On The Land
On the land, Learning to Listen is grateful for the participation and guidance of W̱SÁNEĆ (W̱SÍ,ḴEM) artist and land steward Sarah Jim. Sarah holds a BA in Fine Arts from UVic, is the leader of the W̱SÍ,ḴEM Ivy Project (WIP), and a senior crew member at PEPÁKEṈ HÁUTW̱. Her art reflects the land-based and community relationships that inform Sarah, and they are an expression of her perspective, her imagining and manifesting a W̱SÁNEĆ future on her territories, and reflect her abilities and power as a teacher. It is deeply humbling to be able to work with Sarah on her lands, and to support her vision of Resurgence.
Beginning in spring 2023, parts of the land-based community work have been taking place in support of the Lekwungen Community Toolshed under the guidance (and invitation) of lək̓ʷəŋən land defender Cheryl Bryce (Songhees), and we are grateful and humbled for this chance to witness Indigenous governance and sovereignty on these territories, and learn from Cheryl. Cheryl works around community support and sovereignty specifically around food systems, and Cheryl’s works have included ecological stewardship on and off reservation lands, including Cheryl’s Colonial Reality Tours, and her land defence of the SPAET caves in what is now called Bear Mountain.
Based out of ȽÁU, WELṈEW̱, the W̱SÁNEĆ Tribal School, PEPAKEṈ HÁUTW̱ (PH, the Blossoming Place in SENĆOŦEN) is an Indigenous-led organization that focuses on “practicing land-based education & ecosystem restoration” to restore the food systems and ecologies of W̱SÁNEĆ territory while facilitating the chance for members of the community to (re)new their connections with territory. PH has been working to restore SṈIDȻEȽ (the place of the blue grouse), the first W̱SÁNEĆ village site, and have been bringing settlers into relationship with W̱SÁNEĆ community members and territory through their land-based work. Because of the relationship Sarah Jim and friends like Hannah Glass (Cree, Métis, and Scottish – PH’s Volunteer Coordinator) now hold with members of the Learning to Listen community, it’s been impossible not to show up for the work PH is doing on the land, and they have our gratitude for their guidance, teachings, and sharing time on the land with us.
Supervisors
This project cannot be undertaken without the wisdom and guidance of my (Kikila) supervisors at UVic. Both are very dedicated individuals who are community-driven and focus on Indigenous Resurgence (Jeff) and community empowerment (Crystal) through methodologies and perspectives that are centred in anti-oppression and non-western/European/Occidental/hegemonic (the shapeshifting colony goes by many names). It is truly an honour for me to work with them, to learn from them, and to witness the impacts of their work.
Ganohalidoh (Jeff Corntassel)
Jeff is Tsaligi (Cherokee Nation) and holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Arizona. He is currently an associate professor of Indigenous Studies at UVic and the Associate Director for the Centre for Indigenous Research and Community-Led Engagement (CIRCLE). He’s also a stand-up comic. What draws me to Jeff is his work as an activist-scholar who is able to analyze from the mind and write from the heart. His work on Indigenous Resurgence that includes a “turning away” from the colony and the re-centring of Indigenous ways of knowing and being on Indigenous territories through re-storying greatly influence the work of this project.
Crystal Tremblay
Crystal is a European-descended settler who holds a PhD from UVic in Geography, where she is now an Assistant Professor and is also UVic’s Special Advisor on Community Engaged Scholarship. Crystal’s work focuses community engaged scholarship, environmental sustainability, critical pedagogy, and feminist theories. Her community-based work in with recycling cooperatives in São Paulo, Brazil that explored individual and community empowerment, the methods she developed there, and her attention to the spatial organizations of community and power influence this project.
Committee
All interdisciplinary projects at UVic, like pretty much all graduate degrees, are reviewed and guided by a Committee. This actually sits well with the nature of this project as my (Kikila) intention has been for this to be a community effort, done in ways that support and uplift voices that are not as privileged as mine, that being held accountable to a community is very grounding, even if done through the academy. It is a great honour to be able to work with my committee members on this project, and to learn from their experiences and wisdom.
Ann Stahl
Ann is an anthropological archaeologist (UVic, Dept of Anthropology) who works mostly in the rural Banda area of west central Ghana with focuses on public archaeology and digital heritage – making archaeology accessible to the people and communities in which she works. What drew me to Ann was her dedication to “the active role of material culture in social negotiations and culture-making practice.” Her work on materials and materiality on human life and culture inform this project.
Darcy Mathews
Darcy is an ethnoecologist and an archaeologist (UVic, School of Environmental Studies) who works with Indigenous individuals and communities to better understand the deeply rooted, place-based nature of Indigenous landscapes. Through his work, Darcy makes visible the long relationship between place and people, how each are intertwined together and inseparable in how what impacts one impacts the other. His place-based work and his ability to cultivate deep relationships influence this project.