Spring 2000

DESCRIPTION

Instructor: John Lutz
Course Times: Friday, 12:30-3:30
Classroom: Clearihue C118
Office: Clearihue B222; Office Phone: 721-7392.
Office Hours: Monday 12:12-1:15 and and Wednesday 1:30-2:30 or by appointment.
Email: jlutz@uvic.ca
Website: http://web.UVic.CA/~jlutz

Welcome to the second term of History 358C. The format of the second term will look a lot like that in the first term. Tuesdays will generally be a day for seminars, guests or films. Wednesdays will generally be a one and a half to two hour lecture class, often with time for class discussion. Readings are assigned as background for both seminars and lectures and students should be prepared to discuss the readings in both types of classes.

TEXTS: The text will continue to be Olive Dickason, Canada's First Nation's. Two additional texts required this term will Bridget Moran, ed. Stony Creek Woman: the Story of Mary John (Tillacum, 1991) and Taiaiake Alfred, Peace, Power Righteousness: An Indigenous Manifesto, (Oxford, 1999).

ASSIGNMENTS AND EVALUATION: In the first term a mixture of assignments and participation accounted for 47.5% of the grade for the whole course. The remaining 52.5% will be made up in this term on the following basis.

Class and Group Participation: 7.5%

Writing Assignments: 30%

Final Exam: 15%

TOTAL FOR TERM: 52.5%

Numerical scores are converted into letter grades using the university standard: A+ 100-90 B 70-74 C 55-59
A 85-89 B- 65-69 D 50-54
A- 80-84 C+ 60-64 E 40-49
B+ 75-79

You have two options under the category of writing assignments.

Option 1: A 3-4,000 word research paper on some aspect of aboriginal-non aboriginal relations in Canada over the past 1,000 years. The assignment must make use of some primary sources, it must critically evaluate all the sources you use, and it must contain some analyses beyond a narration. It must have a thesis, an introduction and conclusion. Two copies of the bibliography and outline are due on February 15 at the beginning of class, worth 5%. One copy will be handed back with comments. The essay is worth 25% of the term grade.

Option 2: Two 1,500-2,000 word essays, each based on one of the supplementary texts, Stony Creek Woman and Peace, Power and Righteousness, each worth 15%. You will be able to choose from a list of questions and write an extended answer, each answer drawing on the text and at least two other scholarly history books/articles that relate to the topic you have chosen.

The assignments must be original work submitted for this course only. They may draw upon other scholars' work, but there is a difference between the acknowledged use of another's ideas or research and PLAGIARISM, the unacknowledged restatement of another's ideas and material in the guise of original work. Plagiarism is a form of academic misconduct which the university penalizes with sanctions ranging from a failing grade on the assignment to suspension from the university. See the university policy on pp 19-20 of the calendar.

READINGS: Assigned readings are an integral part of the course. They come from the texts as well as supplementary readings that are on reserve in two locations: the Library Reserve Reading Room and in the History Reading Room. There may be additions or changes to the reading list as new readings come available.

DISCUSSION GROUPS: In the same manner as last semester, we will break up into groups at different points during the term. You will also be asked to hand in the admission ticket, a statement of the thesis of each article. As with last term, these are a pre-requisite to getting a participation mark for the discussion session, but they will not be marked. The exception will be the discussion on the different views of the Chilcotin War, in which I will ask you to respond to questions but not to offer thesis statements.

IMPORTANT DATES: (All assignments due at the beginning of class except the final exam which is due by 4:00 on the stated day)

February 15: Option 1: Bibliography and Essay Outline Due.

Option 2: Stony Creek Woman Assignment Due.

March 14: Option 1: Research Essay Due.

March 21: Option 2: Peace, Power and Righteousness Assignment Due.

April 5: Take Home Exams Distributed.

April 12: Take Home Exams Due at History Office at 4pm.

All due dates are firm. Late assignments will be penalized 2% a day with the exception of the final exam where the penalty will be 5% per day. No extensions are available except for documented medical or family emergencies.

