The manipulation of Long and Short Temporalities in Bamewawagezhikaquay’s “The Contrast”

Abstract

Typically, time is linear and can be recollected through memory. While this understanding of time privileges forward human progression, Paul Huebener proposes that long/slow and short temporalities occur simultaneously in nature. Long time is a natural process which takes many years to progress and short time is a natural process that is quickly completed. Huebener’s concept of Critical Time Studies enforces a critical understanding of time that operates socially as a form of power in the Western world (327). To support this concept, Huebener explains two incidents under the Harper Government in 2012 where deadlines shifted for political and economic gain. The first concerned the oil industry and the compression of time. The maximum period to review major environmental resource projects was reduced from six to two years (329). Speeding up the timeline of this review did not allow the necessary tests and requirements to be completed, and consequently, oil and gas were transported quicker than before. The second example concerned a delay of a carbon-pricing scheme which could cost the petroleum producers additional money (330). Huebener notes that when it comes to the “imposition of actual environmental regulations, the above emphasis on speed and acceleration disappears, giving way to plead for slowness and precaution” (330). Huebener demonstrates that time is manipulated for political purposes as deadlines shift for capitalistic gain. Huebener highlights the political manipulation of time; however, this concept is not specific to the political domain. This essay applies these concepts within the realm of literature, specifically the poem “The Contrast” by Bamewawagezhikaquay or Jane Johnston Schoolcraft. In this poem, Bamewawagezhikaquay’s speaker compares her happy childhood with her community before the European colonial settlement in America to the pain she and her community feel after the extractive action by the colonial settlers in power. Throughout the poem, the settler and the speaker each use Huebener’s idea of long and short time and the concept of physical and psychological pain measures these temporalities. While the settler’s long and short time represents destructive actions, the speaker’s time represents a kind and forgiving alternative bringing together personal and collective action.