Creating Indigenous community on campus

Like most research, it began with a question: What does language look like?

Thus began Dr. Lila Pine's research on language visualization using CymaScopes, scientific instruments that produce images based on sound vibrations in water. By comparing the voiceprints of spoken English and Indigenous languages, the Faculty of Communication & Design (FCAD) professor hopes to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between ways of speaking and knowing.

Her investigation is one of the initiatives based out of Saagajiwe, a transdisciplinary Indigenous centre for research and creation launched by FCAD in 2017. Named after the Anishinaabe word for the emerging light of dawn, Saagajiwe’s mission is to facilitate the dissemination of Indigenous thought and culture. In addition to research, priorities include Indigenous creative expression, interdisciplinary curriculum development and creative spaces on campus.

During Congress 2017, Dr. Pine collaborated with Billy Merasty, Saagajiwe’s inaugural artist-in-residence, on “Survival through Sovereignty, Part 1,” an installation consisting of 150 cedar planks hanging inside a tipi on campus. Printed on the planks were the names of Indigenous children who died while fleeing residential schools. A sunrise naming ceremony for Saagajiwe was also held in the tipi during Congress.

Each day, people flocked to the tipi to honour the children and hear stories by Merasty, a Cree actor and playwright. “It showed that if you do something in an Indigenous setting, people will come,” said Dr. Pine.

Other Saagajiwe initiatives include plans for a rooftop sweat lodge and medicine garden – similar to the one atop nearby Native Child and Family Services – as well as a structure inspired by traditional architecture for Indigenous ceremonies, performance, studios, labs, exhibition and storytelling.

Saagajiwe will host the Ryerson Pow Wow on Sept. 21.