Historically, the Nuu-chah-nulth People of Vancouver Island passed down knowledge and skills utilizing methods analogous with traditional Indigenous pedagogies around the world. These traditional teaching and assessment methods of the Nuu-chah-nulth have ensured the successful transfer of important physical, mental, cultural and spiritual knowledge over thousands of years. Within these pedagogies, assessment and evaluation is integral and inclusive, achieved through authentic and holistic means. Conversely, contemporary assessment in the post-secondary realm, despite endeavours to integrate formative assessment more frequently, tends toward a summative end result. The historical traditional assessment methods of the Nuu-chah-nulth exemplify holistic values and are illustrated through the concept of heshook-ish-tsawalk, or ‘everything is connected’. This dissertation argues that there are insights to be gleaned from identifying these assessment and evaluation methods, and in bringing them forward into contemporary pedagogy. Through a series of in-depth interviews, the researcher examined the learning and teaching understandings and experiences of several Nuu-chah-nulth Elders and cultural experts. Interviews took place within the homes of the Elders, and care was taken to ensure representation across a wide range of Nuu-chah-nulth territory. Augmenting these interviews, the researcher examined translated recordings of past Nuu-chah-nulth Elders while reflecting on her personal experiences as a Nuu-chah-nulth person. These personal experiences were analyzed through a self-study style examination of her own journey through education, and her recollections of traditional and contemporary assessment practice. Significant themes emerged from the collected data, including the overarching importance of time, relationships, echoing, and demonstration in historical Nuu-chah-nulth assessment. These themes fit naturally within a circular medicine wheel framework, which effectively illuminates the holistic and connected nature of an Indigenous pedagogy. This study concludes that these themes hold significant importance for contemporary assessment practice. / Graduate

This thesis examines the comparative abundance of shellfish from archaeological assemblages on the west coast of Vancouver Island in Nuu-chah-nulth territories. Eighteen sites spanning the Nuu-chah-nulth region emphasize the diversity in invertebrate foods that have been consumed 5000-150 years ago: Yaksis Cave, Loon Cave, and Hesquiat Village at Hesquiat Harbour; Chesterman Beach; Spring Cove; Ts’ishaa, Ch’ituukwachisht (North and South), Tl’ihuuw’a, Shiwitis, Huumuuwaa, Maktl7ii, Huts’atswilh, Kakmakimilh, Kiix7iin, and Huu7ii. Invertebrate zooarchaeology is an understudied field that has the potential to impact ecological restoration and conservation efforts. Ubiquity, or frequency of occurrence, provides a measure of abundance for a target taxa or species through a percent presence/absence approach. Regionally conventional methods of invertebrate analysis, including weight-based quantification, primarily favour heavy and robust bivalves, such as clams and mussels, and diminish the presence of other frequently occurring invertebrates. Ubiquity-based quantification shows how frequently ‘other’ shellfish have been utilized over time and across archaeological deposits. Gooseneck barnacles (Pollicipes polymerus) are often considered rare, an unimportant intertidal resource, but ubiquity-based analyses show that they are far more abundant than previously appreciated. A methodological combination of these two approaches shows vastly different perspectives on shellfish abundance, and this has implications for how the dietary role of shellfish is understood and discussed in archaeological discourse. / Graduate / 2020-09-09

The primary objective of this study is to explore the social functions of drumming and singing based on the perspectives of three Northwest First Nations teachers named James (ʔUu-Kwa-Qum) [pronounced: OO-Kwa-Koom] Swan of the Ahousaht Nuu-chah-nulth Nation, Ax7wil [ACKh-wheel] of the Secwepemc [She-KWE-pem] and St̓át̓imc [Stat-lee-um-c] Nations, and Spuska7 [SPU-skah] of the St̓át̓imc Nations. It further aims to determine whether the author’s etic, or outsider, perspective on function can contribute new and useful insights into how drumming and singing function in diverse First Nations cultural contexts. Community involvement prior to the initiation of this study constituted a fundamental methodological step. Such involvement resulted in the acquaintances of James (ʔUu-Kwa-Qum) Swan, Ax7wil, and Spuska7, and facilitated participation in certain drumming and singing practices. Following processes of request for teachings and ethical and informed consent, interviews were conducted with James, Ax7wil, and Spuska7, which were transcribed and used as primary resources for this largely biographical study. The method of collaborative ethnography was applied, with each chapter being provided to the respective teacher for editing three weeks prior to a follow-up editing meeting. The combination of interview data and participatory research through community involvement resulted in a unique merging of observation, experience, and interpretation from three distinct perspectives: an intercultural perspective, between Nuu-chah-nulth, Secwepemc, and St̓át̓imc First Nations; an interpersonal perspective, between James, Ax7wil, and Spuska7; and an etic perspective, from the author’s analysis of data observed, experienced, and collected. Two main conclusions were drawn from this multivalent approach: firstly, while purpose and function, as defined from emic, or insider, perspectives were often analogous, the author’s etic analysis frequently defined functions distinct from purposes emically described. This difference was tentatively attributed to the fact that function, that is, what drumming and singing effectively do for those involved, may not be fully experienced by those lacking cultural background and understanding, and thus analysed and defined according to broader criteria. Secondly, it was suggested that from the author’s etic perspective, though the purpose of diverse drumming and singing practices according to the teachings of James (ʔUu-Kwa-Qum) Swan, Ax7wil, and Spuska7 were multifarious, a general overriding function was found to be the strengthening and affirmation of specific social relationships. / Graduate

