Article Link: “Altered Perspectives”
March 17, 2010
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about what constitutes traditional knowledge, both within and outside the IRS TRC. In part, this was prompted by the controversial book, Disrobing the Aboriginal Industry by Frances Widdowson and Albert Howard. The book itself is unfortunate, and its treatment of issues facing Aboriginal communities, including the legacy of the Indian Residential School system, is irresponsible. I’ve been trying to work through a response to these authors and their critique of traditional knowledge (a concept they do not understand) as a way for people (both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal) to exploit, among other things, funding opportunities, the legal system, and policy-making. I think a recent article in SSHRC’s Dialogue entitled “Altered Perspectives: Inuit Knowledge Provides Scientific Insight into Climate Change” provides an illustration of how traditional knowledge and empirical/scientific knowledge (of course, these two terms are not mutually exclusive) work in tandem. Far from Widdowson and Howard’s claims, traditional knowledge is a valid and valuable concept for both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities.
Here’s an excerpt from “Altered Perspectives“:
In a unique, SSHRC-supported, community-based multimedia project, the University of Victoria researcher in environmental studies teamed up with colleagues Peter Kulchyski and Chris Trott from the University of Manitoba and internationally acclaimed Inuk filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk (Atanarjuat The Fast Runner) to record interviews with Inuit elders using digital video, filmmaking and Internet tools. After interviewing 55 elders, hunters and women, four experts, and Canada’s Governor General, the results were greater than anticipated.
“Do you want to know the most mind-blowing thing I’ve heard?” asks Mauro. “Inuit elders from four northern settlements separated by thousands of kilometres have independently concluded that climate change is caused by the earth having tilted on its axis.”
Mauro says elders from Nunavut in Resolute Bay, Iqaluit, Igloolik and Pangnirtung all noticed the stars, moon and sun have shifted in their positions. The sun is now rising higher, staying longer and is warmer than it used to be. When Mauro first heard of these observations in 2009, he went to the scientific literature to see if anything had been published to support the elders’ claims. He found very little.
“Trusting the knowledge of elders, we shared their perspectives with scientists,” says Mauro. “By linking different ways of knowing, we discovered that a warming atmosphere is actually changing the refraction index of the sky, which dramatically alters the visual landscape of the Arctic.”
The phenomenon is caused by low altitude refraction. According to Mauro, the only other researcher actively working on this topic is Wayne Davidson, a meteorological observer in Resolute Bay, who first documented similar observations in the 1990s.
“Understandably, the elders attribute the visual change to a tilting earth, but it’s actually an optical shift caused by a complex interplay between the wind, atmosphere, earth and ice,” says Mauro. “This observational knowledge of objects shifting in the sky is actually proof of a warming world.”
Surprisingly, Inuit are not particularly apprehensive about climate change, says Mauro. Instead, they are prepared to ride the wave of adaptation. He says the message from the communities is that humans and animals can adapt to changing ice conditions, global ocean currents and altered migratory patterns. Having thrived for more than 4,000 years in the Arctic through multiple warming and cooling cycles, Inuit have no doubt about their ability to adjust.
To read the full article, click here.
I won’t say much more about Disrobing the Aboriginal Industry, as it has already received more coverage than it deserves. To read some recent reviews or about the controversy surrounding the book, see The National Post review, or Gerald Taiaiake Alfred’s review, or writing on the topic by Peter Kulchyski.
I heart North Bay: Part II
March 9, 2010
One of the central issues in any truth and reconciliation commission is that of the relationship between visibility and invisibility. Often, these commissions focus on a previously denied, suppressed, or obscured history and seeks to bring this past into the present. In the Canadian context, the way survivors of the Indian Residential Schools share their experiences will take many shapes and forms. In addition to testimonies and narratives, people will tell their stories by contributing to a new visual archive as well.
At the recent conference in North Bay, several Nipissing First Nation community members came forward to discuss their experiences and the legacies of the Indian Residential School system. Some of these speakers made the issue of the residential schools visible in different ways.
