Anthropologists everywhere! Filming heavy metal with Sam Dunn

The first time I met Sam Dunn was in the smoking room (when those still existed) of a dive-y bar that my cohort of Dalhousie MA students used to ritually visit on Thursday wing-nights in Halifax. One of my colleagues, a die-hard metal fan and Marxist sociologist, called me over to his table and introduced us. Dunn had completed his MA at York in 2000, and we had both accepted offers to begin our PhDs in Social Anthropology at York University in Toronto in September, 2006.

By September, he decided to postpone and eventually declined his acceptance to the doctoral program -- with good reason!

Dunn had already filmed Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey (2005), and would soon film a sequel of sorts, Global Metal (2008). Yet, rather than a departure from anthropology, both of these films and others made throughout Dunn's career are informed by his anthropological training and perspective.

Besides being a cool example of what you can do with a degree in anthropology, I have found Dunn's work to be a really useful teaching tool. For instance, Global Metal is a great resource for teaching about globalization, and how cultural forms and practices are always reinterpreted locally, sometimes deeply changing the meaning of the original cultural producers.

Check out more about Dunn and the connection between his work and anthropological background in the following links... and more about finding anthropologists everywhere:

• Interview with Sam Dunn, BA '98 (University of Victoria: Alumni, 2017)
• Global Metal on The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos (Strombo, CBC, 2008)
• Chief Headbanger (York University Magazine, 2011)
• Applying an anthropological perspective outside of university (anthro everywhere!)
• To PhD or not to PhD... (anthro everywhere! July 13 2017) 
• Undergrad & MAs career paths (anthro everywhere! May 22 2017)

More on racist mascots

In my house, we are already two months into baseball season -- which also means the resurgence of critical blogs, news articles and discussions about racist mascots. We posted last year about Racist Mascots (11 April 2016), and this post adds to that earlier and ongoing discussion.

Native Mascots Perpetuate Racism Against Indigenous People

Last April as the Toronto Blue Jays battled through the American League Championship Series, Cleveland's team arrived in Toronto for Game 3 of the series amidst a legal challenge to ban the use of that team's racist mascot and name. Where many of the Cleveland fans interviewed by Canadian media feel that "the team's nickname and logo are not offensive and should not be changed," well-known Indigenous architect, activist, and officer of the Order of Canada Douglas Cardinal filed an injunction against the team's name and mascot as offensive and discriminatory. Douglas argued

that the logo reflects stereotypes and misunderstandings about indigenous cultures, lumping diverse groups of First Nations into one offensive, homogenous cartoon.
“It’s much deeper and more profound than a logo being offensive. It’s really an indicator of why that relationship (between First Nations peoples and society at large) is so flawed. Because there’s this lack of recognition of what the true conditions of native peoples have been over the last 500 years.”

The last-minute injunction was overturned by the Superior Court and Cleveland proceeded to wear their racism on their sleeves throughout the series.

The challenge to ban the broadcast of the name and mascot was successful, however, in raising this discussion again in mainstream media, and highlighting ways in which people in relative positions of power are already acknowledging the connections between this imagery and institutional racism against Indigenous peoples. For instance, much was made of how the long-time radio announcer for the Jays, Jerry Howarth, stopped calling Cleveland and Atlanta by their offensive team names since a 1992 letter from an Indigenous fan. This announcer has also made a concerted effort to stop using "terms such as tomahawk chop and powwow on the mound." Local teams with similarly offensive team names or mascots have also recently been called upon to change because of how these symbols perpetuate racism in the everyday.

Indigenous artists are also using these kinds of moments to speak back to and challenge these sports symbols of institutional racism. See for instance, Artists Respond to Cleveland Team’s Racist Logo (Canadian Art) or Culturally Appropriate Chicago Blackhawks Logo by First Nations Artist Goes Viral (Indian Country Today).

In the classroom, these team names and symbols provide fruitful examples for discussing how banal imagery comes to support the status quo of institutionalized racism, as well as more general questions of representation, cultural change and the invention of tradition.

Quick links:

• Racist Mascots (11 April 2016, anthro everywhere!)
• Canadian activist seeking injunction against use of ‘Cleveland Indians’ name (16 October 2016, Toronto Star)
• Cleveland Indians Can Use Logo and Name in Toronto, Canadian Judge Says (17 October 2016, New York Times)
• Blue Jays' radio voice Jerry Howarth sticks to 1992 vow to not say 'Indians' (11 October 2016)
• Native Mascots Perpetuate Racism Against Indigenous People (4 March 2016, HuffPost Canada)
• Cleveland Fans Say Team's Name 'Honours' Indigenous Culture (17 October 2016, HuffPost Canada)
• HuffPost Canada Will Not Be Using Racist Sports Team Names (13 October 2016, HuffPost Canada)
•  Artists Respond to Cleveland Team’s Racist Logo (18 October 2016, Canadian Art)
• Culturally Appropriate Chicago Blackhawks Logo by First Nations Artist Goes Viral (18 Vovember 2015, Indian Country Today)

Indigenous fire management

Indigenous knowledge and practices are increasingly recognized and incorporated by non-Indigenous governments, businesses, and others into their own projects. While these engagements may often take the form of cultural appropriation or theft, we also see collaborations that generate benefits for all, produce new shared knowledge and opportunities, as well as new questions and tensions.

