BEYOND THE FOUR
WAVES OF COLONIZATION
Darien Thira
(604) 809-0181
darien@thira.ca
..awareness..compassion..celebration..
The First Three Waves of
Colonization
After
the 1812 war with the
The
Colonization of Aboriginal peoples has generally been considered to have
operated in three waves:
1.
legal – legislation to identify and control the Aboriginal population through
the suppression of legal rights, based on the view of Aboriginal peoples and
communities as ‘savage’;
2.
administrative – a reserve system designed to isolate
Aboriginal groups and claim their traditional lands, based on the view of
Aboriginal peoples and communities as ‘heathen’; and
3.
ideological – the
However, a fourth
wave of colonization is currently oppressing the Aboriginal community, a medical
wave, made up of professional caregivers, treatment centres, and
others which encourage and provide so-called healing, based on the view of
Aboriginal peoples as ‘sick’ (Chrisjohn, Young, and Mauraun 1997; Thira, 2005).
The
first wave declared Aboriginal people to be ‘savages’ – incapable of properly
looking after themselves; they were unable to control their communities and
institutions, buy land, arrange bank-loans, or buy alcohol. Legislation
was designed to identify and control the Aboriginal population as well as their
traditional practices, which served spiritual, social, personal and economic
tasks essential to the cultural survival of their communities. The goal of such
legislation was to control and eventually assimilate the ‘Indians’ into the
social and economic mainstream. The ‘Department of Indian Affairs’ was
created to manage the lives of Aboriginal people and enforce the
criminalization of traditional cultural practices. Totem poles, ceremonial
objects such as masks, and regalia were destroyed or sold to collectors.
Native political, cultural and spiritual leaders were jailed for facilitating
such 'heathen practices' (Furness 1995). In 1920, the federal government
prohibited Natives from organizing to discuss the Land Question and it became a
crime to raise money to pursue Aboriginal title, an offense
punishable by fines or jail time. Nonetheless, the Native Brotherhood of BC was
formed in 1931 to secretly kept land claims discussions alive amongst
Aboriginals on the West Coast.
The
second wave was administrative, and involved community relocation and
the creation of reserves. Since the Aboriginal people were considered
'heathen', their territory was not considered 'settled' in a manner that
required the respect of Christian nations. Thus, it was deemed acceptable to
'conquer' the land, whether by force or 'acquiescence' (i.e. a lack of direct
resistance). Even land ceded to Aboriginal people by King George in his 1763
declaration was surveyed and sold. Many communities were forcibly re-located
from traditional locales to tiny reserves that had little resources to ensure
the continued survival of the community; but, these relocations opened up
traditional territories for non-Native resource use and allowed Aboriginal
people to be more easily administered by government. Communities were sometimes
moved to non-existent ‘new villages’ where they were left to freeze and starve.
Oftentimes ‘tribes’ were created as different – and often adversarial –
cultural groups were forced to live together. The term ‘chalk-board promise’
was coined by Aboriginal groups after Indian Agents made elaborate promises and
then, when the community was moved, erased the text of their promises from the
blackboard and burned the original village. In response to poor results--the
communities were still too strong in their economy and connection to their
territory--a pass system was instituted that required Natives to obtain a visa
in order to leave their reserves, and band money was put entirely in the hands
of non-native administrators. These impoverished conditions of reserves still
exist today; the current conditions of housing and sanitation on reserves have
been described by the United Nations as ‘third world’. Interestingly, this
Reserve model was inspected by South African investigators and provided the
model from which ‘Apartheid’ was designed (Milloy
1999).
