I find the ideas have behind boundaries between to living and the dead to be fascinating. Its such a physical manifestation of the intangible … such an emotional expression of the human existence and the frailty and persistence of the web of life. Ideas surrounding the boundaries between the living and the dead are so personal and yet universal, death is such an obvious form of how the human infinite potential imagination conceptualizes something like death – boundaries are necessary to construct and thus attempt to understand death…
On that note, moving onto one of my favourite topics, TATTOOS! What an awesome example of death boundaries! I was thinking about what Pearson (2009) has to say about the tattooed bodies found; his ideas about the "winged or mythical" creatures seperating the unknown "chaotic" death from the known creatures (known life) (66-67).
Aside from my fascination with tattoos in general, I LOVE how concrete they are in that they mean so much to that person or society, they carry such heavy symbolism, yet they are multi-interpretive.
I'm also fascinated by the ideas about Spirit Villages...check out the link for more info on this:
http://keepingthedeadalive.weebly.com/papua-new-guinea.html
I researched the Lusi-Kaliai, and loved the way I understood them to conceptualize death and the role of death in life. I thought the spirit village was a beautiful idea and way to show respect to ancestors. The well kept graves surrounded by shells and beer bottle caps were also interesting and like tattooes, captivated my attention span at once. I mean, both are so strong in their communication between the planes of the living and what one may call the afterlife. Cool to learn about, especially because i felt I could strongly relate to the symbolism of the tattoes and what they may convey.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
NAGPRA and Canada?
Well, firstly I'd like to start this entry by acknowledging repartiation and colonialism are extremely sensitive and on-going issues. I guess the thing I am wondering is what the Canadian equivalent of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation (NAGPRA) and how would it really solve things?
(especially in the case of British Columbia, which is all unceded territory, and half of the island itself is private land, due to the E&A Railway Grant, where the federal government gave half of Vancouver Island away!)...Check out the map below, illustrating what part of the island I'm talking about. I got this image from a paper by W.A. Taylor (1975). In terms of co-management and reconciliation, I'm wondering how laws would work to aid in repatriation...having a binding legal agreement in order for First Nations to reclaim items and remains from (treaty-free) land seems ridiculous, especially with contemporary colonialism reitering racism and oppression (having to navigate complicated laws and barriers at various levels of government seems like a bit of a slap in the face to concerned First Nations). In my opinion, the whole concept of displaying remains and grave goods in museums is still odd; especially if it is purposefully a different "race" so to speak. I am still struggling to form a solid opinion on this topic, an obvious though challenging theme of the course: RESPECT WHILE LEARNING ABOUT THE DECEASED...respect is necessary, however how to show it while learning from a system based on colonialism challenges me both as a student and in my daily life.
How would laws to protect sites work? For example, the first guest speaker discussed language barriers between First Nations and others involved, (among other things) which complicated the repartiation issue. And what about contracted archaeologists who work on sites where the remains are contested between different groups? (as in the other example given by the first guest lecturer) Repatriation is SUCH a vast, multi-faceted issue, and in a place like BC where no treaties were signed and there are ongoing land claim agreements, is something like NAGPRA appropriate? Or should we look at smaller-provincial/territorial scale laws? What are your thoughts?
Taylor, W.A, 1975. Crown Land Grants: A History of the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway Land Grants, The Railway and Peace River Block [online], Available at:http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:4vvc_iTY37oJ:www.ltsa.ca/data/img/publication/Crown-Land-Grants-A-History-of-the-E-and-N.pdf+e%26n+railway+grant&hl=en&gl=ca&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgdYMdknc1Ht5lwJoiCkUAH18XQgwIHmXiTTwRSdzxsbrthdvGV6EsV8Y6y64JqWJoxxk_BxvIZGYDWwdXetVJ-yScJX07uw9irevvJ4nwA-Nul1xhhoALpsNBIvj8f4hJ9iKZb&sig=AHIEtbT8PTagQD5Bx_VuP3jqUPo_iSMF9g [Accessed March 30, 2011].
(especially in the case of British Columbia, which is all unceded territory, and half of the island itself is private land, due to the E&A Railway Grant, where the federal government gave half of Vancouver Island away!)...Check out the map below, illustrating what part of the island I'm talking about. I got this image from a paper by W.A. Taylor (1975). In terms of co-management and reconciliation, I'm wondering how laws would work to aid in repatriation...having a binding legal agreement in order for First Nations to reclaim items and remains from (treaty-free) land seems ridiculous, especially with contemporary colonialism reitering racism and oppression (having to navigate complicated laws and barriers at various levels of government seems like a bit of a slap in the face to concerned First Nations). In my opinion, the whole concept of displaying remains and grave goods in museums is still odd; especially if it is purposefully a different "race" so to speak. I am still struggling to form a solid opinion on this topic, an obvious though challenging theme of the course: RESPECT WHILE LEARNING ABOUT THE DECEASED...respect is necessary, however how to show it while learning from a system based on colonialism challenges me both as a student and in my daily life.
