The Power of Place, the Problem of Time: Aboriginal Identity and Historical Consciousness in the Cauldron of Colonialism – translated to Chinese by Bo Jianlan and Wang Cui

Review By Shoufu Yin

June 5, 2025

“Professor Carlson re-examines the historical relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples from a unique perspective, presenting us with a distinctive historical panorama spanning 126 years of the Stó:lō Nation society in Canada” (emphasis is mine). Thus wrote the translators Bo Jianlan and Wang Cui in the preface to their Chinese translation of The Power of Place, the Problem of Time. In doing so, they have not only presented cutting-edge scholarship in Canadian history to the Chinese audience but also raised a critical historiographical question: In what sense is this perspective unique? And how is this historical panorama distinctive from the lens of global indigenous studies?

In a nutshell, the translation has served as a long-needed bridge between the thriving studies of Indigenous cultures in Canada and China. In recent years, the Chinese public and online spaces have witnessed a growing awareness of indigeneity and colonialism on their own terms. Due to the legacies of global anti-colonial solidarity from the revolutionary era, the public views China’s trajectory from revolution to reform as part of the global history of resistance in Asia, Africa, and Latin/Indigenous America. Specifically, Chinese readers have become increasingly aware that the current territory of China is the result of violent expansion processes that have caused suffering among various indigenous peoples. A common, insider phrase encapsulates this sentiment: China’s territory “wasn’t just handed out for free like a bonus with a phone recharge” (chong huafei song de).

To an audience that has long grappled with various forms of colonialism and resistance on its own terms, the translation of The Power of Place, the Problem of Time—or, as it is known in translation, Temporal Space, Home-land—conveys a critical message: Canada is, first and foremost, a land of Indigenous peoples. The translation faithfully renders the book’s core argument: the Stó:lō identity must be understood “not only as one situationally created through relationships,” but also as one emerging from a series of historical events (English version, p.28; translators’ preface, p2). The translators’ preface, I should note, presses the question deeper: If the Stó:lō identity is itself constantly reshaped “by the ongoing struggles among various forces” (gezhong shili de buduan jiaoli)—including colonial powers—what is the implication then? Bluntly put, does this mean that the identity, while coming out of processes of resistance and compromise—itself embodies a dialectic that calls for further decolonization?

In other words, translation as a form of intellectual cooperation clearly opens up new possibilities for thinking about global indigenous studies. In 2022, Xing Chihong translated another key work of Stó:lõ culture into Chinese, namely: Keith Thor Carlson, Kristina Fagan, eds., Henry Pennier’s “Call Me Hank”: A Stó:lõ Man’s Reflections on Logging, Living, and Growing Old (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006) (see Xing Chihong 邢驰鸿 trans., Qing jiaowo Hanke: Diyi minzu hunxuer dui famuye shengcun ji chengzhang de chensilu 请叫我汉克：第一民族混血儿对伐木业、生存及成长的沉思录 (Jinan: Shandong daxue chubanshe, 2022)). The postface introduces how the translator and their colleague immersed themselves in the Stó:lõ communities under the guidance of Keith Thor Carlson. Together, they “had conversations with elders of the Stó:lõ community, listening to them share their stories” (p.98).

As the conversations deepen, the time is ripe to consider the following two questions. First, what can case studies of Canadian Indigenous communities offer, on a methodological level, to global Indigenous studies? Second, how can Indigenous studies in Canada engage with the scholarship, methodologies, and epistemologies of Indigenous studies being conducted in China, Asia, and beyond? The translation under review—coming out of the dedicated effort of Keith Thor Carlson, Bo Jianlan, Wang Cui, and Xing Chihong—offers a concrete starting point for future efforts on these two fronts.