"What indians Are We Talking About?": A Discourse Analysis of Intercultural Dialogues in an Ojibway Setting Jordan Davidson A Thesis in The Department of Sociology and Anthropology Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts (Social and Cultural Anthropology) at Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada June 2008 © Jordan Davidson, 2008 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: 978-0-494-42480-3 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-42480-3 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 Plntemet, 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 Abstract "What Indians Are We Talking About?": A Discourse Analysis of Intercultural Dialogues in an Ojibway Setting Jordan Davidson Based on a phenomenological approach and experiential fieldwork in an Ontario Ojibway community, this thesis records and analyses a set of intercultural dialogues following the method of "sharing and listening." The dialogues are analysed with respect to three themes: humour; food; and, social issues (teen pregnancy, school drop-out rates, drug and alcohol use). The dialogues are interpreted both as counter-discourses that displace dominant discourses on Native peoples in Canadian society and as continuous with Ojibway storytelling and oral traditions. The thesis argues that mainstream media and scholarship reduces contemporary Native experience to a set of "social problems" and stereotypes thereby denying the meaning-making activities, agency and, ultimately, humanity of Native people. in Acknowledgements This thesis would not exist if not for the generosity on the part of individuals who so freely shared their life's knowledge and experience with me. I wish to express my particular gratitude to the people of Rainy River First Nations for granting me permission to reside in their community for three months, continually inviting me to partake in the community events, and the generous hospitality of many families. I am equally grateful to Braveheart, Blue Prairie Woman, and Joey Tall Stockings for taking the time to speak with me on numerous occasions for hours at length. One author in particular, Gerald Vizenor, influenced the direction of this thesis as well as deepening (not to mention confusing) my own understanding of the very complex and humbling nature of attempting to learn about people and their life, especially for me, First Nations people. I am also incredibly grateful to my supervisor Sally Cole for taking me on as her student, introducing me to Rainy River First Nations, giving me direction in every aspect of this research endeavour, and being patient with me as I trekked in every other direction to find something to write. And then, of course, for reading and commenting on the thesis with her form and accuracy, while still emphasizing the importance of cultivating my own voice. Thank you very much for your support and patience. I would also like to acknowledge and thank Wahta Mohawks for their generous financial support while I underwent graduate studies. IV Table of Contents Introduction: The Research Question 1 Chapter 1: Methodology 7 1.1. AtManitou 7 1.2. In the Writing 11 Chapter 2: Field Site & Historical Context 21 2.1. Rainy River First Nations 21 2.2. The Ojibway Social and Historical Context 27 Chapter 3: Conceptual Framework 45 3.1. indian versus Ojibway 45 3.2. Discourses 52 3.3. Enlightenment Thought 56 3.4. Counter Discourses 61 Chapter 4: Life History Dialogues 76 4.1. Braveheart 76 4.2. Blue Prairie Woman 89 4.3. Joey Tall Stockings 101 Chapter 5: Discourse Analysis 116 5.1. Local Contexts of Humour 116 5.2. Local Contexts of "Taste" 131 5.3. Discourses on "Social Issues" 148 Conclusion 164 References 169 Introduction This thesis explores the processes of complex and multiple experiences. In particular, it is an intercultural and interpretive exploration of how in an Ojibway community local experiences can be seen to engage dynamically with dominant "western" discourses that define the Indian in North America today'. I have chosen to undertake an exploration that reveals my experiences and interactions at an Ojibway community locally referred to as Manitou, but officially called Rainy River First Nations (RRFN), in an area of Northwestern Ontario, which I also refer to as Ojibway Country1. Thus, what I hope to address here are some of the uncanny and contradictory ways that local experiences play out, juxtaposed to and displacing the dominant discourses that maintain a kind of one-dimensional context of the indian experience. Whether an unconscious or conscious nature in the individual, I want to explore the high degree of personal play executed in the local Ojibway context of experiences. A kind of play that is not simply influenced by the discourses themselves, but rather, I argue, holds a space independent of these influences. As a result, experiences can be seen to belong to unique subtleties and nuances of a local Ojibway context, on one level, as well as they can be seen to engage in an intercultural context, on another level. In order to show this I have selected three themes: humour, food, and social issues (teen pregnancy, school drop-out rates, drug and alcohol use). I first explore how they can be seen to be upheld in dominant "western" discourses defining the indian. Next, I I use dominant "western" discourses for lack of a better phrase to describe how "ways" of looking at something become, not just common knowledge in the larger "western" societal discourses, but also a complete way of rationalizing how these "ways" legitimate categories of the powerful and powerless. I have borrowed Gerald Vizenor's modification of the word indian to which he italicizes in lower case to emphasize how "western" discourses construct essential categories of First Nations people. See pp. 47- 48 in Chapter 3 of this thesis. 2 Louise Erdrich uses this term Ojibway Country to refer to Northwestern Ontario, a geographical area that she explores for the writing of her book, Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country (2003). 1 illuminate how local experiences of these classical themes can be seen to displace "dominant" western discourses. Additionally, my experiences in this community do not end at an exploration of the complex experiences displacing dominant discourses alone, but also, are a part of the multilayered and contradictory inter-subjectivities of storytelling, listening, and sharing that have shaped the process of this thesis in its entirety. My choice to emphasize the particular themes that this thesis explores only became obvious to me after the fieldwork, and it was mostly due to the kinds of dialogues I had with non-Natives about what it was like at Manitou. With the ensuing of questions such as: "what is the diabetes rate like there?"; "is alcoholism rampant?"; "is there a lot of unemployment?"; "do they eat a lot of junk food?" These kinds of questions got me thinking about how disconnected, for the most part, Natives and non-Natives are with each other. It also got me thinking about how insidious these kinds of questions are when it comes to non-Native people talking about Native people. Suffice it to say, these "social issues" are common amongst Canadian society in general, thus I aim to illuminate an aspect of this through an emphasis of intercultural dialoguing. Now, I am not setting up this thesis to say what the people were like at Manitou in order to deny that discourses of the Indian do not exist as a reality in Native communities. Rather, I am interested in exploring how these discourses are not as hegemonic as they seem to appear. For indeed, these discourses can be seen to be displaced by the complex and multilayered experiences engaged in the local Ojibway context of Manitou. Now, in coming to explore local Ojibway experiences I had to ask myself if the notion of a stereotypical indian was not a thing I had created in my own head. And if, in 2 seeking to find new terrain on experiences of being Ojibway was not rooted in my own desire to justify my "Mohawkness". On some level, I do not doubt this, as growing up in an urban Canadian setting leaves my experiences distant from the experiences that would be accrued from growing up in a Native community.