How would laws to protect sites work? For example, the first guest speaker discussed language barriers between First Nations and others involved, (among other things) which complicated the repartiation issue. And what about contracted archaeologists who work on sites where the remains are contested between different groups? (as in the other example given by the first guest lecturer) Repatriation is SUCH a vast, multi-faceted issue, and in a place like BC where no treaties were signed and there are ongoing land claim agreements, is something like NAGPRA appropriate? Or should we look at smaller-provincial/territorial scale laws? What are your thoughts?
Taylor, W.A, 1975. Crown Land Grants: A History of the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway Land Grants, The Railway and Peace River Block [online], Available at:http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:4vvc_iTY37oJ:www.ltsa.ca/data/img/publication/Crown-Land-Grants-A-History-of-the-E-and-N.pdf+e%26n+railway+grant&hl=en&gl=ca&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgdYMdknc1Ht5lwJoiCkUAH18XQgwIHmXiTTwRSdzxsbrthdvGV6EsV8Y6y64JqWJoxxk_BxvIZGYDWwdXetVJ-yScJX07uw9irevvJ4nwA-Nul1xhhoALpsNBIvj8f4hJ9iKZb&sig=AHIEtbT8PTagQD5Bx_VuP3jqUPo_iSMF9g [Accessed March 30, 2011].
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Beads! Beads in Graves!
Okay,
So sometimes, I'll admit...I can daydream a bit during class. But the guest lecture on Tuesday intrigued me. Especially in regards to the thousdands-of-beads business and the children (look I got so excited I typed too fast and was rendered incapable of spelling "thousands"!) I have to wonder, how can we REALLY know that the beads were specifically for the children, just because they were 2/3 (I think that's what she said?) smaller than the size of the beads buried with the adult?
Also, I'm wondering how they located the grave to bury the second child with the first? Maybe the grave marker (I'm assuming there was one) could also be indicative of status? ...Hmm....mysterious!
So sometimes, I'll admit...I can daydream a bit during class. But the guest lecture on Tuesday intrigued me. Especially in regards to the thousdands-of-beads business and the children (look I got so excited I typed too fast and was rendered incapable of spelling "thousands"!) I have to wonder, how can we REALLY know that the beads were specifically for the children, just because they were 2/3 (I think that's what she said?) smaller than the size of the beads buried with the adult?
Also, I'm wondering how they located the grave to bury the second child with the first? Maybe the grave marker (I'm assuming there was one) could also be indicative of status? ...Hmm....mysterious!
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Monument Analysis: Pioneer Square!
1. What is your data set?
Our data set consisted of several monuments in Pioneer Square. There were many monuments associated with the colonialism paradigm, and for the sake of our research questions, we focused primarily on these. Documentation of monument orientation, engraving type, etc. and sketches were done for the Charles Dodd Bench Tomb, the John Work Bench Tomb, the Canadian Scottish Regimental Cenotaph, the Paul Medana Obelisk,and the Pritchard Tomb, Andrew Phillips Obelisk, the James Murray Yale Grave,
Based on this, we divided the tombstones and monuments into the following four groups:
-The Freemasons
-Military personnal
-Hudson's Bay Company Traders
-Everyone else [Tombstone Group]
2. What are your research questions? (e.g. What are you trying to find out?) You may have only found an answer to one of your questions, but in theory you would go into the field with a few possibilities.
We were interested in the spatial patterning of the cemetery in its current state. There is a group of a group of tombstones, which were unkempt and haphazardly placed, within a small section of the graveyard. Our group was interested in how past historical events that lead to this segregation are maintained currently. How do past ideas in regards to social status influence the maintenance of monuments? How can we contextualize the current geographic placement of graves and their upkeep? Are the placement and maintenance of the graves and monuments symbolic of previous or contemporary values concerning status, and thus segregation?
3. Now, answer your research question in the form of 2-3 paragraphs. A good quality response to this will make reference to one or two published sources (even though this is a blog), using in-text citations and a bibliography. There should also be structure (a bit of an introduction and conclusion, with body text too).
Pioneer Square is a cemetery that can be found on Quadra Street just outside downtown Victoria, British Columbia [Please see below for map and corresponding monument photos]. As indicated by the name, the site provides a physical example of ideas in the 1800s surrounding status and what accorded an individual privilege. After a bit of research into the history of the cemetery, it was clear that the colonial aspects of the 1800s are still evident in the current maintenance of the tombs and monuments.
