TREE MUSEUM
TOUR
Take an audio-guided journey through a series of anecdotes, reflections and commentaries on settler colonial and indigenous relations to deer. Speakers such as Fawn Daphne Plessner, Earl Claxton Jr. and Jeff Corntassel, share personal and traditional stories of their experiences of deer that open up an examination and contestation of the aesthetics and politics of human exceptionalism and its effect on the lives of deer.
DEER
welcome to the
MEMBERSHIP
EPISODE 1:
Come meet your deer neighbours: this episode explores a wider notion of political membership as extended to deer.
SANCTUARY
EPISODE 3:
This episode reflects on the notion of sanctuary and habitat for more-than-human beings and what this implies for living with animal neighbours.
ILLNESS
EPISODE 5:
Animals in need: an eye-witness account of the health of a family of deer before and during the pandemic.
KINSHIP
EPISODE 2:
Earl Claxton Jr. shares W̱SÁNEĆ stories of the transformation of a man, called SMÍEŦ, into a deer and personal experiences of ceremony.
BUILDOUT
EPISODE 4:
Hear what Johnny Backhoe has to say about living and working on an island.
KILLING
EPISODE 6:
This episode takes you back in time and unravels the lived history of a remarkable stag, called SI,ÁM, tracing his various flights from harm.
HUNTING
EPISODE 7:
Hear what a trophy hunter has to say about why he hangs a deer’s head on the wall.
TREATY
EPISODE 8:
Jeff Corntassel shares a Cherokee story of a deer nation and discusses the implications for human-animal relations today.
Credits
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Special thanks to Rob Clifford and his UBC and UVIC law students for the opportunity participate in 'ĆELÁṈENEȽ: A Field Course in the Re-emergence of W̱SÁNEĆ Law'. I am indebted to them for the education and conversation that enriched the observations and reflections expressed in the Deer Tour. Special thanks to Earl Claxton Jr. (episode 2: Kinship) and Jeff Corntassel (episode 8: Treaty) for their invaluable contribution to the Deer Tour's content. Special thanks also to Brent Marsden (episode 7: Hunting) and Robb Zuk (3: Sanctuary) for their voice acting. Episodes 1: Membership, 3: Sanctuary, 5: Illness, 6: Killing and 7: Hunting are read by Fawn Daphne Plessner. Parts of episode 1 (Membership) incorporate direct quotes from John Berger (2009) Why Look at Animals? and Jacques Derrida (2008) The Animal That Therefore I Am. Episode 3: Sanctuary, episode 5: Illness and episode 6: Killing use direct quotes from Christine Korsgaard (2018) Fellow Creatures: Our Obligations to the Other Animals. Episode 7: Hunting incorporates direct quotes from a blog post titled "Why Mount a Deer Head "(https://www.huntingnet.com/forum/whitetail-deer-hunting/38760-why-mount-deer-head-3.html); an article by Mark Hoffman (2022) BC Outdoors Magazine, January-February, vol. 78. No. 1, pp. 50-55; and a report by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) (2021) Killing For Trophies: An Analysis of Global Trophy Hunting Trade.
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Written and produced by Fawn Daphne Plessner
Original music and soundtrack design: Itamar Sitbon
Webpage design: Itamar Sitbon and Fawn Daphne Plessner
Deer illustration: Doug LaFortune
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Copyright 2022: Fawn Daphne Plessner
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The Deer Tour is supported in part by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
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