Downloaded from the Humanities Digital Library http://www.humanities-digital-library.org Open Access books made available by the University of London Press ***** Publication details: A World You Do Not Know: Settler Societies, Indigenous Peoples and the Attack on Cultural Diversity by Colin Samson http://humanities-digital-library.org/index.php/hdl/catalog/book/world- you-do-not-know DOI: 10.14296/420.9781912250394 ***** This edition published 2020 by UNIVERSITY OF LONDON PRESS SCHOOL OF ADVANCED STUDY HUMAN RIGHTS CONSORTIUM INSTITUTE OF COMMONWEALTH STUDIES Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU, United Kingdom ISBN 978-1-912250-39-4 (PDF edition) This work is published under a Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. More information regarding CC licenses is available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses A World You Do Not Know explores the diversity on cultural indigenous peoples and the attack settler societies, KNOW DO NOT YOU WORLD A wilful ignorance demonstrated by North America’s settlers in establishing their societies on lands already occupied by indigenous nations. Using the Innu of Labrador-Quebec as one powerful contemporary example, Colin Samson shows how the processes of displacement and assimilation today resemble those of the 19th century as the state and corporations scramble for Innu lands. Innu walkers at conclusion of 250km walk While nation building, capitalism and in support of cultural revitalisation. Photo: industrialisation are shown to have Alex Andrew. undermined indigenous peoples’ wellbeing, the values that guide societies like the Innu are very much alive. The book ends by showcasing how ideas and land- This is a powerful, articulate and based activities of indigenous groups in “troubling book about many kinds of poison. Canada and the US are being maintained It is a journey to the devastation that and recast as ways to address the attack colonial history has brought to indigenous on cultural diversity and move forward to peoples around the world, from land seizure more positive futures. to transformation of diet, from losses of resources to the loss of self … a book of immense importance. Cover image: Jimmie Durham, ‘We Have Made Hugh Brody, author of Maps and Progress...’ , 1991, mixed media. Photograph by Dreams, Canada Research Professor, Philippe De Gobert. University of the Fraser Valley This is a thoughtful book, highlighting “the arrogance with which we approach indigenous ways of knowing and being, while also highlighting the continued resistance of indigenous peoples to western colonisation. A WORLD YOU David MacDonald, Professor of Political Science, University of Guelph DO NOT KNOW Colin Samson Colin A World You Do Not Know should be Settler societies, indigenous peoples “read by everyone interested in Native American societies and their political and and the attack on cultural diversity economic struggles ... it represents the best in engaged scholarship that seeks to renew a dialogue with indigenous peoples that is a little less unjust and one-sided. COLIN SAMSON Richard A. Wilson, Gladstein Chair of Human Rights, University of Connecticut HUMAN RIGHTS CONSORTIUM A world you do not know: settler societies, indigenous peoples and the attack on cultural diversity Colin Samson © Human Rights Consortium, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London, 2013 ISBN 978-0-9575210-0-1 (paperback) ISBN 978-1-912250-39-4 (PDF) Institute of Commonwealth Studies School of Advanced Study University of London Senate House Malet Street London WC1E 7HU Cover image: Jimmie Durham, ‘We Have Made Progress...’, 1991, mixed media. Photograph by Philippe De Gobert. Innu youth walkers at conclusion of 250-kilometre walk in support of continuing the Innu way of life in Northern Labrador/Quebec, Canada. Contents Glossary of Innu words vii List of figures and tables ix Acknowledgements xi Preface: ‘Things to teach you of a world you do not know’ 1 1. All is not lost 19 2. The march of civilisation 41 3. Egalitarianism to capitalism 69 4. Nature and nation-building 99 5. Caribou to Chubby Chicken 127 6. Western diseases 163 7. Land-based revitalisation 197 Bibliography 235 Index 267 Glossary of Innu words Akaneshau/t (Kakeshau/t in the Mushuau Innu dialect) – singular and plural for white person or person of European descent. Atuatshuap – store or shop. In Sheshatshiu it also serves as the name of the store. Innu-aimun – the Innu language. Kamateuet – shamans and healers. Kamestasteniunuts – spirit people who inhabit the area around Lake Kameshtashten and can be seen by the observant. Katshimatsheshu – spirit people who inhabit the land, capable of transforming their body size and shape and able to play tricks on people, sometimes with deadly effect. Kukumanatsheuake – a pacifier for babies containing bone marrow and other country foods. Kushapatshakan – the shaking tent, an Innu practice used to communicate