Iconification and the Nationalized Inukshuk
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Iconification and the Nationalized Inukshuk By JeffRuhl,B.A.(hons.) A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Canadian Studies Carleton University OTTAWA, Ontario August 27, 2008 ©2008, Jeff Ruhl Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-43491-8 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-43491-8 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and 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 I'lnternet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont ete enleves de cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. •*• Canada 2 Abstract This thesis explores the rise of the inukshuk as a Canadian national symbol beginning in 1994 and extending to the present-day and investigates how and why this rise has occurred. Theoretically framed in terms of Barthes' study on myth and Foucault's concept of power, the author offers an accompanying and complementary theoretical model for understanding the inukshuk's rise on the national stage. The process of iconifwation addresses the ways in which symbols come to be national, or nationalized through localised, repetitive, and increasingly meaningful uses by actors and agencies operating within the state. Commencing with the 1994 airing of the Historica Heritage Minute "Inukshuk", the author traces the iconic development of the symbol from its grassroots popularity in southern Canada's dominant culture to its nationalization in the Canadian political economy. Of specific interest is how the inukshuk operates as a fetish in the dominant culture; how it bespeaks a cultural desire to be indigenous; how it became a preferred symbol in the articulation of an updated national identity at home and abroad; and, how it's currently relevant as a poignant signifier of Canada's Arctic sovereignty. Moreover, the implicit connection between the symbol and Canada's colonial past and present operates as a spectre haunting all aspects of the nationalized inukshuk throughout this thesis. 3 Acknowledgments If the adage is true that it takes a village to raise a child, then it goes without saying that it takes a department to raise a scholar. I have received generous support from faculty, my student-colleagues and the administrative staff of the School of Canadian Studies throughout the production of this thesis and my journey through the Master's process. While I thank the department collectively, I am specifically indebted to Pauline Rankin, Donna Patrick, and the entrance committee who took a chance on a wild-card undergrad from Trent University and offered me what has become the opportunity of a lifetime. I hope that I have proven worthy of their gamble; their support throughout this process has been tremendous. Moreover, I am most thankful to Richard Nimijean who has been a consistent and vocal supporter of my research and who has provided motivation and much needed encouragement along the way; to Mary Casaubon who has been my guardian angel, you will be missed; and, to my friends and colleagues in the Masters program: Peter, Becky, Ron, Grace, brothers and sisters in arms - good luck on all your future endeavours! I would like to acknowledge my gratitude and appreciation to Peter Hodgins who has been not only a thoughtful, provocative and, at times, necessarily critical supervisor, but a gifted teacher and mentor. Eva Mackey, my internal examiner, has generously provided indispensible critical insight and support throughout this process, and above-all has taught me the values of modesty, humility and (with a modicum of hope) clarity in my academic writing. Additionally, I am thankful to Carol Payne who honoured my thesis defence by sitting as an external examiner and, in that capacity, provided thorough, constructive and encouraging feedback. 4 Finally, to my family whose love and support has been overwhelming; not the least of which, my wife, Danielle, whose compassion, confidence, and understanding are the moorings by which the completion of this thesis is anchored, and who, above all, I share the credit with for this work. 5 For Frank and Estelle, Jung Di Nie, Thomas, and Percy's Mail Truck Table of Contents Acknowledgements List of Figures Forward Into the mystic Introduction 12 Assembling an Inukshuk Chapter One 45 Antimodernism, indigenization and the fetish: Exploring various resonances of the inukshuk within dominant Canadian culture Chapter Two 78 Branding the inukshuk: a new symbol for a new Canada Chapter Three 109 Of Paper Tigers, Frozen Beavers and Stone Sentinels: The inukshuk and the question of Arctic Sovereignty Conclusion 142 Putting the pieces together Figures 148 Works Cited 156 7 List of Figures Forward. 0.1. Screen frame from the Heritage Minute "Inukshuk," 1994 Chapter Two. 2.1. The Flag of the Territory of Nunavut 2.2. Canada: We All Belong, educational poster from Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 2002 2.3. Photograph, snow carving of inukshuk held in open hands, Ottawa Winter Fest, 2008 2.4. Canada 125 Commemorative Quarter, 1992 2.5. Flag, 470 stamp issued by Canada Post, 2000 2.6. Wisdom of Diversity, 500 stamp issued by Canada Pose, 2005 2.7. Ilanaaq, official logo of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games 2.8. Photograph of Kamik Boots, date unknown 2.9. Website image of Inukshuk Wireless, ca. 2007 2.10. Olympic commemorative quarter, 2007 Chapter Three. 3.1. Cover of TIME Magazine, 2007 3.2. Postcard of the "Canadian Arctic" featuring an inukshuk, date unknown 3.3. Photograph of an inukshuk weather station in the High Arctic, 2006 8 Forward Into the Mystic The Heritage Minutes are a series of televised vignettes highlighting episodes of Canadian history. They have been aired on national networks since the early 1990s. Imagine the year is 1994 and you are watching your favourite television program, say, Friends or Seinfeld when, during a commercial break you view a Heritage Minute set in the North, featuring an injured Mountie and an Inuit group who are constructing an odd, stone monument. This monument is the inukshuk, widely recognizable in today's cultural landscape, but I imagine it was something of a curiosity to many of the viewers who watched the first airings of the Heritage Minute "Inukshuk." While there is evidence that the inukshuk found its way into the consciousness of the dominant culture1 prior to its airing, the Heritage Minute represents the first widespread, popular text relating to the stone formations. The Minute attempts to assign the inukshuk with some meaning that, in keeping with the Historica mandate, positions it within a larger national mythology (Hodgins 2003). Originally aired in 1994, the Minute, set in the seemingly stark wilderness landscape of Baffin Island in 1931 conjures allusions to common tropes familiar to the colonial and national imagination: the Aboriginal, the North, the wilderness and the Mountie. The segment features an injured RCMP officer who is travelling with what appears to be an Inuit family. He is frustrated because they have stopped to build this peculiar monument; "an inukshuk," the Mountie remarks with curious incredulity. 1 By "dominant culture," I am referring to a particular yet ambiguous imagining of Canadian national identity. Reproduced officially and unofficially under normalizing conditions of Anglophone whiteness, Mackey (1999) refers to this group as an "unmarked, non-ethnic, and usually white, 'Canadian-Canadian' identity"(20). 9 Narrating the Minute through his inner monologue, the Mountie observes of the monument: "I come across them miles from any where... maybe now I'll find out what they're for." To which an Inuk youth translating the words of a member from his group responds: "She says.. .now the people will know we were here." The end of the Minute sees a close-up of the inukshuk, located at the forefront of the frame, while the party walks away, backs turned from the camera, towards the mountainous horizon of the background [figure 0.1]. The viewer is left with an encore of the Inuk youth's words, applied with an echo effect that makes them seem distant and haunting: 'Wow the people will know we were here." Text appears on the bottom of the screen framing the inukshuk as "A part of our heritage." The screen then narrows to include the sponsors and contributors to the Minute (The CRB Foundation, Historica, the NFB, Actra and Power Corporation of Canada).