Belonging in Unceded Territory Project

Belonging in Unceded Territory Project

Project Overview

Vancouver is situated on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples. Coast Salish peoples have belonged on these lands since times immemorial.  Yet, narratives of belonging rarely grapple with the fact that belonging is negotiated on stolen land.  The Belonging in Unceded Territory project brings settler colonialism into the center of debates on social belonging in Vancouver. It asks: what does it mean for today’s settlers – those among us who have lived here for generations, and those who have just arrived – to acknowledge our own position in relation to Indigenous presence in these lands? How can we develop place-based narratives of belonging that do not shy away from confronting the ugly truth of ongoing settler colonialism? How can we live as good guests on these lands? What actions can we take individually and organizationally to move forward in relationship? Engagement with these questions is critical if we are to be responsive to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls for Action. 

Project goals

Our award of funding coincided with the start of the first pandemic lockdown. While it took time to establish our partnership via Zoom, the lockdown also provided us with space to reflect on the project and our place in it.  Since then, we continue to learn from each other and from the Indigenous knowledge keepers who support our work.  As a result, our original objectives have evolved. Today, nearly three years into the project, we pursue the following goals: 

  1. Build reciprocal and sustainable partnerships between the Centre for Migration Studies, settlement and community organizations, and Indigenous community leaders.
  2. Facilitate settler dialogue and learning about Coast Salish histories, colonization, and the ways in which we are implicated in Canada’s settler colonial project. Recognize the differential positioning of Canadian-born and newcomer settlers, and white and racialized settlers.
  3. Learn from the wisdom of knowledge keepers to explore decolonizing ways of living and belonging. Identify actions we can take to live as respectful guests on Coast Salish territories and support the host nations.
  4. Share our knowledge through various media to enable outreach to different audiences.

Research stages

  • 2020: Partnership building | Text analysis | Media analysis
  • 2021: Interviews and talking circles | Decolonizing Initiatives Map
  • 2022: Decolonizing training | Podcast production | Animated film production | Dialogue group planning
  • 2023: Dialogue groups and survey planning
  • 2024: Survey

Partners

UBC Centre for Migration Studies
Antje Ellermann (PI)
Markus Hallensleben
Richard Johnston
Sean Lauer
Gabriele Dumpys Woolever
Matthew Wright
Yang-Yang Zhou

Research Assistants:

Nicholas Phin
Cindy Robin
Lara Şarlak
Claudia Serrano

Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House
Susan Liu Woronko
Jessie Seegerts
Gloria Tsui
Ancel Xiaoyu Zhu

Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Service Agencies of BC (AMSSA)
Katie Crocker
Winnie Chironga
Sabrina Dumitra
Sara Sehic

Immigrant Services Society of BC (ISSofBC)
Kathy Sherrell
Shae Viswanathan
Jennifer York

We are grateful for the support of Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House during the project’s formative stage.

Knowledge dissemination

Podcast episode

Canada is lauded for its multiculturalism and being a welcoming host society to migrant newcomers. But discourses around settlement and integration tend to ignore the realities of Canada’s status as a settler colonial state. What would it mean to take seriously the fact that these are Indigenous lands to which Canada has no right to offer welcome? Can practices of immigration and settlement be reconciled with the possibility of decolonization? These are the questions that brought together partners in Coast Salish territories – or, Vancouver, BC – for a multi-year research collaboration called “Belonging in Unceded Territory.” With newcomer and Indigenous community members from Frog Hollow Neighborhood House, migration scholars from UBC, and staff from Immigrant Services Society of BC and the Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Service Agencies of BC, space is being made for new narratives of belonging. What will they be?

Animated film (Coming soon: discussion guide and film subtitles in several languages)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUKQ4r7Aqnw

 

This animated film features voices of Indigenous and settler community project participants and distills the themes and questions of the Belonging project. The substance of the film’s narrative comes from talking circles and interviews conducted in 2021. We are deeply grateful to the many participants who shared their reflections and experiences with CMS and Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House collaborators. The film was produced by Sebastian Hill-Esbrand and features artwork by Emily Chou and Charlene Johnny.

