Shashish|Anutshish : a virtual museum to explore past and present First Nations culture.
Home
Community
Heritage
Collection
Uashat mak Mani-Utenam
Videos / testimonies
Flash must be installed to play these video clips
Testimonial by Jean St-Onge
Testimonial by Lauréat Moreau
Testimonial by Laurette Grégoire
Testimony by Camilienne Pinette
Testimony by Jeanne-Mance Ambroise
Testimony by Élise DubucMemories of the Land
From Memories of the Land to Innu utinniun
The Memories of the Land project was launched in 2003 in the two-part Innu community of Uashat mak Mani-Utenam, near the city of Sept-Îles, on Quebec's North Shore. In partnership with the academics and community members, the experimental project attempted to find ways for community members to define and express their own view of culture and, ideally, to make culture an essential part of community development. The project first looked at the links between the community members and their land, and hence their history, and then expanded to take in the ways in which today's living Innu culture is expressed and how it can be communicated. Innu utinniun became an opportunity for sharing, questioning and action, one in which the transmission of culture and the future of the Innu language were crucial considerations. The individual participants gave generously of their time, encouraging each other and developing creative means to contribute to the project, all while continuing to look at the issue from the viewpoint of the community as a whole.
This approach is unlike the usual practice, in which people recognized as culture "experts," most often from outside the community, use general criteria to dictate the nature of culture, what must be recognized and preserved, and impose their definition on local people. In this case, it is community members who are "experts on traditional customs." Hugues de Varine, who inspired this approach, proposed this concept as a way of emphasizing the experience of the main players and users and recognizing the key role of local people in defining, using and perpetuating their own culture.
A project that involves the community
Our project is inspired by the work of Paulo Freire, an educator, reformer and philosopher who, in the 1960s, managed to mobilize the people of Brazil, many of whom had been abandoned by their government. In its application to the cultural milieu, our project differs from the usual practice, in which people recognized as culture "experts" - most often from outside the community - use general criteria to dictate the nature of culture and what must be recognized and preserved, and impose their definition on local people. In our case, it is community members who are seen as "experts on traditional customs." Hugues de Varine, who is helping with the approach, proposed this concept as a way of emphasizing the experience of the main players and users and recognizing the key role of local people in defining, using and perpetuating their own culture.
Establishing a study group
In the project's first year, with the help of Réginald Vollant, we set up a study group involving balanced numbers of members from both parts of the community, i.e. Uashat et Mani-utenam. This initial phase was considered a success, especially because of the balanced representation of the parties and also because the group, which examined culture on a very broad level, overcoming political, social and economic differences, was a voluntary body drawn from the community. Participants had the opportunity to express their pride and evoke and revive the practice of sharing and helping one another, as people were more apt to do in former times. Over the years the group, still reflecting its community, grew and changed. Meetings, often in the form of sharing experiences over coffee or a good meal, gave everyone a chance to discuss his or her aspirations, dreams and hopes. They also provided an opportunity to consider the fundamental issues revolving around culture and how to pass it on, as well also a chance to decide on the nature and usefulness of co-operation with the academic representatives involved.
Experimentation
When a community defines and expresses its culture, the concept of territory is a fundamental aspect. Many of the methods developed for this purpose are based on its bonds with the land, its past and the way it interacts with the land now. The history of how colonial authorities robbed Natives of their land and confined them to reserves, as well as the current unresolved situation, obliged us to take a different approach.
Inventing a new approach
The study group adapted the method by identifying, for each participant, ten elements with significance for the individual and his or her family and group. This might be an event, a person, a place, an object, a relationship, a value, a recipe or a memory. Then, over the course of several meetings, the study group combined all the elements identified into significant categories. To include the important elements for all groups in the community, participants in the first round of meetings led similar exercises with groups of young people, more experienced, sometimes older people, and other, possibly marginalized community members.
Exhibition and creation as a means of increasing awareness, expression and sharing
After these important elements had been collected and their amalgamation into significant categories had been discussed, it was important to share the information gathered by the different groups. The idea was to encourage interaction and participation by a constantly increasing number of community members. Exhibitions were put on for larger and larger audiences, and there are more to come. The way ideas took shape and were exhibited leads to new questions and calls for new consensus on how to represent them.
The institutional partners for this project, mainly museums in Native communities, are quite interested in our method. Some of them play a larger role in this participatory, community approach.
Participatory inventory
In conjunction with our sharing and study activities by the constantly expanding Innu utinniun group, in 2006 we began producing an inventory on a grander scale. Here, too, we have taken a participatory approach, as it is specially trained community members who conduct the inventory themselves, recording and illustrating with photographs the information gathered from family members, extended groups and, eventually, the entire community.
By Élise Dubuc, with France Tardif Spring 2007