The Settlement Myth

From UBC Wiki

The Settlement Myth

The Settlement Myth seeks to validate the notion of Terra Nullius within the historical narrative of the "New World." It is a narrative that forges a history which implies the colonial conquering of a vacant or unused land, followed by its development into a "civilized" settlement. The Myth constructs a heritage built on an idealization of an unwavering strength, persistence, and courage of the colonial settlers, whose conquest afforded them the possession of the land that they had successfully "defeated". History, by this understanding, begins with the arrival of the colonists to the New World. To accept The Settlement Myth as an authoritative narrative of North American history is to deny the existence of a rich and accomplished Indigenous past, prior to the invasion of European settlers. For the reason that the Settlement Myth generally becomes the dominant narrative in representations of the North American past, colonialism remains a "complex and ongoing project."[1]

"Predatory Heritage"

Predatory Heritage refers to the governing or management of integral details within a narrative to determine what constitutes history. The term was developed by social-cultural anthropologist Argun Appardurai, who regards historical and archeological knowledge as "a contingent process linked to globalization." [2] Appardurai suggests that while there are some forms of heritage that are "tolerant and respectful of cultural diversity", Predatory heritage involves the elimination of less authoritative heritages by the dominant voice; it refuses to coexist.[3] One may only need to look at the major streets, bridges, or landmarks in their city to comprehend what or who society deems worthy of remembering.

CITY MAJOR STREET/LANDMARK PERSON OF SIGNIFICANCE HISTORY
Vancouver Burrard Street Sir Harry Burrard British General (1 June 1755 – 17 October 1813)[4]
Vancouver Granville Street/Granville Island Granville Leveson-Gower British Liberal Statesman (11 May 1815 – 31 March 1891)[5]
Vancouver Stanley Park Frederick Stanley British Conservative Party Politician (15 January 1841 – 14 June 1908)[6]
Vancouver Seymour Street Frederick Seymour Colonial Administrator- Second Governor of the Colony of British Columbia (6 September 1820 – 10 June 1869) [7]
Vancouver Hastings Street George Fowler Hastings British Officer of the Royal Navy (28 November 1814 – 21 March 1876)[8]
Victoria/New Westminster Douglas Street/Douglas College/James Bay James Douglas British Colonial Governor and Fur-Trader (August 15, 1803 – August 2, 1877)[9]
Burnaby/Fraser Valley Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser Scottish Explorer and Fur Trader (20 May 1776 – 18 August 1862)[10]
Kamloops Thompson River/ Thompson Rivers University David Thompson British Surveyor and Fur-Trader (April 30, 1770 – February 10, 1857)[11]
Kelowna Bernard Avenue Bernard Lequime Early American Settler to Okanagan Mission (1857-?)[12]
Kelowna Harvey Avenue James Edwin Harvey Prominent White Commercial Business Man Arrived to Kelowna in 1905 [13]
Kelowna Pandosy Street Charles John Adolf Felix Marie Pandosy French Missionary Arrived to land that would become Kelowna in 1859 [14]
Penticton Ellis Street/Ellis School/Ellis Orchard/Ellis Ranch Thomas Ellis Irish Settler Arrived to land that would become Penticton in the early 1860s [15]

Indigenous peoples lived and thrived on the lands that now are called British Columbia long before colonial settlement, with diverse and unique cultures and nations. First Nations of British Columbia Many major cities in Canada were settled and built on unceded land belonging to unique indigenous groups. Vancouver itself was built upon unceded Coast Salish Territory.

Doctrine of Discovery

The Doctrine of Discovery is a doctrine based invalidly on the racial superiority of Christian Europeans, and allowed them to occupy any land that they could "better" through settlement, "humanly practices" (as they viewed indigenous peoples as "wild"), and converting residing indigenous groups to Christianity. It is through the Doctrine of Discovery that terra nullius, the occupation of "unused land", was able to occur. The idea of "discovery" was used as a "as framework for justification to “dehumanize, exploit, enslave and subjugate indigenous peoples and dispossess them of their most basic rights, laws, spirituality, worldviews and governance and their lands and resources”. When discussing the Settlement Myth, terra nullius, or other colonial practices and concepts (such as conquest, "uti possidetis", and other ways of gaining and controlling land and its residents), the Doctrine of Discovery is an important factor that empowered many of these concepts (Williams, 1990).

History Lesson

In an introduction to a creative critique of the Settlement Myth, David Jefferess asserts, "[w]e need to understand this myth, and the idea of predatory heritage, not just in terms of the WHAT of history—what is remembered and what is left out—but HOW the stories are told, WHO has the power or opportunity to tell them, and the PURPOSE of these stories."[16] As it is generally presented by education systems, museums, and historical commemorations, the historical narrative of European settlement in North America is dictated by a singular perspective. Jeannette Armstrong's poem, History Lesson confronts this biased narrative to question the accuracy of a past that idealizes one group to the point of heroism and simultaneously omits another.

The Authority of a Written Language

It is commonly argued that the colonial perspective is given the authority to dictate history for the reason that it was meticulously documented. Part of the beauty of N’silxchn and other Indigenous languages is that they were developed solely for the spoken word; they are traditionally unwritten.[17] Colonial history capitalizes on this unique expression through the self biased construction that unites the written word with authority. As Linda Tuhiwai Smith asserts, “[w]riting has been viewed as the mark of a superior civilization and other societies have been judged, by this view, to be incapable of thinking critically and objectively, or having distance from ideas and emotions”[18] For the reason that modern society continues to grant authority to the written word in history, this view remains unchanged.

References

  1. http://www.ubc.ca/okanagan/fccs/programs/undergraduate/culturalstudies/who-students/projects.html
  2. Contemporary Archaeology in Theory: The New Pragmatism edited by Robert W. Preucel, Stephen A. Mrozowski
  3. Contemporary Archaeology in Theory: The New Pragmatism edited by Robert W. Preucel, Stephen A. Mrozowski
  4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Harry_Burrard,_1st_Baronet,_of_Lymington
  5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granville_Leveson-Gower,_2nd_Earl_Granville
  6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Stanley,_16th_Earl_of_Derby
  7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Seymour
  8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Fowler_Hastings
  9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Douglas_(governor)
  10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Fraser_(explorer)
  11. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Thompson_(explorer)
  12. http://www.ubc.ca/okanagan/fccs/__shared/assets/Settler_Melankelownia46827.pdf
  13. http://www.ubc.ca/okanagan/fccs/__shared/assets/Settler_Melankelownia46827.pdf
  14. http://www.ubc.ca/okanagan/fccs/__shared/assets/Settler_Melankelownia46827.pdf
  15. http://www.ubc.ca/okanagan/fccs/__shared/assets/Settler_Melankelownia46827.pdf
  16. http://www.ubc.ca/okanagan/fccs/__shared/assets/Settler_Melankelownia46827.pdf
  17. Armstrong, Jeannette. "Land Speaking," 188.
  18. Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. “Imperialism, History, Writing and Theory.” Postcolonialisms: An Anthology of Cultural Theory and Criticism. Ed. Gaurav Desai and Supriya Nair. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2005. 94-116. Print.


http://www.ubc.ca/okanagan/fccs/__shared/assets/Settler_Melankelownia46827.pdf

http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1289501?uid=3739400&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=3737720&uid=4&sid=21104992442897