A series on issues that beg the question.
Jodi Bruhn| March 10, 2017
On surfing and strawberry tea: how your spring break could promote reconciliationThis article first appeared in the March 9 2017 edition of the Ottawa Citizen.
Next week, many winter-weary Ottawa families will head south for spring break. If you’re lucky enough to travel, Henry Miller has some advice. The American author described one’s destination as “never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” So how about it? Wherever you go, how about seeking that fresh perspective? Maybe it’ll be Cuba, Mexico, the Dominican Republic. Or Hawaii: the Big Island, for example, where this traveller went last year. In the course of relaxing, the place might also help you see things—indigenous/ settler things—with fresh eyes. Take surfing, for example. The Kona Coast surfers look like seals at first, bobbing out past where ordinary mortals venture. They let most waves pass through them; then miraculously, they’re up, like heroes of old, sliding over and inside the chosen white-capped wave as it breaks, then returning for the next one. It turns out that surfing was a Native Hawaiian invention. Captain Cook’s first lieutenant sketched Hawaiians surfing off that same Kona coast in 1779. The surfers blessed their boards with chants, asking the responsible gods to give them courage. Watching surfers now, you realize that the ancient Hawaiians were right: there is something religious about it– for both surfer and spectator. But maybe snorkelling’s your thing. The best snorkeling on the Big Island may be at Captain Cook, in Kealakekua Bay, where the legendary English explorer died in 1779. Cook had named the isolated Polynesian islands the Sandwich Islands after he “discovered” them the year before. But Kealakekua Bay was sacred to the people who lived there. By Cook’s third visit, he was no longer welcome. The Hawaiians hurled rocks at his ship. One chief was shot and Cook was clubbed to death —two early, vivid casualties in the history of Indigenous-European relations on the islands. The Honolulu newspapers turn up a contemporary item of interest. Last February, Native Hawaiians held a month-long convention—an aha, as they call it—on how to reconstitute themselves as a nation. This year, convention delegates are planning a ratification vote on the constitution they created, despite misgivings about the support they can expect from the Trump administration. .... Full article: http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/bruhn-how-spring-break-could-promote-indigenous-reconciliation |
Posts in the SeriesMay 2020
Indigenous women to the barricades: a book review September 2017 Indigenous rights are human rights: a reminder from Argentina March 2017 On surfing and strawberry tea: how your spring break could promote reconciliation September 2016 The right guy at the right time: Gord Downie's contribution to reconciliation Janvier 2016 Encore une Commission... June 2015 Munich, 1933: The good bureaucrat, Josef Hartinger November 2014 Addressing the language of the Aboriginal/settler relationship June 2014 From big to better data through indigenous data governance January 2014 Toast to those who showed courage in public life October 2013 Excellence is everywhere: Blueprint 2020 and the future of the public service April 2013 Time to investigate options for resource revenue sharing December 2012 Speaking of accountability: examining the relationship of First Nation voters to their governments About the AuthorJodi Bruhn is the director of Stratéjuste Canada. She spent two weeks on a Big Island beach last February.
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