Prescribed Burn in High Park, Toronto, Canada

In the news recently we read about local governments in Australia and Toronto, Canada incorporating Indigenous fire-management into forestry management. Known in forestry management as "asset burns" or "prescribed burns," these selective and controlled burns of dried vegetation in savannah ecosystems help to reduce dry-season wildfires. In Australia, "Indigenous rangers are collaborating with Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife rangers in Nitmiluk National Park to manage its savanna burning program, in an Australian-first agreement." This collaboration helps park and Indigenous rangers protect cultural artefacts like rock art in these areas, as well as creating carbon credits.

Historically, in the area that is today the City of Toronto's High Park, "Indigenous groups maintained fires when hunting and clearing riparian areas. European settlers suppressed the fires from the 1870s to 2000 due to safety concerns as houses were built in closer proximity to the park." In recent years, prescribed burns have been reincorporated into the human-plant relationship in this park, opening up space for anthropological interrogations of these relationships.

Anthropologist Natasha Myers's current project with Ayelen Liberona, "Becoming Sensor in Sentient Worlds" explores the possibilities of decolonizing ecology in urban park sites like Toronto's High Park. They write

Fire is of course not just a “natural” force; people all over the world use fire to sculpt lands. Oak savannahs depend on people with knowledge of fire and the skills to care for the lands. Toronto’s remnant black oak savannahas, including those in High Park, are millennia in-the-making.  These lands are the traditional territories of the Wendat, the Haudenosaunee and Anishnaabe Nations. Toronto stands on the lands of the Mississauga’s of the Credit River. Indigenous peoples cared for this land with fire for millennia before colonization. Many thousands of Indigenous and Métis peoples live and move through this region today.
Oak savannahs do not survive without people. After years of settlers’ grazing sheep and lawn mowers, Toronto’s Urban Forestry team have brought back the fires in an effort to save the oak savannahs.  Here “nature” is valued more than the Indigenous cultures that gave this land its contours and significance. In this sense, restoration efforts participate in an ongoing colonial project that continues to enforce the dispossession of Indigenous peoples from their lands. Can we do ecology otherwise?

How do these examples of Indigenous ways of caring for the plant-people relationship suggest other ways for thinking about "nature" and "natural environments"? How might these examples contribute to or provoke classroom discussions about systemic inequality, epistemology, and decolonization?

Quick links and further reading:

• Appropriating Indigenous Knowledge: Biopiracy or Scientific Colonialism (14 March 2016, anthro everywhere!)
• Valuing Aboriginal cultural knowledge in Western science (2 June 2016, anthro everywhere!)
• Reviving food diversity through Indigenous knowledge (1 September 2016, anthro everywhere!)
• All About High Park’s Controlled Burns (2016)
• Becoming Sensor in Sentient Worlds project page
• High Park's Oak Savannahs
• Johnson, Jon. 2013. The Indigenous Environmental History of Toronto, “The Meeting Place”. In L. A. Sandberg, S. Bocking, & K. Cruikshank (Eds.), Urban Explorations: Environmental Histories of the Toronto Region (pp. 59–71). Ontario: Wilson Institute for Canadian History.
• Update 29 May 2017: A link to Myer's longer paper Becoming Sensor in Sentient Worlds: A More-than-natural History of a Black Oak Savannah via her academia.edu page

Imaginative Ethnography Syllabi (CIE)

The Centre for Imaginative Ethnography has gathered links to a number of syllabi that "attend to some combination of performance, theatre, visual media, writing and ethnography."

This treasure trove includes inspiration from courses such as:

• GIRL STORIES: RACE, POLITICS, AND PEDAGOGY, Melissa Harris-Parry and Dani Parker
• ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE SENSES, Zulfikar Hirji and Natasha Myers, Department of Anthropology, York University
• and ETHNOGRAPHIC FILM: HISTORY AND THEORY OF ETHNOGRAPHIC REPRESENTATION ON FILM AND VIDEO, Deborah Matzner, Department of Anthropology, Wellesley College

You might also wish to have a look CIE's page on "Pedagogical Experiments" or our page on Reading Lists & Syllabi Resources.

Indigenous cultural appropriation?

