Monday, June 9, 2014

Weaving Mi’kmaq history

How can we preserve Mi'kmaq culture and language?
"Ursula Johnson's solo, nationally touring exhibit, Mi'kwite'tmn (Do You Remember), curated by the gallery's director Robin Metcalfe, challenges the way First Nations art and artifacts have been locked away in museums. "A museum is so much associated with dead things," she says in an interview in the gallery. "The culture is always living and existing and changing." She wants to create a dialogue between First Nations communities and art institutions on who preserves and converses aboriginal language and culture. "Whose responsibility is it? Who determines what is authentic? How can we preserve culture and language?"

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Drew Haden Taylor On Aboriginal Humour

Drew Haden Taylor and "Me Funny."
"Drew Hayden Taylor is an Ojibway from Ontario's Curve Lake Reserve. A playwright and columnist, Taylor spent 15 years writing and researching aboriginal humour. His book, "Me Funny" is a collection of essays on humour by native writers. He believes aboriginal humour, which tends to be self-deprecating, has been an important survival tool used to help them through difficult times, such as colonization, residential schools and adoptions. (Originally aired June 2006)"

He also talks about what it means to "look Indian".

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