Indigenous Toronto: Stories that Carry This Place
edited by Denise Bolduc, Mnawaate Gordon-Corbiere, Rebeka Tabobondung, and Brian Wright-McLeod

Rich and diverse narratives of Indigenous Toronto, past and present.

Beneath many major North American cities rests a deep foundation of Indigenous history that has been colonized, paved over, and, too often, silenced. Few of its current inhabitants know that Toronto has seen twelve thousand years of uninterrupted Indigenous presence and nationhood in this region, along with a vibrant culture and history that thrives to this day.

With contributions by Indigenous Elders, scholars, journalists, artists, and historians, this unique anthology explores the poles of cultural continuity and settler colonialism that have come to define Toronto as a significant cultural hub and intersection that was also known as a Meeting Place long before European settlers arrived.

Contributors include political scientist Hayden King, artist and curator Wanda Nanibush, chef Johl Whiteduck Ringuette, poet and broadcaster Duke Redbird, playwright Drew Hayden Taylor, educator Kerry Potts, writer/journalist Miles Morrisseau, dancer and scholar Karen Pheasant-Neganigwane, and photographer Nadya Kwandibens.

Names of the Wendat
by John Steckley

I am currently engaged in a project entitled ‘Names of the Wendat’.  So far, I have about 200 such names that I have been able to translate.  It is the logical sequel to my Names of the Wyandot, which should come out in the summer.  One of the more interesting aspects to me is how they faced the challenge of mainstream society imposing patrilineal dominance of names in the 19th century.  What I have found is that although all the surnames are French, with the exception of Sioui, the names of chiefs tended to be family property of such families as Bastien (Sharenhes ‘He has very tall treetops’), Gros-Louis (Shachiendio ‘He has a very great name’), Picard (Taorhenche ‘when day is dawning’), Romain (Tsohahisen ‘One is very close to the path’), Sioui (Hwenhwen ‘Loon’) and Vincent (Tsohahisen ‘One is very close to the path’).  A surprise for me was that one chief, Stanislaus Kotska, who bore the Wendat name Aharatenha ‘He climbed up,’ was named after a sixteenth century Polish Jesuit novice who became a saint.

The Names of the Wyandot book will be published by Rock's Mills Press.  They will be beginning the editing process at the end of this month. Feedback and requests are appreciated: John.Steckley@humber.ca

Affective Responses to Normalized Violence in Museums
by Stephanie Mach

Over the past year, many museums have reflected on their internal structural inequalities. Anthropology museums face the added challenge of addressing the history of anthropological collecting, display, and research. Reflecting on recent protests concerning the Penn Museum’s ownership and use of human remains, I find myself considering the variability of museological encounters, and the diversity of affective responses to everyday museum practices. I share the following vignette to highlight the emotional impacts of normalizing and encouraging the routine handling and display of ancestors whose bodies—“specimens” in the museum—represent historical violence against Black and Brown people, and others. 

Each week, The Indigenizing the (Art) Museum series will engage with a different curator from (art) museums around the world. The series was developed as a way to increase Indigenous community and institutional awareness of and involvement in Indigenous-led digital projects, resources, and knowledge building tools, including the Virtual Platform for Indigenous Art.

This series is hosted with Indigenous protocols in mind and with the aim of addressing questions around Indigenous curation, ceremony, and research in digital spaces. Join Wapatah and Onsite Gallery for an engaging conversation that fosters global Indigeneity and sustainable scholarship of Indigenous cultural heritage at OCAD University and beyond. 

Gerald McMaster, O.C., is one of Canada’s most revered and esteemed academics. He is a curator, artist, and author, and is currently professor and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair of Indigenous Visual Culture and Curatorial Practice at OCAD University where he leads a team of researchers at the Wapatah: Centre for Indigenous Visual Knowledge. He is nêhiyaw (Plains Cree) and a citizen of the Siksika First Nation.
 

Gerald McMaster In Conversation with Patricia Norby
Thursday, May 6 at 1:00 PM EDT

Patricia Marroquin Norby (Purépecha) is the Associate Curator of Native American Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. She holds a PhD in American Studies from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, with a specialization in Native American art history and visual culture, as well as a MFA in printmaking and photography from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Norby also brings extensive teaching experience to The Met, including a position as Assistant Professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where she taught historical and contemporary Native American art history and culture at graduate and undergraduate levels.