GUARDED BORDERS: COLONIALLY INDUCED BOUNDARIES AND MI’KMAQ PEOPLEHOOD by Rebecca Lea Thomas Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia November 2012 © Copyright by Rebecca Lea Thomas, 2012 DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY The undersigned hereby certify that they have read and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate Studies for acceptance a thesis entitled “GUARDED BORDERS: COLONIALLY INDUCED BOUNDARIES AND MI’KMAQ PEOPLEHOOD” by Rebecca Lea Thomas in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. Dated: November 29, 2012 Supervisor: _________________________________ Readers: _________________________________ _________________________________ ii DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY DATE: November 29, 2012 AUTHOR: Rebecca Lea Thomas TITLE: GUARDED BORDERS: COLONIALLY INDUCED BOUNDARIES AND MI’KMAQ PEOPLEHOOD DEPARTMENT OR SCHOOL: Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology DEGREE: MA CONVOCATION: May YEAR: 2013 Permission is herewith granted to Dalhousie University to circulate and to have copied for non-commercial purposes, at its discretion, the above title upon the request of individuals or institutions. I understand that my thesis will be electronically available to the public. The author reserves other publication rights, and neither the thesis nor extensive extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author’s written permission. The author attests that permission has been obtained for the use of any copyrighted material appearing in the thesis (other than the brief excerpts requiring only proper acknowledgement in scholarly writing), and that all such use is clearly acknowledged. _______________________________ Signature of Author iii DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this thesis to the Mi’kmaq people. Their spirit and determination inspire me. Wela’lin iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures .................................................................................................................... vi Abstract ............................................................................................................................. vii Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... viii Chapter 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 1 Chapter 2 Bounded Peoplehood: Boundaries, Belonging and Pow-wow ......................... 11 2.1 Literature Review: ................................................................................................... 11 2.2 Methodology: .......................................................................................................... 32 Chapter 3 Money Matters: Rich Reserve, Poor Reserve .................................................. 38 3.1 Access: A World of Difference ............................................................................... 39 Chapter 4 The “Rez”: On, Off and In Between. ............................................................... 58 4.1 Peoplehood, Identity and Tradition: Where and How are they Learned? ............... 58 4.2 Language: Tied to the Reserve? .............................................................................. 62 4.3 Off the Rez: “City Indians” ..................................................................................... 71 Chapter 5 Pow-wow Potential .......................................................................................... 79 5.1 The Urban Pow-wow: Performance versus Enactment. .......................................... 80 5.2 The Reserve Pow-wow: A Young Hope? ............................................................... 91 Chapter 6 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 97 6.1 Limits of my Study:Future Research Required ..................................................... 106 Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 111 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Peoplehood Matrix (Holmes, Pearson, & Chavis, 2003: 13) ....................................... 8 vi ABSTRACT Despite vast research on North American Indigenous people and their struggles with sovereignty and autonomy, little attention has been paid to internal conflict within a First Nation. Inter community conflicts affect Mi’kmaq peoplehood and they relate to themselves and each other. This research was conducted in Mi’kma’ki, the traditional Mi’kmaq territory and explored issues surrounding language, financial wellbeing, geography, and Pow-wow. Interviews with 17 self-identified Indigenous people in Nova Scotia, Canada reveal that colonially induced conflicts only run so deep. Pow-wows seem to lesson conflict and become space of political protest, social inclusion and cultural reclamation. Hope lies with the younger generations who are now extending their relationships beyond the borders of the reserve. vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are many people who contributed to this body of work. I would like to begin by thanking the people of Mi’kma’ki. Without their participation and enthusiasm I would not have been able to complete this thesis. They welcomed me into their communities during times of celebration, were eager to share their stories with me, and answered all of my questions. Their hospitality is deeply appreciated. I was offered places to stay at every reserve I visited. Thank you. I am truly grateful. I would like to acknowledge my committee, my supervisor Dr. Brian Noble and Dr. Martha Radice for their seemingly unending patience for my stubbornness and willfulness to learn on my own. I want to thank both of them for their guidance and understanding. I want to thank Neil Forbes, the Director of Education at Lennox Island First Nation, for his hard work to keep me funded. Without his actions, graduate school would not have been possible. I would like to thank Patricia Glode-Chisholm for her letter welcoming me into the Urban First Nation community. With that letter, I was eligible for my first ever scholarship, one that granted me the freedom to focus solely on my education. I want to thank Lauretta Syliboy, the counselor at the Native Education Counseling Unit. I spent many days and countless hours working, talking with students, laughing, crying, and writing. I am deeply indebted to Lauretta. She was always there to viii listen to my complaints and problems, personal and academic. I will always remember our many conversations over numerous cups of tea. I want to thank my editor and friend Nina Hoeschele whose tireless work and kind and humourous comments on my thesis improved me as a writer. Thank you, Nina. I want to thank my parents. My mother, Patricia Thomas, gave me more strength than she knows. I would not be the woman I am today without her. My father, Tim Redfeather Thomas, gave me more than my Mi’kmaq blood. He gave me the perseverance to pick myself up and continue on even after many falls and stumbles. Lastly, I want to thank my partner, Chris Kennedy, for his emotional and moral support. I would have given up a long time ago if not for him. ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION I am Mi’kmaq. I grew up off-reserve. I do not speak my language. I am registered with Lennox Island band on Prince Edward Island but I do not know anyone who lives there. I am Mi’kmaq. I knew I was Native but it only dawned on me that I was Mi’kmaq, or Micmac, as my father would say, when I was in my early adolescence. During the few summer visits I had with my father, he would take me to Pow-wows and reserves to learn about my culture. Kids on the reserve would tease me. They would call me the “little white girl” and I was embarrassed when my father would introduce me by my Native name, Swift Fox. I could tell it hurt my father when I would say “just call me Rebecca”. I did not feel Native and I did not want to socialize with children who picked on me simply because I did not grow up with them. I was never close with my father. He was gone when I was very young and it would often be months in between phone calls let alone visits. I never knew that my father attended residential school. I was angry with him for leaving when I was only three years old. Gifts and Pow-wows were the only ways he could think to make a connection with his daughter. I was nineteen when I spent a summer with my father traveling the Pow-wow circuit in Ontario. Most of the reserves we visited were Ojibwa. The dancers and participants would ask me where I was from. I would start to say that I was from Moncton but my father would interject and exclaim that we were “Micmac Indians from Lennox Island reserve on Prince Edward Island!” Later on that year, my father came to visit me while I was at university. He took me to a Mi’kmaq reserve in Nova Scotia. As 1 we exited the car he told me not to go anywhere without him. I asked him why and he explained to me that this community did not like outsiders. I was shocked. I was Mi’kmaq First Nation after all and this was a Mi’kmaq reserve. I was one of them! However, because I grew up with my white mother, I was different. I did not think the same as them, I talked differently and I did not understand that things were different on the “rez”. Since that experience, I have worked at the Mi’kmaq Native Friendship Centre, in Halifax Nova Scotia. I have worked on an archeological