Tag Archives: culture

Module 4: Post # 4 ~ Clothing and Cultural Pride

Traditional Indigenous Clothing was one of the first things early European explorers adopted as they surveyed the New World in search of the Northwest Passage. It was recognized for its durability, quality and ability keep the wearer warm in harsh climates. European clothing, however was cheaper and at the time more fashionable. Indigenous inspired clothing is now hitting the mainstream not only in Canada, but in other parts of the world.

Smaller companies like Sapling and Flint Designs and Tlicho Online Store work to promote and celebrate their cultures and support their communities through the sale of their products. While companies like NeechieGear promote the celebration of Indiginous culture in general, while giving a percentage of their proceeds back to the community.

Although Manitoba Mukluks is one of the most successful of these the Indigenous-owned company strives to insure that the success of the company is shared with others, as it supports Indigenous communities, celebrates Indigenous values, traditions and history.

In 2014 Australia hosted its first Indigenous Fashion Week showcasing artists and designers and well as inspiring Aboriginal models, whom were mentored by professional models throughout the week.

Other designers like Canada’s Jamie Medicine Crane notes that she is inspired by her Blackfoot culture when designing. She also uses her designs to bring attention to social issues, for example a gown with 2,000 gemstones, each representing a missing or murdered Indigenous Woman.

Cultural Appropriation is a concern for many, as artists and designers often take ideas from one another.  In 2015 after creating a sweater that was a replica of an Inuit Shaman’s jacket, the UK fashion label KTZ did pull the jacket from store shelves, and apologize, but did not offer financial compensation. The company did say they were trying to “to encourage appreciation for traditions, ethnicities and religions’ diversity.” Additionally, Canadian designers Dean and Dan Caten of Dsquared2, have not only used Indigenous inspired designs, but were accused of using racist labeling in their 2015-16 collection titled #Dsquaw.

There are no laws protecting Indigenous art, designs, or other traditional knowledge. According to Simon Fraser University professor, George Nicholas, “Indigenous heritage is often seen as public domain, free for the taking,” and it is extremely difficult to protect. Intellectual-property laws were not designed with shared cultural knowledge and art in mind. The World Intellectual Protection Organization has formed a special committee to develop a system that would protect Indigenous intellectual property.

Whitehorse lawyer, Clair Anderson encourages Aboriginal groups should look at their traditional laws. She gives the example of the Tlingit culture:

“if someone exploits someone else’s design or steals property, they must apologize in front of the community at a public forum, like a potlatch. She says some sort of compensation is given — whether it’s monetary or the gifting of a song.”


Promoting and protecting language through media, technology, and connected communities.

First Peoples’ Cultural Council

The First People’s Cultural Council is a BC Provincial Crown Corporation formed in 1990 and supported by the First Peoples’ Heritage, Language and Culture Act with a mandate to assist BC First Nations in their efforts ot revitalize their languages, arts, and cultures.

As my research is focussing on the use of technology for the preservation of language, I was interested to see this site outline First Nations’ language support across various funding categories, including:  Mentorship-Apprentice, Language and Culture Camps, the BC Language Initiative, and the FirstVoices resource that I have mentioned in previous posts.

This site is a fulsome resource for many facets of language learning and language preservation including a Language Toolkit for communities wishing to develop language revitalization projects.

 

Status of Aboriginal Languages in Canada

This page is not so much a tremendous resource, as it is a great infographic (and who doesn’t love infographics) provided by a company called WinTranslation, which is an Ottawa-based for-profit translation service.  Providing language translation is important for many reasons in the corporate, advertising, and communications world, and I was very pleased to see that this company provides peer-reviewed translation services into over 35 of Canada’s Aboriginal Languages.

Census 2016: The Aboriginal Languages of First Nations people, Métis and Inuit

This Statistics Canada webpage is a summary of information from the 2016 Canadian census and is current as of October 25, 2017.  It contains a number of significant highlights including a growth of over 3% in the number of Aboriginal People who could speak an Aboriginal Language over the past decade.  So much of what we read speaks of a decline in Aboriginal language use, and more concerning, the growth in the number of Aboriginal languages in Canada that are in danger of becoming extinct – in that light, this census data is encouraging.

