The Earth is my Elder
department or school: Creative and Critical Studies, Faculty of (Okanagan)
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCO
creator: Arias, Krista
issued: 2021-08-26T20:47:43Z
issued: 2021
related degree: Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: How is it possible for diasporic Indigenous women and mothers, to remember, recover and restory what has been lost in the last five hundred years of colonization? How can mothers who have been displaced from land, language, and culture as a result of colonization participate in cultural restoration, their own and that of the collective. How is Trauma involved, relied on, perpetuated, and resolved in order to either maintain or escape patterns of fight, flight and/or paralysis? As a Xicana Indígena mother, existing in the cycle of birth and death, always becoming ancestor, I have searched for an accurate story to pass on to my children, a story that is true but that is also a truth-telling. I address and explore problems of authentic identity – de- Indianization, appropriation and misappropriation, and hemispheric Indigeneity in order to set up the initial problem. I then move on to consider historical trauma, trauma theory, Indigenous healing practices and paradigms as well as resonant western ones. I then consider histories, issues, and ceremonies related to Indigenous birth and mothering. This project is a Ceremony of restoration, of decoding remnants, of generative gestures, and stitching stories. It offers guiding principles and ceremonial protocols that allow for the product of ceremony, vision, to emerge. A large part of this dissertation consists of imaginal, dream-crafted, poietic, and performative output and it is supplemented with an exhibition and a published collection of poetry. I share my vision, a personal transformation and an offering, a generative gesture of In Xochitl In Cuicatl – poetry and prayer that honors Indigenous holistic dualism as a way forward through trauma . . . into freedom.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/79465
note: The Earth is My Elder: by Krista Arias BA, Evergreen State College, 1996 MA, St. John’s College, 1997 MA, University of Toronto, 2001 MA, Pacifica Graduate Institute, 2017 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Interdisciplinary Studies) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Okanagan) August 2021 Krista Arias, 2021 ii The following individuals certify that they have read and recommend to the College of Graduate Studies for acceptance, a thesis/dissertation entitled: The Earth is My Elder submitted by Krista Arias in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy . Tania Willard, Creative and Critical Studies Supervisor Ashok Mathur, Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences Supervisory Committee Member Monica Morales-Good, Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences Supervisory Committee Member Fiona McDonald, Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences University Examiner Estrella Torrez, Residential College in the Arts and Humanities, Michigan State University External Examiner iii Abstract How is it possible for diasporic Indigenous women and mothers, to remember, recover and restory what has been lost in the last five hundred years of colonization? How can mothers who have been displaced from land, language, and culture as a result of colonization participate in cultural restoration, their own and that of the collective. How is Trauma involved, relied on, perpetuated, and resolved in order to either maintain or escape patterns of fight, flight and/or paralysis? As a Xicana Indígena mother, existing in the cycle of birth and death, always becoming ancestor, I have searched for an accurate story to pass on to my children, a story that is true but that is also a truth-telling. I address and explore problems of authentic identity – de-Indianization, appropriation and misappropriation, and hemispheric Indigeneity in order to set up the i…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2021-09
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0401743
language: eng
degree discipline: Interdisciplinary Studies
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Willard, Tania
type: Text
type: Moving Image
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/79465