IDENTITY EXCERPT In a deep dive into cultural appropriation, Voicing Identity uncovers how both Indigenous and nonIndigenous people can step out of bounds. Voicing Identity: Cultural Appropriation and Indigenous Issues edited by John Borrows and Kent McNeil (UTP $36.95)
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ho is qualified to write about Indigenous culture? Turns out it can be as difficult an issue for Indigenous people as it is for non-Indigenous people. UVic law prof John Borrows, a member of the Chippewa of the Nawash First Nation, and York University emeritus prof Kent McNeil gathered Indigenous and non-Indigenous people together to discuss the oftentimes thorny problems of Indigenous cultural appropriation for a workshop and then published some of their stories in Voicing Identity, a collection more personal in tone than legalistic. To illustrate how appropriation can be leveled at Indigenous people, too, Borrows asks: “Does a Mohawk academic from Akwesasne have any more authority to research and teach about Haida traditions and law, one might ask, than a non-Indigenous academic who grew up on the West Coast? Does being Indigenous provide the Mohawk scholar with special insight into Haida culture and worldview that a non-Indigenous scholar can never acquire?” Borrows cites a specific Canadian example that comes from the world of entertainment to illustrate how Indigenous people are not immune to accusations of cultural appropriation: “Cikwes (Connie LeGrande), a Cree songwriter and performer, utilizes Inuit throat singing in her music. When she received a nomination for a folk music award at the Indigenous Music Awards held in Winnipeg on 17 May 2019, a number of Inuit performers accused her of cultural appropriation and said they would boycott the awards ceremony as a result. One of the Inuit throat singers, who goes by the name Riit, explained: ‘Just because you’re part of another Indigenous group, it doesn’t give you the right to take traditions from other groups.’” In her story for the book, Anishinaabe-Métis law prof Aimée Craft examines the line between support of Indigenous cultures and the exploitation of them. She surveys the Indigenous art and clothing she owns, wondering if she has the permission to display and wear these cultural items. As she does so, Craft notes that cultural appropriation is not limited to the taking of Indigenous things by non-Indigenous people. It depends on “how things are acquired, what they are used for, and whether proper respect has been paid and protocols followed.” Craft concludes an important element is “the building of relationships, mutual consent and reciprocity” and that she meets this criteria because all the art she has acquired is “rooted in my relationships.” That’s because Craft has deep personal connections to the creators of the art she hangs on her walls and the jewellery and clothing that she wears. Displaying the work of her friends “is a celebration, a resistance of sorts, against the Canadian colonial imperative of assimilation.” to
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is critical for reconciliation, kQwa’st’not (Charlene George) and Hannah Askew, executive director of the Sierra Club BC, co-authored a story about how they have worked together for the past two years to facilitate a cross-cultural transformation of the en-
Voicing Identity book cover by Blake Angeconeb, an Anishinaabe woodlands artist from Treaty 3 territory. He is part of the Caribou clan and a member of Lac Seul First Nation.
THE COMPLEXITY OF
CULTURAL APPROPRIATION vironmental charity located on Lekwungen territory. reasons they were unable to help. kQwa’st’not left most Part of the work involved painting a mural at a of the cookie dough in the fridge with an invitation for nearby middle school that invited voices and views anyone who was able to help. She said that she would about nature that have been notably absent in the be back on Monday to pick up the baked cookies. On environmental movement. Askew recalls an important Monday, she returned and picked up the baked cooklearning moment, reprinted here: ies from those who had been able to help, as well as “One week, while I happened to be away, the unbaked dough still sitting in the fridge. She kQwa’st’not dropped by the Sierra Club offices then baked the remainder of the cookies herself, on a Friday afternoon with an enormous batch to share with the children at the school in celof cookie dough. She gathered together the staff ebration at the unveiling of the mural. who were in the office that afternoon and asked When I returned to the office the following everyone who was able to take some home over week, a number of perturbed staff came to the weekend to bake and bring it back in order speak to me about the baking request, pointing to have them ready to share with all the out to me that baking cookies was not a part children at the middle school who had of their job description and explainhelped with the painting of the mural. ing that they felt somewhat guilty kQwa’st’not explained that because not to have helped. They were also she only had one small oven in her surprised and uncomfortable to home, it would be difficult for her to have been asked, since it was out bake the many hundreds of cookies by of the ordinary. Since I had not herself. At the time, kQwa’st’not was spoken with kQwa’st’not about new to the organization and few of the the cookies, I was not sure what staff had had an opportunity to develop had happened but promised to a relationship with her. The staff were speak with her and find out more. quite surprised by her request. While a When we talked, kQwa’st’not explained John Borrows few agreed, most said that for different continued on next page 27 BC BOOKWORLD • SPRING 2023