Chief Marianna Couchie spoke of her father’s experience at the Garnier Indian Residential School. She had made a special t-shirt printed with her father’s assigned number and initials of the school. She explained that he was at times only referred to by his number: 76.
Doreen Bellaire also spoke of the legacy of the schools. She held up a collage of materials left behind by her mother, Delina Commanda, a woman she described as incredibly strong. Delina attended the Industrial Residential School for Indian Girls in Spanish, Ontario. The collage was compiled from her mother’s writing, photos, a set of keys, and buttons among other mementos.
Thank you to Marianna and Doreen for allowing me to share their stories and images at tracingmemory.com. And thank you to all those people at the conference who shared their experiences.
I heart North Bay: Part I
March 8, 2010
I’ve just returned to New York from North Bay, Ontario where I attended Nipissing University’s conference on Truth, Reconciliation and the Residential Schools. The organizers put together a great program that involved both the academic community and the Nipissing First Nations community. I presented a short paper entitled: The Limits of Testimony: Contextualizing Truth and Reconciliation in Canada.
Because the IRS TRC is still in its early stages, the paper focused on a comparative analysis. In particular, I focused on one specific, puzzling testimony, given to the South African TRC in 1996 by Mrs. Konile, whose son was killed by apartheid security forces in 1986. A recent book has been published about this testimony, co-authored by Antjie Krog (an Afrikaner poet and journalist), Nosisi Mpolweni (Xhosa lecturer and linguist) and Kopano Ratele (psychologist). The book is entitled There Was This Goat: Investigating the Truth Commission Testimony of Notrose Nobomvu Konile and the authors spend the bulk of the book discussing one particular testimony, given by Mrs. Konile. This testimony was difficult to understand for many reasons – it did not follow a linear trajectory, it mixed her dream life with her waking life, and made reference to cultural and traditional symbols that would have been difficult for outsiders of her culture to understand. Add to that that her testimony was translated from Xhosa to English and transcribed, and one begins to understand how difficult it may be to comprehend one not-so-simple testimony. The authors of There Was This Goat, which is a line from Mrs. Konile’s testimony, embark on a journey of understanding as they imagine conversations about this testimony and begin to discuss with Mrs. Konile her experience of losing her son, with the truth commission and its aftermath. In one section of the text, where the authors imagine a conversation between two black South Africans, one says to the other:
To fully understand our words you have to understand a whole history of fear, hiding, running, evading, and still trying to maintain a sense of dignity and a life worth something. To truly hear Mrs. Konile’s truth, and the truth of most of the black people who testified at the Truth Commission hearings, you have to work hard to understand it, you have to gain our trust. It’s not going to be given to you just like that, because you may turn and use it against us, as happened many, many times under apartheid (32).
By looking at Mrs. Konile’s testimony and the work of Krog, Mpolweni, and Ratele, my paper explored how testimony is something that must be actively engaged and understood within a much larger historical and cultural context. (I posted a few weeks ago about another of Antjie Krog’s books, Country of My Skull, and There Was This Goat is another excellent, engaging read about the politics of truth commissions.)
Thanks to the organizers and the Nipissing First Nations, who were so generous with sharing their experiences.
Things that Confuse Me
February 24, 2010
1. Diesel’s latest campaign:
2. Russian figure-skaters Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin at the Olympics:
Confusing, right?
Check out Sociological Images for more on the Diesel Campaign, and Native American Legal Update for more on representations of indigenous peoples during the Olympics.
Moving Forward – Four New Directors Named
February 22, 2010
The IRS TRC continues to move forward. Having moved their offices to Winnipeg, Manitoba from Ottawa, Ontario, the Commission has also recently announced the recruitment of four senior staff members:
• Lisa Meeches, Director, Events Planning and Artistic Programming
• James Bardach, Director, Strategic Planning, Communications, and Community Liaison
• Dr. John Milloy, Director of Research, Historical Records and Report Preparation
• Ry Moran, Director, Statement Gathering and National Research Centre.
