Question #3 (part two)

The conversation discusses the challenges of understanding and respecting Indigenous cultures, highlighting the dangers of pan-Indigeneity and the need for diverse perspectives. It emphasizes the importance of self-reflection, acknowledging past ignorance, and actively working towards reconciliation. The speakers reflect on their personal experiences and how education plays a role in shaping perceptions. They stress the significance of knowledge, respect, and responsibility in fostering understanding and meaningful relationships with Indigenous communities. So, another point I had during the courses, and even in this conversation that we had, this excellent conversation we just had about what land acknowledgement means to us, is that I sort of had a bunch of questions and challenges that came up throughout the course, and I was curious if you guys kind of felt the same way. Yeah, I totally agree. Coming from a background that I'm not Indigenous, and I really didn't learn a whole lot about that until later in life, I found myself really challenged in having to self-reflect to not over-generalize, or just kind of the issue of pan-Indigeneity, assuming that every experience is alike and very similar, when even with really good intentions, it can be really easy to fall into that bad habit of thinking that Indigenous teachings or experiences are universal across nations, when in reality, they're incredibly diverse, and I really had to try and catch myself and assess whether I was doing this. Yeah, I also found that I was doing that at some points as well. I've certainly, especially in the past, have thought of Indigenous peoples in sort of pan-Indigenous terms, and I realize, taking this course, how hurtful this can be. I think some of this comes from our schooling. Like, thankfully now, we're both, all of the three of us have been taught after the Reconciliation Commission. However, I still think some issues is that I remember, especially as a young kid, and this could be my understanding, is that we're sort of taught about the general, like, core foundational aspects of Indigenous peoples and their cultures, such as respect and respect of the land. I think those, it's very easy for people or young kids to understand, and I think that that can be dangerous, because it leads where we don't talk as much about sort of the unique method that is expressed in the Cree or Blackfoot teachings, and I think that sort of makes a risk of teaching us that in a more pan-Indigenous way of thinking. I've now sort of learned that these Indigenous ways of knowing, although it refers to, like, the epistemologies and knowledge systems, this Indigenous way of knowing is expressed differently in these methods between Cree and Blackfoot people, and differently across Indigenous peoples. Sorry. I'm going to cut and redo that last sentence. What did I say before that sentence? I said, okay, yeah. So, starting back from here, I've now learned that the Indigenous ways of knowing refers to sort of the central beliefs rather than the methods of how these beliefs are expressed, and I think that that's important to recognize how diverse that is between Indigenous cultures. Yeah, Sam, I totally agree. I think in elementary school and high school, the classes, while importantly sharing lots of those pieces about Indigenous peoples and like to acknowledge it's a lot better than their parents were taught, it definitely gave me a bit of a pan-Indigenous perspective, often based in Cree ways of knowing, actually, because I grew up on Treaty 4 territory. So, it wasn't until I moved to Calgary that I gained exposure to the importance of understanding more about different Indigenous histories and how understanding how each one of those can be so unique was so important in understanding the dynamics, especially, like I mentioned, through that social determinants of health lens, too, because each unique history carries so much in that way, so that when we just kind of look at some of those issues from like an overarching Indigenous perspective, we're really not getting to the meat of what they've experienced and what those unique experiences are to them and what those meaningful aspects are. So, it really set in for me on a class field trip in my third year to Blackfoot Crossing. So, we heard there from a speaker on exactly what this land and history meant to him and his wife, which was different than kind of what I've heard from speakers in the elementary school and high school experience. And I reflected on this initially in my Indigeneity project because it was really brought up to me that the idea of wholeness was so important to Indigeneity in the context of having these exhibits and this information so locally was so important to understanding this unique Blackfoot history. Especially, I really liked this quote from Dr. Beatty during the course. I wrote it down and highlighted it in my notes. It really stood out to me. The idea that understanding someone's culture is important to understanding their uniqueness, which is why kind of Indigeneity is so dangerous because we're really not understanding the uniqueness of someone's culture if we can't understand the uniqueness and the nature of that other person. Oh. Did you want me to cut in? No, I'm good. Okay. Continuing