(Re)creation through recreation: strengthening Hul’qumi’num’ identities through ‘leisure’

Abstract

ABSTRACT A strong understanding of one’s cultural identity can serve as a protective factor against adversity. Correspondingly, empirical evidence has identified that participation in leisure may be a catalyst or contributing factor to forming one’s identity. However, scholarly understandings of the term leisure have been dominated by Eurocentric ideals. In this paper, I used Hul’qumi’num’ snuw’uy’ulh (sacred teachings) as my theoretical framework to explore how Hul’qumi’num’ mustimuxw (Hul’qumi’num’ people), specifically participating members of Snuneymuxw First Nation, understand and engage in leisure practices. Resultantly, I present my reflexive and tension filled process to assert that while study participants differentiated between engagement in both Indigenous and non-Indigenous leisure pursuits, the overarching premise was that one’s cultural identity and leisure participation were not independent of one another, regardless of the nature of the activity. Moreover, I suggest that in contemporary contexts, leisure participation from the perspective of the participants did not distinguish between Indigenous and non-Indigenous leisure to create either/or binaries but rather presented a notion of both. Thus, I demonstrate the reciprocal utility of Indigenous and non-Indigenous leisure pursuits in developing and maintaining cultural identity for Hul’qumi’num’ mustimuxw when rooted in snuw’uy’ulh.