May, Victoria (2023) Dancing my way home: Cultural Reclamation Through the Embodiment of the Michif Language. Masters thesis, Concordia University.
Text (application/pdf)
20MBMay_MA_S2023.pdf - Accepted Version Restricted to Repository staff only until 26 April 2025. Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. |
Abstract
We danced for those that can’t dance, those that are no longer with us, and for those to come.
We danced to show that we are still here, we are the unbroken link that the colonial project attempted to break and failed to do.
This thesis proposal describes a research-creation process focusing on Michif language embodiment through dance. This blended research-creation approach is grounded in Keeoukaywin, the Visiting Way methodology (Gaudet, 2018), and Nêhiyaw Kiskêyihtamowin (Plains Cree Knowledges) of relational ethics involving an Indigenous research paradigm of truth-telling, holism, reciprocity, relational accountability, conversational method, and storywork. The process of cultural reclamation offers possibilities to the many generations responding to colonial violence and resisting by going underground (Richardson, 2004), a period referred to as the “Michif underground years.” It is one of many projects happening inside and outside the homeland that will help repair the fragmentation brought on by historical and ongoing colonial violence on our Michif peoples.
Divisions: | Concordia University > School of Graduate Studies > Individualized Program |
---|---|
Item Type: | Thesis (Masters) |
Authors: | May, Victoria |
Institution: | Concordia University |
Degree Name: | M.A. |
Program: | Individualized Program |
Date: | 26 April 2023 |
Thesis Supervisor(s): | Richardson, Catherine |
Keywords: | Michif, Red River Métis, dance, embodiment, language, research-creation, performance, video, identity, reconnection. |
ID Code: | 992132 |
Deposited By: | Victoria May |
Deposited On: | 21 Jun 2023 14:21 |
Last Modified: | 21 Jun 2023 14:21 |
References:
Algonquian linguistics atlas. Algonquian Linguistics Atlas. (2015). Retrieved September 9, 2020, from https://www.atlas-ling.ca/Anderson, K., Clow, B., & Haworth-Brockman, M. (2013). Carriers of water: aboriginal women’s experiences, relationships, and reflections. Journal of Cleaner Production, 60, 11–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2011.10.023
Andrä, C., Mathias, B., Schwager, A., Macedonia, M., & von Kriegstein, K. (2020). Learning foreign language vocabulary with gestures and pictures enhances vocabulary memory for several months post-learning in eight-year-old school children. Educational Psychology Review, 32(3), 815–850. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-020-09527-z
Andrews, G. (2019). Evidence of meeting #144 for Canadian Heritage in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. Bill C-91, An Act respecting Indigenous languages. Retrieved
from: https://openparliament.ca/committees/canadian-heritage/42-1/144/graham- andrews-1/
Archibald, J.-Ann. (2008). Indigenous storywork: Educating the heart, mind, body, and spirit.
UBC Press; WorldCat.org.
Bakker, P. (1997). A language of our own: The genesis of Michif, the mixed Cree-French language of the Canadian Métis (Rev. ed.). Oxford University Press.
Bakker, P. & Fleury, N. (2004). Gabriel Dumont Institute of Native Studies and Applied Research Virtual Museum of Métis history and culture. Retrieved from: https://www.metismuseum.ca/browse/index.php/13147
Bakker, P., & Papen, R. A. (2003). Michif and Other Languages of the Canadian Métis. The Virtual Museum of Métis History and Culture: Gabriel Dumont Institute.
Barkwell, L. (2011). Veterans and Families of the 1885 Northwest Resistance. Retrieved April 18, 2023, retrieved from: https://www.metismuseum.ca/media/document.php/149693.Veterans%20and%20Families%20of%201885%20Low-Res%20(Oct%202017%20Version).pdf
Barkwell, L. The Metis Infinity Flag - metismuseum.ca. (n.d.). Retrieved December 28, 2022, retrieved from: https://www.metismuseum.ca/media/document.php/07245.The%20Metis%20Infinity%20F lag.pdf
Bowie, D. (1975). Golden Years [Recorded by performer D. Bowie]. On Station to Station. Brandstetter, G. (2010). Political Body Spaces in the Performances of William Forsythe.
Performative Body Spaces, 57–74. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789042031944_005 Buck, W. (2012). https://pinnguaq.com/stories/ininiw-acakosuk-the-cree-stars/. essay,
Kegedonce Press.
