Vancouver: Sept. 29, 2012
Today was a good day for the Musqueam, but not such a good day for Vancouver’s Century Group. A final decision was made today in Vancouver to not issue another permit extension to the condominium developers. After human remains were found in the Marpole Midden site in January, the Musqueam Band have been keeping a long vigil to protect the ancient burial ground.

Picture from Straight.com. Amnesty International Canada meeting participants stand alongside Musqueam protesters. (Carlito Pablo)

Media and bias: Viewer beware!
This is a very tricky situation. Both sides of the issue seem understandable. It is difficult to view the situation without some element of bias. Depending on who is interviewed, or even which media personage files a report, one side or the other appears to be more or less reasonable. This is the power of the Fourth Estate; while supposedly presenting an unbiased view of purely objective facts, bias catches the consumer unawares and allows situations to become muddied and contentious.

Certainly the developers have spent a lot of money purchasing the land, engineering plans, and preparing to build this large-scale project. But the Musqueam have rights here: an ancient burial ground on their traditional lands should not be desecrated. The prospective developers Century Group wonder how or if they can be compensated for their loss. The Musqueam may be able to strike a deal to purchase the lands. See the story here http://bc.ctvnews.ca/musqueam-win-battle-against-marpole-development-1.977247

Weblog #1: Entry #1

Hey everyone,

At this stage, my ideas seem pretty specific to me but let me know if I’m either too specific or not. I presently teach in SD 62: Sooke which is just outside of Victoria BC. The area has a rich and involved history meshing First Nations, Spanish, English and Russian cultures, a a clear result of European exploration here on the West Coast of Canada. Next semester, I’m scheduled to teach what I believe to be is a locally developed course called, English 10: First Peoples. Based on my meetings thus far it seems to be focused on delivering the English 10 Curriculum while focusing on First Nations Culture, Literature and Art.

My intent with regard to our collective research is to explore how the Sooke and Songhees Nations helped to build the existing culture that is prevalent in the Western Communities just outside of Victoria, BC.

More to come as I refine my resources and links,

Ryan

There are so many interesting areas related to the general subject matter of this course. I’ve definitely been having trouble choosing a focused field of study.

I took an undergrad course way back when I was doing my undergrad that focused on oral storytelling and particularly on the oral stories of a man named Harry Robinson. His stories had been transcribed by a woman who seemed to be very interested in preserving their oral nature in textual format. I can’t quite recall her name now (sorry to any of you who may be friends, family, or fans of that particular person!). I was always interested in that crossover space after experiencing Robinson’s oral stories in textual format. In the course of seminar discussions for that course a story, now foggy in my memory (my own lack of the skills and abilities that come with oral tradition I suppose), about a court case in which the chief of an indigenous group was accused of abandoning his tradition because he had at some point suggested ordering pizza during a recess came up. I guess one doesn’t live in a vacuum forever; ordering pizza doesn’t constitute abandonment of tradition in my mind, and neither does modification of oral to print format. I suspect my research will follow this sort of path. This is still a huge area to ponder, so I have some more narrowing to do. It’s a start though~! Ideas?

I am interested to research places or perhaps a way that technology integration can support traditions and values.  More specifically, I would like to focus my research on using technology to record and document traditional stories, so that they are not lost by future generations.

My Research Interests

Being a teacher in Northern Canada in a school that is largely First Nations, I would like to focus my research on First Nations’ traditional knowledge. In particular, I would like to look specifically at:

1.    How technology can be used to effectively preserve the integrity of traditional knowledge

My perception of technology being culturally neutral has evolved during the first module, and I would like to explore further how the use of technology effects how we see culture, traditions and knowledge. Furthermore, I would like to explore best practices to preserve culture with technology rather than undermine it.

2.    What strategies can be used to validate the authority of traditional knowledge to a broader audience within a westernized paradigm

I want to delve into the subject of legitimately including traditional knowledge in areas of science, ecology and environmentalism, without seemingly pandering to political correctness.

I have started collecting the following articles:

Huntington, H.P. (2000). Ecological Applications: Using Traditional Knowledge in Science: Methods and Applications. 10:5, 1270-1274.

Usher, P.J. (2000). Arctic: Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Environmental Assessment and Management. 53:2, 183-193.

Wenzel, G.W. (1999). Artic: Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Inuit: Reflections on TEK Research and Ethics. 52:2, 113-124.

