Ob-La-Di, Oc-to-Pus (Life Goes on): a Modern Métis Fire Bag (2021)

1 This is a reference to a 1968 song by the Beatles. (2018).

Abstract

The author, a Red River Métis beadwork artist and researcher, offers a brief introduction to the history and purpose of octopus/fire bags, a traditional Métis garment. She explores both her experience of reclaiming the garment design following disruption of intergenerational knowledge transfer as a result of colonialism, and details textile and garment construction processes. Reflecting on the finer points of selecting materials, choosing lining, and binding of the piece, the author takes an organic detour into the sphere of Métis fingerweaving and beadwork, and ultimately explores the meaning and visual language of the beadwork featured on Ob-La-Di, Oc-To-Pus (Life Goes On): A Modern Métis Fire Bag.

Keywords:

• Beadwork
• colonialism
• fingerweaving
• fire bags
• garment construction
• Indigenous
• kinship
• Métis
• octopus bag
• textile resurgence
• traditional garments

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 This is a reference to a 1968 song by the Beatles. (2018).

2 “Beadee” is a term of endearment for beadwork recipients. See Lussier (n.d.).

3 See e.g. Duncan (1991); Barkwell (2010).

4 See Lussier (2021) at p. 330 for an exploration of the emergence/resurgence of online communities of beadwork practice during the Covid-19 pandemic.

5 See e.g. the images contained in Barkwell (2010) at pp. 1, 5–8.

6 A traditional Métis winter coat. The story of this particular capote has since taken on a life of it’s own. A future article on the beading of the capote will follow in 2022.

7 The moment in which clandestine collusion with Mr. Case paid off.

8 In his online knowledge mobilization, Greg Scofield frequently reflects on how “dashing” our grandfathers must have looked when dressed by the loving hands of mothers, wives, and daughters. See e.g. Scofield. (2020, 2021).

9 Lee Maracle once wrote: “We then feel forced to develop protocols to protect our knowledge and our cultures from misuse and abuse. This means that when we say, “Do not write this story down,” it means that if you hear it, you may repeat it, providing you cite the source, but you cannot turn it to profit by writing it down and gaining royalties from it as though it were yours.” See Maracle (2017): BookThug Press at p. 118.

10 Personal conversation, July 2021.

11 A critical step when espousing an Indigenous Research Paradigm and Method is the return of research to the communities to whom we are accountable. Mr. Thiffault, therefore, reviewed this manuscript prior to its circulation in the wider community and the public sphere. During our debriefing, conversation turned to this idea of intergenerational kinship and relationships developing between descendants of ancestors who may have had relationships themselves. Mr. Thiffault suggests that readers who are interested in kinship connections between generations consider Saunders and Dubois (2019) at 42–43.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Danielle Lussier

Dr. Danielle Lussier, Red River Métis from Treaty 1 Territory and the Homeland of the Métis Nation, is a citizen of the Manitoba Métis Federation and mum to three proud, tiny Métis. She holds a Bachelor of Laws, a License en Droit in the civil law of Quebec, a Master of Laws with Specialization in Women’s Studies, and a PhD in Law. Called to the bar in Ontario in 2009 following a research assistantship at the Supreme Court of Canada and clerkship at the Federal Court of Canada, she has served on the Indigenous Advisory Group of the Law Society of Ontario since 2018. Prior to taking up her position as the inaugural Associate Vice-Principal Indigenous Knowledges and Learning at the Royal Military College of Canada with a cross-appointment to Queen’s University’s Faculty of Law, she spent a number of years supporting Learners at the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa; first, as Indigenous Learner Advocate, and later as Director of Indigenous and Community Relations and Professor of Indigenous Legal Orders. Her academic research considers the development of embodied Indigenous Legal Pedagogies for use in learning spaces: the role Indigenous Methodologies can play in the revitalization of Indigenous Knowledge Systems, and pathways to reconciliation, indigenization, and decolonization of post-secondary education. As a beadwork artist, she is keenly interested in the relationship between law and beadwork and the use of beadwork, handwork, and textile practice as a tool to re/build community, facilitate learning, valorize Indigenous Ways of Knowing, and mobilize knowledge.