The census data also points to young Aboriginal people learning their languages at a younger age, and an uptick in Aboriginal language instruction.

First Haida language film offers rare, powerful glimpse of Haida people

OK, perhaps this is veering off the web-based resource as well, but it is very connected to my research theme, and super relevant to the discussions in the course.  I stumbled across this CBC – The National article (and then, as one does, many other articles on the same topic) this week, and was excited to see how film and technology are playing a role in preserving language and culture in this surprising project.

Creating a feature-length film in a language that only a few people speak is both a tremendous undertaking (who can learn and speak the language well enough to fill the roles?) and a significant financial investment.  While the first is a logistical challenge, the second represents a pattern of hope in the restoration of traditional languages and can only mean good things to come.

Pathways to Technology – Interactive Map

Pathways to technology is a project aimed at bringing high-speed, reliable, and low-cost internet to First Nations.  Recognizing that connectivity brings access to health care, education, employment, and economic growth, this project looks to remove some of these barriers for remote, and typically under-connected communities around BC.

The link (in the title) directs towards an interactive map of the 203 First Nations around BC, and displays their name and connection type.  As an educator who visits these communities from time to time, this information is more than informative, it directs the kids of supports that we provide, and opens doors to different conversations.

Weblog 3 – Kenny Jamieson

Mi’gmaq Language Resources

http://migmaq.org/

This first resource is a collection of language resources for the Mi’gmaq language.  What is interesting about this web resource is it is one that utilizes a variety of different tools for teaching the language.  This is one of the more comprehensive resources that I have discovered so far.  The Learning Mi’gmaq online portion of the resource is extremely detailed and set up in such a way that it can be used both by individuals and as a classroom support tool.  The learning portion of the site also provides descriptions of how to say words and situations that they would be used in.  Each section has an audio portion so that people can pick up on the intricacies of the words and phrases being learned.  In addition to this main resource, the web page also has a quizlet section, a wiki page, a blog, a dictionary and links to both the Facebook and Twitter pages for the group.

Tusaalanga – Learn the Inuit Language

http://www.tusaalanga.ca/splash

This is a second teaching a language based resource that can be used as a comparison to the first.  This resource is again quite comprehensive as a tool and collection of words and phrases from the Inuit language.  This website is also set up to allow individuals to progress through at their own pace and to benefit from hearing how words and phrases are said.  The lesson structure for this site is not quite as user friendly as the first tool, but it is set up in a sensible order.  Much like the first resource, the feel of this tool is that it was designed after traditional second or additional language courses.  It chooses to focus on words and phrases that people may think are important to know when attempting to learn a language.  These first two resources also create an opportunity to ensure that their particular language is preserved and that learning it is made accessible to people who may live outside of the respective community.

First Peoples Principles of Learning

https://firstpeoplesprinciplesoflearning.wordpress.com/

The third resource that I wanted to include this week can be used for many different purposes.  I chose to explore it from the standpoint of evaluating the first two resources and seeing how well they fit in with the First People’s principles of learning philosophy.  As many web based language tools are likely being used by individuals and not in a face-to-face or group setting, it is important to evaluate if those tools are causing users to miss out on the important cultural aspect of language.  Within this blog, the piece that I found related the most to my topic is the section that focuses on connectedness and sense of place.  This section talks about how learning is a social process that benefits from the support of family and community.  It can be helpful to critically evaluate the various online language learning tools that are available.  In addition, educators may find this resource to be quite useful as a tool for better understanding the First People’s principles of learning.

