Postmodern Pluralism and its Effect on Truth and Reconciliation Art: Going Home Star
In 2008, the government created a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, hereafter referred to as TRC, committed to the tasks of discovering the truth about Canada’s Indian Residential Schools, revealing this truth to all Canadians, and attempting to reconcile the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians. One of the ways the TRC suggested to facilitate this reconciliation process is through the creative arts. Indeed, in the last few years, Canada has seen a host of artistic projects launched which seek to heal and reconcile this relationship, these projects will hereafter be referred to as ‘reconciliation art’. One of the most prominent
…show more content…
Postmodern composers do not value one culture or tradition over another. They draw upon many cultural sources respectfully to create the affect they desire. Prior to the postmodern era, composers valued the Western musical traditions over all other traditions. Any references to other cultures were cursory and closer to cultural imperialism than any form of respectful representation. Composers like Debussy and Mahler would “graft superficial aspects of one culture onto the essentially unchanged music of another.” By contrast, postmodern composers find value in the musical tradition itself, and therefore seek to represent it as accurately as possible alongside the other cultures. In Going Home Star this pluralism of culture is seen in the respectful combination of Western music, Inuit throat singing, and Northern Cree music. Hatzis revealed in an interview that he achieved this respectful representation of the two Indigenous art forms by spending three days in a studio with Tanya Tagaq, an Inuit throat singer and Steve Wood, the leader of the Northern Cree Singers. It was during these three days that much of the Aboriginal material was created. Furthermore, according to Hatzis, “there was a lot of vetting with the sources, artists and elders. We made sure we weren’t stepping on any kind of ground we weren’t supposed to tread on.” Going Home Star displays postmodern cultural …show more content…
In addition to representing different cultural traditions, postmodernism tends to combine and present both “classical and vernacular traditions,” within a culture (classical in the colloquial sense, not just music belonging to the classical era). In doing so, it sets itself up as anti-elitist, as it does not distinguish between ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture in the same way modern music did. Postmodernism is, at its core, a rejection of modernist traits; therefore since modernism was only for an elite few, postmodernism aims to reach out and appeal to a larger audience. Going Home Star explores many different genres of music throughout the piece. Take, for example, the opening sequence. In the first twenty minutes, we hear influences from “big band music, dubstep, hip-hop, Swan Lake and anything in between.” Swan Lake is an example of ‘classical’ music while big band, dubstep, and hip-hop are all forms of vernacular music. This notion of anti-elitism was very important to Hatzis when composing Going Home Star, because he wanted any audience member to be able to connect with the music, even if they aren’t trained in classical music. His main consideration was to not “alienate our native population.” Reconciliation art must fight against elitism in order to not alienate any audience members. Anti-elitism, through pluralism of genre, is another element of
Theodore Fontaine is one of the thousands of young aboriginal peoples who were subjected through the early Canadian system of the Indian residential schools, was physically tortured. Originally speaking Ojibwe, Theodore relates the encounters of a young man deprived of his culture and parents, who were taken away from him at the age of seven, during which he would no longer be free to choose what to say, how to say it, with whom to live and even what culture to embrace. Theodore would then spend the next twelve years undoing what had been done to him since birth, and the rest of his life attempting a reversal of his elementary education culture shock, traumatization, and indoctrination of ethnicity and Canadian supremacy. Out of these experiences, he wrote the “Broken Circle: The Dark Legacy of Indian Residential Schools-A Memoir” and in this review, I considered the Heritage House Publishing Company Ltd publication.
In the United States, pluralism is pertinent and very significant for the government because the government itself is distributed with various powers given to the states. These states then give powers to their local governments, which continues to distribute the power. In the government system, there are levels of that consist of branches that control the many different parts of the system, so that no one person or group is given too much power. The United States has a system of checks and balances, which is pertinent to the power system and the pluralist theory ("What is a pluralist theory of government?" 2017).
The documentary We Were Children, directed by Timothy Wolochatiuk, followed two survivor’s stories of what really happened in the Residential schools in Canada. The stories that have been told, sheds light into the acts that took place and how it still has affected the survivors today. These schools have stripped away the children’s identity and their culture, leaving behind their traditional heritage.
