Anthropology short assignments
FIRST NATIONS, POPULAR PERCEPTIONS AND THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ANTHROPOLOGY 206 – FIRST NATIONS OF BRITISH COLUMBIA Spring 2021 KAREN ROSE THOMAS
POPULAR PERCEPTIONS
•Public art •Museums •Upscale galleries •Tourist Kitsch/ Art
Perceptions of First Nations in BC vary, depending on context, but for most people, ART is often the first thing that comes to mind
Encompassing historical, traditional, contemporary and often political styles and mediums of art, visitors to the province and British Columbians often associate First Nations peoples with a rich artistic tradition.
POPULAR PERCEPTIONS
•Public art •Museums •Upscale galleries •Tourist Kitsch Spirit of Haida Gwaii, Bill Reid, YVR Airport
If you have flown in or out of the Vancouver International Airport (YVR) you may have seen this sculpture:
Image: Tony Hisgett from Birmingham (CC BY)
POPULAR PERCEPTIONS
•Public art •Museums •Upscale galleries •Tourist Kitsch UBC Museum of Anthropology
These totem poles adorn the Great Hall at the University of British Columbia’s Museum of Anthropology
Image: Daderot / Public domain
POPULAR PERCEPTIONS
•Public art •Museums •Upscale galleries •Tourist Kitsch
» Nestled in the heart of downtown Vancouver, the Gallery is home to the Simon Fraser University Bill Reid Collection and special exhibitions of contemporary Indigenous Art of the Northwest Coast of North America.
» The Bill Reid Gallery is Canada's only public gallery dedicated to contemporary Indigenous Art of the Northwest Coast.
Image: Rebecca Bollwitt / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
POPULAR PERCEPTIONS
•Public art •Museums •Upscale galleries •Tourist Kitsch/ Art
like that found in stores like this “Trading Post” *Note use of the term Indian
Many different stores cater to visitors to BC offering a large range of tourist art or kitsch, which may or may not have been created by First Nations artists. See additional resources for a link to Solen Roth
writing about “Northwest Coast-style” vs. Northwest Coast Art and Design
Image: Cowichan Trading / (CC BY-NC 2.0)
POPULAR PERCEPTIONS
STEREOTYPES
• Drunken Indian • Lazy Indian • Violent Indian • Noble Savage
Who benefits from these stereotypes?
• governments benefit from stereotypes that perpetuate a culture of dependency
• resource extraction companies benefit from stereotypes that imply First Nations stand in the way of “progress”
Negative stereotypes are perpetuated by people, corporations and governments with ulterior motives
POPULAR MISCONCEPTIONS
• First Nations people get free • Housing • Post secondary Education
• First Nations people don’t pay taxes • First Nations cultures are inferior • Use of modern technologies causes
First Nations cultures to cease existing.
• First Nations are not protecting land and resources, only seeking money.
(P.8-9, Muckle)
These narratives continue to be repeated without verification. While the situation is improving more recently, the BC school curriculum is complicit in reproducing these harmful stereotypes and misconceptions.
POPULAR MISCONCEPTIONS
• First Nations people get free • Housing • Post secondary Education
• First Nations people don’t pay taxes • First Nations cultures are inferior • Use of modern technologies causes
First Nations cultures to cease existing.
• First Nations are not protecting land and resources, only seeking money.
Short answer: NO. • Under the Indian Act, First Nations
governments receive disbursements from money held in trust by the Federal Government, some designated for housing and post-secondary education, but not everyone who wants housing or education receives funding.
• First Nations people are only tax exempt in some circumstances (specifically, work performed on reserve)
• First Nations cultures remain distinct even with the adoption of modern technology
• Many First Nations consider Stewardship to be an important cultural value.
(P.8-9, Muckle)
WHAT EXACTLY DO WE MEAN WHEN WE TALK ABOUT
“THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE”?
ANTHROPOLOGY AS ORGANIZING FRAMEWORK
• This class (and the textbook) uses anthropology to choose, describe and discuss information about First Nations in British Columbia
• The class is structured around key areas of anthropological interest: • Pre-history • Traditional lifeways • Language • Processes and repercussions of
colonialism • assertion of rights
Basic Anthroplogical Premises: 1. Understanding contemporary
cultures depends on knowing their past
2. All aspects of culture are intertwined (therefore a change in one element will cause changes in other aspects)
3. There are multiple ways of adapting and no one way is better than others.
ANTHROPOLOGY AS ORGANIZING FRAMEWORK
• Anthropology – The study of humans, past and present.
• Culture – the learned and shared things that people have, think, do. Culture is constantly evolving.
• Material Culture – physical things people have: houses, clothes, tools, jewelry.
• Ideology – things people think: beliefs, values, morals.
• Customs – things people do, their behaviours.
Four Fields of Anthropology 1. Archaeology – study of the past
through material culture. In BC, archaeology focusses on documenting the physical evidence of human activities in the region before the arrival of Europeans in the late 18th century.
2. Cultural Anthropology – focusses on traditional lifeways and contemporary cultures.
3. Linguistic Anthropology – study of languages.
4. Biological Anthropology – human biological characteristics.
DEFINING AND SITUATING FIRST NATIONS TODAY
FIRST NATIONS? METIS? INUIT? INDIGENOUS? ABORIGINAL?
NATIVE AMERICAN? AMERICAN INDIAN?
Which of these are correct?
QUICK DEFINITIONS - INDIGENOUS Jose R. Martinez Cobo, the United Nations Special Rapporteur of the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, in his famous Study on the Problem of Discrimination against Indigenous Populations: “Indigenous communities, peoples and nations are those which, having a historical continuity with pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies that developed on their territories, consider themselves distinct from other sectors of the societies now prevailing on those territories, or parts of them. They form at present non-dominant sectors of society and are determined to preserve, develop and transmit to future generations their ancestral territories, and their ethnic identity, as the basis of their continued existence as peoples, in accordance with their own cultural patterns, social institutions and legal system."