This film may be freely shared and viewed for educational and discussion purposes. If you decide to use the film in a group setting we ask that you send a brief message to Antje Ellermann so that we can get a sense of how this film is being used. Feel free to use our discussion guide (coming soon) to get the conversation started.

Decolonizing Initiatives Map

This digital map briefly introduces some of the many local projects that we connected with through this project that have initiatives dedicated to efforts of Truth and Reconciliation, decolonization and/or Indigenization on unceded Coast Salish territories.  The initiatives displayed on the map are far from a comprehensive list and our project welcomes requests from other groups who are similarly engaged in decolonizing initiatives in the region. In case your organization is interested in being featured on this map, please contact admin.migration@ubc.ca.

By clicking on an organization’s logo on the map, you will find more information about its initiative and ways to connect with or be a part of it!

Publications 

Hallensleben, Markus. (Forthcoming) “Unsettling Politics of Belonging through Narratives of Radical Diversity and Indigenous Storywork.” Politics of Postmigration. Special issue of Europe Now (2023). https://www.europenowjournal.org/  

Hallensleben, Markus. (Forthcoming) „Über die Lust des Vergessens und Zerstörens: Kann es eine gewaltlose, dekolonialisierte und dezentrierte Literaturwissenschaft geben? Ein persönliches Manifest für eine verantwortungsbewusste, relationale Wissensvermittlung. [About the Pleasure of Forgetting and Destroying: Can There Be Literary Studies without Violence, Colonialism and Eurocentrism? A Personal Manifesto for Sharing Knowledge in a Responsible and Relational Way.”] The Pleasure of Studying Literature. Eds. Mona Koerte et al.  

Hallensleben, Markus. “(Re)Imagining a ‘Good Life’ as a Settler Scholar: How Can We Decolonize and Indigenize European Studies through Indigenous Storywork?” Polylogues at the Intersection(s) Series, 2022. (Open access) 

Presentations

We continue to share the insights gained from this work through presentations with academic, community, and policy audiences, both at home and further afield:

2023

  • Centre for Advanced Migration Studies, University of Copenhagen, May 2023
  • Centre for the Study of Political Behaviour, Western University, London, Ontario, March 2023
  • CMS Narratives group, Centre for Migration Studies, January 2023
  • Host Nations Luncheon, Vancouver, January 2023
  • Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House, all staff meeting, January 2023

2022

  • IRCC Canada BC-Yukon Summit, hosted by AMSSA, plenary session, November 2022
  • Annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Montreal, September 2022

Acknowledgements

The Belonging in Unceded Territory project is taking place on the ancestral and stolen territories of the Coast Salish peoples. This land sustains us in our daily work and lives. Coast Salish peoples have served as the stewards and knowledge keepers of these lands since time immemorial. We raise our hands to you!

We gratefully acknowledge the Indigenous elders, knowledge keepers, and community leaders who have and continue to guide us on our learning journey through their teaching and feedback:

Chepximiya Siyam’ Chief Janice George
Skwetsimeltxw Willard “Buddy” Joseph
Elder Kat Zu’comulwat Norris
Norm Leech
Niis Miou/Travis Angus
Sussan Yáñez
Jolene Andrew
Ta7talíya Michelle Nahanee

We acknowledge the financial support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council through its Partnership Development Grant program (#890-2019-0100).

  

Your Event RSVP Form

Please RSVP for this in-person event below.

Language Attitudes and Social Consequences in Diverse Contexts

We are thrilled to share that our faculty affiliates Amanda Cardoso (Principal Investigator) and Marie-Eve Bouchard (Co-Investigator) have been awarded a SSHRC Connection Grant for outreach, engagement and public dissemination activities for their research project Language Attitudes and Social Consequences in Diverse Contexts. The UBC Centre for Migration Studies is excited to be the administrator of this grant, and will provide matching funds towards the project to support a research workshop. The project has received other contributions from UBC Language Sciences, UBC Public Humanities Hub and the Canadian Linguistic Association.

