Walking the Noble (Savage) Path: The Didactics of Indigenous Knowledge (Re)Presentation in the Toronto Zoo's Canadian Domain

As one of the largest zoos in the world, the Toronto Zoo boasts some 5000 animals of 500 species, and over 1.2 million visitors annually from 2006-2010. With their focus on human-animal relationships, the rationale for Indigenous content at the zoo is not straightforward, but suggests the importance of Indigenous peoples to Canadian national narratives. The Toronto Zoo's Canadian Domain and Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge Trail aim to teach zoo guests about Indigenous Knowledge through the reading of informative placards. Interpreting these placards using a multisite methodology informed by Saussurean semiotics determines if the didactics of transmitting Indigenous Knowledge is effective. This paper argues that the (re)presentation---the synchronic culmination of the presentation and construction---of Indigenous Knowledge at the Toronto Zoo misrepresents and stereotypes the First Nations cultures and knowledges that are located in the Canadian Domain and Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge Trail.;Keywords: semiotics, Indigenous, zoo, education, stereotypes, Indigenous Knowledge.