Thesis Defence: Exploring Syilx Responsibility Through Sqilxwcawt
December 13 at 9:00 am - 1:00 pm
Sarah Alexis, supervised by Dr. Jeannette Armstrong, will defend their thesis titled “Exploring Syilx Responsibility Through Sqilxwcawt” in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies – Indigenous Studies theme.
An abstract for Sarah Alexis’s thesis is included below.
Defences are open to all members of the campus community as well as the general public. Registration is not required for in-person defences.
ABSTRACT
This thesis examines the story threads of syilx people and concepts regarding responsibility and enacting accountability to the ecosystems in the Okanagan Valley. The research looked at gaps in contemporary understanding of ecological accountability as informed by the nsyilxcin language. The thesis argues that understanding the conceptual ideas of the syilx regarding the larger ecosystem serves to establish stronger individual, familial, community, and national ties to environmental accountability and does this through syilx oral narratives that serve as a framework of looking outwards at the world. The methodological approach for this thesis includes a search and analysis through Syilx-specific literature and autoethnographic sources and stories to help situate and address this research. The thesis queries asked: how do I as a Syilx scholar approach Indigenous research through a Syilxcentric analysis?; how did my experiences of being a sqilxʷ person inform coming into a view of sqilxʷcawt?; how does nsyilxcn as a language in its authentic form underpin sqəlxʷcawt, (ways of being), to ensure the transfer between bodies of generational knowledge and inform our contemporary Syilx responsibilities?; and how do Syilx ancestral oraliture, captikʷɬ and smaʔmayʔ, inform Syilx social values and understandings of responsibility, including water? The findings for this thesis is that contemporary syilx sqəlxʷcawt is informed directly from the intricate and lived understanding of the physical, metaphysical, visual, and spiritual connections of nsyilxcn.
