Kanien Kehaka Indigenous People Sparknotes

Indigenous storytelling can be understood as a way of both resisting and amending the dominant colonial histories that inform the subaltern position of Indigenous people within Canada, alongside a means of reclaiming identity and sovereignty within a globalized neoliberal political economy. These practices are narratives of resistance, which symbolize the cultural, political and intellectual struggles of the Indigenous people in Canada, subsequently redefining their position within society. By examining the story of the naming of Canada told by the Kanien’kehaka people of the Haudensosaunee nation, we can see how the collective values of the group are conveyed and how the development of an ethic group boundary as defined by Fredrick Barthes
and explicated by Michael Rosenberg in “The Ethnic Community: A Systematic Model” is important in forming a distinct identity. This identity is defined by Indigenous people, in opposition to the Euro-settler population of Canada and creates a sense of solidarity essential to attaining political ends. In the traditional story of the Kanien’kehaka Indigenous people, it is said that Canada was named after the traditional word Kanatiens meaning, “they sit in our village”.
This story is important because it situates Indigenous people within the historic and contemporary nation building processes of Canada and connects their original claim to the land with the the colonial injustices of Europeans. In depicting Europeans as a settler population within Canada, Indigenous people are able to redefine their identity as intrinsically linked to their original land rights. This identification conflicts with the Eurocentric portrayal of Indigeneity, which treats Indigenous Canadians as Other. In addition, this self-segregation by Indigenous populations “…implies a high degree of solidarity among group members” (Rosenberg, 24). This is crucial in creating political unity and achieving collective political aspirations. This story, in reflecting the values of the Indigenous populations within Canada as connected to access to the land, can be linked to a variety of movements within the local political landscape of Canada such as, the idle no more movement and the recent opposition to the Northern Gateway pipeline development. All of which are concerned with the issue of Indigenous land
rights. The relationship between ethnic communities and the state, in this instance the relationship between Indigenous Canadian communities and the Canadian nation is informed by specific histories, political intentions, and the development of specific organizational and institutional structures. In this context the process of colonialism where Indigenous people were displaced from their traditional homelands, subject to policies of assimilation and subsequently striped of their languages and cultures (Corntassal, 2) was the way in which the state demarcated its relationship with Indigenous communities. Rosenberg extends this notion of relationship formation beyond the dialectics of the state and ethnic communities in the following passage, “The state by its policies and actions has given a shape to the internal organization of ethnic groups” (Rosenberg, 47). In this way we can see how the relationship defined by the state and Indigenous communities goes beyond specific historical processes to actually defining the internal structure of ethnocized groups, such as the Indigenous communities of Canada. In this way we can see how Canadian policies have not only informed the relationship between ethnic communities but also how they have defined the internal make up of institutions in this particular example, the Assembly of First Nations, various First Nations bands and councils and other institutions which were formed both in response to and alongside the policies of the Canadian state. Traditional story telling is an important cultural expression, which bolsters cultural, political and economic resurgence movements at local and global levels. This particular story of the naming of Canada conveys how the dialectical relationship between the environment and Indigenous people has historically intersected with the colonial expropriation of land.