FISHING AS MEANING: IDENTITY FORMATION AND THE “NEW ICELANDER” IN MANITOBA By Jeff R. Wood Integrated Studies Final Project Essay (MAIS 700) submitted to Dr. Mike Gismondi in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts – Integrated Studies Athabasca, Alberta December, 2012 i ABSTRACT Fishing as Meaning: Identity Formation and the New Icelander in Manitoba A proper understanding of the multicultural nature of the Canadian identity can best be accomplished by studies of the various cultures which constitute it. While identity formation is a discursive process, subjective, and entirely experiential, exploration of the local is never the less fundamental for understanding the whole. This paper examines the “local” Icelandic community along the west shore of Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba. It analyzes how the community draws meaning from the practice of fishing, and looks at its significance in identity formation. The approach taken explicitly separates the act of fishing, from the meanings that are extracted from the act, connecting fishers and non-fishers in a common bond of community. I demonstrate the symbolic and ritualistic meanings connected to fishing by the Icelandic community, as well as how a sense of self, of place, of bond, and of ownership and agency is extracted and applied to identity. Questions of cultural sustainability and fishing heritage will also be addressed. The topic is approached from an interdisciplinary perspective. I blend insights and methodologies from history, human and physical geography, sociology, and anthropology, with an attempt at an over-arching integration. ii Table of Contents Title Page i Abstract ii Table of Contents iii Introduction 1 Background 4 History 4 Geography of the Lake and the Fishery 7 Fishing as Meaning 9 Symbolism 9 Ritualism 11 Sense of Self 11 Sense of Place 12 Bond 13 Ownership and Agency 14 Cultural Sustainability 15 Conclusions 16 References 17 iii Fishing as Meaning: Identity Formation and the New Icelander in Manitoba By Jeff Wood Final Project Essay (MAIS 700) Dr. Mike Gismondi Introduction Canada prides itself on its multicultural composition and heritage, and since even the first occupiers of the land were themselves immigrants at some point, what it means to be Canadian has been, and is, highly subjective and entirely experiential. Every wave of immigration brings new meaning to the term “Canadian” and each is unique and complimentary to the whole. Invariably what has been brought from the home country in the way of culture and identity is reformed, moulded, and redefined by new physical and cultural pressures, and while elements of the past remain, most often a new identity is formed as different meanings are extracted from the new environments, situations, and over the course of time. In a broad sense, this paper speaks implicitly to multiculturalism through a focused study of a single aspect of a specific ethnic identity, which is situated in unique set of physical and temporal geographies. Canadian identity is addressed in light of these constituent studies. 1 A grounded understanding of the many identities that make up being “Canadian” are prerequisite to fuller understandings of the whole. It is the purpose of this paper to examine how meaning is extracted from the practice of fishing for sustenance and trade among the Icelandic population of the south west shore of Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba Canada. Explicit in its intent, is the drawing of connections to identity formation from the cultural practice of fishing, not as an act per se, but rather as a source of meaning and a focal point around which a particular self view is abstracted (since only a small portion of the population fishes) and maintained. The discursive nature of identity formation however, places limits on the extent to which one can draw conclusions about self view from any one source. It is not the intention of this work to claim fishing as a core value, or even as being particularly substantive in this regard. Instead, among the many cultural, geographical and temporal pressures that contribute to identity, fishing is only one, and that one cultural aspect is the focus of this paper. The discursiveness with which identity is formed implies a certain subjectivity in the attempt to describe it, both on the part of the observer as well as the self view; while one may claim something, another may claim something completely different. To suggest then, that the west shore Icelanders see themselves as fishers, would be one claim, but that might easily be disputed by those who do not share this background (in fact, the majority). On the other hand, the significance of the fishing industry in the Icelandic community’s initial survival, its economic viability throughout the following century, and its current location in the cultural geography of Manitoba, can hardly be disputed. While the practice of fishing has been carried out by 2 relatively few members of the population, it is the shared experience of fishing as a meaning bearing institution (Neville, 1995: 168) that is of particular interest here. In spite of the specificity of this inquiry, the topic lends itself well to interdisciplinary study, and in fact cannot be adequately addressed in any other way. At its core, an exploration of individual and group identity is a study perhaps well served by ethnomethodology, but there is much to explore beyond the disciplinary confines of sociology. The same may be said of anthropology and its focuses on social structure, cultural development and material artefacts, or history and its aggregation of chronologies leading to a common point of inquiry, or the fields of human and physical geography that explore human movement in, and manipulations of, the physical environment, and so on. While each disciplinary approach offers key insights into identity formation, no one discipline can in its self address the underlying complexities of the process. This inquiry draws on all of these disciplines, with a centralizing core methodology of integration (Klein, 2012: 283). Integration, according to Repko, is a process which involves a critical evaluation of disciplinary insights resulting in a more comprehensive understanding of a problem (Repko, 2012: 263). How meaning is extracted from the act of fishing in constructing identity involves a critical investigation into the various explanations offered by each discipline. The integrative process involves a synthesis of these individual perspectives that transcends single disciplinary understandings. With that process in mind, the research material for this paper was chosen from a variety of disciplinary sources in an effort to more broadly understand Icelandic culture in Manitoba. 3 The term “community” is used here as a broad descriptive of a number of settlements established along the west shore of Lake Winnipeg that are contained within the original reserve boundaries as set in place in 1875, as well as Hecla Island, just outside of it. Community refers to the people as collective identity, and less so a physical place. As well, the term “New Icelander” is used in reference to the residents of Icelandic heritage who occupy the reserve area and connected to the initial name of the reserve as “New Iceland” to distinguish that space from the then District of Keewatin. Background History Manitoba’s Icelandic population has its origins in Icelandic diaspora of the late 19th century, a result of economic hardship brought on by tough trade restrictions imposed by hegemonic Danish rule, and devastating volcanic eruptions that destroyed much of the already marginal hay land (Thor,2002: 9. Brydon, 2001: 167). In 1870 the population of Iceland stood at approximately 70,000, 75% of whom were agriculturalists primarily involved in pastoralism, raising sheep, cattle and horses, as well as hay and small subsistence gardening. A further 10% extracted a living from the sea although this number gradually increased by the end of the century as the agricultural economy weakened (Arngrimsson, 1997: 40). As a subaltern population under Danish authority and suffering increased poverty, many Icelanders felt less connected to the homeland, and by 1870 the prospects for a better life elsewhere increased when a group of emigrants to Utah in the United States, reported on the 4 opportunities available in North America (Simundsson, 1981: 1-3). By 1873 the first large contingent of Icelanders was en route to the United States. However, while still aboard ship, a majority of the immigrants were persuaded by a Canadian immigration agent to instead settle in Canada. Promises of free land, cultural and religious independence, temporary housing and paid transportation made the offer difficult to refuse (Thor, 2002: 39). The initial sight of settlement in Kinmount Ontario proved unsuitable to the Icelandic immigrants, (Thor, 2002: 65, 74, 78). Word reached the Icelanders of large land reserves in Manitoba established in 1873 for the exclusive settlement of Mennonites from Russia (Lohrenz, 1974: 20) as part of the Canadian governments spatial placement scheme for settling the prairies ( Eyford, 2010: 16). A delegation went to Manitoba in 1875 to investigate settlement possibilities. Shortly thereafter they made an application to the Government of Canada for the establishment of an Icelandic reserve in the District of Keewatin on the (then) northern border of Manitoba, stretching 68 kilometres north to the White Mud River along the western shoreline of Lake Winnipeg, and 18 kilometres west (R.M. of Gimli, 2010). Subsequently the reserve was designated New Iceland (Nyja Island) as a separate entity from the District of Keewatin. The initial hunt for land was with strictly agrarian purposes in mind. Thor (2002: 79) points out that land west of Winnipeg was initially looked at with the intent of developing grain farm operations as per government desires for economic development in the territory. A severe grasshopper infestation had stripped the land bare that summer however, leaving the Icelandic delegation with a poor impression of the area and they rejected it for settlement.