"The Trickster and the Tell-Tale Signs of Wreckonciliation"
Jake Chakasim WAPIMISOW
ABSTRACT
Part speculation, part wayfinding, the aims of this article are twofold: to explore the use of Trickster discourse as a phronetic research strategy and to question the controversial nature of reconciliation in the complex space of Indigenous art, architecture, and planning practices. Generally perceived of as a type of prudence (or practical wisdom), the inconspicuous ways of the Trickster can be seen as a wry opening in the space of coexistence – that is, a space where it is generally bestowed upon the Indigenous practitioner to “bear the weight” or “right the wrong” of the many social injustices that have been inflicted upon First Nation peoples and their communities. When confronted with these sociopolitical forces, through what origins, creative processes, mediations, and methods of representation do Indigenous practitioners rely on to validate their performativity? Not only do Indigenous practitioners share the same aesthetic but most, if not all, encounter and transcend these power imbalances with a different mind-body relationship to place. I argue that with creative Indigenous practices, it is the subversive play of a Trickster mindset that is the reconciliatory mediator. Deemed a psychological force, the Trickster is a rule maker, rule breaker who thrives in the space of human conflict, exposing new distinctions – keeping the world lively and giving cultures the flexibility to endure (White 2006) – and nowhere is this more evident than at the rupture of colonial disturbances. Akin to speculative design, the way of the Trickster serves two distinct purposes (Auger 2013): it opens us to the primal imagination of Indigenous practitioners; and it provides opportunity to critique the Western context from which Indigenous practitioners have been measured and from which they continue to operate. Further questioning the intent behind the valance of reconciliation brings forth the following concern: are Indigenous people being “tricked into believing” we can “coexist” in the interest of “common ground” when history has shown that so much has already been taken, stolen, and sacrificed, or is this the tell-tale sign of a Trickster called wreckonciliation?
Keywords: Indigenous, art, architecture, planning, design fiction, Trickster, and reconciliation