The project centres on three areas of interest in language attitudes research: 1) social consequences (e.g.. unequal outcomes in employment opportunities), 2) multilingualism (e.g., impact of language attitudes on learning or retaining a variety), and 3) public voices (e.g., unequal representation of voices in the public spheres through media and speech technology). The project will connect a diverse network of scholars interested language attitudes and social contexts, disseminate research to the general public and specific language communities to promote multilingualism and marginalized languages, celebrate the intersection of language and culture, highlight the benefits of linguistic diversity and combatting language-based discrimination, and initiate discussions in academic and non-academic circles to foreground the social consequences of language attitudes.

Additional researchers involved in the project are Dr Molly Babel (Associate Professor, Linguistics, UBC), Professor Erez Levon (University of Bern, Centre for the Study of Language and Society), Suyuan Li (PhD Candidate, Linguistics, UBC), Angelina Lloy(Graduate, Linguistics, UBC) and Mackenzie Dixon (Undergraduate, FHIS, UBC).

Public Views of Immigration and Diversity: Causes and Consequences for Policy

For elected officials, the making of immigration policy can be a politically risky undertaking. Questions about immigration – how many should be allowed to come, who should be allowed to come, and on what terms – cut to the core of what political communities are about. In democratic societies, political elites mobilize public sentiment to gain office, and they depend on public support to stay there and, ultimately, make policy.

This project will bring together leading scholars of public opinion with policy practitioners to share and discuss cutting-edge work analyzing what people in modern, immigrant-receiving countries think about immigrants and immigration, why they think it, and how knowing the answers to these questions shapes the policy-making process. Research presentations will focus on immigration attitudes in Canada, Europe, and the United states. In addition to discussing latest research, participants will reflect on how their work sheds light on broader relationships between researchers, media, the punditocracy, and the political class.

 

Public Views of Immigration and Diversity Workshop

Organized in cooperation with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Ottawa Office

Location: Centre for Migration Studies (CMS), University of British Columbia, Vancouver.

The workshop will be held in the Place of Many Trees (formerly Liu Multipurpose Room) at The Liu Institute for Global Issues: 6476 NW Marine Drive, Vancouver, BC V6T1Z2

This event is invitation only and closed to the public. However, the afternoon component from 2:30 – 4:30 pm is open to the public by RSVP.

Date: 9 am – 4:30 pm PDT, May 18, 2022

 

Event Schedule

Tuesday, May 17
6:00 p.m. Dinner

Sage (6331 Crescent Rd)

Wednesday, May 18

All workshop events on May 18, excluding dinner, will be located at the Place of Many Trees (formerly Multipurpose Room) at the Liu Institute for Global Issues (6476 NW Marine Drive).
8:30 a.m. Breakfast
9:00 a.m. Welcome and Land Acknowledgement

Antje Ellermann (University of British Columbia)

Matthew Wright (University of British Columbia)
9:15 a.m. Workshop Part I (closed to public)
10:45 a.m. Workshop Part II (closed to public)
12:30 p.m. Lunch and Video Recording (closed to public)
1:30 p.m. Walk and Video Recording
2:30 – 4:30 p.m. Workshop Part III (open to public, RSVP here): “Public Opinion Research Meets the Public”
5:45 p.m. Taxi or ride share from Gage Suites (5959 Student Union Blvd) to Dinner
6:00 p.m. Dinner

La Buca (4025 Macdonald Street)

