"As ye have faith, so shall your powers and blessings be" : The Aboriginal-Bahá'í Encounter in British Columbia
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TextProducer: Burnaby, BC : Simon Fraser University 2005Subject(s): Online resources: Abstract: During the mid-twentieth century, the Bahá'í community of British Columbia launched teaching efforts within aboriginal communities throughout the province. Athough relatively few of the over nine hundred aboriginal people who entolled in the Bahá'í Faith between 1948 and 1992 ultimately became active adherents, the aboriginal-Bahá'í encounter is nevertheless of profound significance. The subtlety with which Bahá'ís presented their faith to aboriginal people challenges static conceptions of religious teaching and reveals a key disjuncture between rhetoric and practice. The experiences of aboriginal Bahá'ís themselves highlight fluid processes of religious change and, coupled with Bahá'í social activism, underscore the considerable role of the Bahá'í aith in encouraging processes of aboriginal cultural regeneration. Despite such empowering impact, however, patterns of non-aboriginal cultural dominance encountered within the Bahá'ícommunity simultaneously suggest the pervasiveness of the colonial legacy and the potency of contemporary social context; good intentions proved insufficient to fully transform intercultural interactions.
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During the mid-twentieth century, the Bahá'í community of British Columbia launched teaching efforts within aboriginal communities throughout the province. Athough relatively few of the over nine hundred aboriginal people who entolled in the Bahá'í Faith between 1948 and 1992 ultimately became active adherents, the aboriginal-Bahá'í encounter is nevertheless of profound significance. The subtlety with which Bahá'ís presented their faith to aboriginal people challenges static conceptions of religious teaching and reveals a key disjuncture between rhetoric and practice. The experiences of aboriginal Bahá'ís themselves highlight fluid processes of religious change and, coupled with Bahá'í social activism, underscore the considerable role of the Bahá'í aith in encouraging processes of aboriginal cultural regeneration. Despite such empowering impact, however, patterns of non-aboriginal cultural dominance encountered within the Bahá'ícommunity simultaneously suggest the pervasiveness of the colonial legacy and the potency of contemporary social context; good intentions proved insufficient to fully transform intercultural interactions.