Indigenous Traditions & Colonization

1. Indigenous Traditions & Colonization Rels 120 21 January 2014

2. Central elements of indigenous traditions: rels 120 - appleby Oral cultures – culture transmitted by means of remembering and narrating stories Stories – of sacred ancestors, spirit beings, spiritual and cultural heroes; ancestral myths; sacred experiences Rooted in the land and landscape – a place of revelation – the “centre of the world” Everything is alive, animated by souls or spirits – personal relationship with the land, trees, animals, rivers, and all other humans

3. rels 120 - appleby Time is circular, not linear – cycles of the universe, nature, seasons, life and death Cosmogonies tell the stories of creation, the origins of the world and its creatures; and the central powers, energies and spirits Collective identity – communal mindset, communal sense of self and others (future, present, past – after death); NOT individualistic

4. Sacred spaces and rituals rels 120 - appleby Ceremonial burials; artistic expression in painting & carving; languages for communication; symbols to make ancestors, the community and the sacred present to ongoing life; animal totems for each clan and tribe [e.g., The Call of the Loon] The Shaman – communicate with the spirit world, ancestral spirits, spirits of the earth and animals; perform religious ceremonies; undertake healing rituals; the intermediary between this world and the spirit worlds and unseen powers (the numinous)

5. Indigenous ceremonies rels 120 - appleby !Kung healers – ceremonies involve singing, dancing, drumming; Shamanic fasting, trance state; raise healing force of boiling n/um Sioux & Ojibwevision quest – prepare by fasting and purifying self in sweat lodge ceremony; travel alone in the wilderness, connect with spirit allies, ancestors, and animal spirits; return with new powers and new identity Ainu bear sacrifice – ritual exchanges with spirits incarnated as animals; bear offers self as food in exchange for ritual offerings

6. European colonialism rels 120 - appleby Colonialism = “the political, social, cultural, and economic domination of one society by another” (p.24) 19th century colonial empires – English and French 20th century colonial empires – Japanese One common effect of colonialism = shamans lost political and spiritual leadership – “shamans assumed responsibility for healing” (Chidester, p.42) in a manner that removed them from their central roles in the community

7. “Techniques” of healing rels 120 - appleby No longer firmly anchored within the political, economic, and spiritual life of the community “portable”; “mobile”; disconnected from cultural and religious aspects of daily life; shamans survived “in exile” in the forests European colonization accompanied by Christian missionary efforts; bring “civilization” to the “savages”; “save” their souls Colonizers legislated against indigenous religious and healing ceremonies

8. Indigenous “losses” rels 120 - appleby Land –ancestral lands were confiscated by land ownership – a totally alien concept Taxes –forced payments to the new colonial governors Control by civil servants – who charged fees and required payments Legal prohibitions on indigenous ceremonies – seen as savage rituals Overall impact = foreign domination; destabilization of communities and ways of life

9. In Nova Scotia . . . rels 120 - appleby As elsewhere, features of Christianity were incorporated into spiritual practices and religious rituals – in order to make them palatable to the colonizers and missionaries 400 years ago – in 1610 – what significant event was recently commemorated by the Mi’kmaq in Nova Scotia? Colonizers tended to regard the shaman as an ally of the devil – or a fake, fraud or imposter – a deceiver

10. Indigenous beliefs . . . rels 120 - appleby regarded as “superstitions” – yet they seemed powerful – shamans & rituals relegated to status of demonic powers; sorcerers, charlatans, imposters making them seem dangerous to colonial rulers and to missionaries → “colonial policies of religious destruction” and “physical and spiritual warfare against shamans” By military might, drums, feathers, sacred objects of all sorts were destroyed; campaign against “the memory of ritual, the memory of ancestors, the memory of the land, or the memory of an indigenous way of life”

11. New roles for shamans? rels 120 - appleby Shamans became “the guardian of indigenous memory” (Chidester, p.45) “the defender of tribal survival” (ibid) part of the pre-colonial world of the “savages” Shamans hid ritual objects, held ceremonies in secret, concealed their identity – to save all from “destruction” Shamans “represented a wild space beyond colonial control” (p.47)

12. “Shamans developed new religious strategies”… rels 120 - appleby “for preserving archaic techniques of ecstasy” “for exercising new capacities for memory, concealment, performance, translation, and transformation in negotiating indigenous religious survival under difficult colonial conditions.” (Chidester, p.48)

13. What happened in Canada? rels 120 - appleby Legislation banned the Western potlatches, pow wows, sweat lodges, and the Sun Dance Christian missionaries condemned Aboriginal beliefs and practices; shamans were demonized or called deceivers Indian Act, 1876: goal to make Indians distinct by turning them into “citizens”; broad-based policies of assimilation – GOAL = “to limit, reduce, and ultimately eliminate the federal government’s financial obligations to Native society”

14. Residential school system rels 120 - appleby “coercive assimilation” – hair cut, punished for speaking indigenous languages, no home visits, no cultural practices – even games and stories were forbidden Legacy of emotional, physical and sexual abuse and neglect of “helpless children” Legacy of disruption and loss

15. Prime Minister Stephen HarperStatement of Apology, 11 June 2008 Text at: • http://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/DAM/DAM-INTER-HQ/STAGING/texte-text/rqpi_apo_pdf_1322167347706_eng.pdf Video at: • http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ai/rqpi/apo/pmsh-eng.asp; or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ryC74bbrEE rels 120 - appleby

16. Pathway to WellnessA HANDBOOK FOR PEOPLE LIVING WITH DIABETES National Aboriginal Diabetes Association http://www.nada.ca/wp-content/uploads/16.pdf rels 120 - appleby

17. What is the Pathway to Wellness? rels 120 - appleby “Many of our cultures, whether we come from the North, South, East or West, have a symbol that represents a balanced way of living. The symbols are different for each group and have been seen in the form of the medicine wheel, sweat lodge, church, quests, sacred fires, ceremonies, healing practices and medicine. “The common theme between all these symbols is that life needs a balance of all parts of our life that fit together for one result, healthy living.”

18. The Medicine Wheel • NADA http://www.nada.ca rels 120 - appleby

19. Examine the Medicine Wheel rels 120 - appleby How many elements of the Medicine Wheel, as applied by the National Aboriginal Diabetes Association to the “Person Living with Diabetes and Family” would have been potentially lost due to colonialism? How have these elements been recovered?

20. Medicine Wheel Model of Wellness rels 120 - appleby