Organizers

Antje Ellermann, University of British Columbia

Matthew Wright, University of British Columbia

Participants

Keith Banting, Queen’s University

Anastasia Chyz-LeSage, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

Michael Donnelly, University of Toronto

Marc Helbling, Universität Mannheimer Zentrum für Europäische Sozialforschung

Dan Hiebert, University of British Columbia

Andrea Lawlor, Western University

Greg Lyle, Innovative Research

Angela Ocampo, University of Michigan

Mireille Paquet, Concordia University

Margaret Peters, UCLA

Conrad Ziller, Universität Duisburg-Essen

Call for applications for Graduate Student Affiliate Conference Travel Support – DUE May 15

EOI for CMS Graduate Student Affiliate conference travel support: deadline May 15, 2022

The Centre for Migration Studies (CMS) is committed to supporting the ongoing professional development of, and networking opportunities for its members. We currently have funding to support a limited number of graduate student affiliates to attend a migration conference or deliver a migration-related paper at another conference being held in the 2022 calendar year. If you are interested in obtaining financial support to attend one of these conferences, please submit your (maximum 1 page) Expression of Interest (EOI), along with your CV to admin.migration@ubc.ca by May 15, 2022. Please write “EOI – CMS Grad Student Travel – [Surname, First Name]” in the subject heading.

Your EOI should include:

  • The name of the conference you are planning to attend and if applicable, confirmation that your proposal has been accepted (note: prior acceptance is not required in order to apply for funding–see below for further details)
  • 3-4 sentences describing the focus of your presentation (or alternatively, you may include your paper abstract)
  • the names and affiliations of any co-authors (if applicable)
  • approximate amount of funds requested with a breakdown of how the funds will be spent.

Eligible expenses include airfare, hotel accommodation, or conference registration fees required for your participation in the event. The value of the award will depend on demand and availability of funds. In-person presenters are eligible for up to $800 per award. Virtual presenters are eligible for up to $250 per award, but the funds can only be used for registration fees.

Funding is contingent on being a primary author on an accepted presentation. For those planning to attend other conferences at a later date in 2022, expressions of interest should still be submitted by the deadline, with confirmation to follow closer to the conference date. If funds are still available, a second call for applications will be circulated in late 2022 for those conferences occurring in late 2022 or early 2023. If demand exceeds funds, priority will be given to applicants who have not received CMS travel support in the past.

Any further inquiries can be submitted to admin.migration@ubc.ca.

 

Migration as Core Narrative of Plural Societies: Towards an Aesthetics of Postmigrant Literature by Markus Hallensleben

Migration as Core Narrative of Plural Societies: Towards an Aesthetics of Postmigrant Literature (Principal Investigator, SSHRC Insight Development Grant, 2019-2023)

Website: https://cenes.ubc.ca/news/dr-hallensleben-is-awarded-a-sshrc-insight-development-grant/

“My research project, situated within the wider context of the global mobility turn and critical European Culture Studies, investigates narratives of forced migration in contemporary German-language literature. Since the recent surge of asylum seekers into Europe, German-language literatures and cultural practices have changed dramatically and can thus be seen as exemplary in representing the transition of Germany towards a post-migration society of multeity (Terkessidis). The purpose of my research project is to utilize the sociological concepts of post-migration and superdiverse societies for an analysis of literary narratives as counter-narratives to Eurocentric, ethnically and nationally centred models of belonging. How do they perform transcultural and transnational identities, including memories of colonial history, genocides and wars that go across borders? My goal is to demonstrate how a trans-civic desire manifests itself in German-language literature and what its performative effects might be in understanding culture as an open transitional space, which allows for practicing civic diversity, gender and racial equality.

Methodologically, I have taken a turn to Indigenous centred research methods, such as storytelling (Archibald; Christensen; Kovach). By taking my positionality as privileged migrant and white settler who lives on unceded (stolen) territories into account, I am intrigued to find a relational approach in investigating literary narratives. My aim is to disrupt a colonial knowledge transfer that comes with literature and text as systemic ways of continuing hegemonic structures. ”

Research Partners
Markus Hallensleben, UBC
Moritz Schramm, SDU

I am also collaborating in the SSHRC funded research project on “Belonging in Unceded Territories.”

