Anguaks in Copper and Netsilik Inuit Spirituality

The composition of and dynamics underlying the use of anguaks are described in great detail. The discussion is largely confined to the Copper and Netsilik Inuit, although several other groups are touched on by way of comparison. The work consists firstly of a summary and interpretation of Rasmussen’s (1931) chapter devoted to Netsilik anguaks. This material is then synthesized with material collected over the course of several participant-focused interviews conducted with seven Inuit elders from the community of Cambridge Bay. For clarity of presentation, several factors have been distinctly considered: the material composition of anguaks derived from animals, anguaks relating to human beings, women’s objects, and shamanic paraphernalia. Based on these findings, a sample of 15 artifacts from the Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation’s collections are interpreted and discussed

Figuring the Plural

This report is an examination of ethnocultural, or ethnically/culturally specific, arts organizations in Canada and the United States.As our societies rapidly diversify and we seek to negotiate our increasingly complex national identities, these organizations possess enormous potential to assist in this process for they serve as cultural advocates, cultural interpreters, facilitators of cross-cultural understanding and communication keepers of ethnic tradition, and/or sites where prejudice is exposed and challenged

Skin Drums, Squeeze Boxes, Fiddles And Phonographs: Musical Interaction In The Western Arctic, Late 18Th Through Early 20Th Centuries

Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2010This dissertation explores the nature of early globalization in the Western Arctic with a focus on musical interaction between indigenous and foreign populations during the late 18th through the 20 th centuries. The region experienced an unprecedented amount of cultural contact represented by various cultural groups including Native Alaskan, Canadian, Chukotkan, European American, African American, Latin American, Asian American, Oceanic peoples and others. Numbering in the thousands, natives and non-natives developed continuous and long-term relations working as explorers, whalers, traders, missionaries, miners, hunters, trappers, seamstresses, educators, law enforcement officials, and scientists. The Western Arctic's ethnically diverse population, relatively harsh physical surroundings, and absence of a common language allowed musical activity to serve as an important means of communication and increase awareness of the world. Music and dance helped to promote social bonding, trade, and religion. They also expressed cultural identity and contributed to ethnic differentiation. An examination of this musical interchange forms the first part of this study. Local indigenous communities during the late 18th, 19 th, and early 20th centuries interacted most extensively with the influx of explorers, commercial whalers, traders, and missionaries. Throughout the year but especially during the long winter season, these groups often participated in formal, informal, and impromptu gatherings featuring various types of music such as indigenous drum dance and song, folk, popular, church, and classical. Musical instruments including frame drums, fiddles, accordions, harmonicas, organs, pianos, guitars and devices such as phonographs, organettes, and music boxes played an essential role in musical exchange. Just as significantly, these objects also ranked as some of the region's more popular trade commodities. Perceptions of northern indigenous peoples through music and dance constitute a second part of this study. Outside fascination with the Arctic and its inhabitants as reflected in the many examples of late 19th and early 20 th century sheet music, piano rolls, and recordings suggest that cross-cultural interests, though often superficial and caricatured, were also reciprocal. Early musical representation of Arctic culture via southern compositions and performances shares crucial links to the expansion of globalization in North America and beyond

Rethinking Indigenous Christianity in Northwest Canada: perspectives from the Nuu-chah-nulth

The Nuu-chah-nulth origin myths, potlatches, feasts and ceremonies such as the tlooqwah-nah offer a view of their social and religious structure. This research focusses on the form of Indigenous Christianity from Northwest Canada and attempts to represent the perspective of Nuu-chah-nulth people. The study shows that the Nuu-chah-nulth culture and religious traditions are in many ways synonymous, and this makes it possible to see the origin and formation of their religious ideas through cultural sources. The findings are based on the primary source of written records, archives, and interviews. At the centre of the study lies the inquiry of how each aspect of the Nuu-chah-nulth culture gives an understanding of their religious ideas and how they compare with Christian theology, to re-imagine the gospel narrative for the Nuu-chah-nulth as part of a larger narrative of Christianity in the cultural contexts of Indigenous peoples. The main agency for change in the religious, social and communal realms was through the compulsory attendance in Indian Residential Schools. Christian mission and the colonial government played an important role in this. Despite the experience of the residential schools, Christian traditions were still delivered to the Nuu-chah-nulth. However, their conversion to Christ did not displace traditional spirituality. Their religious concepts were not known, but the origin myths provide an image of the creator N’aas who appears to display their cultural characteristics and offers a balance to an allpowerful image of God in the Christian religion. The dynamics of community-centred culture manifests itself in their understanding of the nature of God. The Nuu-chah-nulth notion of kinship which encompasses all beings and nature contributes to a more holistic theology and the traditional Nuu-chah-nulth way of life lived in community informs a distinctive Christology and ecclesiology. This study calls for a re-evaluation of the Christian missionary approaches to traditional indigenous communities of Northwest Canada and invites to the re-examination of theoretical concepts of religion in light of presented Nuu-chah-nulth religious phenomena