QUICK DEFINITIONS Native American/American Indian – Primarily used in the USA
First Nations – Primarily used in Canada
Aboriginal – Formerly used by the Government of Canada, still used in Australia
Métis/métis – people of historic Métis Nation ancestry. In the past, Lowercase metis was used to denote persons of any mixed First Nations and European heritage, but this is less common these days.
Inuit - indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Greenland, Canada and Alaska (United States).
Indian – Canadian Constitution still calls us Indians. Sometimes we call ourselves Indians. Generally considered to be politically incorrect.
QUICK DEFINITIONS Native American
First Nations
Aboriginal
Métis/métis
Inuit
Indian
Expectations for this class (and general best practice): If you know the name of the First Nation that you are writing about, or that an Individual comes from, please use it!
STATUS INDIAN? NON-STATUS INDIAN?
• Indian Status is defined by criteria in the Federal Indian Act • Not all Indigenous People in Canada are eligible for Status
(eg. Metis and Inuit do not meet the criteria) • There are people who do not qualify for Status, and yet are
Indigenous to these lands. The government doesn’t recognize their lineage because of complicated rules of inheritance within the Indian Act. Often these non-status people are recognized by their individual communities as being members of their Nations.
FIRST NATIONS DIVERSITY IN BC Out of 634 First Nations in Canada and 11 distinct language families, BC is home to 198 First Nations (31.2%), representing 7 of these language families. (link to this map and others available in additional resources)
GOVERNANCE
• Band- Unit of administration, defined by the Indian Act: “a body of Indians…for whose use and benefit in common, lands, the legal title to which is vested in Her Majesty, have been set apart.”
• Governance of a Band is an elected Chief and Council.
• Federal government created bands to administer and control First Nations, often without regard for actual groups.
• Traditional Governance Structures • The band administration model is
not usually the same governance structure used by First Nations prior to contact
• Hereditary Chiefs – one part of a traditional system of governnance • Inheritance – they inherit their title
and responsibilities from their predecessors
• Responsibilities can include: protocols (laws), songs and dances that have been passed down for hundereds of generations.
ETHNIC GROUPS IN BC • Based on shared territory, language
and culture. • Most groups are further subdivided :
nations, communities, family groups. • Sometimes the province is divided
into language families. • Most of these categories are
constantly in flux, as the textbook describes.
Muckle, 2014 p.24
COURSE CONCEPTS IN THE CONTEXT OF PEOPLE OF THE SALTWATER
• Menzies seeks to illustrate the traditional forms of key social and political institutions and demonstrate their persistence and transformation over time (and throughout the ONGOING disruption of colonialism and industrial capitalism) • Gixaala Nation is part of the Tsimshian ethnic group as
described in Muckle Part 1 • Gixaala traditional governance and hereditary rank systems
introduced in Muckle are described in Chapter 2
COURSE HOUSEKEEPING INFORMATION
COURSE OVERVIEW
• This course includes a lot of information to cover in a short period of time. • In addition to the two texts,
there will be a number of supplementary readings and documentary films you will be expected to view, these will all be accessible via streaming through the Cap U library.
• The short assignments are designed to demonstrate your completion and understanding of the assigned materials for each module, while also preparing you for the test and the writing assignment. • The forum (under
announcements) is an optional activity where you can engage with myself and your peers to enhance your understanding.
TEST FORMAT
• The test will be released on February 8th at 9:00am, for submission on February 11th at 11:59pm. • The format will be matching
and short answer. • You will be asked to select
and complete 3/5 short answer questions. • The expectation is that you
will work alone for the test.
The test is an early opportunity for you to demonstrate your ability to make connections between class concepts, assigned films and the ethnography, People of the Saltwater: an Ethnography of the Git lax m’oon.
SUGGESTIONS FOR SUCCESS
• Read assigned Muckle chapters first. These chapters will introduce the anthropological themes (perspectives) with which we will frame the course. • Take your time with Menzies’ People of the Saltwater. I realize
that this may not be the kind of reading you are used to. Anthropological and ethnographic writing may require multiple close readings, note taking and synthesizing information through deep thought that is unfamiliar to some disciplines. • I encourage you connect with your peers to share thoughts on
readings, post in the course discussion forum about your ideas and come chat with me in online office hours.
GOALS TO KEEP IN MIND
Through the course work, my goals for you are: • To learn about the Gitxaala specifically, about all
First Nations in BC more generally, along with the processes of colonization in BC and the impacts on First Nations peoples and cultures. • To synthesize the information you have learned to
demonstrate your knowledge of the anthropological perspective.
OPTIONAL ADDITIONAL RESOURCES • Solen Roth on “Northwest Coast-style” vs. Northwest Coast Art
and Design https://www.sfu.ca/ipinch/outputs/blog/differentiating- northwest-coast/ • The City of Vancouver’s First Peoples: A Guide for Newcomers.
This is a great publication created by the City of Vancouver in partnership with the three local First Nations on whose overlapping territory Vancouver has grown. The intention was to foster understanding between Aboriginal and immigrant communities (direct PDF downlaod) https://vancouver.ca/files/cov/First-Peoples-A-Guide-for- Newcomers.pdf
OPTIONAL ADDITIONAL RESOURCES • Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada Maps, including
languages, territories, treaty processes and main settlements. https://www.aadnc- aandc.gc.ca/eng/1100100021015/1100100021021 • Union of BC Indian Chiefs website:
https://www.ubcic.bc.ca/ • Indian Act
https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/i-5/