Often, people neglect that mentalities and ideas are determined by culture. Since the time of colonization, Western ideology has dominated and sculpted research all over the world. The Western culture has normalized conceptions about history, time, space, and language, and has taught people to regard certain forms of storytelling and research as “acceptable.” Yet, Western ideals are not the only lens through which one can observe life. Since the times of colonization, humanity has become fragmented. As Hall suggests, “the concept of the West functions in ways which allow ‘us’ to characterize and classify society into categories” (Tuhiwai 42-43.) As a consequence of this classification, issues have surfaced. The en-gendering of descriptions, the separation of time from space, the Western views on human nature, and the overgeneralization of ideas on human morality have changed dramatically and diverged from the views of the First Peoples of Canada and the world. Western views have stained and soaked through the original views of Native peoples in America. Thus, now, “colonizers share a language and knowledge of colonization” which reign the world (Tuhiwai 45.) The normalization of certain research and storytelling techniques arrived with this fragmentation. For this reason, I wish to focus on stories that have been neglected by Western views and use visual tools to present and research these stories.

In my graduating project, I will tell the story of a young Mayan woman from the Yucatán peninsula. Women have been one of the most impacted by the Western mentality; because humanity is male-driven, the translation of native languages into English has made the native cultures seem patriarchal. For example, “rangatiratanga has generally been interpreted in English as meaning chieftainship and sovereignty, which in colonialism is a ‘male thing’,” yet there are both female and male chiefs in the native cultures of Canada and the world (Tuhiwai 46.) By telling the story of a Mayan woman in the contemporary world, the views about native females present in today’s society can be reconstructed. Currently, even “Western feminism has been challenged, particularly by women of colour, for conforming to some very fundamental Western European world-views, value systems, and attitudes” (Tuhiwai 43.) This challenging of ideas present that indigenous women have been underrepresented. Due to this patriarchal mentality, native females have also been objectified and seen by Europeans as marginalized, submissive, and weak. Today, the consequences of this influence can be seen in cases such as the missing and murdered indigenous women, which is an ongoing issue today. This idea has been propagated through mundane, day-to-day objects such as native Halloween costumes, movies, and TV series. Newspapers and media have a white-lens and priority towards lighter-skinned women is evident. The justice system also incarcerates native peoples at an unequal rate. These problems are present in society as a disease is in the human body. The pain colonization has caused First Nations peoples through generational trauma is immense and real today, and this trauma is not only relevant in Canada but it is in Mexico as well. In order for change to thrive, awareness has to grow. Writing stories about indigenous peoples can act as a first step towards building an understanding between two worlds and can also aid in fighting the perpetuation of colonial power.

For my own graduating project, the concept of colonization is relevant. In the past, people have been immersed into one single idea about native people in Canada as well as in Mexico. Through this idea, First Nations have become only one thing in people’s minds: an object from the past. Yet, my project intends to break these stereotypes and fixations on native cultures and tell a story about current indigenous people in a contemporary setting. Before, people had bought into the single story of First Nations instead of opening their minds to the wonderful spectrum that exists in the Native art and culture. My graduating project will star a young, Mayan woman who will go against colonial ideas and will challenge the world views people have about her and her culture. This plot will bring the topic of marginalization forward and empower native women by questioning Western values. I wish to provide a contrast between indigenous conceptions of the world and the Western mentality and establish a dialogue with indigenous communities in Canada through storytelling. My goal is to shatter the colonial idea that Indigenous beliefs are “shocking, abhorrent and barbaric” (Tuhiwai 43.) My project will bring awareness and break many of the beliefs embedded in Western culture. The conceptions about time, space, history, and language will be a primary theme within my graphic novel. In many ways, the two divergent cultures of Mexico and Canada will converge and aid each other in emerging from the ashes of colonialism. In the world, “many different traditions of knowledge and moments of history” exist (Tuhiwai 44.) Within them, ideas can be transformed and reconstructed, and from there new knowledge may lead to a better mentality and, eventually, to a decolonized world.

 

 

 

Works Cited

Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. Zed Books, 2013.