Globe and Mail – Indigenous Language vital to telling Canada’s story

https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/indigenous-languages-are-vital-to-telling-canadas-story/article30016076/?ref=http://www.theglobeandmail.com&

The last two artifacts that I have included in this post focus on the impact of language loss on communities and cultures.  This first, is written by former Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson, and provides an interesting perspective on the importance of preserving Indigenous languages.  The main argument in the article is that Canada has shown to be a country that accepts a variety of languages and though we are officially a bilingual country, it is understood that many people speak a different language at home.  The article goes on to highlight the drastic decline in fluent speakers of Indigenous languages, in particular in British Columbia where for many Indigenous languages, only about one in twenty Indigenous people are fluent in their native language.  Clarkson makes a strong argument that Indigenous languages are unique from other languages because of their importance to culture, heritage and individual identity.  She states that “losing one’s language is like losing all freedom of expression.”  As this article is written by someone previously in a government position, it allows some insight into how people outside of Indigenous communities can view language loss.

The Youth Journal – Language Loss

https://theyouthjournal.com/2017/07/27/language-loss-a-cultural-social-and-environmental-tragedy/

I found this article to be quite interesting as it provides a youth’s perspective on language loss and its impact on culture and communities.  The writer of this post is not Indigenous, but she provides some interesting insight into the issues that various communities can face.  From her writing, the passion she has for this topic is quite clear and it definitely highlights the impact that language loss can have on people, communities and cultures.  The article focuses mostly on Canada and highlights the challenge faced by Indigenous communities as many of the fluent speakers of their respective languages are adults and elders.  In addition, the article focuses on the impact that language assimilation can have on language loss.  This is quite relevant to our current and past education systems.

Continuing the journey

Throughout this course I have been really opening my eyes to resources that are coming directly from Indigenous communities or community members, that are being shared out into the “mainstream media”, and that can be utilized in our education system. I have been looking for articles and resources that open up the conversation and that help to bridge communities.

I have been having great discussions with colleagues within my school community, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, and these conversations include resources, topics for discussion, and areas for further investigation. Taking the time to seek out information and resources has certainly opened my eyes to concerns I was unaware of, and has given me more perspective.  I am looking forward to continuing this journey and seeking out additional resources and information to support the curriculum and all of our students.

 

Post 1 – The Water Walker

This CBC news article, and the book to which it speaks, is helping look at clean water from an Aboriginal woman’s perspective. It is based on actual events that “marries the First Nations’ sense of oneness with the natural world with 21st century concerns for the environment” and written and illustrated by AnishinaabKwe author Joanne Robertson.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/thunder-bay-students-learn-about-clean-water-from-new-indigenous-children-s-book-1.4386036?cmp=rss

http://www.motherearthwaterwalk.com

 

Post 2 – Home Economics and Culture

This article is from the November 3 Langley Times and brings forward an interesting and controversial topic. When educators are bringing in Indigenous practices, in this case food sources and preparation, into a high school classroom, controversy erupts. One practice is considered “inappropriate” by a group, while many comments (on social media….) support this teachers’ decision. They speak to the hypocrisy that our Home Economics classes can use beef or chicken in their cooking, but when it comes to something such as rabbit, it is inappropriate. Cultural practices collide. I am looking forward to the discussion that evolves from this.

http://www.langleytimes.com/news/skinning-rabbits-at-abbotsford-high-school-called-inappropriate/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Post 3 – First Nations Child & Family Caring Society

https://fncaringsociety.com/educational-resources

 

This site provides a number of educational activities to help support children and families. With links to books, digital resources, and films (to name a few), educators have resources to “touch on several topics in Indigenous history and culture, an aim to broaden perspectives and encourage critical thinking”.

https://fncaringsociety.com/sites/default/files/Primary%20Resources%20template.pdf

Post 4 Native Lit and Culture

Twitter @NDNLit 

https://dragswolf.com/ndnlit

Native Lit and Culture is a bi-weekly newsletter on Indigenous literature and culture. While from New Mexico, posts on their website and blog highlight a variety of issues, challenges and opportunities of Indigenous peoples all around the world. They share resources, poetry, books, and other website that share culture and a variety of perspectives to keep conversations and awareness happening.

