Canada's "National" Sport Representations of Lacrosse at the Canadian Museum of Civilization
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Canada's "National" Sport Representations of Lacrosse at the Canadian Museum of Civilization Thomas Ruta THOMAS RUTA CAPSTONE SEMINAR SERIES Belonging in Canada: Questions and Challenges Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 2012. Managing Editors Ellen Huijgh and Anne Trépanier Desk-top publishing Ryan Kuhne and Anne Trépanier Editorial Board John-Paul Abelshauser, James Benning, Carly Donaldson, Lashia Jones, Elaine Radman, Ellen Huijgh, and Anne Trépanier Special thanks Patrick Lyons, Ryan Kuhne, and Ellen Huijgh Copyright Notice © Thomas Ruta, April 2012 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy, or transmission of this publication, or part thereof in excess of one paragraph (other than as a PDF file at the discretion of School of Canadian Studies at Carleton University) may be made without the written permission of the author. To quote this article refer to: ―Thomas Ruta," Canada’s “National” Sport: Representations of Lacrosse at the Canadian Museum of Civilization", Capstone Seminar Series, Volume 2, number 1, Spring 2012, Belonging in Canada: Questions and Challenges, page number and date of accession to this website: http://capstoneseminarseries.wordpress.com 2 CANADA’S “NATIONAL” SPORT: REPRESENTATIONS OF LACROSSE AT THE CANADIAN MUSEUM OF CIVILIZATION Thomas Ruta Canada’s “National” Sport: Representations of Lacrosse at the Canadian Museum of Civilization ABSTRACT Canada is a country that at its genesis was comprised of more than two cultures, each of which had its own unique language and set of traditions. Although these cultures were united into a single state, there has never been a common ethno linguistic quality or shared past on which the country could found a nation (Des Granges 8). This has manifested itself in constant efforts by the state to construct a pan-Canadian nation that can encompass all people within the country’s vast territory (Des Granges 8). One of the most consistent mediums used to create a nation has been sport, most notably lacrosse. A traditional game of the Aboriginal peoples of the Plains and eastern Woodlands, lacrosse was the most popular sport in North America at the time of European contact (Jette 14). Through a process of amateurization and codification described by Michael A. Robidoux, the game was appropriated by non-Aboriginal Canadians and used to define the Canadian nation. This is represented in the National Sports Act of Canada (1994), which designates a modernized version of lacrosse one of the country’s national sports. This article draws on the research of Benedict Anderson, who argues that nations are social constructs considered to be homogenous by their members. It discusses the role of sport in the creation and perpetuation of national identities and describes the role of lacrosse in the development of Canadien and later Canadian identity. It then explains the process by which lacrosse was amateurized, modernized and appropriated, illustrates how the National Sports Act created an imagined Canada and finally, it outlines how representations of lacrosse in the Canadian Museum of Civilization fail to contextualize the sport in terms of other socio-economic and cultural shifts throughout Canadian history. KEYWORDS Lacrosse, Appropriation, National Sports Act, Canadian identity CAPSTONE SEMINAR SERIES Belonging in Canada: Questions and Challenges Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 2012. 3 THOMAS RUTA Lacrosse is the oldest team sport in North America (Jette 14). A traditional game of the Aboriginal peoples of the Plains and eastern Woodlands, it was the most popular sport on the continent at the time of European contact (Jette 14). In the years before and directly following European arrival, lacrosse was an important part of the cultural lives of a number of Aboriginal groups. Maurice Jette (1975) argues that the sport served an array of purposes, such as fitness, combat training, prayer, healing, commemoration, diplomacy and education (Jette 18). Through a process of amateurization and codification described by Michael A. Robidoux (2002), Canada’s elites have stripped lacrosse of its original meaning. The process of modernizing the sport, it is argued, was used by the elite to dictate a desired set of Canadian values while removing undesirable people from play. This process allowed for the appropriation of the game by non-Aboriginal Canadians beginning in the late nineteenth century. James H. Frey and Stanley Eitzen (1991) assert this is the case because sport is a vehicle through which elites are able to reinforce power structures (Frey and Eitzen 511). This can be seen in the Canadian context in the National Sports Act of Canada (1994), which designated the modernized version of lacrosse one of the national sports of Canada. Using contemporary analyses of sport and identity to investigate the meanings of the National Sports Act (NSA) and text found in the Canadian Museum of Civilization (CMC), this paper argues that lacrosse can act as a case study through which the concept of appropriation of Aboriginal culture can