The Film ‘Indian Horse’ revealed the behind story of the indigenous people in Canada.
Xiaoyan Song
“What would you do if your language and culture were banned and you had to leave your parents to go to a residential school?”
It is a seemingly unfair question, but this race-related social phenomenon did exist in Canada a hundred years ago. If you have watched film Indian Horse, you will better understand the enormous impact the Canadian residential school system had on the indigenous people of that time.
Residential Schooling in Canada
The Canadian boarding school system, which began in the 1880s, was established by the Canadian government to educate Aboriginal children in the Canadian Christian way of life and to help them integrate into mainstream white Canadian society.
As a result of the schools, generations of Aboriginal people grew up with limited parenting experience and were often traumatized by what they endured.
Indeed, the system forcibly separates indigenous children from their families for long periods and prohibits them from acknowledging their Indigenous heritage and culture or speaking their language. If Aboriginal children violate the school’s strict rules, they are subject to severe physical and psychological punishment.
Besides, these schools are often overcrowded, understaffed and underfunded. Disease, fire and malnutrition all brought death and suffering.
‘Indian Horse’ film expressing the injustice suffered by indigenous people
The film Indian Horse, restores the indigenous education experience in a boarding school. The coercive behaviors are designed to assimilate indigenous children into the dominant culture. For example, the main character Saul Indian Horse is told that his language and cultural practices are inferior to the mainstream culture and are to be forbidden.
This coercive homogenizing education system makes indigenous children feel ashamed of their cultural identity (Juutilainen et al., 2014). It also divides indigenous children’s sense of identity and accelerates the extinction of indigenous cultures and languages.
The Film Indian Horse and this interview presents the Main Implications for the Implementation of the Residential School System.
1.Generalize and take indigenous people’s traditions out of context and weaken them.
2. Deny cultural differences in order to find commonality.
3. Assimilate indigenous knowledge to make it invisible.
The Phenomenon and Causes of Racialized Hierarchy
White Supremacy
White supremacy refers to the structural dominance of the white race as a privilege. White identity often represents wealth, prestige, and power compared to people of color in this social structure.
Public policies and private biases create a “possessive investment in whiteness,” thus creating a racial hierarchy of white privilege (Lipsitz, 2018). This makes the status of whiteness an innate racial advantage, and this advantage makes them want to exploit people of color to maintain their privileged status.
For example, white people disenfranchise indigenous people and limit the dominant civil rights to white males. For example, in the film Indian Horse, the principal of the boarding school is set up as a white male. Both female boarding school teachers and Native students must follow the rules and arrangements set by the principal. This role demonstrates the racial supremacy and authority of the white male.
White Fragility
White Fragility refers to the fact that white people are used to living in a social environment free from racial pressure brought by white privilege, which leads to a defensive mentality of white people towards other racial groups.
Because the unequal distribution of resources benefits whites and disadvantages communities of color, whites want to “perpetuate” this unequal distribution of resources in society (DiAngelo, 2011). When Whites are collectively accustomed to benefiting from racism, they automatically react defensively to other races and are more likely to view themselves as “subjects” and other racial groups as “others.
In Film Indian Horse, the white community is outraged to see the indigenous community eating in the restaurant and claims they should not eat in our place. This is a manifestation of White Fragility.
The stereotype of Indigenous people
The main character Saul Indian Horse is uncomfortable with the images of the indigenous people of Canada portrayed in the newspaper, which portrays him as “savage and backward,” which shows the stereotype of the indigenous people in the media.
Not only in the movie Indian Horse but also some real-life news reports, there are harmful stereotypes of indigenous people in the wording. For example, when the New York Times published an article about indigenous artists, the reporter titled it “Drawn From Poverty: Art Was Supposed to Save Canada’s Inuit. It Has not.” These words present that the media stereotypes indigenous people as “poor.”
The media’s subjective wording influences readers’ emotions and ideologies, and harmful stereotypes hurt indigenous people and increase racial segregation.
It resulted in the formation of Liminars, a group of people who live on the margins of society because their image of identity does not conform to the norms of mainstream society.
The Current Status of Indigenous Peoples
Because the long history of colonization and discrimination has led to the marginalization of indigenous peoples from mainstream society, even though indigenous people are no longer subjected to a mandatory system like residential schools, they still face some of the realities that come with the social system. Such as health, poverty, and access to education.
Originally the wealthiest people with valuable natural resources, they have lost their homes to war and environmental disasters. They have also been dispossessed of their ancestral lands and deprived of their material and cultural resources.
In the film Indian Horse, the main character Saul Indian Horse grew up with stereotypes brought about by ethnic segregation and white privilege, and also calls on viewers to consider whether indigenous people can regain the pride in their souls.
Challenging stereotypes and regaining national pride
It is not just the film Indian Horse. However, more and more media workers are now using indigenous stories to dispel stereotypes and reinforce respect for the rights and cultures of indigenous peoples.
In contrast to the media’s consumption of Indigenous culture, Stanton asserts that indigenous storytelling needs to focus on respect, responsibility, reciprocity, reverence, wholeness, interconnectedness, and synergy (Santon et al., 2020).
Many indigenous people use their ways to increase awareness and break stereotypes about indigenous culture.
For example, Alanis Obomsawin, is not only one of Canada’s foremost documentary filmmakers but also one of the world’s most acclaimed Aboriginal directors. Beginning with her film Christmas at Moose Factory in 1971, she has dedicated her career to telling the stories of indigenous people in Canada that no one knew were happening.
Buffy Sainte-Marie, has used music as a medium to raise awareness of indigenous issues, such as the song “Now That the Buffalo’s Gone,” which addresses indigenous land rights, and “My Country ’Tis of Thy People You’re Dying. “My Country ’Tis of Thy People You’re Dying” raises the issue of excluding indigenous peoples from social groups.
Both filmmakers and musicians, as indigenous people, have actively used the media to promote and enhance indigenous culture, break down stereotypes, and call for respect and reverence for Indigenous culture.
Besides the fact that indigenous people are protecting their culture, Are other people helping indigenous people to break stereotypes?
This leads me to mention Aboriginal tourism in Canada because tourism plays a significant role in rediscovering or reinforcing Aboriginal identity for those who do not know about Aboriginal culture.
For example, we find Aboriginal totems in Stanley Park. These artifacts stimulate visitors’ curiosity about Aboriginal culture and help them understand an equal relationship between non-Aboriginal people and Aboriginal people.
To illustrate, Staged Authenticity refers to the design of tourism performances to create cultural experiences that generate a sense of intimacy and authenticity for tourists(Mamiya, 1992).
The performance in Staged Authenticity suggests that indigenous people will perform cultural performances to meet tourists’ expectations and be consumed by the public.
This is because tourists are more accustomed to paying to see more culturally representative performances and indigenous images.
Discussion and Conclusion
In my opinion, indigenous tourism is a double-edged sword. It can be a way to preserve indigenous culture and desegregate, but also a means to consume indigenous culture or enhance stereotypes of indigenous people.
In conclusion, indigenous culture is protected by media or challenged by tourism. People should understand the history and authenticity of indigenous culture before evaluating it and not label a group through one-sided impressions because they need to understand the historical background of the race.
Finally, I would like to leave you with a few questions and welcome your active comments!
1.Is tourism good for the preservation of indigenous cultures? Why or why not?
2.Have you ever seen a movie about indigenous culture, and can you recommend it?
3.What would be a better way to achieve equality in human rights?
Feel free to share your stories and opinions, I look forward to interacting with you!