OUTLINE

January

1. Tuesday 11 Introduction.

2. Wednesday 12 Extending Dominion

Reading: Dickason, Chap 17, 18

- "Indian" policy in the Canadas

- "Indian" policy of the HBC - the Pacific Northwest

Canada's Western Colony

3. Tuesday 18 Development of Federal Indian Policy: The Indian Act

Reading: Dickason, Chap 19

- Superintending the Songhees

4. Wednesday 19 Discussion Groups: Different Views of the "Chilcotin War"

Reading:

INQUEST: 21 May 1864 at murder camp, 23 May at Homathco.

Bruce McKelvie, "The Chilcotin War," Tales of Conflict (Surrey: Heritage house, 1985) 88-95

Terry Glavin and the People of Nemiah, Nemiah, The Unconquered Country... selected Pages.

Alfred, "Power " Peace, Power and Righteousness, 41-44.

5. Tuesday 25 Film: Big Bear

6. Wednesday 26 Negotiation and Resistance

Reading: Dickason, Chap 20, 21,

Alfred, "Native American Political Traditions 1-30."

a) The numbered Treaties

b) Big Bear, Poundmaker

c) the Northwest Rebellion; the Okanagan and the Indian Wars in Washington

d) BC Reserve Commission

February

7. Tuesday 1st Canadian Indians on the Capitalist Frontier:

- Micmac

- Kahnawake

- Plains Peoples and Ojibway

- British Columbia

8. Wednesday 2 The Christian Connection - Natives and Missionaries

- laws against the potlatch

- laws against the sundance

9. Tuesday 8 Discussion Groups: Religious Encounters

Reading:

Michael Harkin, "Power and Progress: the Evangelic Dialogue Among the Heiltsuk, Ethnohistory, 40, 1 (Winter 1993) 1-33.

Denys Delâge and Helen Tanner, "The Ojibwa-Jesuit Debate at Walpole Island, 1844, Ethnohistory, 41,2 (Spring 1994) 295-321.

Sergei Kan, "Shamanism and Christianity: Modern Day Tlingit Elders Look at the Past," Ethnohistory, 38, 4 (Fall 1991) 363-387.

10. Wednesday 9 Evolving roles of Aboriginal Women

- Bill C-31

Film, Keepers of the Fire

11. Tuesday 15 Discussion on Stony Creek Woman

Reading: Bridget Moran, ed. Stony Creek Woman: the Story of Mary John

Option 1: Bibliography and Essay Outline Due.

Option 2: Stony Creek Woman assignment due.

12. Wednesday 16 Displacement from the Land, onto Welfare

13. Tuesday 22 Reading Break

14. Wednesday 23 Reading Break

15. Tuesday 29 Guest Lecture: Negotiating Aboriginal Self-Government Dr. Frank Cassidy

March

16. Wednesday 1 Discussion: Desperately Seeking Absolution?

Reading:

Robin Brownlee and Mary-Ellen Kelm, "Desperately Seeking Absolution: Native Agency as Colonialist Alibi," Canadian Historical Review, 75 (December 1994) 343-56.

Tina Loo, "Dan Cranmer's Potlatch," Canadian Historical Review.

Miller, J.R. "Owen Glendower, Hotspur, and Canadian Indian Policy." in J.R. Miller, ed. Sweet Promises: A Reader on Indian-White Relations in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto, 1991, 323-352.&

17. Tuesday 7 Accommodation, Assimilation, Breakdown, Resistance

- Residential Schools

- Pan-Indian Movements

- Parliamentary Hearings

18. Wednesday 8 Guest Speaker: Art Thompson, "Surviving the Residential School."

19. Tuesday 14 Renewal

Reading: Dickason, Chap 22 -

20. Wednesday 15 Film: Blockade

Option 1: Research Essay Due

21. Tuesday 21 Discussion: Towards a Just Resolution

Reading: Alfred, Peace, Power and Righteousness: pp 119-128.

Dickason, Chap. 26.

Option 2: Peace, Power and Righteousness Assignment Due.