Hostile Environments: Policies, Stories, Responses by Erin Goheen Glanville

Hostile Environments: Policies, Stories, Responses is a comparative international research project funded by the British Academy on the structures and effects of hostile environments on displaced people and people seeking asylum. It brings together researchers from the UK, Germany, Italy, Canada, and the US to determine “the degree to which hostile environments constitute a continuous international space” and the ways in which various narratives contribute to or challenge the hostile environment. I contribute to the project as one of three Canadian participants. More info is available at the website for the associated Refugee Tales project.

Research Partners
PI: David Herd
Stephen Collis
Ayendri Ridell
Maurizio Veglio
Matthew Wittle
Lytton Smith
Lidia de Michelis
Lindsay Stonebridge
Nando Sigona
Claudia Gualtieri
Anna Pincus
Lucy Williams
Erol Balkan
Gareth Evans
Ra Page  

Immigration Detention during Covid-19 by Efrat Arbel & Molly Joeck

Our research project critically examines Canada’s response to COVID-19 in immigration detention. Through an analysis of legal decisions and interview data, we analyze what can be learned from the legal response to COVID-19 in immigration detention. Our work advocates for a more meaningful recognition of, and respect for, detainee rights, and challenge Canadian law not to indulge in in fear and restriction but rather, to live up to the progressive possibilities that COVID-19 has revealed.

Research Partners
Efrat Arbel
Molley Joeck

We are grateful for invaluable research support from JD students Simran Hothi and Karen Jantzen.

Punjabi in BC by Anne Murphy

Over the course of 2019-21, the UBC Punjabi Studies Oral History project is documenting the history of the Punjabi language in BC, and the lives and activities of the people who made it happen, focusing on teachers and institutions where Punjabi has been taught, and on writers who have written in the language and built institutions to support Punjabi language and literature. The project is linked to Dr. Anne Murphy’s ongoing research on modern Punjabi language and literature and involves undergraduate students as interviewers and filmmakers. It is made possible by the Punjabi Studies Oral History Research and Program Development Project, 2019-2021, funded by UBC’s Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation, through their Program for Undergraduate Research Experience.

Research Partners
Sukhwant Hundal, Retired Lecturer in Punjabi, UBC
Lovneet Aujla, Student, Allard School of Law

Caste in Canada: The Unheard Stories of Dalit Canadians by Anne Murphy

This project inaugurates a new oral history research program among university and community partners that investigates Dalit (those deemed “untouchables” in the caste system of South Asia) individual and community histories within Canada’s past and present. The research focuses on the lower mainland of British Columbia, with special attention to locations where Dalits have established religious, cultural, social and political organizations. The project involves the completion of a series of interviews with Canadians of Dalit background to document their histories, experiences, and understanding of the implications of caste in Canada. These interviews will, if permission is granted, be made public on a project website and cIRcle. Dalit stories are often overlooked in the broader public imagination and historical and social science research; this oral history program represents an important first step towards the inclusion of the Dalit experience in our understanding of the South Asian Canadian, and particularly Punjabi Canadian, experience.

Research Partners
Primary Investigator: Dr. Anne Murphy (UBC)
Co-Primary Investigator: Dr. Suraj Yengde (Harvard)
Community Partner: Chetna Association of Canada
Additional Academic PArtner: South Asian Studies Institute, University of the Fraser Valley

Supported by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Partnership Engage grant, with additional support from the Dr. Hari Sharma Foundation and the Centre for India and South Asia Research (UBC).

This project builds on a set of partnerships that has, since 2017, sponsored the Dr. Ambedkar Memorial Lecture at UBC and SFU. Partners in that project include the Institute of Humanities, SFU; the Dr. Hari Sharma Foundation; the Chetna Association of Canada, and, at UBC, the Centre for India and South Asia Research; the Institute of Asian Research/School of Public Policy and Global Affairs; The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Program in Buddhism and Contemporary Society; and the Department of Asian Studies.