Professor Cody Groat awarded by the CHA
The Canadian Historical Association, Posted: May 19th, 2022
The Indigenous History Best Article Prize - 2022
Cody Groat and Kim Anderson & Daniel Macfarlane and Andrea Olive
Cody Groat & Kim Anderson, “Holding Place: Resistance, Reframing, and Relationality in the Representation of Indigenous History”. The Canadian Historical Review, Volume 102, Issue 3.
Cody Groat and Kim Anderson’s article “Holding Place: Resistance, Reframing, and Relationality in the Representation of Indigenous History” (The Canadian Historical Review, Volume 102, Issue 3) explores questions of commemoration in Canadian history from the perspective of two Indigenous historians: one who has engaged in public history through performance art (Anderson) and another who is building a career studying public history (Groat). The two explore both the ways in which Indigenous peoples resist public commemorations that distort Indigenous histories and how Indigenous peoples can engage with commemorative practices to celebrate their histories. Anderson recounts her experiences in working with the public history troupe the Kika’ige Historical Society, which has been reframing Canadian commemorative practices to centre Indigenous peoples.
The article goes on to survey Indigenous interventions in Canadian public commemorations across the country, highlighting Indigenous commemorations as relational practices that distinguish themselves by their engagement with the land and the integration of human, natural, and spirit worlds. Groat and Anderson highlight the ways in which Indigenous histories can be integrated into a national discourse to promote reconciliation and cultural revitalization.