Lisa Meeches has been the Executive Producer of Eagle Vision Inc. and Meeches Video Productions, two Winnipeg-based Aboriginal production companies that she founded. Eagle Vision was a co-production company on the film Capote and the television movie Elijah. Meeches has been the executive producer, director, and host of The Sharing Circle and the executive producer of Tipi Tales. With 25 years experiences in broadcasting, she is the recipient of the 2007 National Aboriginal Achievement Award for Media and Communication, the 2009 YMCA-YWCA Woman of Distinction Award in the area of Creative Communications, and the 2009 University of Manitoba Excellence in Aboriginal Business Leadership Award.
James Bardach has been the Executive Director, Strategic Planning, of Poirier Communications, a national Aboriginal advertising agency that specializes in grassroots social marketing campaigns for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis audiences, for the past decade. From 1995 to 1999, he was a director with the firm. Prior to working for Poirier, he was the Director of Communications (1991-95) and Chief of Corporate Communications (1989-1991) for La Cité collégiale, Ontario’s first French-language college of applied arts and technology. He also worked for the National Capital Commission from 1985-1988.
Dr. John Milloy is history professor at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, where he is a member Trent’s Department of Indigenous Studies. He is the author of A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School System, 1879 to 1986, published by the University of Manitoba Press in 1999. The book is the outcome of research that he commenced for the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. In 2005, the Literary Review of Canada selected A National Crime as one of the 100 most important books in Canadian history. He is a recipient of the Symons Award for Excellence in Teaching, Trent’s most prestigious teaching honour, in 1986.
Ry Moran is the founder of YellowTilt Productions, an audio, video, and events company with a focus on Aboriginal language and oral history projects. YellowTilt has done work for the Native Women’s Association of Canada, Health Canada, the British Columbia Provincial Health Service Authority, and APTN. With Metis Nation BC, he has been involved in the development of LearnMichif.com, a project dedicated to the preservation of Michif language and culture. In his work with Traditions Consulting, he worked on the organization and development of a number of oral history projects.
Developing Development – Conference on Feb 18th at NYU
February 10, 2010
How Can We Remember – Lecture
February 1, 2010
Thursday, February 4th, 2010 – 6pm – 20 Cooper Square, 5th Floor, New York, NY
Recently Re-read: Country of My Skull
January 30, 2010
While I was preparing for my specialization exams last summer, I read a ton of books. For the two exams, I had about 100 books to read in a very short period of time. I got good at skimming the material and pulling out relevant quotes, but because of the pressure to read quickly, I lost out on some of the nuances and beauty of the texts. Luckily, I recently had the chance to re-read one of these books and found that without the looming exam, I was able to appreciate the text much more.
In Country of My Skull: Guilt, Sorrow and the Limits of Forgiveness in the New South Africa, journalist Antjie Krog tells the story of the South African truth commission. It is a highly personal reflection on the process of national reconciliation after the fall of apartheid. When I first read it, I was looking for two sorts of information: 1) What were the basic facts of the commission? Who were the commissioners? Who testified? What was the public response? And 2) What were some of the theoretical issues with which the commission wrestled? How did it conceptualize truth? How did the concept of reconciliation change during the process? What did it mean to different sets of people within the country?
But on my second reading, I was able to focus far more on Krog’s personal experience of the commission and her struggle as a white Afrikaner dealing with the conflicting emotions of guilt, shame, pride, love and hope. It is a beautifully written, complex story that blends personal narrative with historical context and social commentary.
As I continue to follow the TRC in Canada, I wonder: How does one tell the story of a truth commission?With all its complexities and contestations, how does one weave together some sort of narrative that can speak to its inherent contradictions? Antjie Krog shows us that a layered text produced through a mixture of prose, poetry and journalism may be the answer.
The Limits of Memory – Conference
January 26, 2010
Canada’s Colonialism – Article at TheMarkNews.com
January 21, 2010
A short piece on Canada’s colonial history, and Prime Minister Harper’s denial of it, is available at The Mark.
Alana Lajoie O’Malley writes:
“At the G20 Summit last September, our prime minister boasted that we “have no history of colonialism.” That the leader of our country can stand in front of dignitaries from around the world and speak these words is a testament to just how far we have to go in really understanding our national history.”
Read the full piece here.
Photo by axiepics available under a Creative Commons License
