Peggy Revell
After spending months in Rainy River District doing research on local native and non-native race relations, Harvard grad student Jeff Denis will be heading back there in the New Year.
The visit to this area was part of Denis’ research for his PhD in sociology.
“One of the key areas of study within sociology is race relations,” Denis explained. “There’s been a ton of research on black/white relations in the U.S. and the incorporation of new immigrants into big cities like Toronto and Chicago, but surprisingly, very little research on native and non-native relations.
“And considering the history of Canada and America, the foundations of this country, and how important this topic is for the future of North America, I thought that this is something that really needs to be studied closely,” he remarked.
Denis grew up in Scarborough, Ont. and did his undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto. With the encouragement of one of his U of T professors to “never trim your expectations,” Denis applied to graduate school at Harvard and was accepted with a full scholarship.
To gain his PhD there, Denis had to develop and carry out a research project of his own, with “some kind of original argument or perspective that contributes to knowledge in your field in some way.”
Denis’ partner already had been living in Fort Frances for a year, working at the Northwestern Health Unit office, so he had visited the area on different occasions.
“It was really interesting to me how Fort Frances was located right next to Couchiching First Nation, Emo was right next to the Rainy River First Nations, so I thought, ‘Well, how do these communities get along with each other? How much segregation is there? How do they interact? What are the issues?’ and this is something that hasn’t really been studied closely in this area.
“So I thought it was just the perfect opportunity.
“I feel like I’m just in the right place at the right time,” Denis added, noting there were numerous events over the past year that have given people “no shortage of things to talk about,” such as the controversial video some members of the Muskie girls’ hockey team had made, the jailing of leaders from Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nations, the federal government’s apology for residential schools, and the National Indian Treaties #1-11 Gathering held at Pither’s Point Park this summer.
Upon first starting with his research here, Denis said he began with contacts gained through the health unit, and then through participating in a variety of community events.
“I’ve been going to as many different events as I can and just talking with people and making those connections, and I found that people generally have been very supportive and willing to help me, and refer me to other people, so that’s been helpful,” Denis said, leading him to complete interview after interview with a wide range of people from across the community.
“So it’s just gone off in a number of different directions.”
Alongside interviews, another part of Denis’ research includes a tool called photovoice.
“The idea behind photovoice is people are given cameras and asked to take pictures of things that are meaningful to them, and then we come together as a group and talk about it,” he explained.
“In the past, this has been used by public health researchers to focus on health and safety issues, so people will be given cameras and are asked to take pictures of things that make them healthy or safe or unhealthy or unsafe, and then they come together in a group and talk about it.”
For Denis, the two themes for the photovoice project were “identity” and “boundaries and bridges between natives and non-natives.”
“So I ask questions like ‘Who am I?’ or ‘Who are we?’ and people will answer that based on whatever that means to them. If it’s about their cultural identity, their social identity, the things that are meaningful to their lives, and then they come together and they talk about it,” Denis said about the “identity” part of the project.
For the boundaries and bridges part, questions like “What are the sources of division, separation, or conflict?” and “What are the things that bring people together, in positive mutual relationships that enable people to work together?”
“The discussions that we’ve had in this project have been amazing,” Denis enthused. “The way that a single photograph can provoke a half-hour of really deep and meaningful discussion has been just amazing to see; has given just incredible and rich data for my project.
“And I think the participants have really enjoyed it, as well,” he added. “They will stay after time and continue talking about these things, which is really amazing to see, and this is the other good thing about photovoice is that it’s a way of bringing native and non-native people together with a common interest to talk about these meaningful issues.
“I don’t want to say too much about what my conclusions are going to be at this point, because there’s still a lot of information to organize and analyze,” he continued now that his time in the district is coming to the end.
“One thing that was immediately interesting to me is how the native and non-native communities in this area are so close, there’s so much intermingling and interaction that does occur, there’s a long history of intermarriage going back to the fur trade,” he described, noting that almost everyone he has spoken to has friends who are both native and non-native, and there’s interest in each other’s cultures.
“And yet there are lingering tensions. There is still discrimination that happens,” he noted. “There are problems that are often beneath the surface, but people don’t always talk of them.
“So the question is then, why is that? What is it that isn’t being addressed or spoken about? And that’s what I have to look into.”
Denis is wrapping up most of the research now, and will be heading back to Harvard in the New Year to help teach a course. There, he also will be analyzing all of the interview transcripts and notes he’s taken and then focus on writing his thesis, which could take up to another year to complete.
“I do hope to eventually publish a book based on my research here,” Denis said, noting that the problem with a lot of research is that once completed, it will go and sit on a shelf and nothing will be done with it.
“It could be a few years from now, that’s the way things go, but I do hope to write a book for a more general audience, not something that will be read by just by academics,” he stressed.
“I also hope to come back to Fort Frances and give a public presentation sometime in the future,” he added. “Again, that could be a couple years from now, but I really think it’s important to give back to the community.
“There have been so many people that have been supportive and helpful to me, and I feel like I do owe the people something now.”
