ČaɁak (Islands): how place-based Indigenous perspectives can inform national park ‘visitor experience’ programming in Nuu-chah-nulth traditional territory

Date

2017-05-02

Authors

Helweg-Larsen, Kelda Jane

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Abstract

This research project explores ways in which place-based Indigenous perspectives can inform national park ‘visitor experience’ planning, management, and information delivery. Engaged in collaborative processes with Tseshaht First Nation, this project explores knowledge of Tseshaht-identified places of cultural significance in Tseshaht traditional territory, discussed in the context of creating a web-based digital map. In attempting to explore Nuu-chah-nulth-informed ways in which to more widely share cultural history and knowledge in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, I learned of the many dynamics that are revealed when the depth of Nuu-chah-nulth connections to place are made visible. This research project examines knowledge, power, and place in the context of Indigenous self-representation. Informed by Indigenous ways of knowing and Indigenous principles of knowledge-sharing, this thesis is an ethnography of knowledge-sharing in modern contexts fraught with issues of state power, commodification, and colonialism.

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Keywords

Indigenous, Nuu-chah-nulth, Vancouver Island, Barkley Sound, Broken Group Islands, Tseshaht First Nation, Parks Canada, national parks, national park reserves, Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, senses of place

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