Officially
designed to ‘protect’ and transform the ‘students’, Indian Residential Schools
were set up by the federal government, through several Christian denominations,
with the intent of 'civilizing' and converting Aboriginals to Christianity as
well as preparing them for employment as a cheap source of labour (Furness
1995). This third, ideological, wave of colonization declared Aboriginal
peoples to be ‘deficient’. Perhaps better described as genocidal
concentration camps for Aboriginal children (Francis 1992; Furness 1995; Wade
2000), the system separated children between the ages of five to seventeen from
their family and communities. Attendance was mandatory for all children and
estimates suggest that as many as 60% of the students died while in the
schools, largely due to illness, beatings, attempted escape, or suicide (Milloy 1999). Adhering to the Department of Indian Affairs'
statement that Aboriginal children must not be educated "above the
possibilities of their ‘station'", the schools' curriculum included moral
training (i.e. physical labour), academic training (even though many teachers
were insufficiently educated), and industrial training for farming and menial
labour (Chrisjohn, Young, and Mauraun
1997). As a result, more time was spent in vocational preparation (i.e. unpaid
labour) than in academic studies (Dion Stout 2003).
Physical, emotional, sexual and spiritual abuses were the norm, and humiliation
and beatings were a common response to any attempt at resistance, cultural
expression, or escape. In
The
three interventions have each generated profound negative impacts on Aboriginal
people in BC (see Table 1).
Table
1. Negative impacts on Aboriginal people as
a result of 3 waves of colonization
|
Relocation/Reserves |
Loss of Rights and
Criminalization of Culture |
Residential School
System |
|
loss of home/belonging |
loss of cultural traditions |
loss of family |
|
loss of economy/food source |
loss of ceremonial artefacts |
loss of culture/language |
|
loss of localized spiritual
places/culture/identity |
loss of history |
loss of identity/social role |
|
loss of lifestyle and freedom |
loss of sociocultural
identity |
loss of parenting and life skills |
|
|
loss of livelihood |
loss of self esteem/spirit |
|
|
|
loss of value (internalized racism) |
The Fourth Wave of Colonization:
Western 'Healing'
In response to these consequences, a
fourth, medical, wave of colonization and genocide has been created–a
social welfare industry made up of therapeutic foster homes, treatment
facilities, and consulting mental health and social service professionals (not
to mention researchers and academics) who have shifted the label from ‘savage’,
‘heathen’, and ‘deficient’ to “sick” Indian and/or community (Milloy 1999; Ward 2001). Aboriginal people and
communities are victims who now require help form the very colonizers who
harmed them. So-called 'Residential School Syndrome' (RSS) provides an
excellent example. RSS has been proposed as a form of mental illness with
symptoms that include the intrusion of terrifying memories and dreams, the
avoidance of anything that reminds one of
Mainstream (Western) treatment promotes
social assimilation (Atleo 1997); that is, its goal
is that Aboriginal 'patients' become content in spite of being oppressed.
Social change in the face of ongoing genocide is traded for ‘adjustment,’ or
the reduction of distress. Individuals are separated from their sociocultural and historical context. Notions of
individual pathology (symptoms due to an illness) replace that of social
oppression of a group. With Aboriginal clients, consultants and clinicians are
often guilty of false generosity–the exchange of apparent healing for further
supplication to hegemonic demands (Burman 1996; Freire 1990):
With the proliferation of practices that
defined the victims of violence as damaged, dysfunctional, or disordered, the
helping professions took up a highly specialized and critically important role
within the colonialist enterprise. Whereas the project of colonization was
directed against the deficient aboriginal [sic] (“for his own good”), the
deficiency-oriented practices promoted by the health professions have contributed
to a process of ‘psycholonization’, that is, the
inward movement of colonization, extended against the mind and spirit of the
violated individual (once again “for his own good”). In the discourse of
colonization, aboriginal persons were violated and displaced because they were
seen as deficient. In the discourse of psycholonization,
aboriginal persons are seen as deficient (damaged, disordered, dysfunctional,
etc.) because they were violated and displaced. (Stephenson 1995: 201)
This so-called 'psycholonization'
has allowed for the further exploitation of the population by generating a
'social welfare industry' in which money goes from government (non-native
oppressors) to distressed Aboriginal nations, bands and individuals and then
back to non-native agencies and clinicians, who are themselves party to the
oppressive source of the distress (Chrisjohn, Young,
and Mauraun 1997). As in the other three waves,
non-native people are gaining wealth and power at the cost of Aboriginal
empowerment in the face of ongoing oppression.
