This course has been very helpful for me to understand the Indigenous perspective better. I went into this course with very little knowledge of First Nations past relations with Europeans and colonization. I feel that this course has been insightful on this history. At the beginning of the semester, I did not have much of an opinion about the Indigenous but now that I have learned more of the history, I have gained a much better understanding.
I learned a lot this semester, one of the units and projects that was helpful, and I found insightful was on the Indigenous wives of the fur traders. That project taught me the extent of what the women of the fur trade had to endure. It also illustrated the contrast between different relationships. Some marriages were for convenience alone and others were brought about by true feelings. It also led to a better understanding of that era of time where expectations were much different. The fur traders could just go out to the ‘new land’ to trade and while having a wife and children at home, have a second family in North America. It was a much different time.
Another unit that I found interesting was the unit on the gold rush. Before the course I had not really thought about how the Indigenous fit into the gold rush. It was a discovery to me to hear about all the atrocious act that took place against them. They never should have had to give up their land on false pretenses of return and peace.
Learning about the past has allowed me to have a better idea of the Indigenous’ cultural identity and how I am able respect it. Currently we are talking about cultural appropriation, and I was slightly surprised at some of the knowledge that comes with this unit. I like that we are talking about cultural appropriation so that we know what it is and are less likely to make a mistake that gets interpreted as cultural appropriation.
