Our Death is Our Strongest Surviving Tradition. A Guest Essay by the Artist of Our Cover Image
Abstract
In Canada, Yukon First Nations are politically powerful and, when viewed by an outsider, everything appears to be progressing well. But the adoption of the Western political model has a downside. We have generally sacrificed our culture for that political power. The loss of our culture has resulted in many social problems and this essay discusses what has resulted from those problems, specifically our high death rate. Ironically, our death ritual, the Potlatch, is one of the strongest surviving cultural traditions we still exercise, while our languages, laws, art, lifestyle, and spirituality are almost all forgotten.
Keywords
Funeral Traditions; Potlatch; Yukon First Nations; Sacred Spaces
References
Coates, Kenneth S. Best Left as Indians: Native-White Relations in the Yukon Territories, 1840–1973. U of British Columbia P, 1984.
Park, Jungwee. “Mortality Among First Nations People, 2006 to 2016.” Statistics Canada, 20 October 2021. https://www.doi.org/10.25318/82-003-x202101000001-eng
Tjepkema, Michael, Tracey Bushnik and Evelyne Bougie. “Life Expectancy of First Nations, Métis and Inuit Household Populations in Canada.” Statistics Canada, 18 December 2019. https://www.doi.org/10.25318/82-003-x201901200001-eng
van Kampen, Ukjese. History of Yukon First Nations Art. 2012. Leiden University, PhD Dissertation.
van Kampen, Ukjese. The Journey of Floral Bead Styles from 1500s France to 1800s Yukon First Nations. 2022. University of Lapland, PhD Dissertation.
Independent Artist, Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada Canada
https://orcid.org/0009-0003-4373-9526
Dr². Ukjese van Kampen is from the Wolf Clan, Northern Tutchone people in the Yukon Territory in northern Canada. Besides his Native American ancestry he can trace links to his European heritage back to the MacPhail Clan in Scotland and has in-law links to the Netherlands. Dr². van Kampen has a BFA, MA and a PhD from Leiden University in the Netherlands and a second PhD with the University of Lapland in Finland. Dr². van Kampen has long been fascinated with Native Americans and has focused much of his research on Yukon First Nations art, costume, and history and is often lecturing at conferences and universities worldwide on those subjects. He has presented and/or had art exhibitions in Japan, Mexico, United States, the Netherlands, Finland, Poland, Canada and many other locations as well as he is quite involved with universities in the Czech Republic. His most recent writings have been included in Původní obyvatelé a globalizace [Indigenous Peoples and Globalization] (Czech Republic: Nakladatelství Pavel Markvart, 2021) and Kwanlin Dün: Dǎ Kwǎndur Ghày Ghàkwadîndur—Our Story in Our Words (Vancouver: Figure 1 Publishing, 2020). Dr². van Kampen is active having art exhibitions, doing performance art, lecturing and curating in Canada, Europe and Japan.
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