Totem By Thomas King Sparknotes

The Tlingit Community House is an example of the totem of Tlingit (Frank, 2014). A symbolic of animal form that is laid out in a two-dimensional abstract pattern, with an extensive gently slanted roof, attractively painted façade (Frank, 2014). The flat surfaces of the Tlingit Community House show geometric shapes of beavers, bears, also whales, and ravens. Furthermore, the totem pole in the center contains stacked images that help a family are a clan to reminisce about their history back to mythological periods (Frank, 2014). Also, the Tlingit community house is characteristic of the art and style of that region (Frank, 2014). However, a totem is an object such as an animal or plant that operates as a symbol of a family or tribe (Frank,

Through many years of harmful government policies such as residential schools, segregation, and discrimination, Indigenous communities have shown resilience towards the injustices imposed upon them. Finally, the story ends with staff members eventually leaving the totem poles as part of the art museum, exemplifying

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This is the first proof of the totem pole being given the identity of the ‘other’. Once the totem pole was discovered in the art gallery, it became a primary goal to remove it, and hide it away from the public. They found the noise it was making to be frustrating, and were bothered that it was not originally part of the gallery’s collection. It is to be believed that the totem pole portrays the indigenous history, within Canada. The workers at the gallery, are extremely committed to hiding away this totem pole, which in return can be referencing a sense of hiding, or burying away our country's history.

In the haunting landscape of the film Bones of Crows, the scars of history are a deep wound in the lives of many Indigenous people. The film delves into the complexities of globalization, victims, and residential schools, confronting the stark reality of systemic oppression faced by Indigenous communities. At the heart of the movie lies the explicit theme of indigenous victimization, a theme that resonates with the intergenerational trauma caused by the legacy of residential schools. In Bones of Crows, we witness the protagonist’s journey as they navigate the haunting echoes of history, confront the oppressive forces of society, and ultimately, defy the established norms. First of all, the film follows a Cree family’s story of survival in

In the chapter Saving Clayoquot: Wilderness and the politics of Indigeneity, author Bruce Braun argues that although indigeneity is one of postcolonial environmentalism's most privileged terms, it risks indigenous peoples becoming subsumed within the “natural history” of being saved. The image I chose symbolizes how indigeneity in contemporary eco-politics simply inserts indigenous people into a pre-existing natural landscape. It paints an image that indigenous people are only an element in nature to be objectively ordered and described. We see this type of cultural objectification in many mainstream environmental advertisements that celebrate indigenous culture by banishing it to the past or mourning the loss of wildlife in association to

Illustrating the way in which Canada is still oppressive towards Indigenous peoples, the article Idle No More Combats a Five-Hundred Year-Old Debt details a movement set forth by four Indigenous women working towards abolishing the discriminatory provisions outlined within Bill C-45. With Indigenous sovereignty and the protection of land and water in mind, the Idle No More movement protests the injustices caused by Bill C-45 against Indigenous treaty rights while advocating for environmental protection. Taking a feminist approach on the issue of Bill C-45, these women have created a movement that empowers Indigenous women to fight for justice among Indigenous nations. This was done by arguing that Indigenous women should have some influence

National mythologies, as argued by Razack (2002), are “stories about a nation’s origins and history . . . [that] enable citizens to think of themselves as part of a community defining who belongs and who does not belong to the nation” (Razack 2002: 2). There is an idea where Europeans and the immigrants imported to build Canada were equally respected and treated. These immigrants were the necessary immigrants needed for the “Canadian imaginary”, however when the construction projects were complete, laws which excluded Black and Asian people, were set up and immigrant were essentially displaced as they were deemed unsuited to the harsh ‘northern kingdom’ climate only suitable for ‘northern races’ (Mackey 2002). Many Natives who lived in the Ontario and Quebec areas were essentially pushed northwards to escape the presence of the Europeans settlers, and the Natives who remained were isolated from society on land reserves (Mackey 2002). This generated the idea that Indigenous people were disappearing with the progression of civilization and settlers (Mackey 2002) or “presumed to be mostly dead or assimilated” (Razack 2002: 2) as grade-school history taught us, as one member of the discussion brought up. Our group agreed that pushing the Indigenous out of the Ontario and Quebec areas was solely beneficial for the Europeans as they got to keep the preferable environments, and the Indigenous were pushed to northern, harsher conditions. Once those of non-European decent where displaced, Canada was viewed as “superior to the USA because [of] the racial similarities of the English and French [that] made the country homogenous” (Mackey 2002: 31) – a desirable state of uniformity to

“After lunch, the totem pole in the corner of the gallery started shouting, loud, explosive shouts that echoed through the collection of sea scenes and made the paintings tremble ever so slightly.” (p. 3) Though throughout the years native communities have fiercely protected their beliefs and practices from outsiders, they are beginning to open up more. They are sharing with those who wish to learn. The generations have grown weary and want to bring change to their communities.

Thesis: Brenda Child’s My Grandfather’s Knocking Sticks depicts the consequences settler colonialism has had on the Ojibwe people and how the Ojibwe have attempted to repel such colonialism through acts of sovereignty, especially through wage labor. She incorporates personal family stories with a more broad Ojibwe history to more clearly illustrate the personal effects of colonialism rather than abstract concepts of these changes. Child addresses changes in gender roles and tradition as she argues that “[d]ispossession, poverty, cultural destruction, paternalism, and racism… were [and still are] experienced by Indian people in deeply human ways that always involved a loss of freedom (9-10).”

In the short story “Totem” by Thomas King, the relationship between the totem pole and the museum workers is predominantly negative. The relationship between the totem pole and the museum workers is depicted as being overpowering, authoritative, and entitled when the workers unceasingly try to remove the totem pole from the museum. Ultimately, the totem pole symbolizes the struggles, resilience, and perseverance of the Indigenous people in Canada.

This heritage which they regard very highly is stripped away by the government to force an inclusion into Canadian Society. Canada’s ethnic groups are forced to separate into “isolated islands’ or else they are coerced into assimilation. Ever since white settlers landed on Canadian shores in the 1600’s, there have been conflicts with the First Nations. From driving them off their land to exterminating them with European diseases, the First Nation population has been struggling to keep their lineage and history from being erased. With the struggle to keep themselves from being “cut [off] close to the floor” (Page 2) the First Nation society has been confined to a small patch of land called a “reservation”, a small downsize from all of Canada.

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In this essay, the articles ‘Listen to the north’ by John Ralston Saul and ‘Which ‘Native’ History? By Whom? For Whom?’ by J.R. Miller will be analyzed, specifically looking at each authors argument and his appeal to ethos, logos and pathos. In the first article, ‘Listen to the North’, author John Ralston Saul argues that current Canadian policy when it comes to our north, and the people that reside there, is out of date and based on southern ideals that hold little bearing on the realities that face northern populations. He suggests instead that the policies and regulations should be shaped by people who know the territory and it’s needs, namely people who live there. In the second

Each individual makes up the society as it is, and various characteristics and beliefs makes up an individual. Although, individual lives together with a variety of personal ideologies, emotions, cultures, and rituals, they all differentiate one person from the other making up one’s own identity. This identity makes up who one is inside and out, their behaviour, actions, and words comes from their own practices and values. However, the profound history of Indigenous people raises question in the present about their identities. Who are they really? Do we as the non-native people judge them from the outside or the inside? Regardless of whether the society or the government were involved in their lives, they faced discrimination in every