Joseph Boyden in Thunder Bay

This coming week Joseph Boyden will be making a number of appearances at Lakehead University. Along with being the guest speaker at a Literature of Canada's First Nations class, on Wednesday night, March 5th, he will be giving a talk "The Past and the Future are Present: Race Relations in Canada." His talk focuses on the historical research that he did for his latest book, The Orenda, which is a Canada Reads contender.
  
At Quill and Quire, Kamal Al-Solaylee summarizes the characters at the heart of The Orenda:

The history may be complicated, but the novel’s narrative is relatively simple: three characters take the reins and the story, set in the early 17th century, unfolds more or less chronologically. In no particular order, the narrators are: Christophe, a Francophone Jesuit missionary; Snow Falls, an Iroquois teen of the Haudenosaunee nation kidnapped by the Wendats (a Huron nation); and Bird, a warrior mourning (and avenging) the deaths of his wife and two daughters at the hands of the Iroquois ....

The book is not without controversy. At Muskrat Magazine, Hayden King explains that although he wanted to like this book and while its three voiced multiple narrators tell the story from different points of view in hopes of achieving the effect of making ambiguous dichotomous boundaries of good guys vs bad guys, in the end, its story reinforces a narrative that is does not disrupt the familiar settler colonial story of history, hence making it palatable to Canadians:

The Orenda is a comforting narrative for Canadians about the emergence of Canada: Indian savages, do-good Jesuits and the inevitability (even desirability) of colonization. The themes that push this narrative are a portrayal of Haudenosaunee peoples as antagonistic, the privileging of the Jesuit perspective, and a reinforcing of old story-telling tropes about Indigenous people. These themes work together to convey the message that the disappearance of the Huron and the loss of their orenda was destined happen.

["Orenda" means, as Al-Solaylee explains, "the life force that, according to the Hurons, belongs not just to humans but to 'every last thing' in the natural world."]

Both reviewers point out the vivid descriptions of violence and torture in the book; Hayden calls the violence "excessive," and Al-Solaylee explains it  as "unspeakable cruelty and, yes, savagery – human on human, human on animal, and animal on animal" with ritualistic torture emerging as "orgiastic." Waubgeshig Rice writes that "The book is violent, with scenes of warfare and torture between the Huron and the Haudenosaunee people. Some critics take issue with Boyden’s portrayal of the latter, who are the novel’s antagonists. These issues have grown louder on social media in the lead up to Canada Reads."


I am wondering how Boyden's writing of violence and torture can be read in the context of the explicit and descriptive torture that is so central and popular today in mainstream American movies and TV shows such as Zero Dark Thirty, Homeland, and Django Unchained, all children of American torture, such as at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, Black sites, and everyday military acts throughout Iraq and Afghanistan, since 9/11. Other narratives, such as the non-mainstream movie 12 Years a Slave, also make torture part of one's vicarious "entertainment" reality. Where does Boyden's narrative of extreme violence fit in this historical moment of fascination with torture? While in the dominant power relations, white men torture brown bodies (as well as some brown men taking up the military, political, and economic interests of the white dominated American corporate/government), in Boyden's novel, among the purveyors of extreme violence inflicted on others is that of brown men torturing other brown men in the context of colonialism in in that part of Turtle Island which became Canada. 

I am sure the discussion period after Boyden's talk will be lively! 

You can read chapter one here at the Penguin Canada website.

On Thursday, March 6, from 1 - 2 pm, Boyden will be the special guest at the Bannock and Tea hour at the Aboriginal Student Lounge; students are invited to drop in. I have asked my class of Anishnawbe writing students to bring their copy of his deeply inspiring and hopeful speech "Walk to Morning" which we discussed in class, and get it signed by him!

You can hear Boyden tell his "Walk to Morning" story here (10 m.) or read it here. [pdf]

Boyden uses the metaphor 'walk to morning' to mean walk towards hope; although his story is directed specifically to teens and young adults struggling with emotional distress, he  has a healing message for each reader: no matter how difficult things get, you should tell someone about your pain. Walking towards the light of morning can bring small unexpected pleasures that remind us that each day is a gift and we never know what wonders will come our way. Joseph Boyden almost walked into another history and I am not the only one who is glad that he failed at that one. You have to read or listen to his speech to find out what, thank god, he failed at.

When he first gave this speech in 2012, Boyden explained that

This is a very deeply personal thing I’m going to share with you today...It’s not an easy talk to give. I’ve reached the point in my life where I’ve been blessed with some success and I have been afforded an audience who I hope is still willing to listen to me. I don’t want to squander the opportunity to speak just because it would be easier not to. I’m one of eleven children after all and I know how easy it can be to simply fade into the background even when your gut is telling you to raise your voice. And so allow me to raise my voice this afternoon.

