Names contain so much meaning for something intangible. They contain our identities, they represent us, who we are. We tend to take our names for granted nowadays, but what if your name was taken from you? What if you were given a new name, something entirely foreign? Would you feel your sense-of-self changed, your identity violated?
The erasure of Indigenous names began very early on in colonialism, with the Europeans seeing their naming system confusing; rather than trying to understand it, they decided to remake it for their own purposes. In order to assimilate the first-nations and make for easy pronunciation and documentation, Indigenous peoples were given a brand new Christian name and surname, with the women adopting the surname of their husband or father.
In first-nations culture, names are extremely meaningful. For example, with the Inuit, names represented not only the individual, but also the past and the people that came before them. Names were unique – shared family surnames did not exist. Thus, it was an emotional time when Christian missionaries arrived and decided to rename the Inuit peoples with their own baptismal names. Things got worse, however, as the government implemented a disk number system to identify the Inuit peoples, in place of actual names. Every Inuit was given a disk number that they had to keep on their person at all times – extremely dehumanizing. It wasn’t until Project Surname – which happened over 30 years later – that the Inuit were able to at least somewhat reclaim their names, although there is much controversy about that as well.
My goals:
- Inform folks on the past erasure of Indigenous names
- Normalize the usage of Indigenous names
- Teach the general public about the pronunciation of traditional names
I want to communicate this message to a large demographic, but especially young adults, since they are super into activism these days and I can see them spreading the message and educating others on the topic on social media, etc.
Sources:
https://www.ictinc.ca/indian-act-naming-policies
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/project-surname