Article 7: Indigenous Identity in the Works of Kayano Shigeru, Patricia Grace, and Oodgeroo Noonuoccal
by Allison McLeod
All over the world Indigenous peoples have been oppressed, however, they have strived to fight against losing their land, community, and spirituality. When these aspects are diminished through oppression, the Indigenous people’s cultural identity becomes threatened. Ultimately, the “loss of language and culture inevitably results in a crisis of cultural identity” (Ratheiser 253). This paper will argue the importance of Indigenous identity and how land, community, spirituality and language are key aspects related to Indigenous identity. Furthermore, the paper will illustrate how Indigenous identity is directly related to the well-being of a person’s individual identity. Thereafter, the paper will analyze Kayano Shigeru’s Our Land Was a Forest: An Ainu Memoir, Patricia Grace’s Potiki and a few of Oodgeroo Noonuoccal’s collection of short essays and poems, to emphasize the importance of these key aspect to one’s Indigenous identity.
There are many similarities that overlap throughout the number of Indigenous cultures we see today. One of the similarities is how they often view “themselves as a part of the natural world, not apart from it” (Reid et al. 32). Obviously this may come from the dependence they have on the natural world, the values put upon the land, and the spirituality associated with the natural world. It is certain aspects such as these that encompass the Indigenous identity of any given peoples. Scholars argue that cultural identity can be defined as:
‘a social construction that gives the individual an ontological status [a sense of ‘being’] and expectations for social behaviour [ways of ‘acting’]’. Culture as an identity, then gives an individual an understanding of self, a sense of belonging, a system of meaning and way of acting. (Reid, et al. 43)
Thus, Indigenous identity plays an important role in one’s individual identity. Since oppression, assimilation, and cultural genocide put a negative view on the Indigenous way of life, it is not surprising to see many Indigenous people struggle with their own culture. This becomes a common theme throughout post-colonial literature, a struggle to adapt between the Indigenous world and the world forced upon them.
Our Land Was a Forest by Kayano Shigeru
Shigeru highlights the importance of land to Ainu culture and identity. The emphasis on land in postcolonial studies reveals that “the loss of land automatically triggered a loss of culture and identity for Indigenous people” (Farca 4). Although Shigeru’s narrative is a memoir, the setting becomes important to the theme as the Nibutani district of Hokkaido experienced much loss of land due to the Japanese occupation of Ainu land. The relationship to the land has been connected to Ainu identity as many of their teachings nourished morals such as “One must not arbitrarily cut down trees, one must not pollute running water, even birds and beasts will remember kindness and return favors, and so on” (Shigeru 5). However, as Shigeru finds himself stuck between worlds of traditional Ainu heritage and the oppression of Japan, he initially rejects the Ainu way of life before realizing the importance of practising it with the hopes that it will not disappear.
While the loss of land and forced reliance on other aspects of an assimilated society, will ultimately cause a disintegration of precious Ainu values such as respecting the land. The Japanese government had made this attempt to “destroy the Ainu way of life by turning the Ainu, who lived by hunting and fishing, into farmers and assimilating them into Japanese
culture” (Carson 444). As seen in Our Land Was a Forest, the Ainu were heavily reliant on salmon and deer which are described as being plentiful in the past. Evidently, the narrator Shigeru indicates that the salmon are not as common as they used to be by using diction of the past tense and mentioning the old days when referring to the abundance of Salmon. Furthermore, Shigeru’s father was arrested for “salmon poaching” and could no longer feed his “brothers, the old women in the neighbourhood, and the gods” (57). It is this prohibition of Ainu livelihood that contributed to the fragmentation of their Indigenous identity, while also causing them to exploit their own ways of life by forcing them to labor as fisherman and to clear-cut the forests of Nibutani “for the profit of ‘the nation of Japan’” (Shigeru 9). The demand for the Ainu to go against their own traditional values would have had a devastating effect on their cultural identity, eventually becoming inter-generational and causing shame of being Ainu upon the younger generations for not conforming with ‘modern’ Japan.
