After the Case Study Project

I found myself getting very emotional during the course of my research for our group case study.  I summarized the effects of colonialism on the culture of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe and I tried to condense more than 300 years of abuse, oppression, and desecration of the Klallam people into 1,500 words. I knew it would be impossible for me to do it justice.

Meanwhile, I acknowledge that I am part of that same colonial structure that continues to oppress the First Peoples of Canada and the United States. I live on the Saanich Peninsula, which is home to four Coast Salish First Nations groups (Pauquachin, Tsartlip, Tsawout and Tseycum). I live a few of blocks away from the ocean and a long stretch of expensive waterfront homes. What was on the land before they were built? I don't mean the modest mid-century bungalows that were on those lots a couple decades ago. What was the history of the land I take for granted? I have heard from my best friend that the beach down the road from me was once littered with stone tools. When her grandfather was a boy, he found a partially constructed dugout canoe in a pile of driftwood on that same beach, and if his stories are to be believed, him and his friends vandalized and sank it in the bay. My husband tells me that when the sewage pump station was constructed down the road from his mother's house, human remains of First Nations origin were found. I have tried to find news stories and reports that I could read on this, but I haven't been successful in my search. It's not too hard for me to imagine that the familiar structures around me were similarly built on top of the remains of villages and cemeteries.

The university I attend is built on unceded First Nations land. As a university student, I am part of the power structure that controls knowledge, the avenues of access to that knowledge, and what sources of knowledge are legitimized and respected. As an anthropology student specifically, I have to be aware of the highly colonial origins of this field of study. And as I work towards graduation, I must ask myself, What sort of anthropologist will I be? I have heard fellow students state that the pursuit of knowledge is more important than unquantifiable things like the feelings of the people and artifacts we study. There is a long history to this type of thinking. There is a history of anthropologists studying cultures, but devaluing the thoughts, words, opinions, and feelings of the very people they study. But I don't want to be that sort of anthropologist. I don't want to elevate my own voice above the voices of already marginalized people. Instead, I would like to be like a loudspeaker; an instrument that amplifies the voices of others so their stories can be heard. I feel that as archaeologists and anthropologists, we have a responsibility to respect voices of both the living and the dead.

Here is a video from the Lower Elwha Klallam of band members performing their traditional Welcome Song to a returning canoe. It kind of cheered me and helped me to process some of the emotions I had after working on this project. I hope for a better future.

Hey! Look! It's something about UVic!

I was scrolling through my news feed today and I noticed a familiar name! Dr. April Nowell, an Anthropology professor here at the University of Victoria, has co-published an exciting new study with Genevieve von Petzinger on non-figurative symbols in cave art.

Typology of Non-Figurative Signs (after Genevieve von Petzinger) [Source]

According to the article:

"Building on previous work by other scholars who tended to focus on the local or regional level, von Petzinger and Nowell were surprised by the clear patterning of the symbols across space and time—some of which remained continually in use for over a period of 20,000 years. The 26 specific signs may provide the first glimmers of proof that a graphic code was being used by these ancient humans shortly after their arrival in Europe, or they may have even brought this practice with them. If correct, these findings will contribute to the growing body of evidence that the creative explosion occurred tens of thousands of years earlier than scholars once thought. Von Petzinger and Nowell’s findings have been reported in the New Scientist journal and their research continues to explore the meaning of the symbols." [Source]

So that's really exciting research! Maybe it's evidence of a rudimentary paleolithic alphabet? It's intriguing that the same non-figurative symbols have been used in so many places over such a long period of time. I can't wait to hear more about it as this research continues.

It's always jarring to see names of people you've met in the news, but logically, I know that as I continue on in Anthropology, I'll only come across more and more names that I recognize... professors who've taught me, authors of articles and textbooks that I've read, and later on, former classmates and other colleagues. Maybe my name will be on an article one day, and one of my former professors or classmates will get that shock of recognition and say, "Hey! I know her!"

Just make sure to reference me properly in your bibliography.

Website Analysis Using Rubric

I haven't been able to find a website that covers all of same the material we looked at for our case study project. We analysed both Canadian and US archaeological and cultural resource laws and how they applied to our case study on Tse-whit-zen Village in Port Angeles, WA.  That's pretty specific and I'd like to think that if we'd found a website that covered that topic exactly, we would have chosen to focus on something else (or at the very least, cited it heavily in our bibliography).

Instead, I've chosen to apply our rubric to a website that covers the specific portion of our project that I focused on: the history of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe and the excavation of Tse-whit-zen Village from the perspective of the Lower Elwha Klallam.

For me, the best online resource I have found for that subject was the official website of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe.

Here is a link to their summary of the Tse-whit-zen Village excavation. There are more sub-pages on the subject of Tse-whit-zen Village if you hover your cursor over the "Tse-whit-zen" label on the far-left sidebar. And honestly, I would give their website full marks, even though it doesn't have the benefit of engaging pictures or a bibliography. I would give it full marks because this is a group of indigenous people sharing their own story. Who should we hold as a higher authority on their history? What number of published articles or academic accolades should outweigh the value of people telling their own story in their own words?

This is their culture and their history. I think it's important for all archaeologists (and especially those working on First Nations land) to remember that these are not extinct cultures. They are living cultures and they are not static. They have voices. They have written books with their own words, and they have websites and YouTube channels. I think it's important that when indigenous people are sharing their own stories, that we listen and treat them and their work with respect.