Portraying People & Culture: "You're Not the Indian I had in Mind"

1. Portraying People & Culture: "You're Not the Indian I had in Mind" TRMT 396 Lecture #4 Dan McDonald

2. Countering Constructed Cultures “Indigenous cultural experiences are subjectively consumed and negotiated in terms of tourists’ prior knowledge, interests, expectations, mythologies, and personal meaning, rather than by the cultural offerings of the destination” McIntosh & Ryan (2007) • Need to make visible how history & tradition are part of the present Deutschlander & Miller (2003)

3. Transforming Culture into product • Mythologizing • Emphasizing Otherness • Directly linking Past and Present • Creating Spectacle • Building a story McKercher & du Cros (2009) • Commodification often seen as threat but cultures are dynamic & flexible and can use process as new means to access cultural traditions Medina ( 2003)

4. Playing to a tourist preference • Stereotypes may be reinforced by nature of existing products & tourist experiences McIntosh & Ryan (2007) • Identifying what aspects of culture attract → willingness, ability & appropriateness to provide (Williams & O’Neill (2007) • Often portrayals reinforce a ‘primitivist’ discourseDeutschlander & Miller (2003) • Spiritual or Nature themed • Tourists often cast as ‘adventurers’ or ‘seekers’ Waitt (2007)

5. Creating & Matching to Tourist Expectation • Multiple ‘gatekeepers’ involved eg. On-site guides, family, friends, media, tour operators, tour wholesalers, travel agents, etc. • Influenced by the amount of information & misinformation the Tourist brings • Uluru (Ayer’s Rock) climb • Access to Pueblo residence areas • Image realignment to counter distorted images McKercher & du Cros (2009); Schmlechen & Boyle (2007)

6. The Artificial Boundary of Identity Euro-Canadian Settler society ________________________ Aboriginal society - “The Imaginary Indian” Rests on a notion of mutual exclusivity Often a moral high ground that can be re-positioned Deutschlander & Miller (2003)

7. Finding Solid Ground for Identity • The ‘visibility project’ (Newhouse et al, 2005) • Critical examination & rewrite • Complete the landscape • Extending our gaze beyond the comfortable and accepted history • Focusing on the boundaries that have been created and de-constructing them • Shrinking the space between our stories

8. Who Are the Indian Givers? Bothering the 'Primitive' • Weatherford (1988) described a Settler America based on the ‘material and cultural base’ of aboriginal people • A managed landscape with blazed trails; not a untamed wilderness • Cultivated crops (3/5ths of those currently used in the world) that became staples of the old world: potatoes, corn, tomatoes, peanuts, cassava, beans, peppers, chocolate, etc. • Rich plant based Pharmacology e.g. quinine, Novocain • Silver currency • Confederated governance models

9. Defining a country with all its people: A Complete picture • Aboriginal Contribution and engagement in the public sphere currently essential to the international picture of Canada • Our artists’ work almost iconic e.g. Bill Reid, Roy Henry Vickers, Allen Sapp, Norval Morrisseau, many Inuit carvers • Renowned athletes e.g. Alwyn Morris, Shirley Firth, Waneek Horn Miller; George Armstrong, Brian Trottier, Kerry Price, Richard Peter • War heroes e.g. Tommy Prince, Brigadier Oliver Martin, David Greyeyes, Francis Pegahmagabow • Media stars e.g. Gary Farmer, Robbie Robertson, Tom Jackson, Adam Beach, Tina Keeper, Graham Greene • Politicians e.g. Elijah Harper, Charlie Watt, Ethel Blondin-Andrew

10. ‘Indians’ in Unexpected Places • Cowboys • Skill with horses made it logical • Architects • Unique designs of Douglas Cardinal • Court Judges • 16 currently across Canada; I a leading candidate for Supreme Court • Classical & jazz musicians • Don Ross; John Bell • Business Leaders • Jack Poole; Leonard Flett • Lieutenant Governors • B.C.; Manitoba; Ontario • University Chancellors • VIU; UCN; OCAD

11. Challenging the Script • Indian modernity almost a secret history (Deloria, 2004) • Participation in the formation of Canada ignored • Many aboriginal people challenged the script that described a status quo of ‘failure’ and some innate limitation of aboriginal people • Even as governments worked hard to restrict participation in the public sphere, aboriginal people engaged in literature (Pauline Johnson), sports (Tom Longboat, Jim Thorpe), politics (Maxime Goulet, Frank Calder ), entertainment (Will Rodgers) etc.

12. Images and Ads: Imagined or Real? • Example of Portrayals Aboriginal Australia Australia: Come Walkabout Four Host First Nations Welcome for Olympics Aboriginal Culture in British Columbia Tourisme Autochtone Québec Nemaska The Voice Of The Navajo

13. Additional Sources • Deloria, P. (2004). Indians in Unexpected Places. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas. • Newhouse, D., Voyageur, C. & Beavon, D. (Eds).(2005). Hidden in Plain Sight: Contributions of Aboriginal Peoples to Canadian Identity and Culture. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto. • King, T. (2003).The Truth About Stories. Toronto, ON: Anansi. • McKercher, B. & du Cros, H. (2009). Cultural Tourism: The Partnership between Tourism and Cultural Heritage Management. New York, NY: Routledge. • Medina, L. (2003). Commoditizing Culture: Tourism and Maya Identity. Annals of Tourism Research. 30 (2): 353-368. • Waitt, G. (1999). Naturalizing the ‘primitive’: A critique of marketing Australia’s indigenous peoples as ‘hunter-gatherers’. Tourism Geographies. 1 (2): 142-163. • Weatherford, J. (1988). Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World. New York, NY: Fawcett Columbine.