Aboriginal Writing In Canada
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Aboriginal Writing in Canada
Transformations of oral traditions
Power and meaning resided in the oral document Cultures of the voice Cultures of the written word A complex entaglement of both Not successive but complimentary Assimilation policies 2
“Orature”
Misunderstood when evaluated in terms of Eurocentric aesthetic criteria When disseminated by the mass media they may be misused “Oral literature” – contradiction in terms Process of petrification Cultures are not static in time 3
Oral genres
Songs Orations Prayers Secret Performed in ceremonies Express spiritual beliefs Encode moral and social values 4
Common motifs
Creation events Sentient animals, birds and sea creatures Dreams Vision quests Songs and ceremonies Models of proper and improper behaivior Transformations back and forth between human and animal forms 5
Trickster figures
Coyote Raven – British Columbia Old Man – on the plains Wisakedjak – Cree Nanabozho – Ojibway Glooscap - Micmac
6
Trickster figures
In contemporary narratives: - spiritual entities - literary device - introducing - twists - jokes - word games 7
The Trickster
Daniel David Moses: crucial to our attitude that “things are funny even though horrible things happen” Tomson Highway: “straddles the consciousness of man and that of God, the Great Spirit” Lenore Keeshig-Tobias, The Magazine to ReEstablish the Trickster: “We can learn through the Trickster’s mistakes as well as the Trickster’s virtues 8
Conventions in terms of expression and structure No deep psychological intricacies No individual characterization - but in Inuit “mood songs” – moments of intense emotion and perception Rambling and episodic No single, revelatory climax Some combine farce, tragedy, religious allegory, secular history, didactic messages, foreign-culture elements
9
Written cultures
Different scripts The history of writing - not a single evolutionary path leading to the Roman alphabet The Nanavut territory, est. 1999, two official writing systems: Cree syllabics and Roman alphabet Micmac hieroglyphics 10
Aboriginal writing systems
11
Micmac Hieroglyphs
12
The Nineteenth Century
Not a decisive shift from native orality to European literacy Moving back and forth between oral and literary institutions Within European culture Between European and Native cultures Mediators: Peter Jones, George Copway, George Henry, Peter Jacobs: Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society, mid 1820s 13
The Nineteenth Century
Metis writing Pierre Falcon’s songs Meant for singing and reciting Heroic subjects Native American women: poetry Exception: the first Inuk autobiography: Lydia Campbell’s Sketches of Labrador Life (1894) 14
Emily Pauline Johnson (1861-1913)
Mohawk father English mother Poetry: lyrics, narratives, dramatic monologues The White Wampum, first poetry collection, 1895 Legends of Vancouver, stories told by Coast Salish Chief Calipano Questrions of cultural transmission, identity, gender, agency and performance 15
First half of the Twentieth Century
No Native writers Pseudo-native writers: - Grey Owl (Archibald Belaney) - Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance (Sylvester Clark Long) Romanticised vision of Native life Frederick Ogilvie Loft, The League of Indians in Canada, 1919 16
Second half of the twentieth century
Social protest Pierre Trudeau, 1968: equal, no recognition of aboriginal writers The Unjust Society, 1969, Harold Cardinal From the mid-seventies – “soft” approach Life narratives, children’s stories, interviews with elders, legends 17
Aboriginal writings
Maria Campbell’s Halfbreed, 1973 To challenge white ignorance and apathy Co-produced texts: Lee Maracle’s Bobbi Lee: Indian Rebel, 1975, under the name of Don Barnett Anthologies and collections of Native poetry and stories in the 1970 Political issues 18
Aboriginal writers of the 1970s and 1980s
Jeannette Armstrong Ben Abele George Clutesi Duke Redbird Wayne, Ronald, and Orville Keon Daniel David Moses, Delicate Bodies, the “Calendar” series Rita Joe, Song of Eskasoni, 1988, lines of cultural transmission 19
Recent Developments Beatrice Culleton, In Search of April Raintree, 1983, the first modern novel Jeannette Armstrong Slash, 1985 Whispering in Shadows, 2000 Tomson Highway Kiss of the Fur Queen, 1998 Thomas King Green Grass, Running Water, 1993
20
Contemporary Writings
Questions of representation and sovereignty Oka town blockade, 1990 Indian and Canadian – mutually exclusive Personal sovereignty right: Maria Campbell and Linda Griffiths The Book of Jessica 1989 Major publishing houses 21