This short speech of his is a gift that can inspire many young people. I hope it is shared, read, and listened to widely.

The history may be complicated, but the novel’s narrative is relatively simple: three characters take the reins and the story, set in the early 17th century, unfolds more or less chronologically. In no particular order, the narrators are: Christophe, a Francophone Jesuit missionary; Snow Falls, an Iroquois teen of the Haudenosaunee nation kidnapped by the Wendats (a Huron nation); and Bird, a warrior mourning (and avenging) the deaths of his wife and two daughters at the hands of the Iroquois. - See more at: http://www.quillandquire.com/reviews/review.cfm?review_id=8123#sthash.SV0WNgu0.dpuf

The history may be complicated, but the novel’s narrative is relatively simple: three characters take the reins and the story, set in the early 17th century, unfolds more or less chronologically. In no particular order, the narrators are: Christophe, a Francophone Jesuit missionary; Snow Falls, an Iroquois teen of the Haudenosaunee nation kidnapped by the Wendats (a Huron nation); and Bird, a warrior mourning (and avenging) the deaths of his wife and two daughters at the hands of the Iroquois. - See more at: http://www.quillandquire.com/reviews/review.cfm?review_id=8123#sthash.SV0WNgu0.dpuf

The history may be complicated, but the novel’s narrative is relatively simple: three characters take the reins and the story, set in the early 17th century, unfolds more or less chronologically. In no particular order, the narrators are: Christophe, a Francophone Jesuit missionary; Snow Falls, an Iroquois teen of the Haudenosaunee nation kidnapped by the Wendats (a Huron nation); and Bird, a warrior mourning (and avenging) the deaths of his wife and two daughters at the hands of the Iroquois. - See more at: http://www.quillandquire.com/reviews/review.cfm?review_id=8123#sthash.SV0WNgu0.dpuf

Life is a struggle

I have been absent from posting, but I hope to be back to a more regular routine soon. There are a few upcoming poetry events in TBay that look interesting. Above is the poster for a book launch this coming weekend. I don't usually go to Chapters (it's part of my BDS commitment as the majority owners of this bookstore founded Heseg the Foundation for Lone Soldiers ), but I will make an exception this once to go hear Al Hunter.

from the Black Hills to Gaza and back to Canada then off to Israel

I found this video on Jadaliyya, an English language Arab news and culture website. I agree with them that  TED talks have their problems (the few I have seen are overwhelmingly by white professional guys in suits), but this one by Aaron Huey comes from a decolonizing perspective. Yes, he too is a white male but he actually takes a critical look at that. In their introduction to the video, Jaddaliyya links the practices of colonial settler projects, links what's happening to the Palestinians by Israel with what was done to--and continues to be done to-- the Lakota by the US, and to Indigenous peoples everywhere.

While Huey, a photographer, specifically uses contemporary photographs to inform his narration of the resistance of the Lakota to a long history of settler policies and violence, the hard questions that he raises about the role of 'wasi'chu' , Lakota for both 'non-native' and 'those who take the best part of the meat' (which has been white people and continues to include settlers of all skin colours who benefit from the dominant society's policies and methods) can be extended to Canadian setter society and other settler peoples like Israelis. 

Jadaliyya Reports states that:

Today, three days after “Thanksgiving Day,” it is important to remember that in the United States, settler colonialism has been so complete, and so successful, that the world has forgotten that South Africa, Australia, and Israel are all reproductions, all approximations of the ongoing victory in the Americas. We have forgotten that people learn from each other, and that techniques and lessons of genocide have always travelled in well cut suits, paperwork, and handshakes. We have forgotten that those of us who live today in the United States, are continuing to settle native land, and that even the ability to be a politically progressive—or even radical—citizen of the United States is a wage of genocide. A reservation is a bantustan is a refugee camp is Area A is an allotment is native title is Gaza..

Great Grandmother Whitefish

Whitefish

A couple of Sundays I go when I was out for a walk along the waterfront, I stopped to read one of the new 'history posts' that are scattered along spots on the walkway. On this one overlooking the boat slips, I read about the start of the lake fishing industry in the early days when this Traditional Territory was speeding along into a settler community and economy. I was saddened to read that huge schools of large old whitefish were quickly depleted. There are no longer any huge schools of nine kilo whitefish.

When I got home, I wrote a poem about the whitefish. The poem is still rough around the edges, but here it is.

Angling for Whitefish

By 1920

the rainforest of fish

inland sea of pale-green

brown-backed silver white

deer of the Lakes—

Whitefish,

Sister of Salmon—

was exhausted.

Yet, before the settlers,

Whitefish,

ancient underwater

understory of the forest

of water swam and swam

in a never-ending cycle, 

collecting wisdom in 

the hump on her back.

