Dreamcatchers in the city
Subtitle: an ethnohistory of social action, gender and class in Native community production in Toronto.
Published: 2004
Language: eng
Number of pages: 312
Description: Secondly, consideration is given to class and gender, which in this case sheds new light on the interpretation of history from an anthropological point of view, by illustrating the complex layers of human experience observable only through an ethnographic window. Here, the formation of a Native middle-class is examined in relation to collective action responding to the needs of urban Native people, and the emergence of power structures within the community. The shifting dynamics and layering of gender, race and class relations between Native and non-Native people in the development of the Toronto Native community points up the personal and collective agency mobilized to counter assimilation in the processes of Native urbanization.Third, the socio-historical approach used here adds to the debate on concepts significant to anthropologists, including notions of community and community membership, culture and identity. These are explored in terms of both Rhoda Halperin's (1991) and Eric Wolf's (1982) leads, seeing community and culture as "practiced" and as "responsive processes" to structural and interactive relations of power. Fourth, the author's personal "practice of community," in particular through the creation of the Toronto Native Community History Project and its lasting impacts is explored, from a feminist, reflexive point-of-view. This adds innovative ideas for those interested in participatory action research, and in the vision of more collaborative research with Indigenous peoples in the future.Dreamcatchers in the City presents an ethnohistorical account of Native community building in Toronto by examining four overlapping broad themes. First, it is argued that the particularities of the experience of Native urbanization, combined with the socio-political context of Native and non-Native relations in Canada provide for a unique and intriguing evolution of Native social movements. The particular history of one social movement organization (SMO), the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto is told in terms of its key roles in local Native community building, in power relations surrounding the mobilization and delineation of Native culture, tradition and identity, and in national organizing around urban Native issues.
Notes: Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Toronto, 2004.

Electronic version licensed for access by U. of T. users.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 66-06, Section: A, page: 2272.