Spirituality was just as connected to the land as it is to the Ainu people and identity. Even simple ceremonies were performed when collecting wood or eating salmon; “This salmon is not merely for us humans to eat by ourselves, but for us to eat with the gods and with my children” (Shigeru 19). The gods had taught the Ainu many valuable lessons in life such as
the Okikurmikamuy, “the god who taught folk wisdom to the Ainu: how to build houses, fish, raise millet, and so forth” (Shigeru 7). Shigeru often speaks of his Grandmother who passed down many Ainu stories. However, young Shigeru often pretended to listen to most of these stories, not realizing the importance of each one. It is not until later, that Shigeru realizes the importance of preserving Ainu folklore and culture:
Our land, Ainu Mosir, had been invaded, our language stripped, our ancestral remains robbed, the blood of the living Ainu taken, and even our few remaining utensils carried away. At this rate, what would happen to the Ainu people? What would happen to Ainu culture? From that moment on, I vowed to take them back. Once I promised myself this, I believe my personality changed. (Shigeru 99)
It is this pivotal moment that perhaps changed the future for the Ainu people. After this realization, Kayano Shigeru dedicates his life to revealing the pride of Ainu culture and identity by being a strong advocate in his community and even being responsible for two Ainu museums.
The reader experiences the devastating effects that Japanese oppression had caused the Ainu people. Since living through the deterioration of his culture, Shigeru’s father turns to a life of alcoholism. He “did not get along with his wife, and rarely worked” (Shigeru 61); nonetheless, many Ainu people may have experienced this after such a cultural genocide. It is the shame of being Ainu, pressed upon by the Japanese that has nurtured a detrimental view on an Ainu person’s own personal identity. Acceptance of one’s own culture “Saying to ourselves and to others that ‘we are Ainu’ is not enough. We have to live out this statement in our lives and make sure that the younger generation comes to terms with and even feels a sense of pride in
this”(Sunazawa 95). Passing down these traditions throughout the community proves to be vital as the Ainu community are heavily reliant on each other for sustenance. Shigeru’s story of “the first among us to die is the luckiest” proves to be heartbreaking as the Ainu culture has been so far diminished, that there are only three traditional men left to perform “iyoitakkote [guiding the passage to the other world]” (106). Protecting the Ainu land, community, spirituality, and language, plays a vital role in ensuring the continual growth of Ainu identity and ultimately, the individual identities of each Ainu person.
Potiki by Patricia Grace
The Maori featured in Patricia Grace’s Potiki show authentic bonds with the community and the land. In the Maori tradition “culture and identity are fundamentally built on the reciprocal relationships formed with whanau [extended family] and whenua [land/place]” (Reid et al., 32). It is these aspects, and the “interconnectedness between members of the community and the common identity between the individual, whanau and the land” that encompass the Indigenous identity of the Maori people (Wilson 267). We quickly learn that each member of the community plays a vital role, even Mary who has an intellectual disability, is held responsible for cleaning and polishing the wharanui. The wharanui is a central place in this Indigenous community, and the community acknowledges that it is “our meeting place, our identity, our security” (Grace 93). Furthermore, although Toko has a physical disability, he is held with very high regard as he is known to have a “special knowing” and is considered to be blessed with wisdom far beyond his physical age (Grace 42). This unique sense of community is a stronghold of the Indigenous identity, and the support of the community builds upon an individual’s personal identity.
The setting is a key feature in understanding the Maori’s connection to the land. Just as in Our Land Was a Forest had experienced the loss and threat of losing more land, Potiki creates the same plot. The land is one of the biggest factors tied to Indigenous identity and that is easily expressed in Hemi’s narrative “And people were looking to their land again. They knew that they belonged to the land, had known all along…” (Grace 61). As things began to change in the community, the dependence and connection to land had weakened “It was true that they’d always used the sea, and the shores, but they were not using them to the same extent now as they had earlier” (Grace 64). The exploitation of their land for “purposes of war” and eventually to become a tourist attraction as proposed by the Dollarman had posed a great threat to their cultural identity (Grace 72, 88). The imagery Grace uses allows the reader to observe the intimate relationship that the Maori have with the land, and emphasizes its importance to their Indigenous identity. For example, our first insight into how close the land and community is tightly connected is in Roimata’s first narrative “We live by the sea, which hems and stitches the scalloped edge of the land. This piece of land is the family land of the Tamihanas” (Grace 15). Grace continuously provides a vivid illustration of the land, often personifying the natural world that creates an image of how the Maori perceive it.