Seeking cold silence in summer,

Great Great Grandmother

Ancestor Atikamek

swam along the depths

but when Freezing Moon called

She returned to swim

closer to sky.

Sister of Salmon

swam in the underwater bountiful

Her nine kilos of silvery scales

flashed white

in a slow dance

above the dark stones.

Circling through the seasons,

Ancestor Deer

collected great age 

and animal wisdom,

stored them in the hump

on her back. 

Then, the captain

of commerce came

from Chicago

with his nets of profit

and offers of jobs –

jobs for hungry settlers.

In a language

that had no sacred grammar for

Ancestor Atikamek

newsboys on Cumberland Street

cried “Free Trade!”

before the term was even invented

by neo-cons in the 1980s.

Whatever the term,

the terms are clear:

The captains of industry

fished out the forest

cut down the 800 year old Ancestors

swimming in the glacial waters

at the bottom of the Lake.

Above,

the Thunderbirds

circled.

 

Strength and Struggle book launch

Please join Rachel Mishenene and Jody Porter as they launch the book Strength and Struggle: Perspectives from First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples in Canada. This book was edited by Rachel Mishene and Dr. Pamela Rose Toulouse. It includes writing by Joseph Boyden, Cherie Dimaline, Richard Wagamese, Jody Porter, Elliot Doxtater-Wynn, Mishene and Toulouse and many more First Nations, Inuit and Metis writers.

The book will be launched on:

Wednesday, June 22 at 7:30 pm

at the Northern Woman’s Bookstore (65 Court St. South)

From the publisher, McGraw-Hill Ryerson:

"Strength and Struggle: Perspectives from First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples in Canada is part of McGraw-Hill Ryerson’s iLit Collection of supplementary student resources for high school English courses. This title is a 149-page, soft-cover book that includes a rich array of short stories, poetry, music lyrics, graphic art, articles, essays, and other pieces that will have students laughing, crying, talking, and thinking. It is a true celebration of First Nations, Inuit and Métis writing and art."

from Lakehead University News:

Rachel Mishenene, a contract faculty member and MEd student in the Faculty of Education, was one of two education advisors for McGraw-Hill's Native Studies / Literacy textbook, "Strength and Struggle: Perspectives from First Nation, Inuit and Metis Peoples in Canada." With her co-author Dr. Pamela Toulouse, Rachel selected numerous well-crafted and inspirational short stories, poems, recipes, songs and beautiful visual and graphic art by First Nation, Metis and Inuit people across Canada and then developed rich corresponding lessons.

Hope to see you there!

a walk on Mother's Day

Question: What do you suppose this is? Can you guess? I walk by it each Sunday when I pick up Tassu on my way down to walk over the overpass and along the shore of Lake Superior.
I have been out for my morning walks, although I have been leaving a bit later than usual because I have been staying up too late working. I pass quite a few anglers on the shore of McVicar's Creek these days trying to catch rainbow trout. Although the creek is long, they seem to bunch up in the same place, where the rapids are. Yesterday I passed the police who had driven their cruiser up the path to stop and question two Anishnawbe folks, Victor and his new friend, who were standing by the creek. The cops said, Morning, Ma'am, to me; I was not stopped for being on the path. I don't know how many times Victor gets questioned by the cops as this is not the first time I've seen them stop him. I will tell you my story about Victor later.

On Mother's Day, before I went over to have cake and coffee with my Mother and bring her the hanging basket I had bought her, I picked up Tassu and walked down to the lakeshore, where the water was still as glass. There wasn't a breath of wind to be found anywhere. You could see the morning sky reflected in the waters of Lake Superior.

My Mother had made a lovely whipped cream cake, which we, my Mother, my sister, Katja, and I, ate with yogurt ice cream. Later, I made a coffee crunch cake and brought it over to some friends who had invited my husband and me over for a visit. They had bought cake with whipped cream to share with us. Later on Mother's Day, my son brought over a New York style cheesecake that he had baked, with blueberry topping. At this point, all caked out, I said I think I'll eat a slice of that cheesecake tomorrow.
I saw the mink running along the rocks, close to the water's edge, and earlier I saw a groundhog pop up its head out of the rocks, but I have noticed that there are less ducks around because of the ongoing construction at the marina.
Answer: melted plastic in the window (see it on the right) of someone's old trailer that sits in a lot I cut through on my way down to the lake. Some Finlander could make a good sauna out of this old unused trailer (scroll down for instructions to get you started!)

Tomorrow I will tell you about my travelling sauna.

Northern Woman's Bookstore and ONWA present First Voices

Northern Woman's Bookstore presents

First Voices: An Aboriginal Women’s Reader
by

Patricia A. Monture & Patricia D. McGuire (Editors)

Join us to launch!

Refreshments provided.

