Indigenous Youth in Australia and Canada: a Modern Narrative of Settler/Colonial Relationships Through Indigenous Rap Music
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Jonathon Potskin Indigenous Youth in Australia and Canada: a modern narrative of settler/colonial relationships through Indigenous rap music Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences The University of Sydney July 2020 A thesis submitted to fulfil requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. 1 Statement of Originality This is to certify that to the best of my knowledge; the content of this thesis is my own work. This thesis has not been submitted for any degree or other purposes. I certify that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work and that all the assistance received in preparing this thesis and sources have been acknowledged. Signature* Jonathon Potskin 2 Acknowledgements I would like to firstly acknowledge the ancestors, the ancestors of the lands I mainly did my thinking and writing for this thesis, who are the ancestors of the Eora Nation. I would like to acknowledge my ancestors that help guide me in my journey throughout the earth. And for the present generations that are living amongst the lands of the Indigenous peoples I did my research on from western Australia’s Whadjuk Nyoongar people to the Gumbaynggirr people on the east coast of the continent, and in Canada being on the lands of the West Coast Salish people through the lands of the Cree, Blackfoot, Iroquois and Anishinabe of the great shield of Canada. This research is for the future, future generations of Indigenous youth around the world that are searching for their culture in modern times. Hip Hop in this research is representative of future cultures that influence and enhance a modern form of our ever-evolving cultures worldwide. I would like to thank the Sawridge First Nation and the Sawridge Trusts for financially supporting this degree. These trusts were created from my rights to Treaty #8 in Western Canada, so I would like to acknowledge the Ancestors that negotiated and signed Treaty 8 for the betterment of me, their future generations. Editing work was undertaken across the thesis by my supervisors, Professor Jaky Troy, Professor Linda Barwick, Associate Professor Catriona Elder, Dr Clint Bracknell. I was also enrolled in FASS thesis writing units and other editing and suggestions were made by Dr. Bronwyn Dyson. 3 Table of Contents Statement of Originality 2 Acknowledgements 3 Table of Contents 4 List of Figures 5 Chapter 1 – Introduction 6 Pîhtwâwinihkêw 6 Chapter 2 – Methodology 19 Wesakecahk 19 Chapter 3 - Literature Review 54 The Trapline 54 4 Chapter 4 - Alienation - Paskepayihowin 79 The Ancestors Told Me … 79 Chapter 5 - Decolonisation - Kasispowicikew 126 Kohkom 126 Chapter 6 - Indigenous Resistance - Iyisâhowin 178 Indigenous Resistance as a Personal Journey 178 Chapter 7 – Conclusion – Ekosi Maka 216 References 224 5 List of Figures Figure 1: Indigenous Research Paradigm 23 Figure 2: NAIDOC Poster from 2016 31 Figure 3: Metis sash (Canada) 40 Figure 4: Word cloud of Indigenous Identities of survey participants 47 Figure 5: Responses to Q: How would you describe where you live 49 Figure 6: Researcher’s own artwork 81 6 Chapter 1 – Introduction Pîhtwâwinihkêw - she/he arranges a pipe ceremony; s/he gives a smoking ceremony (CW) This thesis is taking an Indigenous approach to research, some will call this a decolonial approach to research, an Indigenizing research approach or some may call this post-colonial research. From where I gaze this research is a form of pre-colonial research. Within the Indigenous research framework centring oneself in the research is vital to starting the process, this is used through personal stories. This method engages the reader and brings forward trust and truth. I am the collector of life stories through being an Indigenous researcher, which in my cultures holds a lot of responsibility to be ethical, responsible and truthful. In Australian Indigenous communities in modern Australia there is a process called a “Welcome to Country”, this process takes place when a person of the Indigenous peoples of the territory you are in, welcome you on to the land and shares some history of country, its animals and people. It is a process that creates a trust from the people that are entering the territory to respect the laws of the land that the people follow. In my culture the pipe ceremony is a way to bring people into your community, this comes with stories of the elders sharing the laws of the land, of the society your visiting that come from the ancestors. These ceremonies are done to bring forward truth and honesty to the people in the circle, and to bring forward good intentions for the visit. It is this truth telling and sharing that starts this thesis, and each chapter. I ask you to pray in your way to bring forward good thoughts and ways of being. Most Indigenous cultures in both Australia and Canada use the sacredness of smoke to bring forward a cleansing and bring forward our ancestors. This is the start of the thesis and as Shawn Wilson shares “Research is Ceremony”. I am a Nêhiyaw and a Métis man from regions known as Sawridge First Nation, Alberta, Canada, Treaty 8 and 6, descendent of the Métis homeland called the Red River and many other forms of names for these places. My mother comes from a long line of Nêhiyaw ancestors that have protected the lands of the Sawridge First Nation for hundreds of years. My dad is Métis from Alberta with his ancestry going back to the Red River. Both of these cultural identities are crucial in my life and equal within my cultural teachings. Growing I had parents that taught us their cultures, my dad, Lyle Donald, raised us in the Métis community 7 of Alberta. Him and my grandmother Georgina Donald created a Métis dance group when I was a child, it was at first just my family, my brother, sister and cousins. We performed and taught Métis culture across Canada throughout my youth. My mother raised us with the Nêhiyaw teachings of her Father, Albert Potskin, from the Sawridge First Nation. She taught us our spirituality, our connection to land, and the importance of family bonds with our First Nations cousins. I grew up with my cousins on both sides of my family, this was important to my parents and was great for me as I don’t remember much of a childhood being lonely or ever having to search for friendships as I had around 70 first cousins and I was in the age group that was in the middle of this huge tribe. From the sounds of it I grew up with two cultures in my life, but that does not include the culture that I lived in outside the warmth of family. I grew up mostly in the city of Edmonton, with small amounts of time living on my nation and small towns in the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. My childhood was full of disconnection as my school years started. I found myself alone in the classroom full of non-Indigenous students, with some years having some comradery with other Indigenous students, usually only one other in my class to connect with. I was ignored and felt very invisible within the education system. My achievements were never celebrated like others in my class and I was often left quiet and alone at a desk surrounded by no relations. This third culture I was in was not what I was used to, in my family our teachers were our parents, aunties, uncles and especially our grandparents. When I achieved, one or all would show some sort of honour for me. My sister and I and other Indigenous kids at our schools were always in lunch time and after school brawls with boys in higher grades than us and often told to “Go Back Where You Came From.” Which we would yell back “this is our land, you go back to where you came from” which often confused them, as this saying did not hurt us but reflected back to them their disconnect with the land, they call their own. When I got to middle school years, I was able to attend an all ‘Native’ school called Ben Calf Robe in the city of Edmonton. These years were essential for who I am today. It is here I was able to connect with other students; we started each day with a smudge and prayer. Not that we were out of cultural harm, as our teachers were mostly non-Indigenous and were ignorant to us and a lot of times abusive, using the tactics of their forefathers when dealing with educating the ‘Indians.’ They were mostly there as our school was a process to allow them not to be sent to rural schools and remain in the city for their primary years as an educator. But it was the relationships I built 8 with other students that remained my sanity through going through the western education system, and most of those relationships are still alive today through communication on social media and at gatherings. My later education became harsher as I went to high school at St Joseph Composite High School in Edmonton. It is here where I saw the true separation of us and them, and not just me as an Indigenous man but many nations of separations. This school had around 2000 students attending it, and with that big a school it had many entrances. These entrances became racialised. I of course hung around and entered through the ‘native’ doors. The teachers at this school were of the mind that if you were native you were not supposed to be smart or at least not smarter than your peers.