Burnouf, L., Fleury, N., Lavallée, G. (2007). The Michif Resource Guide: Lii Michif Niiyanaan, aan Michif biikishwanaan. Gabriel Dumont Institute. Retrieved from: https://www.metismuseum.ca/media/document.php/149703.MRG%20-%20Final%20-
%20Jan%202021%20for%20VM.pdf )
Campbell, M. (2022, May 6). Closing keynote. Mawachihitotaak 2022 Conference, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
Campbell, M., & Farrell Racette, S. (2010). Stories of the road allowance people (Rev. ed).
Gabriel Dumont Institute.
Chapman, O. B., & Sawchuk, K. (2012). Research-Creation: Intervention, Analysis and “Family Resemblances.” Canadian Journal of Communication, 37(1). https://doi.org/10.22230/cjc.2012v37n1a2489
Chiblow, S., & Meighan, P. J. (2022). Language is land, land is language: The importance of Indigenous languages. Human Geography, 15(2), 206–210. https://doi.org/10.1177/19427786211022899
Dorion, L., & Fleury, N. (2009). The giving tree: A retelling of a traditional Métis story about giving and receiving = Laarbr kawmaekit: Aen Kiitwam Achimook Aen Histwayr Chi Maykik Pi Aen Ootistikook. Gabriel Dumont Institute of Native Studies and Applied Research.
Dumont, M. (2012). That tongued belonging. In That tongued belonging. essay, Kegedonce Press.
Flammand, B. (2019). The genesis of the michif peoples. Thinking In Michif. (2021, July 9). Retrieved June 5, 2022, from https://thinkinginmichif.family.blog/the-genesis-of-the- michif-peoples/
Gabriel Dumont Insititute. The Virtual Museum of Métis History and Culture. (2013, September 11). Retrieved September 9, 2020, from https://www.metismuseum.ca/browse/index.php/13147
Gervain, J. (2015). Plasticity in early language acquisition: the effects of prenatal and early childhood experience. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 35, 13–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2015.05.004
Girouard, O. (2017). Absorbed in silence [performed by Genevieve Liboiron]. Government of Canada, S. C. (2017, February 8). Census Profile, 2016 Census.
https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census- recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/index.cfm?Lang=E Gaudet, J. C. (2019). Keeoukaywin: The visiting way - fostering an Indigenous research
methodology. Aboriginal Policy Studies, 7(2). https://doi.org/10.5663/aps.v7i2.29336 Green, J. (2001). Socially constructed bodies in American dance classrooms. Research in
Dance Education: 2:2, 155-173, DOI: 10.1080/14647890120100782
Herman, N. (1987). Why psychotherapy? / Nini Herman ; drawings by Josef Herman. Free Association Books.
Hildebrandt, W., & Cardinal, H. (2000). Treaty Elders of Saskatchewan: Our Dream Is That Our Peoples Will One Day Be Clearly Recognized as Nations. University of Calgary Press.
Houck, M. (2018) Black Moon/ Silver Waves [recorded by Phosphorescent]. On C’est la vie. Iseke, J. (2013). Negotiating Métis culture in Michif: Disrupting Indigenous language shift.
Decolonization, Indigeneity, Education, & Society 2(2), 92-116.
Kimmerer, R. W. (2015). Braiding sweetgrass. Milkweed Editions.
Kovach, M. (2009). Indigenous methodologies: Characteristics, conversations and contexts.
University of Toronto Press.
Library and Archives Canada. (2004). Library and Archives Canada. (2004). Theses Canada [Database]. Retrieved from https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/theses/Pages/theses- canada.aspx.
Lefebvre, M. (2020). Centering Stories by Urban Indigiqueers/Trans/Two-Spirit People and Indigenous Women on Practices of Decolonization, Collective-Care and Self-Care. Masters thesis]. https://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/id/eprint/987510
Lickers, A. (2020). Indigenous Solidarity and Best Practices. Lecture conducted during First Voices Week at Concordia University, Montreal, Qc.
Linklater, T. (2016). Slow Scrape (2012–2015). Dance Research Journal, 48(1), 26-27. doi:10.1017/S0149767716000061
Logan, T. (2015). Settler colonialism in Canada and the Métis. Journal of Genocide Research, 17(4), 433–452. https://doi.org/10.1080/14623528.2015.1096589
Louis Riel Institute (2003). Winnipeg, MB. Retrieved from: http://www.louisrielinstitute.com/docs/Speaking%20Michif%20-
%20French%20Manual.pdf.
