Culture and Aboriginal Peoples
Cultural and social identity of Aboriginals everywhere is linked to their language, literature, music, dance, games, handicrafts, architecture, arts, customs, rituals and mythology. In terms of mythology, the world begins with the Creation. Elaborate Creation stories are told all over the hemisphere by Aboriginal peoples, and provide the best means in understanding indigenous views and traditions. Also of importance is the nature of the sacred, human relationships with the environment, and individual responsibility to the community.
"It is essential to know and understand the deeply spiritual special relationship between indigenous peoples and their land as basic to their existence as such and to all their beliefs, customs, traditions and culture."
J. Martinez Cobo, United Nations Special Rapporteur (1987).
The International Decade of the World's Indigenous People was officially launched in December 1994 to recognize the contribution of aboriginal cultures to the universal culture. Almost a decade later, cultural challenges still remain regarding cultural property rights, preservation of languages, traditional knowledge, modernity, and identity in the context of globalization.
In the context of globalization, the world's population of indigenous peoples number some 350 million individuals representing 6,000 languages and cultures, spanning more than 70 countries on every continent. Half of those Native languages are no longer taught to children, and only 3,000 exist and are spoken today. By the end of this decade, the world will further witness the loss of traditional knowledge as the keepers and elders pass away, further disrupting the handing down of their cultural heritage from one generation to the next. How then to stem the tide of this cultural loss of heritage from one generation to the next?
"There seems to be a great resurgence of interest in the old ways. People are going back to the traditional religious practices…Younger people are attending yuwipi ceremonies, purification ceremonies, and learning songs. People are going back to their relatives, or their ancestors, to try to find any information they can."
Emil Her Many Horses, former director of the Buechel Memorial Lakota Museum on the Rosebud Reservation.
Technology has been heralded as the answer on several fronts. In many respects, technology is the ideal medium to preserve, transmit and transform indigenous cultural and empirical knowledge. It can also be used to pursue the constructive dialogue between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples. Simultaneously, it is already in use as a research and teaching tool to deliver intercultural education, while promoting multicultural dialogue within the global knowledge society.
Already, the exponential growth of cultural content industries has become a pillar of the information society in Canada and abroad. As well, technology has provided indigenous cultures the opportunity to learn from each other. More importantly, indigenous peoples have grasped the importance of using technology to reinforce their claim for the re-appropriation of objects and knowledge related to their culture. However, it is not the panacea to preserving cultural identity and fostering self-determination many were led to believe. For example, in Papua New Guinea, tribesmen have been known to walk for days from their mountainous heartland to catch the latest episode of Baywatch. Television aside, there is a dark side to using the World Wide Web to preserve traditional knowledge systems. Apart from the issue of intellectual property, how does the development of the information society and the introduction of new technologies impact on the traditions of indigenous peoples, their ways of life, their social organizations in which they live, and their languages? Of concern to elders and keepers of traditional knowledge is the question of how to keep technology from eroding original identity?
"I think it's important for people to realize that we natives are not really "Indians". It's a good thing Columbus was not looking for Turkey, or we'd be called turkeys.
"A lot of our tribes don't know their own traditions, teachings or ways. And it's a shame because it seems that somebody could have made the effort to preserve some of that for themselves. When I give lectures that's the first thing I say: "You find out where you are and where you came from."
Abe Conklin, leader of the Ponca Hethuska Society at White Eagle
It has been suggested that our cultural industries are under siege? Our government recognizes that cultural goods and services are unlike other products in the marketplace. At the same time, the process of globalization can stimulate cultural expression. Artists, regardless of ethnicity and locale, have a need to create, through the prism of their personal and cultural identities. However, the cultural values which traditionally identified and linked peoples and communities together seem to be under assault by changes in society. In these circumstances, questions are raised as how to embrace our nation's cultural diversity with mutual respect and understanding.
Take Toronto for example. It has become one of the most diverse cities on this planet. Current demographic trends point to increasing urbanization of people from different places around the world, speaking different languages, holding different points of view and religious beliefs. As societies become more multicultural, indigenous and culturally distinct groups will demand their rights to express and continue to develop their cultures within the wider society of this nation. That means much of this dialogue will take place in urban cities like Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. The challenge is, how to create spaces that will foster and promote this dialogue between cultural groups, while allowing these groups to express themselves through language, music, art, and other forms of expression? While diversity of expression is a challenge, moving towards it promotes a sense of shared citizenship, part of the cultural glue that holds us together as a nation.
Long before the Gap and Starbuck sent Queen Street West spiralling into a retail frenzy, the BamBoo was a rite of passage for city residents and out-of-towners…For 20 years, the BamBoo was the epicenter of reggae, funk, R&B and soul in Toronto. The club opened in August 26, 1983 by Habib and O'Brien, friends who met while working at the CBC, and found they shared in interest in Caribbean culture…The place is often credited with popularizing Pad Thai with the whitebread denizens of Queen West…
Globe & Mail; October 31, 2002
Canada's multicultural diversity is a result of centuries of immigration. Recent Environics polls reveal that a majority of Canadians believe that Government support of Canada's cultural heritage promotes the sharing of common values, helps solve the problems of racism and prejudice, encourages institutions of Canada to reflect and respect cultural diversity, and enhances the value of Canadian citizenship.1
Immigration today continues to play a key role in shaping the cultural character of Canadian society. Simultaneously, culture is recognized as crucial in building the fabric of our society. For many Canadians, this translates into the need to see themselves reflected in their books, magazines, movies, television programs and on the internet. It is these cultural goods and services that convey and construct Canada's cultural values, contribute to our cultural identity and promote social
1 Canadian Studies journal, Canadian Issues, February 2002, pp.4-5.
cohesion within Canadian society. Moreover, it is through the production of our cultural goods that we as a country express our heritage such that our cultural industries reap benefits to the local community, Canada and the world at large.
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