as inferior, and are typically seen today as uneducated, victims, and alcoholics. But when did anyone really try to embrace the culture? Aboriginals pride themselves on the natural world. They live in accordance with sustainability, embrace human and non-human life, they recognize the worlds resources are in fact, finite. Even more so their culture emphasizes sharing, general welfare over personal wealth. Meanwhile, today we treat the environment as it if were numb to our presence, as if its infinite and nothing our culture does impacts it. We live in a capitalist society that exploits land, and an unequal distribution of wealth is evident almost world wide.  I had read in an assigned anthropology reading that it is predicted forests will be gone in 2050. Sea life will be depleted by 2043.  While it may seem like a lifetime away right now, it really isn’t, we’ll be in our 40s-50s. Our generation and our next generation will be living with the severe consequences of our government and the unsustainable ways of the white men up top. It really doesn’t seem fair that such a fate has been chosen for us. Especially considering the land initially taken, did not belong to them. It belonged to a group of people whose culture enhanced rather than eradicated the worlds resources.

It’s never too late to look to the lost culture of Aboriginals to help better our world today. Just because the culture suffered a genocide doesn’t mean Aboriginal culture is gone forever. Like Heather said, Aboriginal culture is still very much alive today. However it can be even more alive without constricting limits such as the Indian Act. Such an act may status Indians but confines them even more. We must educate ourselves and take action into our own hands, looking at Aboriginal culture for inspiration, if we want to live healthily and happily in the future.

Much criticism targeting Queen B,  Beyoncé Knowles, arose after the release of her new single Flawless. While the song is feminism based, with samples by acclaimed feminist writer Chimamanda Adichie, some critics argue it is in fact counter feminist as the bridge of the song states “bow down, bitches” repetitively.

Now, Beyoncé is an artist who is most definitely not afraid to express her sexuality through her music, however the sexuality that she conveys is one that she owns as a strong independent woman. She is able to both own and express herself, who she is, in a culture that works against such ideals. If Beyoncé claims she is a feminist, well then, who are we to say that she isn’t one? Feminism is not a one size fits all, unilateral movement with specific guidelines. Feminism is meant to be all inclusive, Beyoncé, in this specific song, in many other songs, and in her mannerisms, is pro-woman without being anti-man. The sexiness, the confidence, and the strength portrayed in her work is one that many females perceive as admirable, empowering, and liberating.  Beyoncé addresses the ambiguity of the line “bow down bitches” in the article Beyonce Explains Bow Down. She claims it was the side of her that she felt she needed to defend; it was motivation a burst of anger she wanted to express, for her “haters”. A lyricism of empowerment that made her feel as she says “gangsta.” “Bow down, bitches” is a lyrical explanation of what’s wrong with assuming that being feminist requires one to follow a script, and not your own heart. I personally, fully agree with what Beyoncé is trying to channel within this song, and many other songs of hers that may bring her feminism into question. She brings sexy female power. She allows girls world wide, including myself, to feel this power.

The focus of criticism in the song is all directed towards the very repetitive message of “bow down bitches” yet, this draws away from the pro-fem themes throughout the rest of the song, Flawless. “I took some time to live my life, but don’t just think i’m his little wife.” Here specifically, I believe Beyoncé is stating that she is so much more than merely Jay-Z’s wife. She has an extremely successful career of her own, she is a loving mother, and has a worldwide fan base in addition to being happily married. She is ambitious and establishes herself as an independent, aspiring, successful woman who lives a life far beyond the socially expected norm of being a wife. The hook of the song, including lyrics such as: “we flawless, ladies tell em, say ‘i look so goodnight tonight’ goddamn, goddamn.” This sentence alone displays the sexy confidence Beyoncé owns and the same confidence she wishes all women develop and portray. It is a slap in the face of what we are supposed to believe to be an appropriate display of a woman’s sexuality.

Overall, the song Flawless amongst endless other songs shows us how validated Beyoncé is in her feminism. It may not be academic feminism, or a type of feminism that society is used to seeing when thinking “feminist”, but Queen B is rocking sexual liberation, control and self-ownership which are all central to the ideologies of feminism.