Post 5 – Youth, Technology, and Empowerment

 

Continuing with our discussion of youth and technology, I have found several links to stories where Indigenous youth are making a difference and sharing their stories through social media, film, music. These youth are sharing their thoughts, feelings, and perspectives and putting it out into the world.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-land-rapper/brazils-young-indigenous-musicians-rap-for-land-rights-idUSKBN1CZ1P1?utm_content=buffer23759&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

 

http://news.psu.edu/story/490970/2017/10/30/research/research-suggests-american-indians-are-finding-image-power-social?utm_content=buffer1d22a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

 

http://michiganradio.org/post/ojibway-brothers-sault-ste-marie-tell-tribal-stories-new-film?utm_content=buffer42ff3&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Indigenous Veterans

Module 3

Post 1

As we prepare to honour our veterans and current members of the armed forces, our school has being acknowledging the diversity of those who serve or have served for our freedoms. For our Remembrance Day assembly, students will be honouring Indigenous individuals who sacrificed for Canada. One of our Grade 6 teachers shared this video we me, by Gordon Powell;  a tribute to these brave soldiers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekTSo-4-Yss

 

Post 2

The second resource is from Veteran’s Affairs Canada and is entitled, Remembrance Moments: Canada’s Indigenous Veterans

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2Z6RSKbrw0

 

Opening up my eyes to the history of Indigenous Peoples in Canada, and seeing that they sacrificed so much for the very country that did not treat them with the respect and recognition they deserved. Taking the time to acknowledge and honour these individuals and groups is important for our students.

 

Post 3

Veteran’s Affairs Canada also has a site dedicated to Indigenous Veterans. http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/those-who-served/indigenous-veterans

This site provides a number of resources and learning activities for elementary, middle and high school students.

I was surprised to learn that Aboriginal Veteran’s Day is commemorated on November 8.

 

Post 4

Indigenous War Heroes – Secondary School Teacher’s Guide

I continued looking for resources related to November 8, Aboriginal Veteran’s Day and came across this guide for Secondary Teachers.

http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/deepeningknowledge/UserFiles/File/Teacher_sGuide.pdf

 

Post 5

 Continuing my search for more resources, I found this Indigenous Inquiry Kit Created and Written by Tamara Hancock

“War and Remembrance: Aboriginal Veterans and Their Contributions to War Efforts from World War I to the Present”. It is for the middle school level and has students examine Indigenous veterans contributions through a variety of cross curricular activities.

Aboriginal War Veterans and Their Contributions to War Efforts

Module 2 posts

Toward an Indigenous Feminine Animation Aesthetic

While not discussing digital storytelling, this article does articulate many of the themes I’m interested in exploring in my final project: raising political consciousness of Indigenous rights, drawing attention to how mainstream media works to “naturalize” imperialism, and the digital realm as a dynamic communication network that bolsters tribal political, cultural, and spiritual sovereignty.

Indigenous Digital Storytelling in Video: Witnessing with Alma Desjarlais

This article discusses how Indigenous digital storytelling in video tells the story of what has happened and is happening in the lives and work of Indigenous peoples. Alma Desjarlais is an Indigenous Elder who shares her stories to help people understand the histories and strength of Indigenous peoples.

Grandmothers of the Metis Nation

The above link shows the trailer for the film, Grandmothers of the Metis Nation. The film shares stories of Metis grandmothers to demonstrate the roles and responsibilities of Metis women in the past and today. One of the grandmothers is Alma Desjarlais (from the article above), who explains the roles of grandmothers as educators and healers in their communities.

Narrating Aboriginality On-Line: Digital Storytelling, Identity and Healing

Healing the wounds of “colonial contagion” is a process that’s articulated through the spoken and written words of Aboriginal writers. Indigenous digital stories present counter-narratives to the Canadian settler state to give voices to otherwise silences experiences of the effects of colonization.It focuses on therapeutic possibilities of digital storytelling and warns of limiting the healing potential to simply matters of cultural assertion. It also discusses the limits of digital storytelling and how some individuals and communities may not have the resources to participate in digital storytelling.

Media Portrayals of Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women

This article summarizes the differences in Canadian local press coverage of missing or murdered Aboriginal women and white women. It discusses stereotypes that make Aboriginal victims less likely to be covered in news stories and the idea that victims are divided into stereotypes of “pure” women who are newsworthy victims and fallen women who are not (aka “missing White woman syndrome”).

