Derik Joseph is an Educational Advisor at the British Columbian Institute of Technology. He has recently completed a Masters of Communication at Royal Roads and his thesis work is titled “How Are the Aspirations of British Columbia Institute of Technology First Nations Students Defined by Their Indigenous Perspective?”. I met with Derik last week at BCIT to discuss a possible project with the aboriginal services department and was fascinated by his study and his perspectives on education, technology and the experience of First Nation students at BCIT (Joseph, 2014). He has shared his paper with me and I look forward to reading it in the next week or so. I also have attached a link to his talk at BCIT as part of the aboriginal speaker series that is ongoing at the institution.
Many of the ideas and perspectives presented in his talk and in my meeting with him are in agreement with the articles and ideas we have explored in Module 1. In particular, I found the preeminence of place as discussed in Micheal Markers paper “After the Makah Whale Hunt” (2006) of First Nation discussions or stories to relate to a place first and localize experience to be true in both Derik’s talk and in his discussion with me. There is also an emphasis on local indigenous perspective. While this may not comply with critical theory, it seems better suited to deal with the issues at hand and to truly connect and construct a solution that will be meaningful and of interest to the students that Derik introduces in his talk.
To view the talk, visit https://youtu.be/zL-2hrlmwMk
References
Joseph, D. (2014, May 8). Aboriginal Speaker Series [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/zL-2hrlmwMk.
Marker, M. (2006). After the Makah Whale Hunt: Indigenous Knowledge and Limits to Multicultural Discourse. Urban Education, 41(5), 482-505.