FNIS100

In/On/Within/In Regard to Me Now: A self reflection

Being formally recognized as an international student since my entrance to Canada, it had naturally forged my self-identification as an outsider, who have no stand nor contribution, to the grave dialogue surrounding the matter of Indigeneity. This shallow identification has fortunately been questioned and gradually refined throughout my learning in the FNIS100 course that I am matter in this conversation. My opinion matters because, at the very least, my educational institution, University of British Columbia, stands on the traditional, ancestral, unceded territory of the Musqueam people. It is to be recognized that this land’s ownership has never been changed through an act of surrender, nor any legal process. The depth of this recognition has changed my understanding of my relation to this land, the land that will nurture my intellectual development as much as my personal growth. It is an uncomfortable realization. However, it is through pushing oneself out from the comfort zone- by daring to ask uncomfortable questions and witnessing uncomfortable stories, either via fictional texts or spoken realities- that I learn about Indigenous people and the complexity of their struggles.

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