How can the internet help to preserve indigenous culture – Chris Cramer

In my first weblog I focused on how indigenous communities can get online. In my second weblog I want to look at the question how the internet can help to preserve indigenous culture.

Life at the Edge of the Internet

Preserving the Digital Heritage of Indigenous Cultures

Abstract

This paper presents our research and field work with the Waorani Indians in eastern Ecuador regarding how they can preserve their digital heritage and culture on the Internet. We focused on empowering the Waorani to use technology to approach the Internet on their terms: to tell their story, not have their story told, to be independent, not dependent. Using analogies to life in the jungle, we explored issues such as digital self-determination, proprietary file formats, control of material entrusted to cloud service providers, international data import/export, content ownership vs. licensing, and intellectual property.

Archival systems are only as valuable as their input data. This data is at risk due to competing economic and legal forces that can adversely influence content, digitization, ownership, and permitted usage. To address this problem, we present an encryption framework that encourages medical tourism to indigenous villages by protecting archived medical data, privacy, and constitutional rights.

http://www.unesco.org/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/mow/VC_Madsen_et_al_E_1330.pdf

 

How to Preserve Cultural Memory in the Digital Age

Humans are a fortunate species. We are not the strongest or fastest. We don’t have the biggest brains or live the longest. Yet we are dominant over the planet. From cuneiform to computer chip, our memory technologies give us a unique survival advantage: knowledge. But that knowledge is not secure in the digital age.

We’re moving from an information economy of relative scarcity to one of abundance. And we have yet to build an infrastructure that can manage titanic masses of data at scale. The high cost of publishing books and making films forced us to ask what we can afford to save. But anyone with an internet connection can write blogs and post home movies to YouTube. Now we must decide what we can afford to lose. […]

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/abby-smith-rumsey/culture-memory-digital_b_10357622.html

 

Aboriginal Culture in the Digital Age

The object of this paper is to bring a holistic perspective to the implications of ICT for Aboriginal ways of living, thinking and knowing. Is ICT the potent enabler for the promotion, renewal and enrichment of Aboriginal cultures as many claim? For example does ICT offer new possibilities for the preservation and teaching of Aboriginal languages? Within the context of increasing numbers of Aboriginal peoples living away from traditional communities in large urban melting pots, can technology help safeguard the right of Aboriginal children and young people to learn their culture and speak their Indigenous languages? On the other hand, what types of cultural risks does the new ICT broadly, but not exclusively, refer to existing and emerging digital technologies such as the computer, telecommunications, the Internet, wireless, satellite, mobile phones, etc. technology present for Aboriginal peoples? Is appropriation and distortion of traditional Aboriginal knowledge one of them, and if so, what can be done to mitigate the risks of inappropriate access and use of this knowledge? These are some of the major questions explored in this paper.

http://www.kta.on.ca/pdf/AboriginalCultureinaDigitalAge.pdf

 

The Use of ICT to preserve Australian Indigenous Culture and Language – a Preliminarily Proposal Using the Activity Theory Framework

Abstract

Propinquity between Australian Indigenous communities’ social structures and ICT purposed for cultural preservation is a modern area of research; hindered by the ‘digital divide’ thus limiting plentiful literature in this field in theoretical or practical applications. Consequently, community consultations become mandatory for deriving empirical and effective processes and outcomes in successful culture and language preservation and teaching of Indigenous culture in Aboriginal Australian communities. Analysis of a literature review has identified ICT as the best provision method to immortalize and teach cultural knowledge and language for Indigenous Australians determined by the accessibility of ICT’s, the capacity of Aboriginal Australians to learn to use ICT and in some instances, the increased cost effectivity for multi-community communications and meetings from geographically dispersed land councils to use ICT. This research examines the effectiveness and outputs of culturally conscious, end-user driven ICT development and implementation into contemporary Indigenous Australian social structures and communities.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sarah_Van_Der_Meer/publication/297324225_The_Use_of_ICT_to_preserve_Australian_Indigenous_Culture_and_Language_-_a_Preliminarily_Proposal_Using_the_Activity_Theory_Framework/links/56de5f9c08aeb8b66f94b0bb/The-Use-of-ICT-to-preserve-Australian-Indigenous-Culture-and-Language-a-Preliminarily-Proposal-Using-the-Activity-Theory-Framework.pdf

