Event Title
Hishuk Tsawak (Everything is connected): a Huu-ay-aht worldview for seeing forestry in British Columbia, Canada
Description
While landscape may be read, understood, and imagined in pluralistic and contested terms, the power to define the landscape is typically held by a particular group of people. Government, industry, environmentalists, and First Nations, each representing distinct worldviews about the landscape, are among the key stakeholders in an ongoing struggle over the power to define the meaning and future use of BC's forests. The work reported here draws on interview data from a community-based participatory program of research undertaken in partnership with Huu-ay-aht First Nation on the west coast of Vancouver Island that explores the 'place' of their worldview in the context of current forestry practices. Specifically, this paper examines how the Huu-ay-aht worldview, Hishuk Tsawak, shapes their reading, understanding, and imagining of the forest landscape in their traditional territory. Hishuk Tsawak does not exist in a vacuum and dominant, competing worldviews from, for example, government and industry continue to test its resilience. The study found that Huu-ay-aht First Nation's physical and social locations are influential in determining its worldview's strength and continuity and concludes that Indigenous worldviews, such as Hishuk Tsawak, have the potential to contribute, contest, and conceive of a new way of seeing forestry in the province.
Document Type
Event
Start Date
8-3-2008 8:00 AM
Subject - LCSH
Forests and forestry--British Columbia--Management; Huu-ay-aht First Nation--Attitudes; Natural resources--British Columbia--Managemet;
End Date
8-3-2008 5:00 PM
Session
Place, Community, Nature
Genre/Form
abstracts (summaries)
Type
event
Geographic Coverage
British Columbia; Huu-ay-aht First Nation
Rights
Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author's written permission.
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
Keywords
aboriginal peoples, community-based natural resource management, social construction of nature, sense of place, environmental attitudes
Hishuk Tsawak (Everything is connected): a Huu-ay-aht worldview for seeing forestry in British Columbia, Canada
While landscape may be read, understood, and imagined in pluralistic and contested terms, the power to define the landscape is typically held by a particular group of people. Government, industry, environmentalists, and First Nations, each representing distinct worldviews about the landscape, are among the key stakeholders in an ongoing struggle over the power to define the meaning and future use of BC's forests. The work reported here draws on interview data from a community-based participatory program of research undertaken in partnership with Huu-ay-aht First Nation on the west coast of Vancouver Island that explores the 'place' of their worldview in the context of current forestry practices. Specifically, this paper examines how the Huu-ay-aht worldview, Hishuk Tsawak, shapes their reading, understanding, and imagining of the forest landscape in their traditional territory. Hishuk Tsawak does not exist in a vacuum and dominant, competing worldviews from, for example, government and industry continue to test its resilience. The study found that Huu-ay-aht First Nation's physical and social locations are influential in determining its worldview's strength and continuity and concludes that Indigenous worldviews, such as Hishuk Tsawak, have the potential to contribute, contest, and conceive of a new way of seeing forestry in the province.