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First Nation Virtual Exhibit Launch: Dane Wajich- Dane-zaa Stories and Songs: Dreamers and the Land
Virtual Exhibit Launch: Dane Wajich- Dane-zaa Stories and Songs: Dreamers and the Land


Curators Amber Ridington (PhD Candidate, Folklore, Memorial University) and Kate Hennessy (PhD Candidate, Anthropology, University of British Columbia), and Unlimited Digital Communications, Inc., are pleased to announce the launch of the virtual exhibit Dane Wajich- Dane-zaa Stories and Songs: Dreamers and the Land. This exhibit was produced by the Doig River First Nation in collaboration with ethnographers, linguists, and multimedia professionals, and is funded by the Virtual Museum of Canada, the Volkswagen Foundation (Funding initiative: Documentation of endangered languages), the Northeast Native Advancing Society, and North Peace School District #60. It integrates subtitled Dane-zaa and English video narratives, interpretive e-text, photographs of the production process, recordings of songs, and contemporary and archival images of traditional lands in order to address present concerns faced by the community as they negotiate legacies of colonialism.

Because of your interests in folklore and anthropology, we are inviting you to view this virtual exhibit and respond to a brief questionnaire evaluating the project. As a diverse group of people with equally diverse experience and expertise, your input is very valuable to us, for this virtual exhibit and future indigenous media initiatives.

To view the exhibit, please visit http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/Danewajich

October 25th, 2007
Doig River, B.C., Fort St. John, B.C., Vancouver, B.C.

The Doig River First Nation, an Aboriginal Dane-zaa group from northeastern B.C., has officially launched their virtual exhibit Dane Wajich Dane-zaa Stories & Songs: Dreamers and the Land. The exhibit showcases Doig River First Nation oral traditions and teaches about Dane-zaa history and culture through an exciting mix of video and sound files, photographs, and text. This online exhibit was developed in partnership with the Virtual Museum of Canada (VMC) at virtualmuseum.ca, an initiative of the Department of Canadian Heritage.

The exhibit represents the work of many people over several years. In the summer of 2005, Dane-zaa elders, youth, and community members collaborated with a team of specialists to document and contribute to the revitalization of Dane-zaa culture and language. Elders brought the documentary team to eight places in their territory where they shared oral histories about the stories, songs, people, and experiences that connect them to the land, and the impact that oil and gas industrialization has had on these places. The stories and songs presented also introduce viewers to a long line of Dane-zaa Dreamers who have provided spiritual and practical guidance for Dane-zaa people for hundreds of years. For Chief Kelvin Davis, “This project, Dane Wajich, is a positive step in helping the public to know and understand that we still carry out our cultural and traditional practices, and assert our Aboriginal and Treaty Rights. We maintain our way of life, and this is one of the values from our culture that we want to share with the world.”  For co-curators Amber Ridington (PhD Candidate, Folklore, Memorial University of Newfoundland) and Kate Hennessy (PhD Candidate, Anthropology, University of British Columbia), the project exemplifies the potential for new media to facilitate collaborative research and skills training, and to create opportunities for First Nations to communicate their particular histories, cultural traditions, and struggles to protect their environment, animal resources, and way of life.

Other partners in this exhibit include: the North Peace School District #60, who guided the development of the exhibit’s Learning Resources for students and teachers; The Volkswagen Foundation, who funded the translation of Dane-zaa Záágéʔ (Beaver language) narratives into English; and, The Northeast Native Advancing Society (NENAS), who funded the training of Doig River youth in video documentation.
The virtual exhibit can be found at: http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/Danewajich.

Contact: Amber Ridington, Exhibit Co-Curator (604) 516-9977; or Kate Hennessy, Exhibit Co-Curator (604) 418-4895

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