 

Indigenous tribe in Brazil creates video game to help preserve culture

For indigenous communities grappling with how to preserve their cultures, there’s the constant question of how to bridge the gap between historical tradition and a tech-focused world. But a seemingly unusual medium has emerged as an avenue toward achieving this goal: gaming. And one indigenous tribe in Brazil is using it as a means to tell their story.

http://mashable.com/2016/03/07/indigenous-video-game-huni-kuin/#tt1rI6LKtOqu

 

References:

Aboriginal Culture in a Digital Age. (n.d.). Retrieved October 15, 2017, from http://www.kta.on.ca/pubRep.html

Dupere, K. (2016, March 07). Indigenous tribe in Brazil creates video game to help preserve culture. Retrieved October 15, 2017, from http://mashable.com/2016/03/07/indigenous-video-game-huni-kuin/#tt1rI6LKtOqu

Katikala, R., Madsen, K., & Mincaye Nenquimo Enqueri, G. (n.d.). Life at the Edge of the Internet Preserving the Digital Heritage of Indigenous Cultures. Retrieved October 15, 2017, from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/events/calendar-of-events/events-websites/the-memory-of-the-world-in-the-digital-age-digitization-and-preservation/presentations-day-1/

Rumsey, A. S. (2016, June 14). How to Preserve Cultural Memory in the Digital Age. Retrieved October 15, 2017, from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/abby-smith-rumsey/culture-memory-digital_b_10357622.html

Van Der Meer, Sarah & Meer, Der & Smith, Stephen & Pang, Vincent. (2015). The Use of ICT to preserve Australian Indigenous Culture and Language – a Preliminarily Proposal Using the Activity Theory Framework. Retrieved October 15, 2017, from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sarah_Van_Der_Meer/publication/297324225_The_Use_of_ICT_to_preserve_Australian_Indigenous_Culture_and_Language_-_a_Preliminarily_Proposal_Using_the_Activity_Theory_Framework/links/56de5f9c08aeb8b66f94b0bb/The-Use-of-ICT-to-preserve-Australian-Indigenous-Culture-and-Language-a-Preliminarily-Proposal-Using-the-Activity-Theory-Framework.pdf

 

 

Dana’s Contributions to Module 2

The Ethnos Project

From their Home Page:

The Ethnos Project is a research initiative that explores the intersection of Indigeneity and information and communication technologies (ICTs) such as:

  • open source databases for Indigenous Knowledge management
  • information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) initiatives
  • new and emerging technologies for intangible cultural heritage
  • social media used by Indigenous communities for social change
  • mobile technologies used for language preservation

The essays found in this site seem incredibly appropriate for our learnings in this course. The founder of The Ethnos Project, Mark Oppenneer, might be a “Wannabe”, however! I tried to learn more about him, only to find that either another person with the same name, or the founder of this page, was fired from his teaching job for inappropriate relations with a student.  From Oppenneer’s LinkedIn profile, it appears to be the same person… What intrigues me about this website, is how polished it looks and how interesting the essays seem to be. My question is this: is the founder a “Wannabe” and should this site be not accessed should this be the case???

Knowing Home: Braiding Indigenous Science with Western Science

Anyone who says that Facebook is a waste of time, is not using Facebook to its full potential.

Recently, I joining a Science Teacher FB group and this group has actually revolutionized my teaching in only 4 weeks. Not only have I adopted something called Two Stage Exams, but someone recently posted a link to this incredible resource, Knowing Home: Braiding Indigenous Science with Western Science. What is particularly jaw-dropping, is that I saved this link two weeks ago, long before I watched this week’s video interviews. The co-author of this online book is none other than Lorna Williams!!!!

