I came across this proposal made to establish world cultural heritage hay to give indigenous people chance to ‘showcase their culture’ at the UN Department of Public Information News and Media Division New York branch web site. I thought it was a fitting way to end these post since it is the voice of the people themselves. The link is at http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2013/hr5132.doc.htm it summarizes the presentation made by representatives for indigenous people from all over the world.
http://www.educationcaribbean.com/resources/encyclopaedia/history/history01.asp
There is a wide world of indigenous people around me and they have used the web to inform my ignorance of the fact. An example of this is the indigenous people THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF THE AMERICAS web site . Below are some useful articles that are found here.
The Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: Arawaks/Tainos
The Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: Caribs/Kalinagos
The Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: Aztecs
The Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: Incas
The Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: Mayans
What really caught my attention here are not these but the fact that website is owned by the Neal & Massy group a very successful local business conglomerate that expanded throughout the Caribbean. Which show that corporate Caribbean is aware of our indigenous heritage. On a sour note the site has not been updated since 2006 so some of the links do not work. Tragically these all had to do with education with such topics as lesson plans. However those that do are still good.
As the ETEC 521 Journey is coming to an end I am getting quite good at sniffing out information about indigenous people. I went to the UN website and did a search for indigenous people and not surprisingly I got 3660 hits. These provided as wide a range of information as possible on indigenous people from general statistics to specific issues that are pertinent to my research. Here is a list of some of the ones that stood out to me:
This is a gold mine if one is prepared to dig for it.
Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany website
To put it figuratively I went all the way to Germany to learn about indigenous people here at my home. For it was at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany @ http://www.bmz.de/ that I found this wonderful article that is pertinent to my research interest.
Hats off to the people of Germany for joining with the international community, in combating poverty, securing food, establishing peace, freedom, democracy and human rights, shaping globalization in a socially equitable manner, and preserving the environment and natural resources. The document “Development Cooperation with Indigenous Peoples in Latin America and the Caribbean” is one of their efforts in this cause. It a document of the highest quality and highlights among other thing the major problems faced by indigenous peoples in Latin America and the Caribbean. I learned that these are linked to the continued lack of recognition and practical consideration of:
This is website drives home the point that the solution to indigenous issues are requires participation from everyone.
As the end of my ETEC 521 journey draws near and I am hammering away at my final paper the indigenous portal website is among those that I am looking to draw inspiration from. Here in a story entitled American Indian students find refuge in cultural curriculum I learned how tribal colleges came into being in the United States of America and the role that the government played in this. It started with the Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance Act that was signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1978 and authorized federal assistance to American Indian colleges. Next came the designated as land-grant institutions in 1994, giving them the opportunity to apply for millions of dollars in grant money. As a result of these there are 37 tribal colleges in the United States that are created and chartered by American Indian people with the specific purpose of offering higher education based in American Indian culture. We can definitely learn from this in the Caribbean.
The Indigenous Caribbean portal on the Ning platform @ http://indigenouscaribbean.ning.com/ is a great example of how the indigenous people of the Caribbean are making use of technology both to reclaim and preserve their culture. The welcome message on the site encourages one to: create their own on-site blog; a new discussion on the network message board; music; video and photo slideshows that can then be played on any site across the Web. With so many options at their disposal the members of this site have produce a resource that has something for everyone from researcher to tribe member. For example Maximilian Forte is a professor of anthropology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Concordia University who’s research interests have focused on the Carib Community of Arima, Trinidad is found here, so also is the Turabo Taino Jaguar Warrior Society of Puerto Rico are also on a quest to honor their Boricua warriors the Boriqueneers that fought for the US in world war two. Ignacio G. Rivera’s question “where do we fit in? It seems like we are constantly fighting to prove that the Taino exists” in one of the discussion forums speaks for many indigenous people of the Caribbean and the world. Finally the article Guyana Police batters Indigenous Family on their Traditional Land… mining is now a problem to indigenous peoples in Guyana uses video to graphically illustrates an encounter of one indigenous group with the police as they tried to protect their lands.