Formed in 1855, Pioneer Square was formerly called the Old Burial Ground and was a place for British Soldiers to be buried by sea (Old Cemetery Society of Victoria, 2011). However, due to population growth, the cemetery accommodated those outside the grouping we classified in our data set as ‘military personnel.’ Coinciding with the increase in burials was a move of the cemetery from the corner of Douglas St. and Johnson St. to its current location along Quadra Street (Hughes, 1971). Thirteen hundred burials are found in Pioneer Square, though individual markings for these burials are not present. In fact a single monument, which is also one of the largest, is located centrally in the square and is explicitly for Scottish fallen soldiers. Other monuments lay scattered across the grassy plot of land, though the most extravagant by contemporary standards are those associated with the military, Hudson’s Bay Company, and the Freemasons. Large and engraved free-standing obelisks and tombs with intricate pathways and fences exemplify class segregation at the time of burials in the 1800s. The notion of grandiose funerary displays being of a higher status could be debated as a Western worldview; however, a case study by Curl (1971) demonstrates that in the nineteenth century, those who could afford more extravagant tombstones and monuments by European standards were of a higher social class.
While segregation of social status is evident in the tombstone and monument styles, physical locations of monuments and tombstones also indicate class difference. Placed in a rather helter-skelter formation at the eastern side of Pioneer Square is a clustering of graves, a result of public demand in 1908 for cemetery restoration (Hughes, 1971). Among the tombstones still identifiable is the one belonging to Hannah Estes, who was a black slave. This area of the cemetery appears as the most neglected, with monuments cracked and falling over, a decrepit and saddening reminder of a past society based on status. The rock fence surrounding the cramped conditions of this area further exacerbates the perceived societal need for a separate area of those of lower status.
The newest and best-maintained memorials in Pioneer Square are those which were erected in memoriam of those working in sectors of the government, most commonly the military. A cairn erected in 2008 for the Royal Canadian Air Force commemorates those who fought in wars, and it located right in front of the entrance to the Church beside Pioneer Square. Similarly, the flowers around the Canadian Scottish Regimental Cenotaph appeared well-maintained. There was a lack of micro-organisms associated with stone, such as moss, hinting attention being paid to these monuments.
Based on the data collected, there are many layers to consider when dissecting social status in a cemetery from a contemporary research lens. Initially, the status of individuals or the status accorded groups in the 1800s was considered by examining the difference in monument styles. The wealthier individuals who could afford nice grave tombs and those deemed significant within the society (ie: Hudson’s Bay Traders, military workers, Freemasons) were given monuments or benches. The differentiation between those and the nameless and cracked tombstones of those located on the eastern side indicates segregation. Geographic separation between the clustering of graves and tombstones and the nicely spaced out monuments, cairns and obelisks is indicative of another level of segregation. Those identified individuals within the cluster were seen as holding a lower social status contemporary with the nineteenth century. Furthermore, segregation occurs currently, as even those important monuments from the 1800s are falling victim to graffiti, decay, and moss. Those kept well-maintained belong to a government class, illustrating though even once significant, these workers no longer receive adequate attention for upkeep.
View Pioneer Square in a larger map
References:
Curl, S.J.
1971. The Architecture and Planning of the Nineteenth Century Cemetery.
Garden History 3(3):13-41.
Hughes, J.
1971. Pioneer Square Cemetery also known as Victoria Pioneer Cemetery.
Richmond: British Columbia Genealogical Society.
Old Cemetery Society of Victoria
2011 The Old Burying Grounds. http://www.oldcem.bc.ca/cem_pn.htm, accessed February 10, 2011.
Our data set consisted of several monuments in Pioneer Square. There were many monuments associated with the colonialism paradigm, and for the sake of our research questions, we focused primarily on these. Documentation of monument orientation, engraving type, etc. and sketches were done for the Charles Dodd Bench Tomb, the John Work Bench Tomb, the Canadian Scottish Regimental Cenotaph, the Paul Medana Obelisk,and the Pritchard Tomb, Andrew Phillips Obelisk, the James Murray Yale Grave,
Based on this, we divided the tombstones and monuments into the following four groups:
-The Freemasons
-Military personnal
-Hudson's Bay Company Traders
-Everyone else [Tombstone Group]
2. What are your research questions? (e.g. What are you trying to find out?) You may have only found an answer to one of your questions, but in theory you would go into the field with a few possibilities.
We were interested in the spatial patterning of the cemetery in its current state. There is a group of a group of tombstones, which were unkempt and haphazardly placed, within a small section of the graveyard. Our group was interested in how past historical events that lead to this segregation are maintained currently. How do past ideas in regards to social status influence the maintenance of monuments? How can we contextualize the current geographic placement of graves and their upkeep? Are the placement and maintenance of the graves and monuments symbolic of previous or contemporary values concerning status, and thus segregation?
