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Proquest Dissertations UNSETTLING THE SETTLER AT NIAGARA FALLS: READING COLONIAL CULTURE THROUGH THE MAID OF THE MIST Robinder Kaur Sehdev A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAMME IN COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE YORK UNIVERSITY, TORONTO, ONTARIO JULY 2008 Library and Archives Bibliothéque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de Tédition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Yourfile Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-64944-2 Ourfile Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-64944-2 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non- Lauteur a accordé une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant å la Bibliothéque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Clnternet, préter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des théses partout dans le loan, distribute and seil theses monde, å des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non- support microforme, papier, électronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright Uauteur conserve la propriété du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege ætte thése. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la thése ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent étre imprimés ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformément å la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privée, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont été enlevés de thesis. cette thése. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1+1 Canada Ab strået This dissertation questions the normalized state of the settler nation, indicated through the conflicted, emerging and submerging cultural form of the Maid of the Mist, the signifier of difference in a place of settler homogeneity. The myth signals colonial power as it operates in the day-to-day and exposes the state of settler impermanence on Indigenous lands. The first chapter concerns the construction of colonial history and myth making within which the settler myth of the Maid of the Mist draws meaning as a sexually-charged figure of racial difference. The region's colonial historiography reveals a desire to construct Aboriginal peoples as "savage." Following this, I offer an analysis of colonial representational and border politics. The systematic vanishing of the settler myth of the Maid of the Mist and the alienation of Aboriginal people from settler border places normalizes the colonial representational relationship as it buttresses settler borders against the threatening "Indian" Other. The next chapter confronts the settler popular cultural invocation of violence and militancy used to disavow responsibility for colonization in order to argue that love is a method of identifying and challenging systemic violence which imperils the relationship between settler and Native, embodied in the Covenant Chain of Silver and Gus Wen Tah (or Two Row Wampum). I set these representational politics against the lived experiences of violence against community and specifically against women. The next chapter debates the colonial politics of treaty-making and attempts to rescue Treaty from colonial nation-building practices, resuscitating the understanding of Treaty in iv Indigenous political philosophies. I am also concemed with the profound ontological dissonance between Indigenous and settler perceptions of home, belonging and community in Native spaces that have been recast as settler spaces. I therefore argue that the settler nation must be "unhomed" from Indigenous space. Borrowing the notion of bridge crossing from Third World feminism and the image of the Fallsview Bridge at Niagara Falls (a bridge which, to the entrepreneurs, tourists and settlers at Niagara Falls, signified "innovation" and the "proper" use of the land), I debate these profoundly divergent notions of home and belonging in the contested space of the settler nation. Finally, I question the politics of shame and apology in Canada today. v Acknowledgements I owe a good deal to a great many people. My supervisor, Dr. Jody Berland and my committee members, Drs. John 0'Neill and Ato Sekyi-Otu remained critical and meticulous throughout. I am truly thankful that they did. In addition to their support and hard work, they have all nurtured, encouraged and challenged me. Fm honored by their guidance and friendship. Dr. David McNab served on my examining committee as dean's representative and Dr. Renate Eigenbrod served as my external examiner. Both offered immensely helpful and pointed questions and comments; my work has benefitted enormously from them. I thank them for the care