The Taino are yet another indigenous people that has resurrected themselves from extinction in the westernized history book of the Caribbean . The Taino facts is a good starting point for those interested in learning more about these people. As noted on the site it is “An extension of the United Confederation of Taino People’s premier online news service the “Voice of the Taino People Online”, this educational initiative is dedicated to increasing the visibility of Indigenous Peoples from throughout the Caribbean region and the Diaspora in the Spirit of Our Ancestors”. It provides information on United Confederation of Taino People’s,the culture of the Taino people and the issues they face . In addition it provide links to other Taino site as shown below which makes a great resource for the subject.
This a another great example of how indigenous people are leveraging web technology to recover their identity.
The more I discover about indigenous people of the Caribbean the more embarrassed I am. For I when I began this course I never fathomed they existed in such great numbers on the islands. I was aware of their presence on the South American mainland but Caribbean history at school taught me that they were extinct on the Caribbean island. However thankfully they have leveraged the web to debunk this historical myth as is seen on Indigenous Caribbean Center web site. This blog is organized to provide easy access any with interest on the topic. The links of note are:
It was interesting to note that the journal was registered with the National Library of Australia, under the original title of Issues in Caribbean Amerindian Studies. Which reinforced the point that indigenous communities the world over are threaded together by issues created by colonization.
As I continue my ETEC:521 journey with renewed purpose I had to drop by http://www.culturalsurvival.org again with a different agenda this time as I am gathering information on indigenous people of the Caribbean. The first page on this quest was Reviving Caribs: Recognition, Patronage and Ceremonial Indigeneity in Trinidad and Tobago –. Wher I learned that aboriginals in my country “were never defeated in any war, nor were treaties ever signed, nor did they become extinct. Their numbers were drastically minimized, their lands usurped, their labor bought and sold, and they were intensely assimilated into Hispanic, Catholic and even urban society”. Because of this assimilation they are facing numerous problems as they try to reclaim their heritage. This is the plight of the indigenous people of Cuba as I found out in my next stop on the site at The Indigenous People of the Caribbean.This page is a review of a book of the same name. From this it can be gathered that even if the book is not perfect it does give valuable information on indigenous people of the Caribbean. To me the most important discovery here is that there are many indigenous communities that are struggling for recognition because of the errors that were written in history about them and the attitudes that resulted from this. Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic all have such indigenous people. The last stop of this log was at Our Land, Our Life, Our Culture: The Indigenous Movement In Guyana. Unlike the other countries mentioned here Guyana has recognised indigenous population. Here I found out that there are nine distinct Indigenous peoples in Guyana- Lokono (Arawak), Akawaio (Kapon), Arecuna (Pemon), Macusi, Warrau, Wapisiana, Wai Wai, Patamona and Kalina (Carib) – comprising 60-80,000 persons, approximately 8-10 percent of the total population. These all united recently to “redefine prevailing political, legal, economic and cultural relations with the state and thereby to transcend four centuries of colonial domination and institutionalized racism that remain firmly entrenched in Guyanese law, policy and practice”. It can therefor serve as an example of what other groups who are in a similar position can do to protect themselves from the present threat of colonisation.
At this stage of my ETEC 521 journey I am settling down some what and my focus is shifting from trying to understand indigeneity in general sense to looking at how it applies to my own teaching situation. I must thank Heather for helping me to sort this out. This new approach delivered fruits immediately as I just discovered there are significant populations of indigenous people in the Caribbean region where I am teaching right now. This article from the indigenous portal web site mentions over 2300 from one tribe alone. While at the site you can have a look at the Caribbean section for more information on indigenous from this region. Our curriculum in the Caribbean is determined by the regional examination body The Caribbean Examination Council and it does not cater for them in any way. As a matter of fact from the accounts of this article the children are being told by educators that their people are extinct. It mean that our education system has a long way to go if we are to care of our indigenous people.
This new knowledge has changed my perspective so I will be changing my research to look at a framework for including the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean in formal education with minimal risk to their culture.
The silver lining of this dark cloud is that the indigenous people of the Caribbean are leveraging the web to advance their cause as would be seen in the rest of my post to this web log.