Throughout the early twentieth century, music began to take on a new role as society started to progress and change. In society, music is an important part of culture and the forming of culture, where people can assert and preserve their histories and experiences when facing a change in social conditions. Modernism is defying convention to an extreme degree, disregarding boundaries completely in rhythm and tonality, opening up doors that would eventually redefine the notion of what constitutes music. America and Europe, pre and post WWI, both experienced drastic social changes and technological advances which all contributed to the progression of modernism in music. From segregation and the Great Immigration in America to the deconstruction of traditional culture in Europe, and even the shared rise popularity in folk music in both countries, modernism announces itself as a prevalent and powerful voice in music which is seen through composers such as Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Copland, and Bartok.
This image serves as a reminder of how different Indigenous youth were seen in their traditional ways of life, but also how different the residential school systems forced them to be on a surface level. What the photos do not show is the families that had their children stripped away from them, and the countless children that were forced to leave their families and culture behind. Without background knowledge of this photo as well as context, one might see these ‘before and after’ photos as successful assimilation through residential schools. Thomas Moore Keesick is not a success story; he died as a result of the horrible conditions and treatments faced in the residential school – something the photo does not
Reconciliation has been a somewhat popular issue in Canadian academia and in Canadian society in general. Reconciliation in the Canadian context is defined as a restoration of the relationship between the Indigenous peoples and non-Indigenous people due to the historical injustices, that continue to affect Indigenous peoples even to this day, committed by the Government of Canada against the Indigenous peoples. This is a massive undertaking that will require the participation of both Indigenous peoples and non-Indigenous peoples alike. A project of this magnitude will not be an easy task to accomplish, as undoing over 100 years of trauma to the Indigenous peoples is not something that can be undone over night, but rather it will take decades to accomplish. There will be many obstacles in the path of reconciliation that will have to be overcome. However, reconciliation is the best opportunity to repair the relationships between the Indigenous peoples and the non-Indigenous peoples because it makes sense for all Canadians to be involved, the Government of Canada is backing the reconciliation process and some work to repair the relationship has already been done and has beneficial results for everyone.
“Where are they taking me, mom?! Help!” These were the screams of an Aboriginal child when he was dragged to a car that drove him away from his family. Aboriginal kids were forcefully abducted and placed at poorly built and equipped residential schools. Residential schools are a network of boarding schools for Indigenous peoples. Like a disease, these schools spread so fast on Canadian land. They were every Indigenous child’s nightmare. Kids who attended were traumatized due to the mental, physical, and sexual abuse they suffered. Canadians felt superior to Aboriginals which lead them to use their power excessively to civilize these communities. This issue is considered to be one of the darkest chapters in Canadian history. It has a significant impact on Aboriginal communities. Indians suffered a loss of culture and identity. This issue violates various human rights such as; Freedom of language, freedom of culture and religion, freedom of choice, and the freedom of safety and health. The two groups in this controversy are the aggressors; Canadian government, and it’s churches, and the victims; the aboriginals. The question is, is the Canadian government doing enough to make it up to those who suffered the ill effects of residential schools?
Canada today is known for the pride it carries for being multi-cultural, inclusive and combination of many cultural, races and religious backgrounds, but for decades in the past Aboriginal children were abducted from their homes unwillingly to go to these Residential School enforced by Canadian government and laws. The goal of the government at the time was to destroy Aboriginal people and their existence overall. Fast forward in 2008 the former Prime Minister Stephen Harper made a public apology to Aboriginals regarding their role in residential schools as he quotes “We are sorry. The treatment of children in Indian residential school is a sad chapter of our history” ("Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Statement Of Apology"). Although many Aboriginals considered this a historical day and had a sense of relief “the apology was necessary but insufficient... Apologies once given, are only meaningful for the action that follows” ("Harper Apologizes For Residential School Abuse"). The official apology to Aboriginal Canadians who suffered in the residential school system for policies and actions of the government in the past have been explored in “A Sorry State” article by author Mitch Miyagawa. Sitting government apologizes for past government is appropriate to the mistreatment that occurred to interned, excluded and systematically neglected people, the accountability for past mass atrocity and human rights abuse and democracy for the victims, as well as acknowledging what
Residential schools in Canada were present for over 100 years and were created by the government to eliminate the Indigenous culture. These schools successfully separated families while creating huge cultural barriers between children and their Native culture (COHA, 2011). These children were forcibly removed from their families and taken to residential schools because Canadians saw Indigenous peoples as “backwards” or “savage” (COHA, 2011). They also believed that they were inferior to Natives and that these schools would help “civilize” aboriginals by replacing their Native traits with Western values (COHA, 2011).
