Historical Research On Modern Canadian Archaeological Practice Essay

How can you write about a culture whose history is passed on by oral traditions? Better yet, how can you comprehend a culture’s past which a dominant society desired to assimilate? These two questions outline the difficulty in understanding the historiography of Canada’s Aboriginal peoples. In 2003, Paige Raibmon published her article, “Living on Display: Colonial Visions of Aboriginal Domestic Spaces.” Her work, although focused on Canada’s colonial “notions of domesticity,” presents the role of Aboriginals as performers to European notions of indigenous culture and identity. Early social historians believe that Aboriginals’ place in history is in their interactions with European Jesuits. A decade later, historians argue Aboriginals

Over the past decades, Aboriginal people (the original people or indigenous occupants of a particular country), have been oppressed by the Canadian society and continue to live under racism resulting in gender/ class oppression. The history of Colonialism, and Capitalism has played a significant role in the construction and impact of how Aborignal people are treated and viewed presently in the Canadian society. The struggles, injustices, prejudice, and discrimination that have plagued Aboriginal peoples for more than three centuries are still grim realities today. The failures of Canada's racist policies toward Aboriginal peoples are reflected in the high levels of unemployment and poor education.

Aboriginals have made several contributions to Canadian history, which has helped improve one’s standard of living. They have helped with various things such as inventions, discoveries of plants, and have helped significantly in war efforts.

This collecting of folkloric data opened Barbeau’s eyes to the need to salvage the cultures of Native and French Canadians alike. « Fortement inspiré par l’ethnologie de la

A geographical expedition was done in 1982 by Burr Tyrell that explored the Canadian landscape where the Canadian Inuit had adapted as early as the “second half of the 16th century” (Auger, 1993:27). A statement was concluded after this

Death by Theory, written by Adrian Praetzellis, is an engaging and informational book written in a novelistic way that engages the reader to think critically about archaeology. Compared to other forms of informational text about archaeology, Death by Theory teaches archaeological theory by telling a story that incorporates the different theories of archaeology in a realistic setting. While standard textbooks about the theory of archaeology can come off a bit dry, Death by Theory skips the standard definitions and applies this in a way that aids the reader in understanding how these theories and terms can be applied in an actual archaeological setting. This text illustrates the adventure of plucky archaeologist Dr. Hannah Green and her nephew Sean Doyle as they seek to explain an unusual archaeological site while dealing with real life archaeological struggles. The protagonists deal with an egotistical colleague of Dr. Green who sought her out as a consult on a particularly strange archaeological case. All the while dealing with cults, the media, and incompatible data.

The Course Pack provided for the Native American Philosophy contained nine articles combined to demonstrate the huge philosophical gap of ideologies between Canada and the Aboriginal people. A couple articles comment how Canada in the past has attempted to discriminate, assimilate and destroy the aboriginal people and when that did not work, their cultures and assimilate them into European Canada ways. Evidently this has not worked. The course pack talks about the differences of ideologies being because of different languages, assumptions, and cultural views. In order to narrow the gap we need to understand these differences on both sides to a greater extent.

Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver - UBC Museum of Anthropology - home to many works of art that retraces the history of the first peoples of Canada in the bosom of the character of a building with a very modern.

As time went on in Canada, the relationship that the Explorers held with the Natives shifted from one of gratitude and reliance to possessions and liability. As time continued to pass, the relationship and treatment toward First Nations Indians became more hostile and unforgiving and while that relationship is now on the mend, for a good many years the First Nations Canadians were persecuted by the government. Between 1876 and 1950 the way First Nations Indians were regarded by other Canadians shifted, legislation to regulate the activities of First Nations Canadians began in full capacity in 1876, continued in the early 1900’s, and was reformed in the 1950’s.

Although the colonization of today’s Canada started in the 1600’s, the effects are still felt over 400 years later today throughout Aboriginal communities. John Cabot, an Italian explorer, was the first to explore Canada’s east coast in 1497 [CITE] while looking for a sea route to Asia. He brought word of this new land to Europe which brought other explorers to Canadian lands. Cabot claimed the area of land in eastern Canada for England and named it Newfoundland. Over 100 years later, in 1534, Jacques Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence River and claimed that land for France. French Colonialists named this land New France. Some years later, in 1608, Samuel de Champlain built the first permanent French settlement which was later called Quebec.

In “Conception of History,” The Royal Commission Report on Aboriginal peoples (1996), discusses that it is impossible to know the relationship and issues that have occurred between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians in the past because there is a lack of historical awareness and the relationship between the two groups has been understood differently over different periods of time. The Report explains that the reason for the difference between newcomers and Aboriginal Canadians is the lack of historical knowledge. The authors then state two different perspectives of the history, such as Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal. For example, non-Aboriginal tradition is rooted in western scientific methodology which is nonreligious and it separates

The most interesting part from this week’s lecture was when we learned about BC’s Aboriginal history. I didn’t know that 95% is unceded land until we had this presentation. It was very touched presentation and we had and we had some discussions and activities that made me sad, angry and inspired. I was shocked when we watched a video of a survival from residential school. I can’t believe that many Aboriginal students were abused physically, sexually and mentally by their teacher and forced to live in a Canadian way but abandoned their culture and language. I think residential schools were the most painful experience for many Aboriginal people. Of course, we can’t fully understand their feelings if we had never been on their situation, but at

In the first historical space, home, the interaction between these two groups initiated because of the growing curiosity of middle-class Canadians towards Aboriginal’s homes and way of living. This curiosity was driven by the public’s interest in “authentic” Indian lives which were developed in nature.

The history of Indigenous people in Canada is both tumultuous and troubled, European colonial powers never acknowledged the political organization and historic land use of Indigenous Canadians and ignored any pre-existing Indigenous sovereignty (Elder, 121). Historically, Canadian sovereignty depended on maintaining the relationship between Canada’s Indigenous people and the Crown through treaties of peace and friendship (Macklem, 122). Over the past century, assimilation has been the predominant solution to the challenges

Both Australian Fossil Mammal Site and Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump are considered archeological sites which have unique challenges in comparison to other heritage sites. Conserving archaeological sites in urban environments includes two perspectives: the challenges of preserving archaeological sites in densely populated areas and the study of the evolution of the settlement itself. Both perspectives are essential in preserving the relationship between individual sites and the settlement as a whole.6 Conserving archaeological sites in urban environments, can be of large efforts. Australian Fossil Mammal Sites and Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump on the other hand do not need to be concerned about this dilemma due to their large proximity to civilization. Also since the large distance from the sites to civilization these heritage site avoid another large challenge some heritage sites face. Having a heritage site close to highly populated area often need to deal with pollution, new constructions, upgrades for public works and intensive traffic.6 Another potential challenge all heritage sites face is lack of interest and funding. It is important to maintain stakeholders for each site to generate interest and provide funding for proper archeological site maintenance. The World Heritage Convention states the biggest challenge for historical sites is funding and technical assistance.9 One of the most important challenges is for future World Heritage cultural landscapes to be better used as a tool for regional development and poverty eradication.9 Maintenance is an important part of the Preservation process. Regular maintenance will preserve character defining elements and extend the service life of functional components.6 As the conservation challenges increase, as sites face the impact of global processes, UNESCO will have to rethink and reshape