McCarroll, S. (2019). Why I Decided to Join a Class Action Against the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. The Walrus. Retrieved from: https://thewalrus.ca/why-i-decided-to-join-a-class-action- against-the-royal-winnipeg-ballet/
Mathias, B. (2021) Technische Universität Dresden. (2021, September 9). Learning by doing: How the brain's motor system can support vocabulary learning. ScienceDaily. Retrieved December 19, 2022 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/09/210909123911.htm
Mattes, C. (2021). Indigenous littoral curation: a viable framework for collaborative and dialogic curatorial practice. University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB. Retrieved from: https://mspace.lib.umanitoba.ca/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1993/35440/Mattes_Cathy.pdf?s equence=4&isAllowed=y
May, V. (2021, March 28). Spaces of belonging + dances that led me home (by victoria may). Belonging, Identity, Language, Diversity Research Group (BILD). Retrieved December 28, 2022, from http://bild-lida.ca/blog/uncategorized/spaces-of-belonging-dances-that-led- me-home-by-victoria-may/
Mazzoli, M. (2019). Michif loss and resistance in four Metis communities (Kahkiyaaw mashchineenaan, “All of us are disappearing as in a plague”). Zeitschrift Für Kanada- Studien 69.
Million, D. (2009). Felt Theory: An Indigenous Feminist Approach to Affect and History.
Wicazo Sa Review, v24 n9, Fall 2009. https://doi.org/10.1353/WIC.0.0043
Moola,F. & Krahn, A. (2018) A Dance with Many Secrets: The Experience of Emotional Harm from the Perspective of Past Professional Female Ballet Dancers in Canada. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 27:3, 256-274, DOI: 10.1080/10926771.2017.1410747
Mumford, M. (2016). Naadmaagewin … The Art of Working Together in Our Communities.
Dance Research Journal, 48(1), 127-151. doi:10.1017/S0149767715000522 NAHO. (2018). Principles of Ethical Métis Research. https://achh.ca/wp-
content/uploads/2018/07/Guide_Ethics_NAHOMetisCentre.pdf
National Geographic. (2018, March 9). The Otherworldly Sounds of Skating on Thin Ice. [Video]. You Tube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3O9vNi-dkA
Okimâsis: Cree: Language of the Plains Audio Sessions (Okimâsis, 2018)
Rankin, A. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/skating-thin-black-ice-creates- sound-nordic-spd.
Richardson, C. L. (2016). Belonging Métis. JCharlton Publishing Ltd.
Richardson. C.L. (2004). Becoming Metis: The relationship between the sense of self and cultural stories. Unpublished Dissertation. Victoria, B.C.: University of Victoria.
Sceudeler, J. (2021). A People and a Nation (p. 171). UBC Press.
Schubert, F. The Cambridge Companion to Schubert's 'Winterreise'. (2021). India: Cambridge University Press.
Simpson, L. B. (2016). In Dancing on our turtle's back: Stories of nishnaabeg re-creation, resurgence and a new emergence (p. 68). essay, Simon Fraser University Library.
Simpson, L. B. (2017). As we have always done: Indigenous freedom through radical resistance
(Vol. 1–1 online resource (312 pages). University of Minnesota Press.
Smith, L. T. (2012). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and indigenous peoples (Second edition.). Zed Books.
Souter, H. 2018. Ti parii chiiñ? (Are you ready?): Preparing adult learners and proficient speakers for the challenge of Michif reclamation. Victoria: University of Victoria Master’s thesis.
Swensen, M. (2013). Memory is Embodied: Tanya Lukin-Linklater Interview. Alaska Native Studies Blog. September 27, 2013. Retrieved from: http://alaskanativestudies.blogspot.com/2013/09/memory-is-embodiedtanya-lukin.html.
Teillet, J. (2019). The North-West Is Our Mother. HarperCollins Canada. Todd, Z (2021, February 25). Amplify Arts. Retrieved from:
https://www.amplifyarts.org/alternate-currents/2021/03/04ac-talk-zoe-todd
Vizenor, G. (2008). Aesthetics of Survivance. Survivance: Narratives of Native Presence, ed.
Gerald Vizenor. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1-24.
Wilbur, A. & Keene, A. (Hosts). (2019, July 2). All my relations (No. 9) [Can our ancestors hear us]. All my relations. https://www.allmyrelationspodcast.com/post/ep-9-can-our- ancestors-hear-us
Wilson, S. (2008). Research is ceremony: Indigenous research methods. Black Point, NS: Fernwood Publishing.
Wilson, Shawn. (2001). What Is an Indigenous Research Methodology? Canadian Journal of Native Education. 25.
Repository Staff Only: item control page