Wednesday, November 24^th at 7:30 pm

65 South Court Street

For more information contact: 344-7979

{Please note that Pat McGuire will also be doing a reading and signing for First Voices Thursday November 25, 1:00 - 2:15 p.m., at ONWA's Open House, which is being held at the Prince Arthur Hotel in recognition of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

Do stop by, for Pat's reading, as well as various other planned ceremonies and presentations,
beginning at 11 a.m. and commencing at 8 p.m.}


ONWA
OPEN HOUSE

International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
November 25th, 2010

Thursday, November 25th, 2010
10 am – 4:30 pm
Prince Arthur Hotel
17 North Cumberland Street, Thunder Bay, ON

We will be accepting donations for Christmas Hampers. Please bring a non-perishable food item. Miigwetch!

November 25th has been designated as a day to fight violence against women and is internationally recognized as the “Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women.” ONWA has organized this event in order to take part in this international observance and to bring awareness to the scale and the true nature of the violence against Aboriginal women.
This event will include a book reading of “First Voices, an aboriginal women’s reader,” by Patricia McGuire and a film screening of “3rd World Canada, by Andree Cazabon. A discussion of both and an opportunity to network will take place afterwards.

Please join us afterwards for
“Open Mic Night at the Coffee House”
The Learning Café
510 East Victoria Ave
6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
Many will share poems and other personal expressions about this important issue. “By raising awareness, together we can work to eliminate it.”
For more information, please contact Kahla Moses at 807- 623-3442 or toll free 1-800-667-0816.

a reel injun has me reeling

I really like this photo of the singer Janita because it reminds me of my sister, Katja, when she was younger! When she was twenty-something, she looked a bit like this Finnish American singer, Janita, whose music I came across recently. Ari Lahdekorpi wrote a review of her new CD, Haunted, for the last edition of New World Finn (which, btw, is closer to its web publication format, so you will be able to read articles from it online soon!), and from that introduction I thought I'd look up her music.

So I found Janita's Myspace page and listened to some of her songs; I really enjoyed "Hopelessly Hopeful." It starts off like a song from an old 40s movie, but then develops into a moody evocative piece that really tugs at you. Her voice is beautiful. I like the oxymoron the song's title conjures: if you are hopeless, how can you be hopeful? Like "never say never," it sounds like a contradiction, but it is not. After listening to all of her songs on her Myspace page, I said to myself, yes, definitely, I've got to get her new CD! Eager to hear more, I looked her up on Youtube to see what was on there.


I found the title track to her new CD and watched and listened...

and then had a sinking feeling and wished I hadn't clicked on this particular music video. You listen to music to take you away from the everyday, to drift, to dream, to enter reverie....Well, not this time. Not far into the song, I could hardly hear the lyrics anymore as I was disturbed by the imagery in the video, by the video's appropriating of Native American symbols to create its "haunting" storyline.

Why would she use the romantic savage image in her video? The young shirtless guy standing at the window wearing a Chief's Headdress? What contemporary Native American guy does this? Wears traditional regalia during his regular day? Is this the only way to show a Native guy? Through stock imagery best left in the past? If it was a Finnish guy by the window, how would he be represented? Would the Finnish guy be standing at the window nude with a sauna pail in his hands to show his national identity? Or would he look like ..... a contemporary guy?

This is not the 50s' anymore; haven't we --Finnish settlers-- to Indigenous lands learned any lessons over the years? Worse was yet to come, however, and I have to say I was truly shocked to see Janita pulling out the feathers of the Chief's Headdress. Now, perhaps this isn't a "real" Chief's eagle headdress, but it does signify a lot of values. It is not just a Hollywood Injun prop.

A Chief's Headdress is a sacred item with high spiritual value. Usually, the feathers are eagle feathers, each feather the highest honor given to a man, each signifying some heroic, brave, or profound thing he has done. A man who wears a headful of eagle feathers commands a lot of esteem and respect. A warrior. A Grandfather. A Tribal Leader. A Medicine Man. Why would she assault this holy object like this? Doesn't she know its spiritual and cultural significance?

Is she and those who made this video so completely ignorant of the respect that should be accorded to the people whose land we are on? Unaware of the sacredness of a Chief's Headdress?

If it was a Bible, a Quran, or the Pope's hat, for that matter, would she be so cavalier? Wouldn't there be an outcry?

My friend, Shannon, asked me today if I had seen Reel Injun, the CBC documentary that through Aboriginal eyes critiques the portrayal of North American Indigenous people in Hollywood movies and discusses the films they are making today that counter the racialized representations that had them stuck in the past. In their self-representations they are not the vehicles of white people's new possibilities. They are no one's ghosts. In their stories, they are not haunting the edges of white people's stories.

They are no one's reel injuns......