Over the course of history, and to this day, Indigenous peoples around the world have used their traditional knowledge to prepare for, cope with, and survive disasters (Hasan, 2016). For Indigenous communities, this locally bound knowledge is acquired from intergenerational experience, study, sharing and observation, and as such, it becomes a critical component in the development of a strategy for disaster resilience (Chakrabarti, 2009; Resture, 2009; Rotarangi and Russell, 2009; Trosper, 2003). The purpose of this dissertation is to work with the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nation, which consists of several Indigenous communities on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada to understand Nuu-chah-nulth knowledge and strategies for disaster resilience, and how they can inform a shift in cultural understanding within the field of practice of emergency management. Given the exploratory nature of this research project, a descriptive approach is used based upon Indigenous methodologies and the methodologies of narrative analysis to explore: a Nuu-chah-nulth way of knowing that informs disaster resilience as well as the impacts of colonialism on the disaster resilience of the Nuu-chah-nulth people. From oral histories to traditional governance, and to the impacts of colonialism, the findings of this research describe the ways that a Nuu-chah-nulth way of knowing informs and reflects their own capacities towards disaster resilience. Ultimately, this dissertation supports a call to action for emergency management practitioners to embrace an Indigenous approach to emergency management when working with First Nation communities. By advocating for the inclusion and the importance of bringing an Indigenous worldview into the lexicon of emergency management practices and the dialogue on disaster resilience, this research supports the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nation recognizing that their own knowledge is a powerful tool for supporting and enhancing their communities’ resilience to disaster. / Graduate

Le moins qu’on puisse dire est que l’Iran depuis la prise de pouvoir par les Ayatollahs en 1979 est un pays qui intéresse les hebdomadaires français et plus généralement les journalistes de notre pays. Une approche quantitative des articles consacrés à ce pays le prouve aisément. Mais il est particulièrement intéressant de constater que chacun des hebdomadaires français étudiés apporte une vision assez spécifique de ce qui caractérise l’Iran d’aujourd’hui. Toutefois, si la plupart des hebdomadaires sont d’accord pour reconnaître la complexité du problème iranien et de la société perse, "Valeurs Actuelles" par exemple va stigmatiser la barbarie du régime en place alors que"Courrier International", à l’inverse, va s’efforcer d’offrir un kaléidoscope d’opinions souvent contradictoires sur cette république islamique. De même, "Le Point" insiste sur la dangerosité de l’Iran d’aujourd’hui alors que "L’Express" met surtout l’accent sur les problèmes de nucléaire. "Marianne" pour sa part offre une étude équilibrée des problèmes tant internes qu’externes de l’Iran des Ayatollahs. En réalité, on peut constater un consensus des journalistes français spécialistes du monde persan sur le fait qu’en matière de politique intérieure, l’Iran ne cesse d’osciller entre démocratie et totalitarisme alors même que le pays semble avoir fait de la possession de l’arme nucléaire le futur point d’ancrage de sa politique extérieure à l’échelle internationale et de la sous-région. / The least we can say is that Iran since the seizure of power by the Ayatollahs in 1979 is a country that interests French weekly magazines and journalists. A quantitative approach of the articles concerning this country proves this assertion easily. But it is particularly interesting to note that each of the French weekly magazines provides a fairly specific approach that characterizes today's Iran. Nevertheless most French magazines recognize the complexity of the problems of Iran and Persian society. However, Valeurs Actuelles stigmatizes the barbaric regime while Courrier International, conversely provides a kaleidoscope of rather conflicting opinions on this Islamic republic. Similarly, Le Point emphasizes the danger of Iran today while L'Express focuses primarily on nuclear issues. Marianne on the other hand offers a balanced study of both internal and external problems of this country ruled by Ayatollahs. In reality, there may be a consensus among French journalists who are specialists of the Persian world due to the fact that concerning its domestic policy Iran continues to oscillate between democracy and totalitarianism even though the country seems to consider the possession of nuclear weapons as the future anchor of its foreign policy and sub-regional diplomatic role.