on from that, I think another thing that really stood out to me as kind of a question and a challenge throughout this course was the idea of how deeply human-centric my worldview was as well. It really pushed me to reflect on how Western society often frames land and non-human beings as disposable or valuable only by their usage to humans and how much utility they give us. Transitioning to more of a relational and reciprocal mindset took me a lot of active effort. It was something that I was really first exposed to in Serviceberry, which has been the reading that probably resonated with me most throughout this course. The idea, I think we talked about a flutter in there. That's really stuck with me ever since. That idea of loving land and all beings and valuing them like you would something that someone hand-knit for you. That de-human-centrifying my worldview was a really big challenge for me. Yeah, I would agree with that. I think that's a great point, Kai, where we're sort of like, as settler Canadians, you can say, that we sort of have this very human-centric view. I think that understanding these concepts from this course, one challenge I've come up with was reckoning with that position where now that I've understood these treaty responsibilities and the impacts of colonialism, along with reconciliation, made me reflect on my own role within the current systems and how they can be dangerous for indigenous peoples. I think a major challenge for me was certainly in the first assignment. I found that very valuable. However, I think one challenge was sort of acknowledging past ignorance and the ignorance that is seen throughout our culture. I think one thing was, one of my four images was on top of a mountain where we were looking at, or one of the mountains viewed was previously named Squaw's Tit, which was a derogatory name for indigenous woman's breast. This was only renamed in 2020, so it shows how ignorant this can be. I think that I certainly remember some of my friends when I was doing this hike five years ago before this hike was renamed. They may have found it humorous, and I sort of didn't think much of it, or I didn't see how horrible that could be. Now I sort of recognize that after thinking about how sort of my ignorance of whether I'm focused on doing this hike, and rather than thinking about this from an indigenous person's perspective, let me just... Sorry. You were good. No. No, it was hard to run for this. Yeah, sorry guys. No, you were good. You were really good, though. I like how you're presenting it. So yeah, I was going to say, I remember how some of my friends found this humorous, and I remember thinking not too much of it, where I didn't quite recognize personally how hurtful that could be. And now sort of taking this course, it makes me realize how that ignorance is so dangerous, and how it's so seen throughout our culture, where we are less likely to directly acknowledge how hurtful these... Even if they were done in the past, this mountain was named not any time recently. It's a very derogatory name. I think that given how long it takes to rename these mountains is a major issue, and I think that this is a major challenge for myself, is recognizing how hurtful some of my previous actions are. Even if I did nothing, that act of doing nothing can be very hurtful. I think it's really important that you brought up that ignorance is bliss, because it's true, and we've heard it since we were kids, that ignorance is bliss, knowledge is power. But I think it's so easy to hide in an ignorance, or hide in the not knowing. Because I know I can only speak for myself, but again, I grew up in New Brunswick. I really didn't learn a whole lot about Indigenous peoples or the history of Indigenous until I was in my later years of high school, and to be completely honest, a lot of it was learned primarily through this course. And I found myself hiding behind ignorance as, it's not my problem because I don't know about it. And it's very easy to do, and I think I hear a lot of people doing that as well. But it's so important to consider that knowledge is power. Knowing more and being able to form our own opinions and being able to have that responsibility and respect towards Indigenous peoples is so important in reconciliation efforts. I think, again, it's easy to hide behind ignorance, but it's so important to take courses like this and have these hard conversations with people, because that's what's going to cause real change. I know that we brought up some of that first assignment, and I totally agree with you guys. I found it really hard for me, to be honest. I felt like I was looking for what is the right answer, what are the right photos to put, kind of thinking of it as like a black or white assignment, right or wrong. But throughout this course, I've realized that's not how it should be looked at, and frankly, there is no right or wrong. Indigeneity is something that we can all reflect on and connect to, even if we don't come from an Indigenous perspective. I think it's really important that as long as we stay grounded in the four R's of respect, reciprocity, relations, and responsibility, we're not going to be wrong, and if anything, it can help us appreciate Indigenous cultures as unique, holistic, and integral to Canadian society.