Breaking the Tide: Aboriginal Healing
Aboriginal healing is significantly
different from Western notions of healing and the confusion resulting from the
two definitions has been taken advantage of in the fourth wave.
Rather than to fix a pathology, Aboriginal healing is intended to balance the
four aspects of humanity (mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual) through
the interconnecting contexts of nature, community, family, and the individual,
and has been identified in the processes of social support, interpersonal
sharing, and learning, which includes cultural traditions, language, and formal
education (Dion Stout 2003). It is designed to
reaffirm cultural values and to integrate the individual in the context of the
community, establishing harmony and improving interpersonal relationships (Torrey 1972). Healing impacts individuals, families, and
the community simultaneously (Atleo 1997). Effective
intervention, then, must have the restoration of balance as its primary aim and
must operate at all levels of existence (personal, social, spiritual, and
natural), rather than treat a specific disease via individual pathologization and external interventions (Cross 1998;
Mussel, Cardiff, and White 2004). In addition, a mainstream approach
ignores the responsibility of the clinician’s role in confronting oppression
with the client (Prilleltensky 1994):
In an Aboriginal context this
responsibility includes the need to combat prejudice and to support Aboriginal
people in the pursuit of self-determination, healing and sustainable social and
economic development (Dion Stout 2003: 21).
Since the 1980s, there has been an Aboriginal reclamation of traditional belief
systems, practices, languages, and cultures in order to overcome personal
experience and problems (LaFramboise, Trimble, and Mohatt 1990). Communities have taken the opportunity to
care for their children and to reintegrate those previously lost in the
system. In many communities, cultural identity is being rekindled (or was
secretly maintained in the last century). In those communities where Elders
receive respect for their wisdom/experience, care for their well
being, and a meaningful community role, their suicide rate is almost
nonexistent compared to the dramatic increase in the suicide rate of senior
citizens (RCAP 1995; Thira 2005). Thus, the “cure”
for the impacts of colonization lies in: interventions that cultivate both
personal and collective empowerment of will and sprit; community caring and
respect; and spirituality, honour, and cultural pride through the promotion of
cultural identity and traditional values (LaFramboise,
Trimble, and Mohatt 1990; Mussel et al. 2004).
As McCormick (1997, 178) states, “First Nations people have recognized the
overwhelming need to be reconnected and so reclaim that which was taken, and
are now acting to reconnect and strengthen these bonds”. Other researchers have
also noted the importance of reclamation in overcoming the impacts of
colonization:
Beyond the multitude of individual
transformations from victim/abuser to contributing member of the community, and
examples of family healing, communities are transcending colonization through:
political advocacy and/or the development of self-government, the pursuit of land
claims and treaty rights, the building of Elder’s centres and the care of
Elders, language classes and recording Elders’ stories, mental health,
treatment, and family support program development, day cares, youth programs,
and retraditionalization. ...[O]ne of the most significant developments in recent decades
has been the resurgence of interest in Aboriginal culture and traditions. At
the individual level, this resurgence has promoted pride and self esteem... [with] ten distinct values or core beliefs associated with
the fostering resilience in Aboriginal settings. These include: spirituality;
the importance attached to child rearing and the extended family; the respect
for age, wisdom and tradition; respect for nature; generosity and sharing;
cooperation and group harmony; autonomy and respect for others; composure and
patience; relativity of time; and non-verbal communication (Dion
Stout 2003: 24-5).
A civil rights movement has paralleled
this Aboriginal cultural revitalization, resulting in National identity and the
development of a critical history. The result has been a renegotiation of the
relationship between Indigenous peoples and the dominant culture (i.e.,
government) (Wesley-Esquimaux and Smolewski
2004). It is the combination of individual and community reconnection and
empowerment and the development of a strong collective voice (in policy and
negotiation), that will result in the strength and compassion that can not only
withstand all four waves of colonizing oppression, but become a force of transformation
for Aboriginal people and non-natives alike.
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