Hupacasath member Alana Sayers has received a Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council Grant to answer the question: “What is Indigenous Literature?”
Sayers explained that “Indigenous Literature” is a rapidly expanding field of academic study. But as yet, scholars have no formal ground rules for how to study (and interpret) the body of stories produced by Indigenous peoples around the world through the centuries.
It gets complicated, she warned. Sayers currently holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of Victoria, and she is seeking a Master’s degree in English Literature. Currently, Indigenous Literature still lives within that academic faculty.
“There are a lot of different fields – especially time periods. So you have Medieval Literature, Romantic Era Literature… Indigenous Literature is an emerging field of study. The field is only about 60 years old. So my research is basically asking – and answering – the question, ‘What is Indigenous Literature?’”
The study originated in the Unites States and is variously known as Indigenous Literature, Native American Literature or First Nations Literature, with no clear definition.
“It’s lacking in common terminology, so it can’t successfully be taught and studied without having some of these basic questions answered. That’s what my research is going to do.”
By definition, Indigenous stories are created in the language of Indigenous peoples and, in many cases, have been passed along in oral form. Even the act of transcribing and translating these stories into English can subject them to colonialist attitudes and interpretations, Sayers explained. Racism is alive and well, even within academia, she has discovered.
“I have been called a ‘dumb Indian,’ and told I should go back to the reservation – by professors,” she said.
Sayers said her determined focus on her own Hupacasath heritage and culture has been a driving force since she attended Haahuupayak School as a child. It has also presented a few barriers as she proceeded through the non-aboriginal education system, she explained.
“I finished my last year (Grade 6) at the new school. It was being built while I was there. Most of my time was at the old residential school. Haahuupayak doesn’t go up to Grade 12. Otherwise, I would have remained there.”
At Haahuupayak, Sayers was immersed in Nuu-chah-nulth culture. Traditional songs and dances were as important, if not more important, than the “reading and writing and ‘rithmetic” required by the provincial education system.
“And Linda Watts was still the language and culture teacher at the time. I learned a lot from Linda.”
Sayers said she experienced severe culture shock when she moved on to A.W. Neill middle school.
“I really struggled there, and later, at ADSS (Alberni District Secondary School). I didn’t see any point in learning a lot of the things that I was required to learn. At Haahuupayak, language and culture was equal to everything else, and I really missed that.
“At ADSS, they didn’t have Indigenous-related content. I refused to take History and all those Social Studies classes. I didn’t want to learn their version of what they were trying to teach.”
Sayers said she was lucky in that she still had her grandparents and extended family, and was able to continue to build her language and cultural knowledge base.
When ADSS Grad 2005 arrived, Sayers had not completed her requirements for graduation. Fortunately, her failure to grad with her classmates was only a bump in the road. She completed her General Equivalent Diploma at Malaspina in 2006.
“Once I got to Malaspina, I had the freedom to build that confidence in my own abilities that I hadn’t really received at ADSS.”
Sayers said while she has encountered some form of racism at every academic institution she has attended since Haahuupayak, her goal now is to expose and to counter those lingering vestiges of colonialism through her studies.
After Malaspina, Sayers moved to Kamloops to attend Thompson Rivers University, where she studied English Literature and Theatre for two years, before transferring to UVic.
But in between, she took two years off to work in the provincial Aboriginal Youth Internship program.
“I worked in South America, and then I came back to UVic. I hadn’t really figured out what I wanted to do yet, so I decided to finish my English degree and go from there.”
Along with the SSHRC grant, Sayers has also received two President’s Grants.
“It is to support my research. It’s intended to allow me to do any kind of travelling, and [cover] my living expenses – basically whatever I need to support myself while I complete my Masters thesis, with a focus on Indigenous Literature.”
Sayers said she plans to take a close look at literature in Hawaii and New Zealand for starters.
“I am leaving for Hawaii in a couple of weeks to do a bit of research there. A lot of their literature is written in their Hawaiian language. Right now there is a call, worldwide, for the creation of a Global Indigenous category. I intend to make that part of my research.”
Sayers noted, however, that extending her studies into that global category would wait until she completes her Masters next May and moves on to the doctoral (PhD) level. This fall, she will apply to set up a PhD program for the 2017 academic year.
One of her first priorities now, however, is to look at the Nuu-chah-nulth literature she has learned since childhood.
“I am going to look at our texts that were written in Hupacasath by our elders – some of our stories that they have written down. I want to look at how those stories changed once they were written, because they become ‘commodifiable,’ and therefore subject to things like colonization. So one of the big questions I want to look at is ‘How do we uphold the integrity of our stories, and keep them as pieces of us?’ Because they don’t usually belong to individuals; they often belong to communities or families.”
For centuries, Nuu-chah-nulth stories, songs and art have been subject to a sophisticated system of intellectual-property copyright that pre-dates English Common Law and is now recognized by the courts.
“So there is an intellectual-property portion of my thesis that I am going to have to look at: if there is a sharing of these stories, does it belong in the field of Indigenous Literature?
“Right now, at school, I have an exhibit on called ‘Beyond Eurocentric Notions of Publication. It talks about how, for centuries, Nuu-chah-nulth have been ‘publishing’ in different ways. We tell stories through songs and dances, even through basket weaving. There are animals woven into them that tell different stories. One of the questions I want to answer is whether they belong in English Literature, within the subset of Indigenous Literature.”
Sayers said while her ambitions sound large and sweeping, she has only to look at her mother, Dr. Judith Sayers, for inspiration. A practicing lawyer, Hupacasath chief councillor for 14 years, UVic professor in both law and business, Judith Sayers has become a national figure and a recognized leader in multiple fields.
“She has been both inspiration and cheerleader in my own life,” Alana said. “My grandfather was a mill-worker and my grandmother was a homemaker, so she came from a fairly poor mill family and worked her way up to law school, at a time when it wasn’t fashionable to be an Indian, let alone an Indian woman, while she was making her way through. So, with all the things she has been able to accomplish, she has always told me, all my life, that anything is possible. It used to annoy me, but now I am grateful that she continued to tell me that. She has paved the way for me.”
Sayers said that, along with having her mother nearby, there is a large Nuu-chah-nulth community in Victoria, and she is able to maintain a connection to her culture, because:
“The culture is essential to who I am and to how I have gotten here.”