Culture is a vital feature to one’s own identity, and Indigenous language is closely tied to culture. Thus, language becomes an important aspect to the Indigenous identity. When concerning postcolonial voices in literature, Salman Rushdie argues the ability of it in “reshaping English” (Ratheiser 251). Patricia Grace’s writing involves a particular use of the English language in a Maori perspective, which brings forth an intriguing diction as it re-shapes the continuously changing aspects of cultural identity in a post-colonial setting. For example, the following passage from Potiki expresses this unique diction while also demonstrating the Maori’s important relationship to the land:
The shore is a place without seed, without nourishment, a scavenged death place. It is the wasteland, too salty for growth, where the sea puts up its dead… Yet because of being a nothing, a neutral place — not land, not sea — there is freedom on the shore, and rest. (18)
The diction in Potiki highlights the Maori Indigenous identity in a post-colonial setting as it uses the English language with a Maori voice. Whereas this voice would certainly sound different in a pre-colonial setting, and perhaps change with time as will the Indigenous identity. Ratheiser identifies that the dialogue of Grace’s characters is “interspersed with Maori expressions and occasionally whole passages which are left untranslated, its rhythm and speech patterns have been likened to that of the Maori language” (255). Most notably, the end of the novel leaves the reader with a substantial amount of untranslated Indigenous language. It is this type of postcolonial voice in Indigenous literature that serves to re-claim Indigenous identity.
As mentioned earlier, the oppression and alienation that Indigenous groups experience, can cause conflicting emotions towards one’s own cultural identity. Feelings of shame and a reluctance to embrace one’s own culture is highlighted in the pages of Hemi’s narrative:
…they had been expected to hide things, to pretend they weren’t what they were. It was funny how people saw each other. Funny how you came to see yourself in the mould that others put you in, and how you began not to believe in yourself. You began to believe that you should hide away in the old seaweed like a sand flea. (65)
Therefore, the loss of land and language, sense of community and spirituality, has a destructive impact on the Indigenous identity. Furthermore, as an Indigenous person’s own individual identity is directly impacted by their cultural identity, the Indigenous identity becomes an important aspect of one’s wellbeing.
Short Essay’s and Poems by Oodgeroo Noonuoccal
Oodgeroo Noonuoccal provides her post-colonial voice throughout the use of short essays and poems, creating a much angrier and stronger tone than the first two pieces of literature examined. As we have discussed, the “Indigenous people around the world regard their relationship to place as an integral part of their identity and struggle to maintain it despite their losses of lands and homes” (Farca 1). In her emotional poem, “The Dispossessed”, Noonuoccal highlights the losses that the Aborigines have experienced:
Only a remnant now you remain, and the heart dies in you / The white man claimed your hunting grounds and you could not remain, / they made you work as menials for greedy private gain; /… / A dying race you linger on, degraded and oppressed, / Outcasts in your own native land, you are the dispossessed. (43, 4-6, 11-12)
It is obvious that more than the physical aspects of Indigenous life has been lost, but also the identity has been stolen and the Aborigines are regarded as the dispossessed. Furthermore, in the poem “Integration — Yes!”, she expresses the importance of Indigenous identity, “We are happiest / Among our own people. We would like to see / Our own customs kept, our old / Dances and songs, crafts and corroborees” (45, 14-17).