22. Wednesday 22 Contested Terrain and Contemporary Strategies

Reading: Dickason, Chap 23, 27

a) Oka

b) Modern Land Claims - the Gitksan Wetsuwet'en

c) Self Government and the Constitution

23. Tuesday 28 The Nisga'a Treaty in Historical Perspective

24. Wednesday 29 Guest Speaker: Taiaiake Alfred, "An Indigenous Manifesto for the Future."

Reading: "Righteousness," from Alfred, Peace, Power and Righteousness," 97-119.

April

25. Tuesday 4 Summing Up

26. Wednesday 5 Field Trip Native Heritage Centre, Cowichan.

TAKE HOME EXAMS DISTRIBUTED.

TAIAIAKE ALFRED'S PLACE, POWER & RIGHTEOUSNESS ASSIGNMENT

Chose one of the following questions and write 1,500-2,000 word essay using the book Peace,
Power, Righteousness and at least two other scholarly books/articles in addition to the Dickason
text. You may also suggest a topic that arises from the book. Papers should be footnoted and
have a bibliography in accordance with the History Department style sheet, available from in
front of the History Office Cle. B245 and on the web at <http://web.uvic.ca/history/>. The
assignment is due at the beginning of class on Tuesday, March 21.

1. Governance: Select a Canadian aboriginal group and compare their traditional governance
structures to contemporary structures. Do Alfred’s proposals fit with the traditional governance?

2. Alfred speaks about the rediscovery of aboriginal tradition as the key. Examine the
rediscovery of tradition that took place in the 1970s by looking at one community or more
widely. What were the origins OR what were the outcomes of that re-invigoration?

3. Alfred raises the question of the role of women in contemporary Aboriginal societies. Look at
an aboriginal group, organization (ie. Assembly of First Nations) or issue (ie. Bill C-31 or the
Charlottetown Accord) and examine the role that gender plays in contemporary Aboriginal
politics.

4. Justice: Select a Canadian aboriginal group and compare their traditional justice system to
contemporary structures.

5. Choose an incident in Canadian Aboriginal-Non-Aboriginal relations (ie. Oka, Charlottetown
Accord) and analyze the structure of aboriginal leadership. Do Alfred’s characterizations fit this
situation?

6. Can Aboriginal communities proceed before they heal? Using Alfred’s book as a starting
point examine one of the social issues (ies. substance, spousal abuse) affecting one or more
communities and the methods of dealing with it. Are they traditional or neo-traditional? What
kind of success are they having?

QUESTIONS FOR IN CLASS DISCUSSION ON MARCH 21st

1. According to Alfred what are the differences between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal ideas of
politics and justice? THIS IS THE ADMISSION TICKET QUESTION.
2. What are the differences between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal politics based on? Are they
cultural, racial or...? Are they irreconcilable?

3. Is there a conflict between Alfred’s idea of peace-making and the need to assert aboriginal
nationhood?

4. How does Alfred distinguish self-government and sovereignty?

5. According to Alfred, what are the steps that need to be taken? Do you agree?


History 358C -- Seminar Readings -- Spring Term 2000

Seminar Discussion on Religious Encounters
An admission ticket with a precis of the readings is required.

Reading (If you can, read in this order):

Denys Delâge and Helen Tanner, “The Ojibwa-Jesuit Debate at Walpole Island, 1844,
Ethnohistory, 41,2 (Spring 1994) 295-321.

Michael Harkin, “Power and Progress: the Evangelic Dialogue Among the Heiltsuk, Ethnohistory,
40, 1 (Winter 1993) 1-33.

Sergei Kan, “Shamanism and Christianity: Modern Day Tlingit Elders Look at the Past,”
Ethnohistory, 38, 4 (Fall 1991) 363-387.

Suggested Questions:

1. To what extent did Aboriginal People control their encounters with missionaries and to what
extent did missionaries control them?

2. What factors contributed to the conversion of Aboriginal People to Christianity? To what
extent was conversion voluntary, coerced or a “dialogue”?

3. To what extent were Aboriginal and Christian beliefs incompatible and to what extent did
they co-exist?

4. Are modern-day Aboriginal Christians dupes of a colonizing culture?