Of Saving Clayoquot: Wilderness And The Politics Of Indigeneity

Many people would find it easy to sympathize with the conservation of the natural, magnificent wilderness and all of its glory; and Subhankar Banerjee, the author of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Seasons of Life and Land, A Photographic Journey, uses that sympathy to gain the reader’s support in his claims. While his article does offer a very compassionate viewpoint with vivid imagery to capture the reader’s attention, it lacks strong logos arguments to back up his claims and falls victim to a few major logical fallacy points that injure his stance.

Additionally, Royal gives clarification for Native Americans’ positive stereotypes. He explains, “ But this is far from modern concepts of ecology. Native Americans in fact overhunted deer and beaver even before the arrival of the white man, and did not seriously try to preserve the resources in the vicinity of their villages. As a result, the typical woodland village, having exhausted local soil and game, had to move on average every eight to 10 years” (Royal 47). Although the Native Americans did not destroy the environment like Europeans on such a large scale, they are not trying to protect the environment either. This opposes the stereotypes that Native Americans are model ecologists. Royal also examines the inhumane sides of Native American tribes. Royal reveals, “The

Praying towns were towns created to convert Natives and make them live by a Puritan Code. In exchange for converting they were promised security and eternal life. John Eliot, a puritan minister, established the first Praying town in 1651. By the 1650’s the Native people were weakened by disease and saw how Pilgrims were now powerful enough to no longer need the Native people’s help. The Pequot war proved how vicious the pilgrims could be in expanding their colonization. With disease and the growing population of the English. Many Native people saw no other choice but to go to these praying towns and convert and survive. The Wompanoag had lost much of their land and Massasoit did not want missionaries in their territory. The protection promised

During the end of the nineteenth century, the United States had formed policies which reduced land allotted to Native Americans. By enforcing these laws as well as Anglo-American ideals, the United States compromised indigenous people’s culture and ability to thrive in its society.

Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun is a contemporary Indigenous artist from Kamloops British Columbia. (Griffin, 2016) He attended the Emily Carr School of Arts and Design, graduating with an honours degree in painting. (Yuxweluptun, 2016) Yuxweluptun’s paintings often deal with issues such as corporate greed, environmental destruction and colonialism in an abstract contemporary way. He was referred to in the Vancouver Sun as an artist who, “can speak truths many would rather not hear.” (Griffin, 2016) This is exactly what Yuxweluptun is trying to do with his artwork, reveal the brutal truth that is too often swept under the rug. Yuxweluptun believes that the passion he holds for all of the issues he bases his work on was influenced by his parent’s involvement in social activism while he was a child. In an article for Straight he shares: “they were

“We must protect the forests for our children, grandchildren and children yet to be born. We must protect the forests for those who can't speak for themselves such as the birds, animals, fish and trees" Chief Qwatsina’s of the Lakota Tribe. The plain natives, a respectful people, took from the land what they needed and always gave back. The settlers that came thought they were smarter and more advanced than the natives, and viewed the natives as being inferior. In reality it was the exact opposite. It was the settlers that had forgotten that the most basic way of life was the smartest way of life. The settlers were clouded by their “vast knowledge” that they convinced themselves that their way of life was the best and only way of life and

Soren C. Larson writes the second article, titled, Promoting Aboriginal Territoriality Through Interethnic Alliances: The Case of the Cheslatta T’en in Northern British Columbia. Larson worked for five years from 1998 to 2002 conducting ethnographic research on the Cheslatta T’en tribe in northern British Columbia. He conducted 82 formal interviews between himself and tribal as well as non-tribal members alike, as well as becoming integrated with the aboriginal

The Cherokee were forced into giving up most of their land in the eighteenth century. Through fraudulent treaties and unjust deals the Cherokee lost close to all of their land during this time. One of the biggest loses coming from "Henderson's Purchase", in Kentucky, 1775. In an effort to stop the complete takeover of all Indian land, the Cherokees go through a transformation in order to survive in a new world. "The great Cherokee renascence of 1794-1833 was the re-birth of that people in the image of the United States, yet with a difference." (McLoughlin, Preface)

As for my Visual Analysis Task, I have chosen to write about this image on the left. This piece was recently created by Shepard Fairey a street artist. This was made in response to the election of Donald Trump- known as the President of the United States. ‘We the People’ features portraits of Native Americans, African Americas, Muslims, and Latinas portrays in Fairey’s trademark style with slogans such as “Women are Perfect” and “Defend Dignity”.

Most of us have learnt about the Trail of Tears as an event in American history, but not many of us have ever explored why the removal of the Indians to the West was more than an issue of mere land ownership. Here, the meaning and importance of land to the original Cherokee Nation of the Southeastern United States is investigated. American land was seen as a way for white settlers to profit, but the Cherokee held the land within their hearts. Their removal meant much more to them than just the loss of a material world. Historical events, documentations by the Cherokee, and maps showing the loss of Cherokee land work together to give a true Cherokee

As the environmental movement has brought attention to the severe ecological degradation that has occurred all over the world since the Industrial Revolution, more and more attention is also being brought to the injustices that have divided and marginalized certain members of society, both on local and global scales. Arguably the worst affected have been indigenous peoples worldwide. European colonialism brought pestilence, rape, murder and the destruction of entire civilizations to some of the most culturally and biologically diverse regions of the world. The remnants of those cultures that managed to survive are now being subjected to neo-colonialism in the form of expansive trade and globalization.

As an ever-growing population of Europeans moved to the eastern parts of the United States tribal populations were pushed further and further west, decimating populations and pushing some civilizations to the brink of extinction. The government, however, made no move to stop pushing its boundaries westward, offering monetary incentives to tribal leaders for their land. One such tribal leader was Chief Seattle, who in the wake of watching his people die off, delivered a powerful oration to punctuate the value and importance of the environment and to save certain land rights for his people. Seattle beautifully blends both literal and figurative language to fight for his people’s right to visit their sacred burial grounds after their removal from their land and to protect the natural environment.

Although a fictionalized Hollywood movie, John Boorman’s film, “The Emerald Forest,” adopts as a dramatization principle of a mystical environmental anthropology. It gives insight to the destructive juxtaposition of indigenous cultures and the effects of a modern mechanized society on these cultures. The film poses questions as to how modern societies affect indigenous cultures and if they can coexist or if sacrifices are needed for one culture to supersede. The modern society detailed in “The Emerald Forest” experiences the effects of ethnocentrism, having a distinct set of cultural norms and customs. Therefore, viewing traditions and practices used by the ‘Invisible People,’ and the other indigenous cultures depicted in the film, as inferior, odd, or abnormal.

Both wildlife animals and Indigenous people resided in Canada long before European colonization took place, and both have suffered from these invaders’ oppressive practices as a result of the dispute over territory. Because of this, many newcomers to Canada has this preconceived notion that the place is only associated with vast wilderness landscapes and that wildlife is constitutive of Canadianness (Francis 1997). This is played out in many Canadian films which portray stereotypical images of the country. In particular, this essay will highlight Indigenous people and wildlife interaction with urban spaces and the wilderness in The Wolfpen Principle (1974) and North of 60 (Southern Comfort), while also exploring the conflict between urban dwellers and their environment.

The films If a Tree Falls, Bidder 70, and Trinkets and Beads all exhibit some form of environmental activism that goes against the generalized position on how the environment ought to be controlled and dominated. For Daniel McGowan, his method was monkeywrenching; Tim De Christopher’s—monkeywrenching and civil disobedience; Moi and the Huaorani—holding to tradition. Activism comes in all forms and these are just three examples. However, their activism points to a greater issue.