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THE ORDERING OF THINGS: NARRATIVE GEOGRAPHIES OF BLOODY FALLS AND THE CENTRAL CANADIAN ARCTIC by Emilie Susanne Cameron A thesis submitted to the Department of Geography In conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada (October, 2009) Copyright ©Emilie Susanne Cameron, 2009 Abstract This study examines the geographies of the Bloody Falls massacre story, an account of a massacre of a group of Inuit by a group of Dene allegedly witnessed by explorer Samuel Hearne along the Coppermine River in July 1771. Working from an understanding of story as a relational and material ordering practice, and based on archival, ethnographic, and other qualitative research methods, I consider how the storying of Bloody Falls has ordered colonial and capitalist relations, relations of violence and desire, and relations of decolonization and Indigenous self- determination in the Central Canadian Arctic. The study contributes to theoretical, empirical, methodological, and ethical concerns in geography. I intervene in debates about the materiality of knowledge, power, and practice and suggest that recent turns to the material and the ontological in geographic scholarship risk abandoning important theoretical and political resources that are necessary for producing engaged and informed knowledge about the colonial past and present. Drawing on actor-network, feminist, postcolonial, and antiracist theories as well as geographic understandings of discourse, I advance a more rigorously materialist assessment of discursive processes and consider the methodological implications of tracing cultural, economic, and political geographies through stories. The study also contributes to understandings of the Bloody Falls massacre by highlighting the importance of copper in the event and describing the ways in which Inuit and Dene story the massacre and its implications. I advance an alternative framework for understanding northern Indigenous geographies and Indigenous-settler relations in Canada involving attention to the geographies of response and responsibility and to the materiality, relationality, and practices of storytelling. At a time when increased attention is being focused on the Canadian North, whether in terms of climate change, sovereignty, resource extraction, or militarization, this study elaborates a critical narrative geography of the region that might facilitate efforts to decolonize northern knowledge and practice. ii Acknowledgements It is truly a delight to acknowledge all the people who have supported this study over the past several years. My first thanks go to Catherine Minshull and Rebecca Craigie whose journeys to Kugluktuk initiated my connection to the community. They both worked as research assistants at various stages of the project and were invaluable in helping me to understand Kugluktuk, Bloody Falls, and life in northern communities. Warm thanks, too, to Allen and Grace Niptanatiak for welcoming me into their family, and to Amanda and Mat, Catherine, Jon and Dee, Ace, and Jeff Niptanatiak for being such dear friends. I could not have asked for better supervisors than Laura Cameron and Audrey Kobayashi. They provided the perfect measure of critical commentary, wandering conversation, stimulating readings, and warm encouragement. I am so thankful to both of you for all your contributions to this undertaking. I am also tremendously appreciative of the intellectual stimulation provided by Anne Godlewska, Joyce Davidson, and Mick Smith, each of whom I had the opportunity to take courses with and who provided thoughtful and challenging commentary on all my work. Mark Rosenberg, Beverley Mullings, Betsy Donald, Peter Goheen, John Holmes, Barry Riddell, and Scott Lamoureux added considerably to my experience in the department, as did a number of cherished past and present fellow students: Sarah de Leeuw, Victoria Henderson, Karen Cocq, Karin Monasterios, Kirsten Greer, Jacinthe Beyea, David Fortin, David Thompson, and Dana Olwan. I am so grateful for your friendship and for all the ways in which you have shaped this project. I would also like to acknowledge the wonderful conversations with Suzanne Mills, Jamie Linton, and Leela Viswanathan, who traveled through the Queen’s Geography Department as post-doctoral fellows and were tremendous sources of conversation and ideas. iii I have had the privilege of receiving feedback on portions of this dissertation from a number of thoughtful readers including Bruce Braun, Noel Castree, Julie Cruikshank, Caroline Desbiens, Anne Secord, Andrew Baldwin and Frank Tester, as well as anonymous reviewers. Each has shaped this study in important ways. I am also grateful for the tremendously thoughtful comments and questions provided by my examining committee, including Matthew Farish, Mick Smith, Beverley Mullings, Joyce Davidson, Laura Cameron, and Audrey Kobayashi. In Kugluktuk I owe a special thanks to Becky and Luigi Toretti, Natalie Griller, Pauline MacKinnon, Twyla and Konrad Kryger, Rob and Deb Walton, and Donna, Mitch, and Jenny Rand, who fed me, housed me, and generally helped me get settled in Kugluktuk. Thanks, too, to Catherine Niptanatiak, who went out of her way to put me up, and to Mattie and Kaleigh for giving up their room for me. Amanda and Mathieu Dumond also went out of their way to welcome me into their home and to transport me by skidoo, boat, and ATV, as did Allen and Grace Niptanatiak. Quana to you all. A sincere thank you to all the people who guided this study in Kugluktuk, particularly Millie Kuliktana, Mavis Adjun, Derrick Powers, Joe Allen Evyagotailak, Peter Taptuna, and the Kugluktuk Hamlet Council. Pauline Plamondon, Marion Bolt, Allen Niptanatiak, and Ann Rose Kerkovius guided me in other ways and I am deeply grateful for your support. Many thanks to all those who participated in extended interviews, including in particular Alice Ayalik, Aime Ahegona, Marion Bolt, Peter Kamingoak, Nellie Hikok, Joseph Niptanatiak, Red Pedersen, Sandy Buchan, Jerry Atatahak, Colin Adjun, Larry Whittaker, Lucy Taipana, Rosemarie Meyok, Kerry Horn, and Margo Kadlun-Jones. Mona Tiktalek was a tremendous translator. Doing research in the Arctic is enormously expensive and I am grateful for the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Canada Graduate Scholarship Award No: 767-2005-0248), the Northern Scientific Training Program, the Canadian Polar Commission, the Ontario Graduate Scholarship program, Queen’s University’s Huntley MacDonald Sinclair iv Traveling Scholarship and various travel grants provided by the Department of Geography, the Network in Canadian History and Environment (NiCHE), Antipode’s Graduate Student Scholarship, and to Laura Cameron and Audrey Kobayashi for digging into various pots to help me complete this project. While doing archival research I was generously hosted by a number of wonderful friends including Bertie Mandelblatt, Carie Woods, Jessica Mace, Spencer Tracey, and Suzanne and Darcy Henderson. Kate Sykes, Theresa Whalen, and Perri van Rossem helped put me back together again when ill-health struck, and my friends and family kept me in good spirits and good company. Thank you Mom, Dad, Duncan, and Aidan for all your support and thoughtful questions about my work. A special thanks to my mom, Hélène Cameron, who read a draft of the entire dissertation and provided such insightful feedback. And thanks, finally, for everything, to Tom. v Table of Contents Abstract............................................................................................................................................ii Acknowledgements.........................................................................................................................iii Table of Contents............................................................................................................................vi List of Figures................................................................................................................................vii List of Tables ..................................................................................................................................ix Chapter 1 Introduction .....................................................................................................................1 Chapter 2 Review of Literature and Theoretical Structure ............................................................19 Chapter 3 Methodology .................................................................................................................67 Chapter 4 Ordering Violence.......................................................................................................108 Chapter 5 Copper Stories.............................................................................................................147 Chapter 6 Power and ‘Resistance’ in Coppermine, 1972-3 .........................................................180 Chapter 7 Towards an Emerging Past..........................................................................................225 Chapter 8 Conclusion...................................................................................................................262 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................272 Appendix A: Information and Consent Form (English) ..............................................................302 Appendix