Lecture 2 Flashcards
What is the Canadian version of indigenous?
Aboriginal
Are indigenous and aboriginal interchangeable terms?
Yes
What does aboriginal refer to?
First Nations, Metis, or Inuit
Why is aboriginal not preferred anymore?
It is attached to an offensive term, abnormal
What does aboriginal mean?
From the original inhabitants
What is pre-contact
indigenous societies prior to the arrival of European people.
What term is used worldwide
Indigenous
What term is used in the constitution
Aboriginal is the constitutional term
What did indigenous societies engage in with other groups?
Fought, traded, had treaties, and had governments
What were indigenous societies like 500 years ago
Many different societies, huge variety
Completely different sports
Complex structures, did not live in harmony, had laws, education
What were indigenous societies like 500 years ago
Many different societies, huge variety
Completely different sports
Complex structures, did not live in harmony, had laws, education
We’re al indigenous hunter gatherers
No
Tenochtitlan was largest city on earth
Broad generalizations do not apply to all
What were indigenous sports and what were they designed for
Gendered and designed to both educate, entertain, and in many cases fulfill diplomatic functions
What did boys games involve
Some version of running, fighting, tracking
What were boys games designed for
To help young indigenous boys with skills they needed when they go older, hunting and fighting
What did boys games prioritize
Strength, speed, and ability to withstand pain
Why was sport very violent by design for boys
So young boys were used to getting hurt and being in pain so they could deal with it and move on
What did girls games involve
Endurance, ability to carry heavy weights
Why did girls games prioritize endurance and carrying
Most indigenous societies were semi nomadic
Women carried the homes
Examples of girls games
Carrying bags or pots filled with heavy rocks
What was the idea behind these gendered sports
Educate children in things they need when older
In what ways was sport used diplomatically
- could challenge each other to sporting competition in place of fight
- also used to celebrate something, two nations could have sporting competition
Why use sport instead of war
Deliberate attempt to minimize potential casualties
What could be used as sport in place of war
Lacrosse, usually brutal but less death
Who primarily played lacrosse
Iroquois confederacy
Iroquois confederacy
- confederacy of 5 nations, today 6
- was and is one of longest continuous governments in world, almost 1000 years old
- knowledge transfer has not been interrupted like in other places
Where was lacrosse played
Originated as Iroquois game
Played by many nations in central and eastern Canada
Why named lacrosse
Description by French
Top of stick looks like bishops staff, the cross
Would every game of lacrosse be the same?
Never quite the same but broadly looked the same
All early sports had no rules
Why do we know a lot about lacrosse
Nations on eastern side encountered Europeans much sooner and have written accounts about the game
What happened in 1492
Christopher Columbus found americas
Began a sustained connection between the hemispheres (americas and Asia, Africa, Europe)
Two nations become interconnected
Why did sustained connection only start in 1492
Before that lots of intermediate connections
People coming to americas but always stopped (came and left)
Who creates colonies in Americas
Spanish, Portuguese, British, French
When did the Colombian exchange occur
When the 4 European nations started setting up colonies
Colombian exchange
Arrival of disease
Each had host of things that didn’t exist in other place, food, animals, disease
What was one reason European nations were able to make colonies
Effects of disease
Indigenous population plummeted
Wiped out 50-90%
Nations conquered, invaded and took over lands devastated by disease
Did diseases go other way
Yes but weren’t as deadly
When did they begin to set up colonies
Initial contact rarely went well but after 10-15 years started to create colonies after disease had wiped out indigenous
Virgin soil epidemics
Diseases that hit a population that has never experienced that disease before
- before people have immunities
- with no immunity, disease can wreak havoc
Examples of virgin soil epidemics
Black Death (killed 2/3 of European population)
Covid
What is hypothesis for why diseases didn’t go other way
Only large domesticated animals in Americas were llamas and alpacas (mostly South America)
All domesticated animals were brought by Europeans
Indigenous had never lived side by side with animals
Why would domesticated animals cause disease
Because disease goes from person to animal and can mutate in animal then goes back to human
What kind of societies were most of these nations
Oral societies
What is oral society
Oral transmission of information rather than written word
- elder today can tell something from 400 years ago same as something written down 400 years ago
Why does oral transmission work very well
Memory
- when always using memory, can recall things exactly as it was told to them
How do we know oral transmission is true
Test same way as test written testimony
Check evidence of battle, places, people
When did courts test oral testimonies and allow oral testimony
1990s
Because of this much fuller history now
When did courts allow oral testimony
1990s
Because of this much fuller history now
Because of oral history, if elder dies before passing on info what happens
Information dies with them
Equivalent of burning a library
What did disease of to indigenous history
Wiped out huge amounts
Not much info on indigenous sport
If society managed to hold on to information what happened later on
Residential schools happened and once again transmission was interrupted
- elders couldn’t pass on information, children lost language
- this why many indigenous play european sports now
Did residential schools hit every nation the same
No
- some were able to transmit better than others
- more in west then east
Development of a linear society
Hunter gatherer, agricultural, industrial, service, informational
Stepping stones as society evolves
What are western notions of societal development
Are linear
Have west at the front
When does linear societal development become problematic
When accept liberal notions of progress as inherent good
What is dominant ideology in Canada
- liberalism
- idea of individual, main idea is progress is good and going forward is better than standing still
What is problem with liberalism and linear societal development
- could be that progress is not always good
- maybe certain things shouldn’t have been invented
- saying societies that are not as advanced are less than us
- saying those societies will evolve into the information level and become us
What notion did the British fully embrace
Linear societal development
- looked at indigenous societies as behind them, not as good
- added a moral wrinkle
what was the moral wrinkle for the British
- moral imperative to help indigenous catch up to us
- educate them and get them to where they are (residential schools)
- applies to sport, indigenous sport was discouraged
Who was firs to establish colonies in Americas
Spanish and Portuguese
- British and French were latecomers
Where was there nothing left for British and French
Land in central and South America
When did British and French colonize Canada
100 years after the Portuguese and Spanish
What were British and French hoping to find
Cool stuff like gold and silver like down south
- profound disappointment happened at first and French could get people to stay
- initial colonies were not successful
Where did British have success setting up
East coast of US
Where were French communities
Small communities along st Lawrence
What do British and French find in Canada
2 natural ressources, furs and fish
- mostly French because very few British in Canada
What do the French do with the furs
Begin to extract, very popular item in Europe
How do British get furs
Establish trading posts primarily in Hudson’s Bay Area and indigenous go to trading posts and trade fur for goods
How would French get furs
French colonists would travel into the wilderness and collect furs then bring them back
Coureurs de bois (runners of the woods)
Travelled among indigenous people, often intermarried, were usually independent operators and hard to control
- not popular amongst French authorities, enjoyed freedom
What happens as fur trade shifts further west
Coureurs de bois have to travel further and further
Stop travelling individually and travel in groups
Voyageurs
Groups off Coureurs de bois
- examples of bush masculinity
- travel great distances and developed unique culture
Upper class masculinity
Opposite of work and physical exertion
Pride themselves on not having to work and exert themselves
- did not accept people that worked for their money
Lower class masculinity
Lean into work, hard and physical labour
Voyageurs bush masculinity
- embraced endurance and strength
- survive in wilderness and do the portages
- singing songs as well
- ability to sing for long periods of time and know lots of songs
Why was singing important for voyageurs
Kept their pace when rowing
Why was singing important for voyageurs
Kept their pace when rowing
