How whiteness and Indianness are Articulated Through The wilderness of Banff National Park as one of the Icons of Canadian Identity

Introduction

The uniqueness in Canadian culture is often explained and presented by the Canadian identities showing that how the Canadians are different from rest of the world. Like every country, the flag and some national symbols are the icons of Canadian identity such as maple leaf but the mythical symbols such as early winter, Indianness, mountains, etc possess their own charm, conflict and ambiguity. Indigenous people of Canada have their unique culture and society. These people develop the true Canadian culture. Their habitat, the Rocky Mountains is also one of the Canadian identity icons. In this paper we have discussed one such wilderness on Banff National Park. The theme of this paper is based on the following literature.

Creative Subversions: Whiteness, Indigenity, and the National Imaginary

Indigenity and whiteness evoke the contested and contradictory meanings and articulate the images of Canadian identity. Margot Francis argues that circulated ideas about sexuality, masculinity and race haunted these kitschy benign images. These ideas were in circulation during the formative years of Anglo-Canadian nationhood. In her book, Creative Subversions: Whiteness, Indignity, and the National Imaginary; She discussed a nostalgic version of the past that cannot be assimilated or expelled has been evoked by the national symbols such as the wilderness of Banff National Park, the railway, the beaver and ideas about “Indianness”. She also discussed the new and suggestive meanings of taken-for-granted symbols though the juxtaposition of historical images and material of contemporary artists. In this paper, the wilderness of Banff National Park and the articulation of whiteness and Indianness are discussed. The chapter in Margot Francis' book on the Banff National Park is described here with additional literature on this topic.

Banff National Park: Rangers on the Mountain Frontier

Given the wide gulf separating the [Indian and non-Indian] cultures, Europeans have tended to imagine the Indian rather than to know the Native people.

- Daniel Francis, The Imaginary Indian, 19972

Daniel Francis argues that in Canada “the marketing of the Imaginary Indian reached its peak not with a product but an experience, the experience of railway travel.” Thousands of tourists were drawn to Banff National Park by the lure of “wild things”. The edge of civilization and British Empire perched the visitors to come here under with the sense fostered by the imposing mountains, and the untamed heritage of explorers, Indians, and cowboys. If these images were real, they were utilized and if they were not then we must say that they were created by the Canadian Pacific Railway and then there developed the Banff Springs Hotel. The sensibility of this wilderness was also assured to be kept in mind in of the “class that travelled” through the publicity at the same time when the Canadian Pacific Railway was fostering these images of a rough-and-ready western landscape.

Four Periods of Banff National Park

A place of deep significance welcomes those who venture into these mountains' hearts either they are twenty-first century enthusiasts or ...