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Canadian Studies Announcements
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In This Issue:
News from Berkeley
• Celebrating Native American Heritage Month in a North American context
• Get your official 2024 Remembrance Poppy
Upcoming Events
• Stop-Motion Storyteller: Film Screening & Talk Back featuring Amanda Strong & Bracken Hanuse Corlett
• Artist Talk: Amanda Strong and Bracken Hanuse Corlett
• Gi-ga-miinigoowiz Mamaandaawiziwin (May the Force be With You): A Star Wars Journey Towards Indigenous Language Revitalization
• Save the Date: Improving ancestral language teaching in Indigenous communities
External Events
• Royal Canadian Legion Remembrance Day Service
• From Moose to Cattle? Exercising Indigenous Sovereignty in Climate Adaptation Projects |
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| Celebrating Native American Heritage Month in a North American Context
In the United States, November is National Native American Heritage Month. While the holiday officially celebrates those groups residing within contemporary US territories, it is important to recognize that colonial borders do not map onto the complexity of North American Indigenous history. It is impossible to accurately tell the story of Native North America without including the history of Canada as well.
Before the border, Indigenous peoples migrated freely up and down the coasts, throughout the Great Plains, and across the Great Lakes. The US-Canada border was established without regard for traditional Indigenous territories and often divided them in two. Warfare and colonialism also displaced many tribes from their ancestral homeland. The New England tribes who allied with the British were forced to move to Ontario after the American Revolution; the Métis and Cree who joined the failed North-West Uprising of 1885 fled into exile in Montana. Contemporary Wyandot (Huron) people are divided between reservations in Quebec and Oklahoma. Many such Indigenous groups are today represented on both sides of the border, often counting members with both US and Canadian citizenship. For many, the colonial border is an afterthought to an international tribal citizenship.
However, it is important that we do not think of Indigenous peoples only in historic terms. They are living cultures. Indigenous people have faced many hardships under colonization, including forced assimilation and the banning of their languages and rituals. Despite this, Indigenous people have persevered in protecting their sacred knowledge and traditions. Elders and cultural leaders have fought to ensure that their values continue to guide future generations through a rapidly changing world.
Today, there are millions of Indigenous Americans and Canadians carrying these legacies. Many are reconnecting with their heritage by learning ancestral languages or practicing traditional crafts. At the same time, many seek to integrate these practices and values with modern culture, adapting ancient traditions to contemporary conditions and sharing them with the wider world.
Canadian Studies is a proud to serve as a platform for Indigenous issues. We are therefore pleased to celebrate a (long) Native American Heritage Month with four events highlighting how Indigenous people are telling their own stories and engaging with their cultures in new ways. Read more about the events below; and we encourage you to find other ways to celebrate and learn about our continent’s rich Indigenous heritage! |
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Get Your Official 2024 Remembrance Poppy
Every year, from the last Friday of October to November 11, millions of Canadians wear a bright red poppy in honour of Canada’s veterans. It’s a tradition observed throughout the Commonwealth, from Britain to New Zealand, but one with deep Canadian roots. The poppy became an international symbol of WWI thanks to Canadian physician John McCrae, whose 1915 war poem “In Flanders’ Fields” became emblematic of the conflict. In 1921, Canada was the first country to adopt the poppy as its official symbol of remembrance, followed soon after by the rest of the Commonwealth. Over a century later, it remains an enduring symbol of the sacrifices made by Canadian soldiers, and a pledge to veterans in recognition of their service.
In partnership with Royal Canadian Legion US Branch #25, the Canadian Studies Program is proud to serve as an official distributor of remembrance poppies. Interested persons may pick up their poppies at our office in 213 Philosophy Hall on the UC Berkeley campus, weekdays between 9am-4pm. While the poppy is free, the Legion gratefully accepts donations towards their Poppy Fund, which directly supports Canadian veterans and their families. Learn more about the Poppy Campaign here. You can also create a digital poppy honouring a loved one by visiting MyPoppy.ca. |
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Stop-Motion Storyteller: Film Screening & Talk Back featuring Amanda Strong & Bracken Hanuse Corlett
Wed., Oct. 30 | 7:00 pm | BAMPFA | Buy tickets
Over the past decade, Michif (Métis) artist Amanda Strong has created an exceptional collection of animated films depicting Indigenous realities, stories, and dreams to build a compelling cinematic counterpoint challenging colonial histories of Indigenous peoples. Using stop-motion techniques to animate meticulously crafted three-dimensional puppets and objects, Strong creates magical worlds—uncanny mirrors to our own—in which her stories unfold. This program, presented in collaboration with the Arts Research Center and the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, represents an extensive retrospective of her work and includes her collaborations with Wuikinuxv and Klahoose artist Bracken Hanuse Corlett, her partner in life and art. Eight films are included in the screening.