3. Now, answer your research question in the form of 2-3 paragraphs. A good quality response to this will make reference to one or two published sources (even though this is a blog), using in-text citations and a bibliography. There should also be structure (a bit of an introduction and conclusion, with body text too).
Pioneer Square is a cemetery that can be found on Quadra Street just outside downtown Victoria, British Columbia [Please see below for map and corresponding monument photos]. As indicated by the name, the site provides a physical example of ideas in the 1800s surrounding status and what accorded an individual privilege. After a bit of research into the history of the cemetery, it was clear that the colonial aspects of the 1800s are still evident in the current maintenance of the tombs and monuments.
Formed in 1855, Pioneer Square was formerly called the Old Burial Ground and was a place for British Soldiers to be buried by sea (Old Cemetery Society of Victoria, 2011). However, due to population growth, the cemetery accommodated those outside the grouping we classified in our data set as ‘military personnel.’ Coinciding with the increase in burials was a move of the cemetery from the corner of Douglas St. and Johnson St. to its current location along Quadra Street (Hughes, 1971). Thirteen hundred burials are found in Pioneer Square, though individual markings for these burials are not present. In fact a single monument, which is also one of the largest, is located centrally in the square and is explicitly for Scottish fallen soldiers. Other monuments lay scattered across the grassy plot of land, though the most extravagant by contemporary standards are those associated with the military, Hudson’s Bay Company, and the Freemasons. Large and engraved free-standing obelisks and tombs with intricate pathways and fences exemplify class segregation at the time of burials in the 1800s. The notion of grandiose funerary displays being of a higher status could be debated as a Western worldview; however, a case study by Curl (1971) demonstrates that in the nineteenth century, those who could afford more extravagant tombstones and monuments by European standards were of a higher social class.
While segregation of social status is evident in the tombstone and monument styles, physical locations of monuments and tombstones also indicate class difference. Placed in a rather helter-skelter formation at the eastern side of Pioneer Square is a clustering of graves, a result of public demand in 1908 for cemetery restoration (Hughes, 1971). Among the tombstones still identifiable is the one belonging to Hannah Estes, who was a black slave. This area of the cemetery appears as the most neglected, with monuments cracked and falling over, a decrepit and saddening reminder of a past society based on status. The rock fence surrounding the cramped conditions of this area further exacerbates the perceived societal need for a separate area of those of lower status.
The newest and best-maintained memorials in Pioneer Square are those which were erected in memoriam of those working in sectors of the government, most commonly the military. A cairn erected in 2008 for the Royal Canadian Air Force commemorates those who fought in wars, and it located right in front of the entrance to the Church beside Pioneer Square. Similarly, the flowers around the Canadian Scottish Regimental Cenotaph appeared well-maintained. There was a lack of micro-organisms associated with stone, such as moss, hinting attention being paid to these monuments.
Based on the data collected, there are many layers to consider when dissecting social status in a cemetery from a contemporary research lens. Initially, the status of individuals or the status accorded groups in the 1800s was considered by examining the difference in monument styles. The wealthier individuals who could afford nice grave tombs and those deemed significant within the society (ie: Hudson’s Bay Traders, military workers, Freemasons) were given monuments or benches. The differentiation between those and the nameless and cracked tombstones of those located on the eastern side indicates segregation. Geographic separation between the clustering of graves and tombstones and the nicely spaced out monuments, cairns and obelisks is indicative of another level of segregation. Those identified individuals within the cluster were seen as holding a lower social status contemporary with the nineteenth century. Furthermore, segregation occurs currently, as even those important monuments from the 1800s are falling victim to graffiti, decay, and moss. Those kept well-maintained belong to a government class, illustrating though even once significant, these workers no longer receive adequate attention for upkeep.
View Pioneer Square in a larger map
References:
Curl, S.J.
1971. The Architecture and Planning of the Nineteenth Century Cemetery.
Garden History 3(3):13-41.
Hughes, J.
1971. Pioneer Square Cemetery also known as Victoria Pioneer Cemetery.
Richmond: British Columbia Genealogical Society.
Old Cemetery Society of Victoria
2011 The Old Burying Grounds. http://www.oldcem.bc.ca/cem_pn.htm, accessed February 10, 2011.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Introductionsss
Hello fellow classmates!
My name is Audrey, and Im in my third year here at UVic. I was actually drawn to this course because of Professor Heather Botting (maybe some of you have had her?) who talked a bit about death rituals in another lecture, and it got me thinking about people's perceptions about reality and how they accomodate the unkown into their lives.
My name is Audrey, and Im in my third year here at UVic. I was actually drawn to this course because of Professor Heather Botting (maybe some of you have had her?) who talked a bit about death rituals in another lecture, and it got me thinking about people's perceptions about reality and how they accomodate the unkown into their lives.
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