In June we posted an article from The Atlantic on The do's and don'ts of Cultural Appropriation. In that post I suggested that the article, with its focus on fashion and written from the perspective of a white woman in North America, might be useful for provoking or starting a discussion with students about the issue of cultural appropriation.

In the context of contemporary Indigenous rights and cultural activism, this interview from Fader (a music and lifestyle magazine) with an Indigenous clothing-designer and artist provides an interesting twist and greater nuance to discussions of cultural appropriation in fashion.

In "This Is What Happens When Indigenous Artists Do Their Own Appropriating" (2016), Sage Paul discusses her work as an Indigenous artist (Dene) in the fashion industry, and the connections of her work to indigenous culture, cultural identity and activism, as well as the wider world of fashion.

 Jeneen Frei Njootli with Rodrigo HGz / Photo by Krissy Ballanger (Fader Magazine)

Paul is based in Toronto and runs the Setsuné Fashion Incubator with Erika Iserhoff. In this interview, Paul addresses the complexities of her intersectional identity, work, and the power dynamics of cultural appropriation.

"... the idea of cultural appropriation isn’t new to me. I really feel that in the last few years it’s been trendy again to be native. What upsets me about cultural appropriation is the sense of entitlement that comes along with it. The dominant society really feels, like, It’s just beautiful, you know? I think you're overly sensitive about us using this thing. We want to celebrate beautiful Indigenous women. Well actually, Indigenous women are the lowest class of people in this country right now and to use them as an object just keeps us as this objectified, exotic, fantasy image as opposed to beautiful, strong women who are doing work and have a voice, words, and ideas to share. Now, I want to talk about the people who are actually that culture, rather than people who are stealing. So: talk about Indigenous artists, and celebrate and support Indigenous-made work."

Instructors might wish to couple this article with our previous post to add nuance and an alternative perspective to a discussion about cultural appropriation in the context of fashion. This interview would also be interesting to think about in a discussion of representation, authenticity, or reviving traditional knowledge and practices.

Quick links & additional reading:

• "This Is What Happens When Indigenous Artists Do Their Own Appropriating" (2016, Fader)
• Setsuné Fashion Incubator
• How Indigenous artists are taking back what the fashion industry stole (2016, CBC)
• The do's and don'ts of Cultural Appropriation (anthro everywhere! 13 June 2016)
• Cultural appropriation versus appreciation (anthro everywhere! 22 February 2016)
• Other posts from anthro everywhere! on "cultural appropriation"

The dos & don'ts of Cultural Appropriation

In "The Dos and Don’ts of Cultural Appropriation" (2015, The Atlantic), author Jeni Avins argues that cultural appropriation can actually be a positive thing. Heavily focused on the issue of cultural appropriation in fashion, Avins declares,

At my house, getting dressed is a daily act of cultural appropriation, and I’m not the least bit sorry about it. ...

As I dress in the morning, I deeply appreciate the craftsmanship and design behind these items, as well as the adventures and people they recall. And while I hope I don’t offend anyone, I find the alternative—the idea that I ought to stay in the cultural lane I was born into—outrageous. No matter how much I love cable-knit sweaters and Gruyere cheese, I don’t want to live in a world where the only cultural inspiration I’m entitled to comes from my roots in Ireland, Switzerland, and Eastern Europe.

Before you write this piece off as ethnocentric and privileged (or even generously, naive and frivolous)... Avins does lay out some arguments and cases for how and when cultural appropriation may be okay:

1. Blackface Is Never Okay
2. It’s Important to Pay Homage to Artistry and Ideas, and Acknowledge Their Origins
3. Don’t Adopt Sacred Artifacts as Accessories
4. Remember That Culture Is Fluid
5. Don’t Forget That Appropriation Is No Substitute for Diversity
6. Engage With Other Cultures on More Than an Aesthetic Level
7. Treat a Cultural Exchange Like Any Other Creative Collaboration—Give Credit, and Consider Royalties

Instructors may consider using this piece as a way of provoking or introducing class discussion around issues of cultural appropriation. Angles to consider might include how processes of globalization affect what cultural appropriation means, or how historical power relations play out today in such banal parts of our lives as fashion.

The state of indigenous language and culture in Canada

The Canadian government's program of cultural genocide in residential schools included the erasure of aboriginal languages. In Undoing Linguicide (an hour long audio documentary for CBC Radio's Ideas from the Trenches series), PhD student Lorena Fontaine talks about the fight for the recognition of indigenous language and language rights in Canada.

Interestingly, in two Canadian cities, we also see a recognition and celebration of indigenous traditions and voices in institutional settings:

• Edmonton's Kiwanis Festival makes history by celebrating Cree, Métis culture (2016, Edmonton Journal).
• Halifax names Mi'kmaq slam poet Rebecca Thomas new poet laureate (2016, CBC's Unreserved)