be understood. It suggests the representation of lacrosse in the CMC uses “selective tradition” – highlighting certain events while relegating others to the background in order to create a specific account of history – to present the sport as having existed outside of any political- economic context (Furniss 74). This use of selective tradition legitimizes the colonial history of Canada by allowing European-Canadians to claim the sport as their own and thereby claim indigeneity. The analyses will be organized in five parts: first it will discuss the role of sport in the creation and perpetuation of national identities. Second, it will describe the role of lacrosse in the development of Canadien and later Canadian identity. Third, it will explain the process by which lacrosse was amateurized, modernized and appropriated. Fourth, it will illustrate how the National Sports Act created an imagined Canada. 4 CANADA’S “NATIONAL” SPORT: REPRESENTATIONS OF LACROSSE AT THE CANADIAN MUSEUM OF CIVILIZATION And finally, it will outline how the representation of lacrosse in the CMC fails to contextualize lacrosse in terms of other socio-economic and cultural shifts throughout Canadian history. Sport and Nation-building in Canada Canada is a country that at its genesis was comprised of more than two cultures, each of which had its own unique language and set of traditions. Although these cultures were united into a single state, there was never a common ethno linguistic quality or shared past on which the country could found a nation (Des Granges 8). In rejecting the traditional “nation-to-state” model found in England and France (where Canada receives its European heritage), Canada has been the site of constant efforts to construct a pan-Canadian nation that can encompass all people within the state’s vast territory (Des Granges 8). One of the most successful attempts to create a nation has been through the use of sport. Canadian historian Michael A. Robidoux, who has studied the history and development of hockey in Canada, argues that sport has been the most consistent expression of Canadian nationalism since Confederation (Robidoux 209). Similarly, academics Frey and Eitzen suggest that, while sport may be based upon competition, in giving diverse populations something to share in the name of national solidarity, sport can “counteract internal racial, ethnic, regional and class diversity and conflict … [and] contribute to a national identity or sense of nationalism that temporarily overrides differences” (Frey 511). This occurs because sport is one of the most important socializing tools in western society. It is an arena where fundamental human issues such as success and failure, the nature of man, and the need for social order and control are explored (Haerle 45). In dealing with these issues, sport becomes a medium through which the patterned behaviours, social structures and inter-institutional relationships that define a given social group are learned (Frey and Eitzen 503). For this reason, sport can be defined as a “sacred institution” (Haerle 44) in western society which serves the primary purpose of reinforcing “recurring beliefs which seem so basically true to people that not only are they seldom challenged [but] they CAPSTONE SEMINAR SERIES Belonging in Canada: Questions and Challenges Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 2012. 5 THOMAS RUTA form a basis of thought and evaluation” (Haerle 44). People have become comfortable enough with sport serving this role that, even as value systems in society shift, it remains the preeminent vehicle through which dominant ideas and beliefs are transferred (Haerle 44). In this way, sport offers an ideal medium to reinforce the hegemony of societal arrangements (Frey 505). With few exceptions, this hegemony is used to create a semblance of national unity – as evidenced by national sporting events such as the Vancouver Olympics of 2010 – and, although it enforces a structure within a given group, it is generally not used to disjoint peoples living in a single state. This paper addresses one of these exceptions: lacrosse. The game of lacrosse serves as an interface between Aboriginal and European-settler culture in Canada. While the adoption of the sport by European populations is said to have united the two groups, the standardized version of the game adopted by European Canadians differs greatly from the traditional, pre-contact activity it is meant to have descended from. In changing the nature of the game, lacrosse serves as an example of cultural appropriation rather than integration. As Richard Gruneau explains: The ongoing marginalization of certain traditional sports practices or their incorporation into more “respectable” and “useful” ways of playing … were all part of a broader process of cultural conflict and social change in Canadian society. Within this broader process, the specific struggles of men and women, social classes and racial and ethnic groups, over different versions of how to live, how to work and play, and what to value can be seen (Gruneau, 21). In this light, lacrosse can be considered a medium through which the struggles between Aboriginal and European-Canadian populations can be seen.