This dissertation examines multiple exponence (ME) phenomena in the non-inflectional morphology of three languages: Nuu-chah-nulth (Wakashan), Central Yup'ik (Eskimo), and Korean (language isolate or Altaic). These languages exhibit a common property: ME comprised of a non-inflectional suffix and one or more base modifications. The base modifications involve a vowel length change and reduplication in Nuu-chah-nulth, various types of deletion in Central Yup’ik, and vowel shortening in Korean. This dissertation pursues four research questions: (1) what criteria diagnose morphophonological alternations as ME and do the criteria apply to all cases of ME to the same degree? (2) Does derivational ME differ from inflectional ME? (3) Does one exponent play a more significant role in expressing semantic/syntactic information than another? (4) How is derivational ME formally accounted for? In pursuit of these research questions, this study proposes, based on Matthews’s (1972) study, four criteria to distinguish ME from other phonological alternations. Only the two criteria, Non-phonological condition and Consistent co-occurrence are obligatory; two others, Phonological Consistency and No exceptions on base selection, may be violated, suggesting that ME parameters occur along a continuum. This dissertation also proposes derivational classes according to patterns of base modification. Derivational classes play an important role in formulating Word Formation Rules (WFRs), in that they provide the morphological conditions for the structural description of base modification rules. Significantly, semantic/syntactic information is encoded in suffixation, capturing the fact that the large number of meanings that suffixes carry (approximately 500) cannot be mapped onto a limited number of base modifications (ranging from two to fourteen). The evidence that suffixes convey meaning supports the claim that ME requires two different types of WFR, a suffixation rule that conveys semantic/syntactic information, and base modification rules that do not. Also, this study suggests that suffixes are the main exponent of ME because they make the main contribution to the meanings conveyed through ME. This study contributes to a theory of morphology not only in that seemingly distinct processes receive a unified analysis as ME, but also in that the distinct processes are formally accounted for, expanding the WP approach to derivational morphology. / Graduate / 0290 / sung17hwa@gmail.com

From 1988 to 1994, the Carmanah and Walbran valleys on southern Vancouver Island emerged from obscurity to inspire international newspaper headlines, ecotage, and election platforms, and figure in British Columbia’s Commission on Resources and the Environment (CORE), the genesis of the current provincial land-use status quo. With Canada’s tallest tree, first marbled murrelet nest, and proximity to Victoria, the area’s old-growth forests became the site of a touchstone conflict in BC’s War in the Woods (ca. 1980-1995), one which resulted in Carmanah and the Upper Walbran and Lower Walbran becoming designated as Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park in 1995. The Central Walbran remains open to logging, which as recently as 2016 has incited backwoods blockades not dissimilar to those from July and August 1991, the climax of my narrative. This thesis explores how and why the Walbran land-use resolution disappointed Victoria-based environmentalists, Cowichan Lake forest workers, the Nuu-chah-nulth, and the nation-state of Qwa-Ba-Diwa, and why the fate of the watershed remains subject to debate. Analyzing the roots of BC’s wood “exploitation axis” helps contextualize why Carmanah Walbran campaigns in Cowichan Lake and Victoria failed to produce satisfactory outcomes despite significant compromises from provincial governments after much deliberation. In short, dissidence failed to engender land-use consensus because forest capitalism and its co-constitutive partner, colonialism, have since the nineteenth century crafted policy based on a conception of the world rooted in forestry-based development, a durable ontological construct against which other imaginaries of nature have had to compete. The Tree Farm Licence system brought the International Woodworkers of America into a Gomperist bargain with companies and the state after World War II, and contributed to decades of overharvesting, overoptimistic regrowth projections, and corporatization which culminated in falldown and forest community crisis before environmentalists began to shape the public discourse regarding nature in the late 1980s. A fundamental inability to produce a satisfactory vision of sustainable forestry and a narrow state narrow response—wilderness parks—to broad, diverse environmentalist demands allowed nature to remain envisioned as a store of raw material for industrial forestry. This thesis additionally seeks to problematize environmentalists’ “wilderness” narratives to elaborate how green knowledge production can act as discursive violence. Our “natures” are more than workplaces, sites for recreation, or pristine ecosystems. They are environments within which to find and make meaning. Or perhaps more accurately, nature is a symbol with which to construct narratives; narratives which, in Carmanah Walbran, often left little room for work in the woods. Environmentalists’ depictions of unpeopled nature advanced their wilderness-preservation cause at the expense of marginalizing Nuu-chah-nulth land claims, loggers’ paycheques, and ecocentric worldviews based on holistic conceptions of interconnectedness and/or radical dissent against the forest industrial complex. In short, the Carmanah Walbran War in the Woods added 16,365 hectares of new parkland, contributed (along with log exports) to the 2001 closure of the Youbou mill, the last at Cowichan Lake, and ensured that an isolated gravel road still ends at a bridge to nowhere. / Graduate / 2020-09-12