This book is a MUST READ for anyone teaching science.  I have only had time to look at a few of the chapters but the one chapter that particularly applies to this week’s module is Chapter 9: Changing Students’ Perceptions of Scientists, the Work of Scientists, and Who Does Science

This chapter summarizes a study that was done with Grade5/6 students and Grade 11/12 in a First Nations Studies course. The stereotypes harboured  by both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal  students are eye-opening, to say the least. As a science educator, what can I do differently in my practice to help my students see past these stereotypes?  Am I do anything that reinforces these stereotypes?

Sask. First Nation chief says tobacco offering from visiting school’s coach a step toward reconciliation

From the CBC, September 30, 2017. Here is the original Facebook post from Chief Evan Taypotat.

People stereotype, consciously and unconsciously– stereotyping is often due to making assumptions, without taking the time to educate oneself of the truth.  However, this was an example of someone taking the time to understand Indigenous culture and showing respect, in an authentic way.

Colorado River should have same legal status as a person: lawsuit

From the CBC, October 10, 2017.

In Week 6 of our studies, we were asked if we thought if cultures have rights to protect themselves?

Should the lawyer representing the Colorado River win his case, he may wish to move on to representing culture in the courts, as well!  Although the article is a quick read, spending time listening to the lawyer’s arguments in the interview is recommended as it may provide you with extremely compelling reasons that make it obvious that our natural resources should be protected in court, as if they were a person.

Stop believing this myth: No, Native Americans are not “anti-science”

Although this website is highly irritating with its pop-up ads, the article itself is worth a read. I took some time to learn about the Salon website (you know, to check on something called “Authority”…) and according to Wikipedia (I know my credibility is sinking fast now…), Salon.com is a left-wing tabloid style, media outlet. NONETHELESS, I am posting this article because IF what it says is actually true, this article would be very valuable to anyone wishing to “braid” Indigenous science into their lessons.  I would highly advise folks to use this as a stepping stone to research more into the topics it provides.

Finding New Voices (Mod 2- Post 1)

Last year I had an “aha” moment during a professional development session when we were shown the conflicting viewpoints of the Iranian hostage crisis through Google searches. The difference from Canadian Google versus Iranian Google was profound.  Depending on which country you searched from, you would have two entirely different accounts of the event.  As a history teacher, I’m aware that all history is biased and will vary depending on who writes it, however in this day and age, I was shocked to see such a stark difference from the same platform provider.

At the beginning of each year (being a teacher my “New Years” is September 1st) I make a personal finance, fitness, and intellectual goal for myself.  This year my intellectual goal is to “challenge my confirmation bias”.  I feel that I have always been a person open and respectful to others ideas, however, I’ve become more self-aware that my sources of information are from limited sources.

A recent revelation pertaining to this was after watching a Vice HBO Episode titled: ‘Post-Truth’ News & Microbiome.  In this discussion, it showed Parallel Narratives of Twitter data surrounding journalism and Clinton/Trump supporters.  Following only Clinton or Trump was an indication that your information circles only covered either left wing or right wing topics. As Vice puts more eloquently “[the] support had an effect on a user’s information flow as people seemed to cut themselves off from users who supported a different candidate.”

For more information on Vice’s story and Electome’s Analytics click here

If “following” is seen as supporting, then it will be difficult to break this segregation of information for fear of reprisals from peer groups.  But maybe this is what we need.  Following Trump and his supporters may help to bridge the gap in our understanding of each other.  While I think (at least I hope) that the same degree of polarization does not exist between Canadians and Indigenous peoples presently, I wonder, are we making an effort to truly understand and “follow” each other?

Bringing it back to our topic; focusing on my goal and engaging in this course has made me analyze my current practices. How can we break free from our singular narrative bubble and actively seek Indigenous community members both locally and nationally to “Follow”?  Indigenous Tweets and other platforms of the like might be a good springboard to find new sources of information.  Moreover, reviewing and reiterating our current practices for searching for literature. Pivoting from UBC summons and Google Scholar to Indigenous databases and Index’s such as the Indigenous Peoples North America and iPortal: Indigenous Studies Portal databases.  Searching through these ‘new’ mediums I found significantly fewer ‘hits’ for the subject matter I was looking for, however, what I gave up in quantity I found in quality with literature that was reflecting a new perspective.

