Krista McCracken defends Susan M. Hill, The Clay We Are Made Of: Haudenosaunee Land Tenure on the Grand River. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2017.
This year’s shortlist for the CHA book prize features a number of fantastic reads. When the shortlist and the call for #CHAReads2018 was announced I jumped at the opportunity to defend Susan M. Hill’s latest book, The Clay We Are Made Of: Haudenosaunee Land Tenure on the Grand River.
Hill’s book is not within my area of expertise, but that’s one of the best things of about #CHAReads2018 – it challenges historians to read outside of their comfort zone and to explore some of the great work that is happening outside of our immediate fields. Plus, who doesn’t love the feel of a new book in their hands?
Armed with a cup of tea, I eagerly dove into this book and by the end of the first chapter I was convinced that this is a book all historians practicing in Canada should read. As a profession that is thinking and talking about reconciliation, we need to do more than make land acknowledgements and talk about reconciliation. Historians working with Indigenous communities must build relationships based on respect, UNDRIP, and the First Nation Principles of OCAP. We need to listen to and make space for Indigenous scholars and their ways of knowing, history, and truths within the historical profession.
The Clay We Are Made Of incorporates Indigenous knowledge, oral records, wampum belt teachings, and historical research to tell the historical and contemporary story of the Grand River Haudenosaunee. This multi-layered approach to research represents the level of relationship building and community engagement that all historians approaching Indigenous history should strive toward.
Hill’s position as a member of the Haudenosaunee community and resident of Oshwe:ken (Grand River Territory) brings a depth to this topic that is unique to someone with kinship ties to Six Nations. Likewise, Hill’s understanding of the Kanyen’keha language provides added depth and nuance to her interpretation of treaty texts and changing interpretations of crown agreements. Hill’s discussion of the concepts of possession and ownership in both English and Kanyen’keha are particularly telling, “The idea of English-language ownerships does not completely match with the Kanyen’keha equivalent…in Onkwehonwe’meha ownership denotes a connection with something and a responsibility to it. Similarly, it is often said that as Haudenosaunee, we do not have ‘rights’ but rather we have ‘duties’” (p.60-61). By bringing a discussion of language and the challenges of translation in to her work Hill is able to illustrate cultural and communication differences which resonate throughout Haudenosaunee-Crown relations.
This book provides an excellent gateway for understanding kinship ties, Haudenosaunee worldview, and the impact of colonialism on traditional land use. Hill eloquently illustrates how historical and more recent relationships with the Haudenosaunee of the Grand River continued to be guided by principles which we documented in early friendship treaties such as the Covenant Chain and Kaswentha.
Chapter one, aptly titled “Karihwa’onwe – The Original Matters,” opens by describing four major stories about the land that are central to Haudenosaunee worldview: the Creation Story, the Kayeri Niyorihwa:ke (Four Ceremonies), the Kayaneren’kow (Great Law of Peace), and the Karihwiyo (Good Message of Handsome Lake). Hill’s inclusion of these traditional teachings at the forefront of her writing is indicative of the mixed method approach used throughout the book. Similarly, it places land, relationships with the land, and human interactions with the land at the core of Hill’s examination into Grand River community history.
Throughout her work Hill frames “land as life” as a central tenant of Haudenosaunee culture, beliefs, and ways of knowing. (p. 131). This connection to the land carries through in the earliest treaties and agreements the Haudenosaunee negotiated with any other nation. As Hill notes, for the Haudenosaunee, the most devastating aspects of colonial violence enacted against them have been attempts to disrupt this connection, through the forced relocation of Haudenosaunee communities, and changing of land through the construction of dams and resource extraction. For reconciliation to occur, recognition of this dynamic and compensation for this violence is required.
However, Hill’s work places Haudenosaunee communities as active players in their own destiny, as having a place at the treaty table, and as a strong and resilient community despite “threads of displacement, resettlement, broken promises, and fraud” (p. 184) that run through Haudenosaunee interactions with the crown. Land tenure at the Grand River has been filled with crown imposition and restrictions. Crown interference was repeatedly met with Haudenosaunee statements of sovereignty and strength.
In her conclusion, Hill ultimately ties this long history of unreconciled relationships to current discussions about the TRC’s Calls to Action. She presents a hope for moving forward and ties the future of right relations directly to Indigenous led initiatives, traditional language education, and Haudenosaunee land stewardship.
Since reading this book, Hill’s final words have stuck with me. She asserts, “Canada bears a huge responsibility to conduct itself in a far more honourable manner than it has over much of its history as a nation. The Grand River Haudenosaunee of today, much like their ancestors of many previous generations, are will to travel that river together, in peace and friendship again” (p. 242). Reconciliation and right relations requires all parties to come to the table. Canada needs to do and be better in both words and actions.
The Clay We Are Made Of appeals to me as someone who is committed to learning respectfully about Indigenous communities and listening to Indigenous scholars. Hill’s work is an example of the type of Indigenous engaged history we should be privileging, one that is inclusive of Indigenous worldview and aims to shed light on Indigenous-Crown relations by looking beyond written historical sources.
The breadth and depth of Hill’s work makes this a fascinating and enlightening read. Her approach to the history of the Grand River communities is one which deserves attention from the Canadian historical community at large and deserves recognition for its nuance and inclusiveness. This is a book so many of us need to read.
Krista McCracken (She/They) is a public history professional and archivist. She works as an Archives Supervisor at Algoma University’s Arthur A. Wishart Library and Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre, in Baawating (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario) on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe and Métis people. Krista’s research interests include community archives, residential schools, and outreach. She is an editor of the popular Canadian history website Activehistory.ca.
Be sure to join us tomorrow, when Ian Jesse will defend Jeffers Lennox, Homeland And Empires: Indigenous Spaces, Imperial Fictions, and Competition for Territory in Northeastern North America, 1690-1763!
Don’t forget to check out the other posts in our CHA Reads Series!!
- Series Introduction
- Krista McCracken defending The Clay We Are Made Of: Haudenosaunee Land Tenure on the Grand River
- Ian Jesse defending Homelands and Empires: Indigenous Spaces, Imperial Fictions, and Competition for Territory in Northeastern North America, 1690-1973.
- Carly Ciufo defending Residential Schools and Reconciliation: Canada Confronts Its History
- Dan Horner defending Travellers through Empire: Indigenous Voyages from Early Canada
- Carmen Nielson defending Tax, Order, and Good Government: A New Political History of Canada, 1867-1917.
Thanks for this, Unwritten Histories & Krista! Much appreciated!