Having acknowledged in a previous blog the many positive impressions I have of the Parks Canada interpretation of the Norse Site at L’Anse aux Meadows, I do have some thoughts regarding significant short-comings in the interpretation of certain key aspects of the Norse experience in this settlement.
The “Meeting of Two Worlds” theme, in particular, explored in both the interpretive video in the Visitor Centre and the on-site tour of that name seemed to me well-meaning and engaging, but a bit too sanitized, perhaps purposefully naïve, and even bordering on the saccharine. Beginning with the theme that all humans began in Africa and then spread across the globe, the core notion was that the circle closed when the Norse and Indigenous Peoples stumbled upon one another. Although the video certainly notes that the relationships between the Norse and the Indigenous Peoples sometimes were less than harmonious, the overall tenor seemed to be a sort of cultural “Kumbaya Moment” of the common humanity and kinship of all peoples, highlighted by this historic meeting. That’s all well and good in its way, of course, and I personally am dedicated to acknowledging and embracing our common humanity. There needs to be accountability, however. This might not be the place to handle ALL of the history involved, but once the notion of First Contact is mentioned, there is no intellectually honest and truly just way to ignore the seamy underside that comes hand-in-glove with it. This is not least because of the ways that Indigenous Peoples historically have been and continued to be oppressed and marginalized (and “marginalized” is the most polite and antiseptic possible term I could use) in harsh and obvious ways. Given this context, it seemed a bit convenient and maybe even self-serving that the “Meeting of Two Worlds” approach even seems to skate lightly over the saga references that describe explicitly some of the more violent interactions between the groups. I’m thinking in particular of the sequences in Chapters 5 & 7 of The Saga of the Greenlanders and Chapters 10, 11, & 12 of The Saga of Eirik the Red. Now it is crucial not to rely on the sagas as gospel, but they do give general impressions of what later generations thought was most important about their traditional memory of their ancestors. It bears emphasizing that the representation of the Indigenous Peoples in those saga references ranges from the clearly unflattering to the cartoonishly offensive to the overtly monstrous, which is perhaps not surprising. What is perhaps a bit more surprising, however, is that the Norse in these sequences don’t necessarily come across as particularly noble or positive either. This is part of my point: The tensions, misunderstandings, misrepresentations, and injustices at the heart of these episodes were amplified immeasurably during the later periods of European activity in North America, and have continued right up to the present day. This is part of what we want to explore in our book. I’m not suggesting that these issues need to be foregrounded in every aspect of the interpretation of the Norse settlement site at L’Anse aux Meadows, but it certainly should be at the very heart of any “Meeting of Two Worlds” approach, especially in the present context of continued marginalization (literal and metaphorical) of Indigenous Peoples throughout the Western Hemisphere.
I should note that both John and I have ample personal experience with living history and with the public interpretation of history at a site with significant cultural weight. We’ve both lived and worked in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania for decades, John has led teams of guides and facilitators who engage the Battle of Gettysburg as an opportunity for personal, professional growth, and I’ve used the battlefield as a backdrop for probing conversations with my classes for decades. We’ve also both worked closely with personal friends and professional colleagues in this regard, notable Pete Carmichael, Robert C. Fluhrer Professor of Civil War Studies & Director of Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College, and Ian Isherwood, Associate Professor of War and Memory Studies at Gettysburg College and Harold K. Johnson Chair of Military History at the U.S. Army War College. I’m an American who has written about the hazards of romanticizing and whitewashing the history of the Battle of Gettysburg and the monuments that now populate its landscape, and who lives not far from the site of the infamous Carlisle Indian School. Frankly, coming from the States, I expected to hear a more nuanced Canadian response to the obvious teachable moment provided by the “first contact” between the Norse and Indigenous Peoples in North America. This was especially glaring during our visit, given that the Pope was scheduled to travel through Canadian First Nations the very next week to apologize and to offer healing for the horrible abuses wrought by the Roman Catholic Church in the Residential Schools. In this context, the “Meeting of Two Worlds” approach at L’Anse aux Meadows seemed like a missed opportunity, to put it as mildly as I might, given my stated affection for the site and its staff.
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https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/lhn-nhs/nl/meadows
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In the Wake of the Vikings 