and attention they have afforded this dissertation. Thanks to Dr. Amin Alhassan for his work as Chair of my oral examination. On the Canadian side the Niagara Falls Public Library's archives were simply invaluable. I also thank the Niagara Parks Commission and the City of Niagara Falls. On the American side I am very grateful to the Niagara Falls Public Library's Local History Department for their enthusiastic assistance and generosity. Thanks also to the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission. The border guards at the Peace Bridge never failed to keep me on my toes; never before have I had to explain the purpose of a notebook and pen. Thanks to them for keeping me alert on those early mornings and late afternoons! My friends have endured my hermit-like tendencies these many years and they deserve medals. Bradford Bebb, Dena Nishizaki, Vivian Khouw, Sabine LeBel, Kiera Chion, Claire 0'Connor and Alison Tylor are gems! Chrystos continues to inspire me and I am vi thankful for her fire. Drs. Cathy Boyd-Withers, Denise McConney, Patricia Monture, Sheryl Nestel, Mona Oikawa, Karen Solomon, Sal Renshaw, Stacey Mayhall and Wendy Peters have offered their support throughout this process. I offer a special thanks to Dr. Karen Dubinsky for her generosity. And the GTA's sangat is truly the best in the west! Fateh! The Researchers and Academics of Colour for Equality Network, the Midwest Society for Women in Philosophy's Women of Color Caucus, and the Australian Association for Critical Race and Whiteness Studies are important associations for critical race and decolonial scholarship and I am glad to have found and joined them. The life of a graduate student is often austere. As funding shrank while the cost of living steadily rose I was and remain eternally grateful for the support of my union, CUPE 3903, especially Fred Ho, Raj Virk and Parbattie Ramasarran. I simply would not have been able to complete this dissertation had it not been for them. I am grateful to the Ontario Graduate Scholarship Program for their financial support. I thank my family, especially my father, Rajinder Singh who never saw this project completed. His example of integrity and perseverance guides me even though he no longer can. Thanks to my mother, Pamela Diane, a cheerleaderpar excellence. Harsharan and Chad's encouragement, humor, wheels and workspace were more appreciated than I could ever properly express. Thanks also to Inderjit. Kelly Pyke, Daryl and Adam Brisson sheltered, fed and watered me in Niagara. Linda, Bob, Jane and Christopher McMillan showed me their Niagara and I thank them for the spectacular view. vii Table of Contents Abstract iv Acknowledgements vi List of Figures x 1. Introduction 1 Surveying Niagara's vanishing subject 3 Settler stories 7 Stories 12 Difference and power in Canada 18 Sovereignty 23 Chapter breakdown 25 2. Magic in the myth: The mystification of colonial power 30 Truths 31 The myth 37 Unsettled histories 51 The myth experienced 62 3. Vanishing at the border 74 Vanishing Indians 84 "How does it feel to be a problem?" 96 Unhoming settler states and making whiteness strange 105 Toward the limits of representation 110 4. The ethical limits of mediated suffering 112 Made to suffer 113 Victims and warriors of the local Third World 121 Concerning women concerning violence 135 5. Toward decolonization: Treaty and sovereignty in Canada 154 "Motion toward the world" 159 Complete disorder: From Treaty to treaty 165 Recovering the path to Treaty 178 6. Home at the bridge 180 Homeless, radically and otherwise 187 Fighting for home 201 vin Homecoming at the bridge 213 7. Conclusion 226 Shame politics in the ashamed nations 227 Concluding remarks 232 Figures 236 References 248 IX ListofFigures 1.1 Silk Hat Ceremony for return of Maid of the Mist boats to United States side.... 236 1.2 Roger Woodward with Captain Keech (Maid of the Mist) 237 2.1 Maid of the Mist Marketplace 238 2.2 Legend of the White Canoe postcard 239 2.3 Spirit of Niagara poster 240 2.4 Niagara movie poster 241 3.1 Chief Clinton Rickard (Tuscarora Nation) 242 4.1 Archway and medallion, Adams Power Station 243 4.2 Medallion detail 244 4.3 Memorial plaque, Adams Power Station 245 4.4 Indian Defense League's Border Crossing Ceremony 246 4.5 Collapsed Fallsview Bridge 247 x Chapter 1 Introduction Dedicated to an Indian maiden, Lelawalo, daughter of Chief Eagle Eye of the Ongiaras, after whom Niagara Falls was supposedly named. Legend has it she was chosen as the tribe's loveliest sacrifices to the "Great Thunderer." Adorned in soft doe skin, wearing a crown of woodland flowers, she unhesitatingly piloted her white birch canoe over the cataract.
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