Overview:
This assignment invites you to reflect critically on the relationship between your present associations with contemporary Vancouver, and what you have learned about the place after having read E. Pauline Johnson’s Legends of Vancouver.
Choose one of the following stories from E. Pauline Johnson’s Legends of Vancouver:
“Siwash Rock”; “Point Grey”; “The Lure in Stanley Park”; “Deadman’s Island;” “Deer Lake”Decide whether you would like to write a reflection paper or record a podcast.
Consider the generic differences between podcasts and formal written assignments. While a podcast is a relatively more informal genre than a paper, a level of formality is still expected and your claims should still be adequately supported by sources; listen to podcasts we’ve discussed during this course (and in your other CAP courses) like Scene on Radio or Rabbit Hole for examples of podcasting tone.
Your script should still be 650–700 words (unspoken script cue material excepted), which means your podcast should be roughly 5 minutes long.
Define your research site.
Make a visit to the physical location of the Johnson story you’ve chosen and record notes about your experience.
Consult Dr. Shield’s story map to find the location of your chosen story via the following link:
https://simonfraseru.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=df23c82c36eb489d83e3c086264e1668
You may also consult the map at www.legendsofvancouver.net. If you are still unsure about how to find the site after viewing this site, contact the instructor.
OPTIONAL: Look up news coverage of the Indigenous history of the area to contextualize your sense of Indigenous presence outside Johnson’s own. Engage with this material in a BRIEF way to contextualize Johnson’s account.
4. Write a paper or script that reflects on the relationship between the culturally dominant perception of this place, and your own experience of visiting the site as informed by your reading of Johnson
Describe your site visit in detail, both in terms of how it does and does not acknowledge Indigenous history or presence.
Reflect on the difference between visiting this area without any prior knowledge of its Indigenous meaning, and how you experience it with an awareness of the complexity of its history. What difference does it make to your experience of the space because you have read Johnson’s story?
Frame your own relationship with the space NOT as opinion, but instead in relation to the outside factors that likely influence it, considering the role of history and the social categories that inform your identity.
Your reflection above needs to be framed in relation to critical concepts. Choose one of the key abstractions from Kramer or Younging, and discuss how it applies differently in this case to the example she takes up (see Giltrow on extended definition). Such abstractions include:
figurative repatriation
artist–warrior
ownership
Indigenous Voice
impostor literature
