Layers of Place
This is a post from Jacquelyn Cardinal, Managing Director at Naheyawin, and member of the RECOVER Catalyst group
The work of RECOVER is all about achieving long-term transformation in the wellbeing of communities across Edmonton by making and holding space for connection to grow and flourish. Whether it be through building partnerships within and between communities or developing and testing prototypes, we design everything we do to foster a greater sense of connection.
To guide us in our efforts, we understand “connection” to mean ties to:
Land
Body and self
Family, friends, and community
Culture
The sacred
The human project
RECOVER recognizes how crucial place and positionality are in strengthening all six of these ties. That's why our work sincerely considers the relationship to history, traditions, and continued storying of the territory in which it operates.
“...we live among layers upon layers of history and kinship that make up our conception of “place.””
To help us consider this relationship so profoundly, we draw from an Indigenous perspective that we live among layers upon layers of history and kinship that make up our conception of "place." Just as we are on Treaty 6 territory in Edmonton, so are we on the lands of Métis Nation of Alberta's region 4 and many other traditional names that have storied this place since time immemorial such as:
For the nêhiyawak or Cree: a "pehonan" meaning "where the people gather" and, with the introduction of the fur trade, "amiskwaciwâskahikan" meaning "Beaver Hills House."
For the Dene: "sawyah-thay-koi", which also means "Beaver Hills House."
For the Niitsitapi: "omukoyis", which means "Big House."
For the Nakota Sioux: "titunga", which also means "Big House."
And, as many of you may know, Indigenous names for Edmonton's wards were also recently chosen, hinting at still more layers.
“By looking at “place” this way, as a many-layered, dynamic concept that is all about making meaning and relationships, a new perspective becomes possible...”
Photo by AMAL BEN SAAD on Unsplash
By looking at "place" this way, as a many-layered, dynamic concept that is all about making meaning and relationships, a new perspective becomes possible, one that braids our past, present, and future. With this perspective, we see that we are not only heirs to an immense and complex fortune but also that we are collaborating as future ancestors to create new layers of place. As a result, this means that we are responsible for conserving the land and our stories and creating new stories and preparing good relationships for those who will soon be arriving.
If you'd like to join us in conceptualizing your or your organization's position in the universe as one among many layers of place, try asking yourself one or more of these questions:
How are we regularly deepening our understandings of these layers?
How might we include more meaningful engagement with these layers in the work we do?
How are we taking care of the layers of place that surround us? Among the team? Among the communities that you're serving?
What about our non-human relations?
Photo by Mathias P.R. Reding on Unsplash
Naheyawin is working to help ground RECOVER in 4 principles:
Deepening our understanding of layers of place
Self-location as a basis for settler ethics - by recognizing our knowledge and identity as situated and intersected by power
Ethical space making and supporting ethical space taking - recognizing the inherently subjective nature of all knowledges, and engaging with the intention of understanding each other
Aspiring to have Two-Eyed Seeing - recognizing the strengths of Indigenous ways of knowing and the strengths of Western ways of knowing, and using them together