Fall graduate Ivan J. White enrolled in the Master of Applied Literary Arts (MALA) Degree Program because he wanted to tell stories.
“I found the program aligned with my interest in exploring the collection, creation and telling of story,” said the resident of Flat Bay, N.L., one of two wholly Mi’kmaw communities on the island, the other being Conne River.
He says the program’s name made him think of the various art forms that shaped him as a person — comics, speculative fiction, music, film, TV — and informed his journey as a storyteller and writer.
“And, in beautiful coincidence, “mala” means “where I’m from” in the Mi’kmaw language,” he added. “Knowing that the program was inadvertently called “home” gave me some comfort as I pushed out into the great graduate student ocean.”
Mr. White’s parents are Joanann and Ivan White; his grandparents are Susan (Dinisha) and Augustus White and Pauline and Theodore Tobin.
All four of his grandparents are identified as Indian in the 1945 Census of Newfoundland.
“I am, and have always been, not only aware, but actively presenting and advocating for myself, my family and my home as a Mi’kmaw person,” said Mr. White, who will officially graduate on Oct. 17.
Learning and entertainment
His thesis explores two interconnected Mi’kmaw concepts: Msit No’kmaq and Etuaptmumk.
The research delves into how the practical use of one exposes the truth of the other, through the theoria (thinking), poiesis (making) and praxis (doing), of two very different creative mediums: painting and music.
Mr. White says his work also explores how the two art forms reveal the importance of Etuaptmumk and Msit No’kmaq to the relationship between Indigenous and settler-colonial cultures.
“I juxtaposed my own songwriting practice with the painting practices of my peer, John Carberry,” he said. “The goal of this juxtaposition is to express the utility of Etuaptmumk to create a path to confirming Msit No’kmaq, where story is both learning and entertainment.”
As someone who describes himself as an “overthinker,” Mr. White says he found the program, faculty and his peers at Grenfell Campus supportive in helping him to drill down to the heart of what people share in collaborative creativity and to apply that knowledge in a meaningful way.
“I have been seeing benefits applying what I’ve learned in both my artistic practice and other endeavours,” he said. “I’ve even discovered a field of study that I’ve always had interest in peripherally, but lacked the confidence to do anything but straight research.”
Mr. White has opted to receive his parchment at the 2025 spring convocation ceremony in Corner Brook so his family and friends can join him in the celebration.