Transformations of oral traditions
Power and meaning resided in the oral document Cultures of the voice Cultures of the written word A complex entaglement of both Not successive but complimentary Assimilation policies 2
“Orature”
Misunderstood when evaluated in terms of Eurocentric aesthetic criteria When disseminated by the mass media they may be misused “Oral literature” – contradiction in terms Process of petrification Cultures are not static in time 3
Oral genres
Songs Orations Prayers Secret Performed in ceremonies Express spiritual beliefs Encode moral and social values 4
Common motifs
Creation events Sentient animals, birds and sea creatures Dreams Vision quests Songs and ceremonies Models of proper and improper behaivior Transformations back and forth between human and animal forms 5
Trickster figures
Coyote Raven – British Columbia Old Man – on the plains Wisakedjak – Cree Nanabozho – Ojibway Glooscap - Micmac
6
Trickster figures
In contemporary narratives: - spiritual entities - literary device - introducing - twists - jokes - word games 7
The Trickster
Daniel David Moses: crucial to our attitude that “things are funny even though horrible things happen” Tomson Highway: “straddles the consciousness of man and that of God, the Great Spirit” Lenore Keeshig-Tobias, The Magazine to ReEstablish the Trickster: “We can learn through the Trickster’s mistakes as well as the Trickster’s virtues 8
Conventions in terms of expression and structure No deep psychological intricacies No individual characterization - but in Inuit “mood songs” – moments of intense emotion and perception Rambling and episodic No single, revelatory climax Some combine farce, tragedy, religious allegory, secular history, didactic messages, foreign-culture elements
9
Written cultures
Different scripts The history of writing - not a single evolutionary path leading to the Roman alphabet The Nanavut territory, est. 1999, two official writing systems: Cree syllabics and Roman alphabet Micmac hieroglyphics 10
Aboriginal writing systems
11
Micmac Hieroglyphs
12
The Nineteenth Century
Not a decisive shift from native orality to European literacy Moving back and forth between oral and literary institutions Within European culture Between European and Native cultures Mediators: Peter Jones, George Copway, George Henry, Peter Jacobs: Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society, mid 1820s 13
The Nineteenth Century
Metis writing Pierre Falcon’s songs Meant for singing and reciting Heroic subjects Native American women: poetry Exception: the first Inuk autobiography: Lydia Campbell’s Sketches of Labrador Life (1894) 14
Emily Pauline Johnson (1861-1913)
Mohawk father English mother Poetry: lyrics, narratives, dramatic monologues The White Wampum, first poetry collection, 1895 Legends of Vancouver, stories told by Coast Salish Chief Calipano Questrions of cultural transmission, identity, gender, agency and performance 15
First half of the Twentieth Century
No Native writers Pseudo-native writers: - Grey Owl (Archibald Belaney) - Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance (Sylvester Clark Long) Romanticised vision of Native life Frederick Ogilvie Loft, The League of Indians in Canada, 1919 16
Second half of the twentieth century
Social protest Pierre Trudeau, 1968: equal, no recognition of aboriginal writers The Unjust Society, 1969, Harold Cardinal From the mid-seventies – “soft” approach Life narratives, children’s stories, interviews with elders, legends 17
Aboriginal writings
Maria Campbell’s Halfbreed, 1973 To challenge white ignorance and apathy Co-produced texts: Lee Maracle’s Bobbi Lee: Indian Rebel, 1975, under the name of Don Barnett Anthologies and collections of Native poetry and stories in the 1970 Political issues 18
Aboriginal writers of the 1970s and 1980s
Jeannette Armstrong Ben Abele George Clutesi Duke Redbird Wayne, Ronald, and Orville Keon Daniel David Moses, Delicate Bodies, the “Calendar” series Rita Joe, Song of Eskasoni, 1988, lines of cultural transmission 19
Recent Developments Beatrice Culleton, In Search of April Raintree, 1983, the first modern novel Jeannette Armstrong Slash, 1985 Whispering in Shadows, 2000 Tomson Highway Kiss of the Fur Queen, 1998 Thomas King Green Grass, Running Water, 1993
20
Contemporary Writings
Questions of representation and sovereignty Oka town blockade, 1990 Indian and Canadian – mutually exclusive Personal sovereignty right: Maria Campbell and Linda Griffiths The Book of Jessica 1989 Major publishing houses 21
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