Charlie Angus was elected as a Member of Parliament in 2004, a role which took him to the Forgotten Children of Attawapiskat. It was his experiences prompted him to write his book, Children of the Broken Treaty: Canada’s Lost Promise and one Girl’s Dream, which tells the story of Indigenous persons of Canada’s struggles, including treaty rights, residential schools, as well as the fight for education and safe housing. The book provides a challenge to many common assumptions, and it also explores many themes which are used to explain the events which have shaped Canadian culture and policies. Angus begins his book by touching on some of the original treaties signed between the first Canadian government and the members of the bands that are indigenous to the land. One of these was Treaty 9, which promised education for Indigenous children. The book then developed into the foundation of residential schools, and the horrors that are endured there. In addition to the horrendous amounts of verbal, physical and sexual abuse which took place in these schools, the students who attended these institutions faced the mass genocide of their culture, as the unspoken purpose of these schools was “to kill the Indian in the child” (Angus, 2015, p. 14). The beginning of the book, while very dark, provides an honest introduction to some of the themes that can be spotted throughout the book, and history itself. The three themes that primarily stood out to me as a reader were: cultural
There has been lots of controversy about the Indian Residential Schools in Canada and its long term consequences. The Indian Residential Schools long lasting negative effects on the Canadian Identity and Indigenous peoples are still present today. This essay will outline the legal issues, mortality rates and poor conditions. Lasty the lasting effects from the Residential Schools present today in both the survivors, and the new generations. The conflicts between Canada’s Residential Schools and the Canadian Identity is a very problematic issue that Canadians of both Aboriginal descent and mainstream Canadians are trying to amend.
In “Problems and Promise in Pluralism,” Annalee R. Ward argues for academic freedom through the lens of confessional pluralism. Ward challenges the academy to revisit pluralism to ascertain whether various denominations can have an “engagement of differences in creative ways” that allow for coexistence in scholarship” (Eck 9). Although academy insists that pluralism tugs on personal integrity, closer examination show that “authentic peaceful coexistence” is a possible outcome when approached correctly (Ward 5).
Under the agreement, the Canadian government had to outline several steps that would be taken towards reconciliation with Aboriginal peoples: a compensation plan for survivors, establishing commemorative projects, and delivering a national apology for the IRSS. In 2008, then Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered the apology on behalf of the Canadian government for the IRSS and it’s continuing impacts. The IRSSA also involved the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), an Aboriginal body whose purpose is to inform about the IRSS, and to report on how the process of “reconciliation” should be navigated. The TRC defines reconciliation as “establishing and maintain a mutually respectful relationship between Aboriginal peoples and non-Aboriginal peoples” [in Canada], which entails “awareness of the past, and action to change behaviour”. The steps taken towards reconciliation have been limited in success, because the Government of Canada has insufficiently addressed two compounding root issues: (1) the healing of residential school survivors, and (2) the mending of broken Aboriginal social and family
Source 2 shows an imaginary building, Reconciliation, under construction with a sign saying that its completion is still unknown. At the very bottom of the building, is a solid brick with the words “2008, Residential Schools Apology” written. This source tells about the reconciliation for the First Nations. Historically, First Nation children were compulsed to attend residential schools. This, though, aims to remove the Indian in the child, since Europeans thought that Indigenous people were less civilized, and therefore it is their responsibility to make them more civilized, according to their ethnocentric views. Because the children did not experience love and nurturing from their parents, and were treated rather harshly by the teachers in
Quiz on Patterns of Pluralism 1. Briefly describe the three patterns of pluralism and give one example of each. Ans: The three patterns of pluralism are as follow; Domination, Power Sharing, and Integrations. Domination: it is also known as the pattern of interethnic relation in which one can inspire the ethnic community.