The Hiikwis site complex, located in Barkley Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island, consists of two traditional Nuu-chah-nulth village sites: Uukwatis (DfSh-15) and Hiikwis proper (DfSh-16). Uukwatis, the older of the two sites, was occupied from at least 2870 cal BP. It is believed that at some point the main village was moved west up the beach approximately 650 m to Hiikwis proper, which has been dated to at least 1290 cal BP. Both sites appear to have been occupied into the early twentieth century. This thesis represents the first detailed faunal analysis of an inner Barkley Sound site older than 600 years. The faunal assemblage is unique among contemporaneous sites in the region, due in part to a large bird assemblage and the presence of salmon remains throughout all levels of the site complex. Hiikwis does not follow the pattern typically described for Barkley Sound sites, in which salmon was not a significant resource until around 800 cal BP. However, after 900 cal BP, the relative abundance of salmon within the Hiikwis fish assemblage does increase. These results support an established hypothesis that this time period in Barkley Sound was characterized by group amalgamations, increasing populations, shifting territorial boundaries, changes in subsistence practices, and increased defensive strategies and structures. This faunal analysis shows that the Hiikwis site complex was occupied year-round for the majority of its occupation, with a shift to seasonal (winter/spring) occupation represented within the most recent levels of cultural deposits at Hiikwis proper. / Graduate / 0324 / nicole.westre@hotmail.com

The Hiikwis site complex, located in Barkley Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island, consists of two traditional Nuu-chah-nulth village sites: Uukwatis (DfSh-15) and Hiikwis proper (DfSh-16). Uukwatis, the older of the two sites, was occupied from at least 2870 cal BP. It is believed that at some point the main village was moved west up the beach approximately 650 m to Hiikwis proper, which has been dated to at least 1290 cal BP. Both sites appear to have been occupied into the early twentieth century. This thesis represents the first detailed faunal analysis of an inner Barkley Sound site older than 600 years. The faunal assemblage is unique among contemporaneous sites in the region, due in part to a large bird assemblage and the presence of salmon remains throughout all levels of the site complex. Hiikwis does not follow the pattern typically described for Barkley Sound sites, in which salmon was not a significant resource until around 800 cal BP. However, after 900 cal BP, the relative abundance of salmon within the Hiikwis fish assemblage does increase. These results support an established hypothesis that this time period in Barkley Sound was characterized by group amalgamations, increasing populations, shifting territorial boundaries, changes in subsistence practices, and increased defensive strategies and structures. This faunal analysis shows that the Hiikwis site complex was occupied year-round for the majority of its occupation, with a shift to seasonal (winter/spring) occupation represented within the most recent levels of cultural deposits at Hiikwis proper. / Graduate / 0324 / nicole.westre@hotmail.com

This research project explores ways in which place-based Indigenous perspectives can inform national park ‘visitor experience’ planning, management, and information delivery. Engaged in collaborative processes with Tseshaht First Nation, this project explores knowledge of Tseshaht-identified places of cultural significance in Tseshaht traditional territory, discussed in the context of creating a web-based digital map. In attempting to explore Nuu-chah-nulth-informed ways in which to more widely share cultural history and knowledge in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, I learned of the many dynamics that are revealed when the depth of Nuu-chah-nulth connections to place are made visible. This research project examines knowledge, power, and place in the context of Indigenous self-representation. Informed by Indigenous ways of knowing and Indigenous principles of knowledge-sharing, this thesis is an ethnography of knowledge-sharing in modern contexts fraught with issues of state power, commodification, and colonialism. / Graduate