Module 3 – Weblog – Tanya Walsh

Below you will find some additional resources on Spirituality in Indigenous Education:

  • Battiste, M. (2008, March 26 -29). Nourishing the Learning Spirit: Elder’s Dialogue. Saskatoon, SK: Aboriginal Education Research Centre, University of Saskatchewwan. Retrieved from http://aerc.usask.ca/downloads/Nourishing-the-Learning-Spirit-Elders-Dialogue-8.pdf
    • This is an outline of the proceeds from a conference of elders from diverse language groups gathered to discuss the concepts of lifelong learning and the learning spirit.
    • They define the ‘learning journey’ as a “holistic outcome of diverse conditions, contexts, relationships, education, training, and connections with a living universe” (Battiste, 2008. p. 12).
    • They discuss how an acknowledgment of the spirit world is an integral part of the learning journey and must be honoured through ceremony and relationships with spiritual leaders in the community.

 

  • George, N. (2008). Aboriginal Adult Literacy: Nourishing Their Learning Spirits. Saskatoon, SK: Aboriginal Learning Knowledge Centre, University of Saskatchewan. Retrieved from http://fneii.ca/NourishingSpirits_LitReview_en_1_.pdf
    • This is a literature review on Aboriginal literacy designed to provide information and direction for those working in the field of Aboriginal literacy.
    • It describes people as having a body, heart, mind and spirit, with spirit being the most important part because that is the essence of who you are. Therefore, they state that it is imperative that adult educators engage learners spiritually by helping them make meaning out of what they are learning, in order to help them answer their deepest questions, as these are a people who believe that we are one with creation, not separate from it.
    • The learning spirit is the state of being that facilitates learning and will help a person fulfill his/her purpose for being in this life.

 

  • Kitchen, J., Cherubini, L, Trudeau, L., & Hodson, J. (2009, Fall). Aboriginal education as cultural brokerage: New aboriginal teachers reflect on language and culture in the classroom. McGill Journal of Education, 44(3), 355-376. Retrieved from: http://mje.mcgill.ca/article/viewFile/2853/3980
    • This is an interesting report on six Aboriginal teachers in Ontario using a talking circle to explore their roles as teachers as they prepare their students to walk between two parallel but very different worlds.
    • They state that Aboriginal education is oriented around a ‘spiritual centre’ and that it is important that aboriginal teachers attend to their own healing if they are going to be expected to heal and teach others.

 

  • Micallef, S. (2017, January 23). Our dreaming: The Indigenous link between the physical and the spiritual. SBS Radio. Retrieved from http://www.sbs.com.au/topics/life/culture/article/2017/01/18/our-dreaming-indigenous-link-between-physical-and-spiritual-world
    • “Our Aboriginal spirituality is a link from the past to the present a shared pathway that helps us to understand more about where we come from and who we are as people.” (Micalleff, 2017, para. 16).
    • This site tells a particular creation story. However, more importantly, it explains the importance of handing down ‘dreaming’ stories as part of Aboriginal education in Australia. These stories link people over time to physical places in creation. Micallef also describes how the land then becomes a cultural connection to their prehistoric history.

 

  • Weenie, A. (2012). Toward and understanding of the ecology of Indigenous education. Retrieved from http://mfnerc.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/007_Weenie.pdf
    • This article discusses the concept of ‘spiritual ecology’ which is the “application of special intellectual, ritual, psychological, and spiritual teaching tools that facilitated deep levels of learning and understanding” (Cajete, 1994, p. 223, as cited in Weenie, 2012, p. 59) and which is the essence of meaningful and constructive Indigenous curriculum.
    • For Weenie, ceremonies and traditional activities, like storytelling, provide a ‘spiritual sustenance’. In time, the deep significance of these teachings can induce direct and powerful understandings of basic truths about how to interact with the world.
    • The Elders teachings that ‘everything has a spirit’ leads to the principle of living in harmony with the environment and developing healthy communities.