Noonuoccal urges her people that assimilation has never been the answer, however, the path of integration includes “the bringing forward of a race of people with their own identity and their own pride intact… with such things as their culture and their language” (41). In her poem “No More Boomerang”, the reader is given heart-wrenching examples of what happens when the Indigenous identity is taken away. For example, “No more boomerang / No more spear; / Now all civilized — / Colour bar and beer.” emphasizes the change in individual identity when the Indigenous identity is taken away (46, 1-4). As noted in Our Land Was a Forest and Potiki, if an Indigenous identity was established in the right light, future generations will be “proud of the fact that they were Aboriginal blood, happy to be what they are, and not going forward as replicas of the white race” (Noonuoccal 41). Protecting the aspects of Indigenous identity is a fundamental step in embracing the individual identity.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there are many vital aspects that are important to Indigenous people’s identity. With the destruction and disintegration of any of these aspects, the Indigenous identity will disintegrate. It is important to acknowledge that the Indigenous identity is closely connected to one’s own individual identity. Without protecting the “Indigenous people’s expression of their tribal identities and of the differences among the tribes within postcolonial nations around the world remains crucial to their survival” (Farca 170). Kayano Shigeru played an important role in keeping the Ainu culture alive, and it is this embrace of the Indigenous identity that has allowed future generations of the Ainu to live out their culture with pride. Patricia Grace’s unique storytelling writes back to the empire in a post-colonial voice that embodies the Maori identity, and speaks to those torn between the Indigenous traditions and pressures to conform to modern society. While Oodgeroo Noonuoccal hits the hearts of those living in an oppressed world, who are unable to find a place in their society, and lost among the colonizers proposed way of life. She urges the Aborigines to keep the Indigenous culture that makes them who they are, and embrace the life that makes them unique to those surrounding them.
Works Cited:
Carson, Benjamin D. “Ainu and Anishinaabe Stories of Survivance: Shigeru Kayano, Katsuichi Honda, and Gerald Vizenor.” East
Asian Studies. Vol. 2. 443-449. http://www.icis.kansai-u.ac.jp/data/journal02-v1/30_Carson.pdf
Farca, Paula Anca. “‘Introduction’ and ‘Conclusion.’” Identity in Place Contemporary Indigenous Fiction by Women Writers in the
United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. New York, NY: Peter Lang, 2011. 1-19, 167-171. E-book.
Grace, Patricia. Potiki. University of Hawai’i Press. 1997. Print.
Noonuccal, Oodgeroo. “Oodgeroo Noonuccal.” Anthology of Australian Aboriginal Literature. Ed. Anita Heiss and Peter Minter.
Montreal: McGill-Queen’s UP, 2008. 40-48. Print.
Ratheiser, Ulla. “A Voice of One’s Own.” Bodies and Voices: The Force-field of Representation and Discource in Colonial and
Postcolonial Studies. Ed. Merete Falck Borch. By Anna Rutherford. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2008. 251-65. E-book.
Reid, John., Varona, Golda., Fisher, Martin., Smith, Cherryl. “Understanding Maori ‘lived’ culture to determine cultural
connectedness and wellbeing.” Journal of Population Research 33.1 (2016): 31-49.
Shigeru, Kayano. Our Land Was a Forest: An Ainu Memoir. Boulder, Colo: Westview, 1994. Print.
Wilson, Janet. “Suffering and Survival.” Bodies and Voices: The Force-field of Representation and Discourse in Colonial and
Postcolonial Studies. Ed. Merete Falck Borch. By Anna Rutherford. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2008. 267-81. E-book.
About the author: Allison McLeod is a Bachelor of Arts graduate of UCN with the ambition of pursuing a Bachelor of Education degree in hopes of becoming a teacher. Part of the Cree Nation, she desires to support and expand Indigenous education to others. She has a strong passion for the outdoors, music, and surfing.
Instructor’s Remark: Allison McLeod was my student in Indigenous Literature of the World (ENG 3006). Her research paper on Indigenous Identity reveals the suppression and struggle that Indigenous people around the world have undergone. Based on some of the texts covered in this course, Alison Mcleod showcases how Indigenous writers urge their people to keep their identity through literature (Dr. Ying Kong).