MA Student, Theatre and Performance Studies, York University
Megan is an MA student in Theatre and Performance Studies at York University, researching historical reenactments at Fort Langley National Historic Site, located in Fort Langley, British Columbia. Her current masters project, “Embodied Transmission of Colonial Remains: ‘The Birthplace of BC’,” explores the creation of colonial history in the past and present at Fort Langley National Historic Site. The project also explores how Stó:lo people have continued to present, at times unintentionally, a counter-history that negates the colonial claiming of British Columbia. In doing so, she seeks to find an ethical way of presenting Stó:lo ways of knowing within an academic context. In a recent seminar discussion at the 2014 conference for the Canadian Association for Theatre Research (CATR) Megan asked: Can we ethically employ orality to conduct decolonizing research within a western academic institution?
In the future, Megan’s doctoral research will expand on her MA work, to include additional Parks Canada sites and performances. She hopes to use these various Parks Canada sites to discuss (and hopefully intervene in) the historicity of Indigenous and non-Indigenous relationships in the areas that surround those sites. This project will also include contributions to the Stó:lo community, possibly by helping with cultural tourism programs for the general public and local schools, and collaborating on future theatre productions. Her doctoral research will aim to help create standard ethical procedures around the presentation of Indigenous peoples and knowledge in Parks Canada sites.
