In 2000, a new federal system of incarceration for women began with the closure of Canada’s only prison for women and the opening of six new facilities across the country. This new system was to focus less on security and more on support, empowerment, rehabilitation, and ultimately reintegration. The changes in federal corrections for women provided an opportunity to further support the growth and development of a cultural group in a women’s federal prison called the Native Sisterhood. Initiated and organized by Aboriginal women in prison, the Sisterhood helps FSW maintain a distinct Aboriginal identity and exercise the women’s right to practice Aboriginal traditions. This presentation will report on a study in which Aboriginal ceremonies and traditions are conceptualized as leisure. The purpose of the presentation is to examine FSW’s experiences with Aboriginal ceremonies and the impact they have on FSW’s self-understanding and sense of belonging, which ultimately contributes to the process of justice for Aboriginal peoples. Justice, from an Aboriginal perspective, encompasses a desire to restore harmony, and involves healing, restoring relationships, accountability, and ownership. Data were collected with members of the Sisterhood through 19 interviews and one focus group in the context of creating drum song. The findings suggest that in ceremony members of the Sisterhood were beginning to re-create the meaning of being Aboriginal. Through the collective experience of ceremony, FSW were able to begin the process of creating new Aboriginal identities founded in confidence and pride, as opposed to embarrassment and shame. As Wanda explained, [the Pow Wow] was a place where I could be proud of who I was amongst a lot of Native people who were proud of who they were”. Much of this re-creation was fostered through supportive relationships between FSW, and FSW and the Elder in the prison. The presentation will further discuss this process of justice through leisure and implications of adopting Aboriginal conceptualizations of justice in Canada’s justice system.

Access to document: D19_Felice_Yuen.pdf

Aboriginal Hip Hop or 4/4’s Challenge to Leisure
Karen Fox, Patricia Cardinal, Denise Lambert & Kristin Smith, University of Alberta (Edmonton, Canada)

Aboriginal hip hop or 4/4 connects the four major elements of hip hop (b-dancing, DJing, graffiti, and rapping) with four major elements of Aboriginal culture (traditional dancing, drumming, traditional arts, and storytelling) to create fluid movement and integration of Aboriginal and urban cultures for urban Aboriginal young people. This grassroots leisure movement provides opportunities to grieve, heal, and give back to Aboriginal and other marginalized communities for Aboriginal warriors of today’s generation. These young people do not see themselves or their endeavors described in traditional, dominant theories of leisures. The current research project involves Aboriginal people in Edmonton, Alberta coming together to explore the necessary community elements to support, mentor, and guide a group of young Aboriginal 4/4 artists in their efforts to achieve a dream to be 4/4 artists who perform and give back to the next generations of Aboriginal children. Weaving Indigenous research practices with creative analytical practice and community based participatory action research, we will sketch out the community process and actors, perform narratives of researchers connecting with and being shaped by Aboriginal elders, community leaders, and young people, 4/4 impressions and critiques of theories of leisures, and create questions and possibilities for the intersection of theories about leisures and 4/4 as practiced by a group of Edmonton, Alberta Aboriginal 4/4 artists. This presentation will explore how 4/4 challenges theories of leisures, provides alternative conceptions and values for understanding leisures, and invents alternative strategies for leisures and marginalized but creative communities including urban Aboriginal young people.

Access to document: D19_Karen_Fox.pdf