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The Mik’maq resistance accommodation and cultural survival

 Culture has a lot of roles to play in the life of each and every individual. There are varied cultures across the world, and every society strives to ensure that its culture is never forgotten. They keep on passing it from one generation to the other. It has even gone further in that various people seek to know more about different cultures. People learn culture of other people and some have even come out to write books concerning various cultures. A good example of this is one Herald E.L Prins. In his book the Mik’maq resistance accommodation and cultural survival, he presents the culture of the Mik’maq. The book is a chronicle of 500 years of the complicated dynamics of the culture of Mi'kmaq. The author explores the group as a nation that is tribal. He presents their torments in the face of imperialism and their current fight for self-government and cultural renewal. This paper seeks to explore much on the issues presented by Herald in the book.

The author used the name Mik’maq which is used to identify a certain group of people and their language has no clear origin. Other names from historical sources that can be used to identify the Mik’maq include Acadians, Gaspesians, Tarrantines and Souriquois (Prins, 1996). The Mik’maq speaking people were living at the coast of Gaspe’ and in Maritime provinces during their time of contact with the Europeans. They have an estimated population of about 35000 although the accuracy of this information is questionable.This is because, by the fact that the Mik’maq were nomads it was not easy to take their census. This article explores a group of people by the name Mik’maq the struggles they went through in the face of colonialism. How they were able to accommodate the colonialists, their resistance and how their culture managed to survive.

The earliest traces of culture for Mik’maq speaking communities were found at Nova Scotland Desert. The fore fathers of the Mik’maq are said to have moved to this place after the disappearance great ice sheets. They made this place their home and lived a semi- nomadic lifestyle. They moved from place to place in search of resources and food. The settlements of the Mik’maq people were characterized by joint households or individual households that were built along a river or about a bay. Following this way of life they developed their language and distinct customs which eventually became the Mik’maq culture (Prins, 1996). Their language was in the Anglokian speaking family. The leadership in this group of people was based on the ability to resolve conflicts, arranging on how to go to war with enemies and on the ability to negotiate on alliances with other people.     .

The mik'maq people relied on Aboriginal crops such as the squash, beans, and corn. They practiced hunting and fishing. Although most families claimed specific territories as their trapping territory, the hunting territory for Caribou meat was open to all since most of the Mik'maq people relied on caribou meat for their mainstay diet. In the mik’maq culture painting was highly valued. They also encouraged the art of music and oratory.

Herald argues that the coming of the European to the Mik’maq nation was not a surprise to them. This is because they had already been prepared psychologically for the arrival of the Europeans. One of their old legend spiritual being had informed them about the invasion of their land by the blue eyed people, and these  were the Europeans. They also knew about the vision that a Mik’maq woman had seen concerning an island. The Island was seen to float towards the Mik’maq land. On the island, there were trees with other living beings which according to her were born. This vision was validated by the appearance of the first ship. Therefore, they received the Europeans as friends and not enemies.

The Mik’maq did not resist the coming of Europeans instead they welcomed them. The mik’maq engaged in a casual trade with the Europeans where they exchanged furs for knives and metal axes, woolen blankets and many other products that came from modern Europe. They acted as intermediaries between the groups from far west and the European. When they found out that the advantages that they were getting from trade are diminishing they opted to try a military alliance where they had to l help the French in fighting the Iroquois wars. The French used the Roman Catholic missionaries and trade to form good relations with the Mik’maq people (Prins, 1996). The relationship between the Mik’maq became strong and they accommodated the catholic religion which was brought by the Europeans. The Mik’maq signed a treaty with the Europeans. The agreement was to show that the Mik’maq had agreed to accommodate Catholicism into the into their Mik’maq spirituality. When the Mik’maq accepted to form an alliance with the French, it means that had agreed to accommodate the French practices which later affected them. The Mik’maq was affected by the increased rivalry between England and France. During the war, European ships brought an epidemic disease which attacked the Mik'maq.

The completion of the railway in1988 was a big threat to the Mik’maq culture. For the first time, the large number of settlers were able to access the interior caribou herds. The population figure indicted that the Caribou stock was decreasing and was faced with threats of extinction. This became a big catastrophe to the Mik’maq people because they had relied on Caribou meat for their mainstay diet. Due to the decline of the caribou herds, the families could not follow the trap lines as well as feed themselves. As time went on the barrens and woods of the interior became crowded. A place where only the Mik’maq had travelled was now full of settlers who were fishing for salmon, hunting and trapping. The market hunters and sportsmen were the main cause of the decreasing Caribou herds (Prins, 1996).

The forced relocation scheme of 1950 also posed a great threat to the Mik’maq people and to their culture as a distinctive group. Some of the traditional cultures of the Mik’maq people were salvaged in language, when making political decisions and in religion. Although there is still a high rate of unemployment for reserve communities because they come from a region which has got high unemployment, there are some people from Mikmaq who are successful. For example, there are some professional persons who come from that community. Among the successful business people, there are artists, musicians, and even writers.

The economy and culture of the Mik’maq was attacked by religion in the 20 TH Century. From 17th Century, the Mik’maq were roman Catholics. Even after the colonial period they usually visited the French priest in order to make their ties with the church strong. Due to the contact between mik’maq and the church, the church was expected to change the way of life of the Mik’maq. However in the 20th Century there came a priest to Mik’maq who wanted to change the beliefs that the people of mik’maq had on paganism practice but he was dismissed. His dismissal from Cone River, attempts to uproot paganism practices have contributed to the resentment that is experienced even in today’s world.

The disappearing of market fur is another reason that was a threat to the destruction Mik’maq way of life. The prices of fur started going down from 1920s and they dropped further in 1930s.This period was a hardship period for most of the Mik'maq, even though, some of them had managed to get jobs as loggers while others became pulpwood operators in the Canon River.

After the suzerainty of Britain had been established, scalp bounty was put on the Mik'maq. During this time, the Mik' man went through hell. The government was forcing them to change their lifestyle. The government attempted to change them from nomads to agriculturalists, but all this were in vain. This is because the program was badly conceived, and there was encroachment on the reserved lands. The Mik'maq people were resistant to change their cultural practices. The issue of employment had affected their irreversible change. They had already been used to live as laborers. They pursued lumber work, porpoise fishery, craft industry, coopering and rail road which later was later integrated to the 20TH-century economy of the mik'maq people.

It is evident that even if the culture of the Mik’maq people was threaten by a number of factors and this include, the decline of the fur trade which had helped the mik’maq earn their living. Another factor was the completion of the railway which opened the interior part of Mik’maq and later led to the distinction of caribou meat. Religion has also threatened the extinction of the mik’maq culture. Although the mik’maq culture was threatened there are some of the cultural practices that were maintained. From the analysis it is also evident that the Mik’maq people did not resist the invasion of their land by the European and this is what led them to enjoy some of the benefits they enjoyed like being intermediaries in the trade. From the trade they were able to get modern European which they could not get locally. They were also able to accommodate the Roman Catholic religion alongside their native religion (Prins, 1996). This was done through signing of an agreement.

Prins’s book is a must read book for all that would want to know more on the culture of the Mik’maq. The book gives a lot of information about the Native Americans. Anybody pursuing studies in the history of the Native American, as well as anyone looking for responses to the origin of the heritage of the Native Americans, has a lot to take from Prin’s book.

 

Reference

Prins, H. E. L. (1996). The Miʼkmaq: Resistance, Accommodation, and cultural survival. Fort Worth [u.a.: Harcourt Brace College Publ.