[MUSIC] This lesson begins by taking a theoretical approach to the notion of community, and exploring what community means in relation to Indigenous peoples’ values. Often, the formation of a community is a natural progression that evolves and adapts to the needs of the people involved. It is based on a shared sense of unity amongst a group of people. There are multiple reasons why people amalgamate as a group. So let's talk about the various kinds of communities. How do these communities function, and what does it mean to be a member of a given community? Building a sense of community can take multiple forms that can be more figurative, social, or based on geography. For many Indigenous societies, there's a great emphasis on the value of community and the community's relationships, and the practice of reciprocity within it. Relationships among the members of community follow a practice of respect, and may involve specific elements and rules on membership. For example, one cannot just choose to become a member of Montreal Lake Cree Nation. There are membership guidelines that one must adhere to. The practice of reciprocity requires members to give back to the community when they take something or need some form of assistance. There are multiple ways in which to understand community. As we have learned in previous lessons however, we know Indigenous nations are peoples with complex political, cultural, spiritual, and social systems in place prior to European contact. These rights, responsibilities and freedoms are further recognized by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. To be clear, an Indigenous nation may see itself as a community, but there are many types of communities that are not nations in this respect. Nations may be communities but mythic, temporary invented and ongoing invented communities may not form nations. One way to look at the various kinds of communities can be divided into mythic communities, sited communities, temporary invented communities and ongoing invented communities. An additional note is that there are also multiple levels of communities. As a result, the formation of any kind of community creates a sense of identity. First, there is this mythic community that consists of a range of people who have shared values or experiences. For instance, there can be an Indigenous global community. Indigenous peoples across the globe share commonalities and experiences based on their histories of colonialism. It creates a sphere of commonality that comes from similar forms of oppression, dispossession of land, and fights for Indigenous rights. However, the concern with this kind of community is that it creates a broad unifying category. This large grouping of a community can diminish the distinctions among members that erase or override other important aspects about a group of people. In other words, an Indigenous global community risks overgeneralizing Indigenous people based on this one common principal theme of unification. Secondly, there is a sited community, which is a group of people that already share a sense of unity, either by location, or who thrive for a common goal. Examples of locations would be the Indigenous societies known to a specific location on North America, such as the Nehiyawak from the Plains, or Inuit from the northern Tundra. Acknowledging the groups that lived a mobile lifestyle, many Indigenous societies were connected to an area, which would be known as their traditional territory. A community that is more operational can take the form of Aboriginal student groups at a university. For example, at the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta, there is a Native Studies Student Association that represents students in Native Studies and builds this sense of community. Those who share a common purpose can be people that come together for social or political activism. Each of these creates a community based on these three different ties of unity. The third category of community is the temporary invented community that experiences a one-time feeling of unity. For instance, it can be a community formed based on a short term project. Lastly, there's the ongoing invented community, which is similar to the third, but remains functioning over time. For example, the creation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission brought together residential school survivors, family members experiencing intergenerational trauma, and others indirectly impacted by Indian residential schools. These historical memories and experiences of intergenerational trauma from residential schools mobilized this ongoing effort to acknowledge, share, and heal. Even though the last TRC event was held in 2014, there still remains the mandate to carry out the recommendations and initiatives given in the TRC report. Community is based on a common unity which brings together people of various and distinct backgrounds. The way a community forms is based on multiple reasons and actions that provide a space of belonging and identity. In order to more fully understand the formation of communities, we must look at more specific examples of social communities where Indigenous peoples have come together based on traditional structures and contemporary formations as collective activisms. Indigenous peoples' traditional formations of communities come in many shapes and forms. Indigenous peoples' traditional forms of community can be divided into cultural communities, tribal communities, and clan communities. Even kinship relations can form communities. One way of understanding a community based on the continuation of collective memories and histories is that it upholds this connection of unity. Remember the creation stories from lesson one about Wisacejak and Sky Woman? These stories reveal how communities function. The retelling of these stories that have been carried over generations. One can see how the practice of retelling these oral stories that come from specific Indigenous cultural communities help sustain a sense of unity over time. Another form of community may be seen in Indigenous kinship systems. Many Indigenous societies have blended families that integrate persons who are not necessarily an immediate or extended relative. This allows everyone to benefit from this family community. The practice of adopting someone into one's family creates this sense of community. The way a kinship operates allows member access to what an extended family community offers. The way this family community functions can be based on treating one or loving one as their own kin. Another example of this family community is seen in the Inuit kinship system, where families lived together and relied on one another in order to survive in northern regions. Inuit families depended on extended kinship networks. Each member performed specific tasks, and relied upon each other as family community. Settler colonialism dismantled Inuit extended family kinship systems and replaced it with nuclear family structure, a system of heteropatriarchy and capitalism. Throughout the process of colonization, there has been the pressure to adapt to such nuclear family units. The kinship systems of Indigenous peoples, like the Inuit family example, are dynamic and complex, and fit the notion of a social community. These are a few examples of social communities that many Indigenous peoples may have in common. There are cultural communities that share collective memories through the practice of oral tradition. There are also other characteristics of communities that distinguish between Indigenous peoples, such as specific territories, tribes, and clans. Examining more contemporary examples, through Indigenous peoples' collective action for social justice and environmental activism, one can begin to understand how and why social communities form. From these examples of traditional social communities in Indigenous societies, we can begin to understand community from an Indigenous perspective. Now we will look at some of the reasons in which social communities form. We can understand the creation of a collective group when looking at more contemporary examples of social and environmental activism. These examples show that individuals can share a common goal and purpose, as it build relations among a diverse group of people coming from different backgrounds. Many social justice and political movements form social communities that bring people together to fight for specific causes. When looking at the many protests and marches on missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirited peoples, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people align to push for social justice against gendered colonial violence. Over the decades, marches and vigils held for the missing and murdered created a social movement. Participants who are currently involved and socially active hold a communal memory of the past and demand a call to action. This social issue brought people from in and outside the Indigenous community together to commemorate the missing and murdered. Whether people come together to protect the land or demand clean water, it shows how peoples’ shared sense of value creates a collective group. The building of these alliances creates a unity, because it involves being around like-minded individuals who share a common view about a common cause. Another example of this type of collective engagement is the Idle No More movement that arose in 2012 and 2013. This movement created a large social community that expanded beyond national boundaries and gained international support. Idle No More brought people together from across the globe who shared the common belief and goal to protect the land and Indigenous rights. This is an example of a figurative community based on collective support for the environment. Idle No More gained traction through social media, protests, road blocks, and round dance flash mobs. Many scholars have connected both social and environmental movements, and reveal how control over and violence against Indigenous women's bodies and the land have been an ongoing colonial conquest. In 2014, thousands of people participated in the People's Climate March in New York City. People came together in solidarity to advocate for the protection of the environment and to stop climate change. Mobilized by Indigenous peoples from various parts of the world, this march is often referred to as Indigenous climate activism. The march created a figurative social community that united the voices of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. It engaged an Indigenous global community on a massive social scale, and aligned people interested in defending the land and working against climate change. Social media outlets are especially potent for these forms of activism, and have been powerful tools for media campaigns for environmental protection. Social and environmental concerns motivate people to come together as a community. This form of activism is based on Indigenous collective memories that reflect experiences of colonial oppression. Social communities formed within political activism involves the building and strengthening of relationships with Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. Although Idle No More began as an Indigenous social movement, it soon expanded to include non-Indigenous allies. [MUSIC]