with the Animal Gods and to seek advice and guidance on how to survive on the land and where to find animals. It involves setting up a tent within a tent into which the Animal spirits enter and talk to the shaman in their different languages – all of which he can understand. The practice may also include healing the sick or giving advice on how to help those who are ill. The last performance was in the 1960s. Innu say that since then they have not had the confidence to perform it. Minish Pemmican (pasauan) – dried caribou meat sometimes ground up with berries. Mukushan – literally meaning ‘eat all’, is a feast made from preparing caribou bones after a kill. The bones are boiled, the fat removed and mixed with the extracted marrow. This is allowed to congeal, often overnight. It is served to the whole camp with meat and sometimes bannock to celebrate the Caribou God. Nutshimit – the country or the land, used by Innu to be synonymous also with the hunting life they live on the land. Teueikan – the Innu drum made of stretched caribou skin with small rattles tied to strings positioned across the face of the drum, often made from pieces of bone. Historically, the drum is only played by a person who has had three special dreams. It is used in Innu dances, music and songs to communicate with the animal spirits. Tshash Petapen – the Innu Nation land claims agreement affecting the Innu domiciled in Sheshatshiu and Natuashish, and to which is also attached an agreement to condone and participate in the Lower Churchill hydroelectric mega-project. Tshenu/t – singular and plural for old person/s or old hunter/s. Uinastakan – the dried undigested contents of caribou stomach used as a stock for soup and stews. Utshimau – literally meaning ‘first man’, who in a hunting camp made a decision to go on a particular expedition. Others were free to follow him, but his authority extended only to the specific hunt. It is sometimes used teasingly to denote a person in the villages who is bossy or who attempts to influence or make decisions for others. List of figures and tables Frontispiece: Innu youth walkers at conclusion of 250-kilometre walk in support of continuing the Innu way of life in Northern Labrador/Quebec, Canada. Reproduced by permission of Alex Andrew. Preface Figure P1. Dominic Pokue and grandson Freddy at Utshisk-nipi, 1995. Author’s photograph. Figure P2. Home-video still of Dominic Pokue atop a dummy tank at Seal Lake, 1995. Figure P3. Map of Labrador-Quebec peninsula. Reproduced by permission of the Queen Elizabeth II Library, Memorial University of Newfoundland. Chapter 1 Figure 1.1. Tshenish Pasteen in Utshimassits (Davis Inlet), 1996. Author’s photograph. Figure 1.2. François Aster with Armand Mackenzie in Matimekush, 2007, ‘What is hardship to a free man?’ Author’s photograph. Figure 1.3. Ben Michel and Daniel Ashini near the school building, Sheshatshiu, 1969. Reproduced by permission of Wendy Ewald. Figure 1.4. Sebastien Benuen on swing outside school building, Sheshatshiu, 1969. Reproduced by permission of Wendy Ewald. Chapter 3 Figures 3.1 and 3.2. Maps of Labrador Innu settlement area and of Labrador Innu lands respectively, adapted from maps 5-A and 5-B of the Tshash Petapen Agreement in Principle, available at www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/ DAM/DAM-INTER-HQ/STAGING/texte-text/ccl_farim_nl_labinnu_ caip_1331749872252_eng.pdf. Table 1. Nutrient content for wild, store and restaurant fast foods. Table 2. Comparisons of nutrient content for wild, store and restaurant fast foods averages. Table 3. Recommended daily dietary allowances of key nutrients, minerals and vitamins. Chapter 4 Figure 4.1. Dominic Pokue, 2005. Reproduced by permission of Jules Pretty. Figure 4.2. Industrial sculpture with prominent phallus left by miners at Knob Lake, Quebec. Author’s photograph taken in 2007. Figure 4.3. Armand Mackenzie at site of tailings pond outside Matimekush, 2007. Author’s photograph. Figure 4.4. Ulderic and Mani Mackenzie, Matimekush, 2007. Author’s photograph. Chapter 5 Figure 5.1. Uinastakan in Angela Pijogge’s tent at Misteshuapi, 2009. Author’s photograph. Figure 5.2. Food in youths’ cabin at Kameshtashten, 2005. Author’s photograph. Figure 5.3. Innu atuatshuap (store), Sheshatshiu. Microwave foods in cabinet, 2005. Author’s photograph. Chapter 6 Figure 6.1. Daniel Ashini at Utshisk-nipi, 1995. Author’s photograph. Figure 6.2. Ben Michel at Utshisk-nipi, 1995. Author’s photograph. Figure 6.3. Katnen Pastitchi sewing caribou hide, Sheshatshiu, 2006. Author’s photograph. Figure 6.4. Maud Watt, an early commentator on the health of the Innu. Figure 6.5. Contemporary Innu showshoe hanging outside tent at Kapaumiskat, 2006. Author’s photograph. Figure 6.6. Illustration of 1880s Innu snowshoe in Lucien Turner’s Ethnology of Ungava (1894). Table 4. Causes of death in Sheshatshiu (population 1,200), 1995–2005, and Canada, 2002, 2005. Chapter 7 Figure 7.1.