Giant Trees, Iron Men: Masculinity and Colonialism in Coast Salish Loggers’ Identity
First Nations people in Coastal British Columbia have harvested and commodified the forest for centuries. With the arrival of European settlers and the inception of a commercial logging industry, Coast Salish men became highly respected and sought-after employees at logging camps up and down the coa...
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ftusaskatchewan:oai:harvest.usask.ca:10388/7413 2023-05-15T16:16:20+02:00 Giant Trees, Iron Men: Masculinity and Colonialism in Coast Salish Loggers’ Identity Osmond, Colin Murray 1984- Carlson, Keith T Labelle, Kathryn M Clifford, Jim Innes, Robert 2016-09-07T15:54:26Z application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/10388/7413 unknown University of Saskatchewan http://hdl.handle.net/10388/7413 TC-SSU-7413 Aboriginal History Canadian History Logging Forestry Native-Newcomer Relations Colonialism Ethnohistory Thesis text 2016 ftusaskatchewan 2022-01-17T11:52:56Z First Nations people in Coastal British Columbia have harvested and commodified the forest for centuries. With the arrival of European settlers and the inception of a commercial logging industry, Coast Salish men became highly respected and sought-after employees at logging camps up and down the coast. With attention to the twentieth century, this thesis analyzes the long history of Coast Salish forestry to highlight how cutting down trees provided Coast Salish men the ability to affirm masculine identities in both the pre and post-contact periods. In the theatre of a logging camp, Coast Salish men could ascend the racial and social limitations placed on their masculinity through skill and hard work. This thesis analyzes the various ways that First Nations men in British Columbia responded to the multiple forms of oppression placed on their identities as men by the Colonial and then Canadian governments. Colonial patriarchy took multiple forms, which created a system of hypocrisy where Coast Salish men were simultaneously expected to act like ‘men’ but were categorically denied access to certain types of masculinity. Coast Salish men could attain certain types of masculine agency through the sort of rugged masculinity valued in logging camps, but when they tried to assert their land and resource rights against patriarchal systems, they were paternalistically treated like children by the Canadian State. By analyzing Coast Salish logger’s remembrances of their time in ‘the bush,’ this thesis is a study in Indigenous historical consciousness. Considering both the continuities and changes present in Coast Salish forestry and ideals on masculinity, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, constructs an understanding of not only the colonial processes that oppressed, but also the avenues where Indigenous people carved out opportunities for themselves. Ultimately, this thesis argues that Coast Salish men were able to transcend some of the most oppressive aspects of colonialism by embracing an industry and a social environment (logging and logging camps) where they could perform an expression of masculinity that they found fulfilling, and that was simultaneously valued and accepted by colonial society. Thesis First Nations University of Saskatchewan: eCommons@USASK Newcomer ENVELOPE(-58.100,-58.100,-62.025,-62.025) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Saskatchewan: eCommons@USASK |
op_collection_id |
ftusaskatchewan |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Aboriginal History Canadian History Logging Forestry Native-Newcomer Relations Colonialism Ethnohistory |
spellingShingle |
Aboriginal History Canadian History Logging Forestry Native-Newcomer Relations Colonialism Ethnohistory Osmond, Colin Murray 1984- Giant Trees, Iron Men: Masculinity and Colonialism in Coast Salish Loggers’ Identity |
topic_facet |
Aboriginal History Canadian History Logging Forestry Native-Newcomer Relations Colonialism Ethnohistory |
description |
First Nations people in Coastal British Columbia have harvested and commodified the forest for centuries. With the arrival of European settlers and the inception of a commercial logging industry, Coast Salish men became highly respected and sought-after employees at logging camps up and down the coast. With attention to the twentieth century, this thesis analyzes the long history of Coast Salish forestry to highlight how cutting down trees provided Coast Salish men the ability to affirm masculine identities in both the pre and post-contact periods. In the theatre of a logging camp, Coast Salish men could ascend the racial and social limitations placed on their masculinity through skill and hard work. This thesis analyzes the various ways that First Nations men in British Columbia responded to the multiple forms of oppression placed on their identities as men by the Colonial and then Canadian governments. Colonial patriarchy took multiple forms, which created a system of hypocrisy where Coast Salish men were simultaneously expected to act like ‘men’ but were categorically denied access to certain types of masculinity. Coast Salish men could attain certain types of masculine agency through the sort of rugged masculinity valued in logging camps, but when they tried to assert their land and resource rights against patriarchal systems, they were paternalistically treated like children by the Canadian State. By analyzing Coast Salish logger’s remembrances of their time in ‘the bush,’ this thesis is a study in Indigenous historical consciousness. Considering both the continuities and changes present in Coast Salish forestry and ideals on masculinity, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, constructs an understanding of not only the colonial processes that oppressed, but also the avenues where Indigenous people carved out opportunities for themselves. Ultimately, this thesis argues that Coast Salish men were able to transcend some of the most oppressive aspects of colonialism by embracing an industry and a social environment (logging and logging camps) where they could perform an expression of masculinity that they found fulfilling, and that was simultaneously valued and accepted by colonial society. |
author2 |
Carlson, Keith T Labelle, Kathryn M Clifford, Jim Innes, Robert |
format |
Thesis |
author |
Osmond, Colin Murray 1984- |
author_facet |
Osmond, Colin Murray 1984- |
author_sort |
Osmond, Colin Murray 1984- |
title |
Giant Trees, Iron Men: Masculinity and Colonialism in Coast Salish Loggers’ Identity |
title_short |
Giant Trees, Iron Men: Masculinity and Colonialism in Coast Salish Loggers’ Identity |
title_full |
Giant Trees, Iron Men: Masculinity and Colonialism in Coast Salish Loggers’ Identity |
title_fullStr |
Giant Trees, Iron Men: Masculinity and Colonialism in Coast Salish Loggers’ Identity |
title_full_unstemmed |
Giant Trees, Iron Men: Masculinity and Colonialism in Coast Salish Loggers’ Identity |
title_sort |
giant trees, iron men: masculinity and colonialism in coast salish loggers’ identity |
publisher |
University of Saskatchewan |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10388/7413 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-58.100,-58.100,-62.025,-62.025) |
geographic |
Newcomer |
geographic_facet |
Newcomer |
genre |
First Nations |
genre_facet |
First Nations |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/10388/7413 TC-SSU-7413 |
_version_ |
1766002187377311744 |