Curating Canadianness: public service broadcasting, fusion programming, and hierarchies of difference

“Fusion programming” is an approach to music broadcasting that was employed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) during the early years of the twenty-first century. It’s understandable as a response to systemic and systematic pressure to be “more multicultural.” It was about the artistry of musicians and entertainment of audiences, but fusion programming also served a didactic purpose for producers and listeners, participating in the production, elaboration, reinforcement, and/or deconstruction of existing cultural systems. Producing fusion programming involved bringing a minimum of two musicians/musical groups from different genres, languages, styles, scenes, and cultures into the same CBC-sponsored venue for the expressed purpose of performing together and discussing the challenges of collaboration. Performances, in many cases, were posited as “multicultural,” “cross cultural,” or “a collision of cultures,” and conversations framing the music often referenced diversity, multiculturalism, and difference, effectively mapping musicians’ positionality within Canadian society and geography. This study uses “ethnographically grounded” content analysis of archival broadcasts (principally via radio) of fusion programming to raise questions about the discursive limitations of multiculturalism imposed by the ways in which policy concepts were operationalized during the first decade of the twenty-first century. Beginning with the principles, rights, and responsibilities defined in the Multiculturalism (1988) and Broadcasting (1991) Acts, I use case studies drawn from centres across Canada and broadcast via multiple CBC platforms and media lines in order to explore the CBC as a system of communication. I then focus on Fuse, the longest running example of fusion programming, examining how approaches to mediation and curation both celebrate and silence particular voices. I suggest that that while cross-cut with contradictions and resistance to totalizing narratives—particularly when the experiences of live audiences are taken into account and regional variants of fusion programming are considered—fusion programming privileged a very limited understanding of “Canadianness.” Instead of promoting an understanding of multiculturalism based on principles of social construction and integration into a shared civic culture based on liberal humanist principles, production contexts and assumptions about what counts as normal functioned to shore up the status quo; the potential for a more equitable sense of belonging embedded in existing legislation remains limited by existing discursive realizations

Changing the narrative from the inside: A look at how strength and narrative based service delivery can function as a space of resistance for Indigenous women

This research focuses on the narrative surrounding Indigenous women by examining different knowledge sources – news stories and life stories, as they transpire within different knowledge spaces – non-Indigenous newspapers, the London Free Press and the Globe and Mail, and an Indigenous service delivery organization called Positive Voice. Drawing on an Indigenous aligned feminist mixed-methodological approach, this research had three main objectives: 1) to document and critically analyze the current mainstream narrative surrounding Indigenous women; 2) to understand the narratives Indigenous women share themselves in order to bring meaning to their experiences, from their own voices; and 3) to understand how service delivery might act as a thread between these diverging sources of representation. Methods included a critical thematic narrative analysis of 289 newspaper articles, 15 in-depth interviews with Positive Voice participants and other persons involved with the program, and a brief examination of program material. Several overarching findings were identified. First, the narratives surrounding Indigenous women and the mainstream news spaces that produce them continue to reflect non-Indigenous and Western cultural memories of Indigeneity. Second, although the narratives that interview participants shared in some ways reflected these Western cultural memories, they were shared within a context of change and strength. In particular, the Positive Voice women’s life stories reflected self-reflection and insight, with Positive Voice representing a transition in how the women understood and approached themselves and their narratives. Finally, it became clear that Positive Voice functioned as a space of resistance and disruption to mainstream narratives and dominant knowledge processes. In conclusion, Positive Voice became a space for challenging mainstream narratives and for exploring personal identity through sharing, listening, and teaching within a comfortable and safe space