David McInnes

My school (Prince George Secondary School) has a new Vice-Principal this year, and she is Aboriginal. She joins the other two Vices; one of which is East Indian. I believe this demographic representation amongst the leaders in our school is both intentional and necessary. The East Indian VP was brought in a few years ago to try to help both staff and students adapt to the increasing number of East Indian students. There were cultural issues, specifically with the treatment of female teachers by the male students, that were unhealthy.

Similarly, the new Aboriginal VP has as one of her many duties to liaise with both First Nations non-Aboriginal students and staff and establish and maintain healthy relationships in the school. Over the last few years we have seen restorative justice and healing circles become a larger part of the school environment. I look forward to this year!

As I contemplate what my final paper/project will look like, I am struggling with narrowing my thoughts down to a specific topic. I guess this is normal as research usually evolves along with our knowledge on a subject area. After progressing through the first module, the technology that I want to look at in more detail is the usage of video production and broadcasting in indigenous cultures. Although I am still in the infancy stages, I want to direct my attention to the implications that media has had on indigenous cultures, especially identity preservation. The Ginsburg (2002) article really opened my eyes to the power that technology had on the Northern Canadian Inuit and Australian Aboriginal communities. I have outlined a few articles that may be pertinent to my research interest.

1) Expanding Health Literacy: Indigenous youth creating videos.

This article begins by assessing the four aspects of health that are central to indigenous cultures; mental, physical, spiritual and emotional well being. A holistic view of health is achieved through interdependence and balance between these four characteristics. Although taken from a health perspective, this article outlines the many advantages a community can reap by allowing their youth to record interactions between them and their elders.

2) Community-based Indigenous Digital Storytelling with Elders and Youth

This article stuck out to me write away as Sylvia Moore is one of the co-authors, a name that I became familiar with in my last MET class. Sylvia claims that digital recordings of storytelling not only preserve cultural artifacts but also serve as an important tool to bring community together and produce something that they can benefit from. She stresses the importance of making digital videos so that a future generation of indigenous people can use technology to sustain their indigenous world views.

3) Television, Nation, and Indigenous Media

Similar to the Ginsburg article, this paper analyzes the impact of Australian aboriginal culture in media and how it clashed with the pre-formed national culture. It takes an in depth look at the role that media plays in building national identity and citizenship. Broadcasting videos allowed aboriginals a portal through which they could narrate their culture and embed it into Australia’s national identity.

4) Video communication roadblocks facing remote indigenous communities

This article investigates the broadband capabilities of remote indigenous communities and their usage of the Internet. As the title suggests, there are technical and social roadblocks in place that can be overcome if the right tools and policies are put into place.

I look forward to narrowing my research interests and l’m sure it will morph into something I never expected.

I went yesterday (Sept.23) and checked out this event that is held annually at Fort George Park (Prince George). The weather was absolutely beautiful, and the food delicious. From the traditional acknowledgement of the area being part of the L’heidli Tenneh lands to the booths, food and enntertainment, there is a high First Nations presence. There is always a great line up of performers on the main stage at BC Rivers Day, and there are also educational/informational booths, interactive activities and food vendors. Check out the website at http://www.riversdaymusic.org   The headline performer this year was Cheryl Bear, of the Nadleh Whut’en First Nation (Bear Clan) in the Carrier Nation located in northern British Columbia, Canada. You can check out her website at http://www.cherylbear.com/

Many thanks to Janet for her link to the Marie Battiste YouTube video on “What is Learning Spirit”. ETEC 521 is part of the MET programme; but for me, it is a timely component. For the last 7 years I have been teaching in a school with a large number of First Nations students and families. For me this is a new dynamic; aside from a few friends and classmates in my youth, the First Nations student is somewhat of an unknown entity to me.

Marie Battiste states that there are many situations in which young people have not made it through school, and shut down and “people think they are stupid”. This is such a tragedy, and as an educator I cannot but help to feel guilt because I am part of the system.

My hope is that through this course I will develop a much clearer idea of what a First Nations student needs from the school system, and more specifically their teachers, in order to succeed. My research project and main weblog focus will be along the lines of developing targeted instruction – teaching strategies and components of my lesson plans – that will help aboriginal youth achieve greater success in my classroom.

Site #1

Nancy Turner is an ethnobotanist from University of Victoria who has written two books on the ethnobotany of plants and peoples in this coastal region. This is a commentary by her which addresses the direction of the people-place-plant connection of ethnobotany. It is succinct and has a list of pertinent resources at the end.