From Oral Tradition to Comics: Homalco First Nation Partner with UBC and Education Without Borders to Create Graphic Novel Based on the Stories of their Elders

A partnership between the Homalco First Nation, UBC's Comic Studies Cluster, and Education Without Borders is bringing together a team of Indigenous graphic artists to create a series of short comics based on archival recordings of Elders from the Homalco First Nation.    Captured in the early 1990s, these recordings explore life in the Homalco First Nation’s traditional territory in Bute Inlet, with Elders recalling their childhoods and sharing stories about traditional customs and their nation’s rich history.   Like many First Nation communities in BC striving to revitalize their traditional ways of being, this project is crucial for the Homalco Nation as it seeks to rekindle their language and preserve their culture in modern ways. By using comics that integrate the Homalco language, the project aims to engage the youth, ensuring that the voices of their Elders resonate with future generations.   To learn more about this project, we spoke with Homalco member and the project’s lead, Tchadas Leo, Dr. Elizabeth Nijdam, the director of UBC’s Comic Studies Cluster, Cecil Hershler, chair of Education Without Borders, and Alina Pete, a Cree cartoonist and one of the artists hired to work on this project.   In our conversation, we dig into the importance of the project and its inception, favorite moments including a road trip where the artists and project team traveled to Bute Inlet to connect with the Homalco First Nation, and, finally, advice for others hoping to develop successful community-university partnerships and how comics can be a powerful tool for this work.