This event is free for UC Berkeley students, staff, and faculty with a Cal 1 Card. Other guests may purchase tickets via the link above. |
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Artist Talk: Amanda Strong and Bracken Hanuse Corlett
Fri., Nov. 1 | 4:00 pm | BAMPFA | Buy tickets
Award-winning animators and multimedia Indigenous artists Amanda Strong (Michif) and Bracken Hanuse Corlett (Wuikinuxv and Klahoose) share insights on the creation of their films, including their current project—nine years in the making and now on the cusp of its world premiere—and their frequent collaborations. This artists’ talk is copresented by the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive and the Arts Research Center, which is sponsoring Strong as its Artist-in-Residence and Corlett as a Visiting Artist.
This event is free for UC Berkeley students, staff, and faculty with a Cal 1 Card. Other guests may purchase tickets via the link above. |
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Gi-ga-miinigoowiz Mamaandaawiziwin (May the Force be With You): A Star Wars Journey Towards Indigenous Language Revitalization
Tues., Nov. 19 | Noon | 223 Philosophy Hall | RSVP
The Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe) dub of the iconic Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, debuted in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada on August 8th, 2024, and to the rest of the world on Disney+ on October 27. It the first major Hollywood film to be dubbed into Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe), and is an expression of the growing language revitalization movement that seeks to restore the Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe) language to the galaxy.
The project brought together three generations of a family who played critical roles in the production: producer Maeengan Linklater, lead translator Pat Ningewance, and Aandeg Muldrew, voice of Luke Skywalker. The three will share their perspectives and insights from the inception of the project, through the translation, creation of the guide track, dubbing, acting, and finally, the premiere event.
Please note this event will start 30 minutes earlier than usual.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Maeengan Linklater is Director of Operations at the Dakota Ojibwe Tribal Council (DOTC) in Manitoba and served as producer for the dub.
Pat Ningewance is a long-time translator and professor of the Ojibwe language at the University of Manitoba. She is also the mother of Maeengan and grandmother of Aandeg. She was the lead translator and was the head language expert of the project.
Aandeg Muldrew is a language teacher and assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Winnipeg. He helped with the translation and dub and voiced Luke Skywalker. |
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Save the Date: Improving Ancestral Language Teaching in Indigenous Communities
Tues., Dec. 3 | 12:30 pm | 223 Philosophy Hall
Summer Sands-Macbeth (Walpole Island First Nation) will discuss her efforts to modernize and improve the teaching of ancestral languages in Indigenous communities. Sands-Macbeth works on Nishnaabemwin, a dialect of Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe) spoken in the southern Great Lakes. While she grew up surrounded by the language and culture of her people, the language has been in decline since the 1970s, and today only about 20 first language speakers still live on Walpole Island. Sands-Macbeth is dedicated to preserving and transmitting this language in her community. Her current projects include implementing new pedagogies and advocating for increased resources.
If you require an accommodation to fully participate in one of the above events, please let us know at least 7 days in advance. |
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Royal Canadian Legion Remembrance Day Service
Sat., Nov. 9 | 11:00 am | Petaluma, CA | Learn more
Join US Branch 25 of the Royal Canadian Legion, representing the San Francisco Bay Area, for their annual Remembrance Day Service at Liberty Cemetery in Petaluma. Guests are welcome at the cemetery. The service will also be streamed live via Zoom; if you are unable to join in person, please register here to join the online feed. Please direct questions to US Branch #25 President Michael Barbour. |
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From Moose to Cattle? Exercising Indigenous Sovereignty in Climate Adaptation Projects
Tues., Nov. 12 | 12:00 pm | Harvard University | RSVP
Political ecologist and Hildebrand Fellow Mindy Price will discuss her new book project, Contested Icescapes, Land, Politics, and Change on an Arctic Agricultural Frontier. The book explores how marginal Arctic land is imagined as a new frontier for agriculture under climate change, and the implications for rural and Indigenous lands communities. In this talk, she will examine the political history of agriculture in Canada’s Northwest Territories, and its development alongside recent climate crises in the territory. She will focus on how two First Nations are transforming agriculture from a settler-colonial tool of assimilation into an exercise of Indigenous sovereignty.
Mindy J. Price is a William Lyon Mackenzie King Postdoctoral Fellow in the Canada Program at Harvard University’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. Her research focuses primarily on how climate change and climate change governance (re)structure inequalities in race, class, and gender. Her current work at Harvard examines the governance mechanisms behind new agricultural land use policies in Alaska and the Northwest Territories. |
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Royal Canadian Legion, US Branch #25 