Author Archives: brendan clark

Re-examining the Importance of Indigenous Perspectives in the Western Environmental Education for Sustainability: “From Tribal to Mainstream Education” Doreen Vikashni Chandra

This article from the Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability is hosted on the De Gruyter Publishing site. Chandra describes both Western and Indigenous views on sustainable development in education and argues for the importance of incorporating traditional views in mainstream classrooms. The author then attempts to link the challenges facing Indigenous views on sustainability to pedagogical approaches to sustainability education. The article uses a number of case studies to argue that integrating traditional approaches into education is critical not just for achieving goals of sustainability but for protecting the disappearance of Aboriginal culture in mainstream learning environments.

http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/jtes.2014.16.issue-1/jtes-2014-0007/jtes-2014-0007.xml

Module 4 Entry 5

UNESCO: TEACHING AND LEARNING FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE & SUSTAINABILITY

This resource from UNESCO includes a number of activities which are designed to incorporate Indigenous theories of education and sustainability. The sites summarizes many aspects of of Indigenous knowledge in its curriculum rationale and explains direct connections between the activities and Indigenous knowledge throughout the program. The site links to contemporary global issues through an somewhat generalized Indigenous lens.

http://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/mods/theme_c/mod11.html

Module 4 Entry 4

Brendan Clark

Teaching for Ecological Sustainability Incorporating Indigenous Philosophies and Practices By Dr. Clinton L. Beckford and Mr. Russell Nahdee University of Windsor

This resource is part of the What Works? Research into Practice series supported by the Ontario Association of Deans of Education. The article describes research on ecological sustainability from a number of sources and relates these findings to Aboriginal education theory. The source offers tips on how to implement Aboriginal concepts in mainstream classrooms as well as practical ways to incorporate ideas specific to ecological sustainability.

https://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/WW_Teaching_Ecological.pdf

Module 4 Entry 3

Brendan Clark

A Framework for Culturally Responsive Teaching Raymond J. Wlodkowski and Margery B. Ginsberg

This article is archived online through the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development and presents a framework for incorporating practical solutions for creating a culturally responsive learning environment. The article describes a cultural history of education which has framed attitudes towards motivation towards external instead of intrinsic understandings. Culturally responsive teaching is viewed as a way to encourage intrinsic motivation by allowing students to relate concepts to their own cultural backgrounds.

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept95/vol53/num01/A-Framework-for-Culturally-Responsive-Teaching.aspx

Module 4 Entry 2

Brendan Clark

The River, The People and The Industry: The damming history of the Ottawa River Watershed BY LEVELLER WEB PUBLISHER ⋅ NOVEMBER 17, 2015 ⋅

This article found in the Leveller discusses the public educational event where Peter Di Gangi told the story of the Ottawa River Watershed. Peter Di Gangi is the Research Director for Algonquin Nations Secretariat. The story explains how Di Gangi shared the long history of development along the Ottawa river and describes how native communities have been profoundly affected. Development decisions have altered the landscape, have had environmental impacts and forced communities to change their way of life. The discussion of pending wind turbine projects in Ontario lead Di Gangi to explain how Aboriginal communities are not in agreement in whether they support the projects and conversations between communities are ongoing. He reinforces the point that Aboriginal views on ecological matters are too often assumed to be homogenous.

http://www.leveller.ca/2015/11/ottawa-river-watershed/

Module 4 Entry 1
Brendan Clark

Project 562

Matika Wilbur created Project 562 with the goal to photograph members of every recognized indigenous community in the United States. By doing so, the artist hopes to help change some of the perceptions, images, and stereotypes of the American indigenous population. The photos are typically black and white and highlight the diversity of indigenous communities and culture. The tumblr link below is to a short video also created by Wilbur where she creates a public experiment by asking New Yorkers to guess the ethnic background of a few indigenous volunteers.

http://decolonizingmedia.tumblr.com/

http://www.project562.com/about-project-562

Brendan Clark
Module 3 Post 5

Other[ed.]: What is Decolonizing Education in the Post-Secondary Setting?”

This 20 minute video was created as part of the 2014 University of Toronto’s International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (IDERD) Communications Campaign. The video features a number of interviews with a variety of professors, directors, and researchers from a variety of University of Toronto campuses and departments. The aim of the video is to discuss the meaning of decolonization in an education and post secondary setting. By linking the decolonization of education and anti-racism, the video then discusses the types of changes that could occur at a post-secondary level.

http://www.antiracism.utoronto.ca/resources/videos.html

Brendan Clark

Module 3 Post 4

DECOLONIZING THE TECHNOLOGIES OF KNOWLEDGE: VIDEO AND INDIGENOUS EPISTEMOLOGY – Freya Schiwy

This article has been translated from Spanish and is focused more towards the issue of decolonization through a Latin american lens. However, the main purpose of the article is to discuss the role of video in the process of decolonization and makes some reference to this topic in Canada and makes some applicable arguments. One issue Schiwy discusses is to do with the politics of indigenous created videos and the “aesthetic norms” that have to come to be expected in their production.

https://globalstudies.trinity.duke.edu/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/SCHIWY.DECOLONIZING.pdf

Brendan Clark

Module 3 Post 3

Sliammon First Nation Documentary

Sliammonfirstnation.com is the website for the Indigenous community located in Powell River, also known as the Tla’amin First Nation. The site provides a variety of information related to the community as well as the link below to the full length Sliammon documentary film. The film discusses history, culture, and a variety of issues by interviewing numerous community members and elders. The film was produced and directed by members of the community and is an interesting example of the use of film to address issues of decolonization and cultural stereotypes.

http://sliammonfirstnation.com/mysliammon/?videos=sliammon-documentary

http://sliammonfirstnation.com/

Brendan Clark
Module 3 Post 2

Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society

Although colonization has taken many forms and influenced a variety of unique communities, the experience of colonization does have many similarities from place to place and people to people. Technology is seen as a way to share the experience of colonization as well as share in the process of decolonization. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society is a peer reviewed online journal which is “committed to supporting and advancing decolonization scholarship, practice, and activism”. The journal has produced a number of volumes per year since 2012 and has released one issue this year. Instead of focusing on academic theory and paradigms, the journal claims to focus more toward grassroots and lived experiences of decolonization.

http://decolonization.org/index.php/des/article/view/22155

Brendan Clark
Module 3 Post 1