Mantle: The Annual Review of Interdisciplinary Research

True Stories—Shapeshifting between mode and metaphor

Nigel Haggan — 2023-07-10

For the Squamish Nation, the two peaks of Vancouver’s North Shore are twin sisters who brought lasting peace. As the “North Shore Lions” they symbolize colonial effacement of Aboriginal presence. We draw on ‘true stories’ from Indigenous, Irish, and scientific traditions to explore the tension between the ultimately unknowable ‘truth’ of mountains, salmon, and people and the ‘stories’—myths, models, maps, equations, parables, poetry, plays, paintings, and prose—that help us to grasp aspects of their mystery. Indigenous, religious and a growing number of scientific authorities argue that wisdom and well-being have physical, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual dimensions. We suggest that over-valuing the intellectual leads to the chronic stress, broken relationships, and suicide that are all too common in school and university. In other words, that the demands of academic excellence are inimical to wholistic well-being. We conclude that denigration and exclusion of emotional and spiritual intelligence is an insidious form of epistemic or cognitive injustice. Indigenous concepts of ‘good’ or ‘compassionate mind’ point to deficits in the university mission of research, teaching, and service, but also suggest ways to enrich knowledge and increase well-being.

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Ritwik Bhattacharjee — 2023-07-06

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Close Encounters

Rachel Moylan — 2023-07-06

Close Encounters is an experience of proximity and distance, of the self and the Other, of the human and the non-human, of familiarity and strangeness, of possibility and impossibility. In short, it is an experience of experience. Close Encounters is a compilation of writings and images developed through a phenomenological practice involving a deliberate, prolonged study of technological objects as part of a UBC graduate course in the fall of 2022. Drawing on the work of Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Bernard Stiegler, Don Ihde, and Max van Manen, our phenomenological practice created an opportunity for each member of the class to dwell within the nuances and complexities of our embodied experiences with our technological objects. Our writings that came from this experience, along with unique images created with Midjourney’s AI image generator, are presented in this compilation. We hope experiencing Close Encounters helps create openings for new perceptions of the ordinary, new questions about meaning, and new insights into the world.

Empowered Learners: How Martial Arts Foster Self-Regulated Learning

Jessie Gordon — 2023-07-10

Learning and academic success are often characterized by intellectual proficiency. However, they are increasingly being recognized as a multifaceted endeavour that requires a holistic approach, encompassing the social, emotional, and physical domains. The cultivation of “soft skills” such as self-regulation, critical thinking, and effective communication skills are essential for one’s success in the classroom and beyond. Such competencies, influenced by familial, community, and cultural environments, are increasingly being addressed in schools and educational settings through social-emotional learning (SEL) and self-regulated learning (SRL) methodologies. This paper explores the unique opportunity that martial arts-based interventions, characterized by their approach to psychoeducation, mindfulness, and interpersonal kinesthetic learning, provide in empowering learners. Based on existing literature, this paper illustrates the potential of martial arts-based interventions for fostering self-regulated, socially, and emotionally competent learners, enhancing their educational experiences and empowering them beyond the school environment.

The Essence of Theatre as the Foundation of Law

Meghan Robinson — 2023-07-06

Canada has been described as a pluralistic legal society that recognizes and values both the common law and Indigenous legal orders. However, the predominant legal order in Canada was used as a tool for the attempted colonization of Indigenous cultures across the country and is built upon a normative worldview that fundamentally contradicts Indigenous worldviews. The liberal worldview that guides the common law has concentrated on the individual and has relegated the interrelationship between community, story, and land to a facet of society that holds little importance. This article is an investigation into the relationship between theatre, story, and law, exploring the essence of theatre as a communal site of resistance against the dominant structures of a liberal worldview. It explores whether theatre, as a creative medium, could have the power to make space for a pluralistic society in which Indigenous laws and the common law are valued as equal and autonomous. This article draws on the work of Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Glen Coulthard, and Jarrett Martineau to explore the interconnection between the natural world, story, theatre, and law.

Ritwik Bhattacharjee — 2023-07-07

Table of contents

Of New Beginnings