Posts from — September 2009

Ong, W. (1982) Orality and Literacy:  The technologizing of the Word. Routledge, London and New York.

I highly recommend this resource as it delves deeply into examining the differences between oral and literate based cultures.  The major critiques of the book centre around the literary deterministic tendencies of the book.  The author also states the incredible challenge of examining oral based cultures from the perspective of a literate researcher.  However the strengths of the book centre around providing the educational technologist a perspective on attributes and ways of thinking and remembering of more orally based cultures.  Understanding the differences can support and enhance instruction.

Native Education in Canada and the Provinces

A guide to finding library information: University of Alberta

Resources available:

• Finding Books
• Finding Journal Articles 
  • CBCA Fulltext Education provides Canadian education content. Suggested headings include:
    • Inuit
    • Native Students
    • Multicultural Education
    • Native Studies
    • Native Education
    • Native Teachers
    • Native Schools
  • Selected Journal Titles 

Links to other sites:

• Finding Internet Resources:
  • For Internet resources visit our Indigenous and First Nations Education Web Resources page at
    http://www.library.ualberta.ca/subject/education/nativeweb/index.cfm.
• The Canadian Circumpolar Library (Cameron Library) is open to anyone interested in the subject of the north and northern peoples. They subscribe to northern and native journals and newspapers. They also house books, films and curriculum materials.

• American Indian Culture and Research Journal 
  U of A Rutherford Library, Call Number: E 75 A515 (1974+)

• American Indian Quarterly
  U of A Rutherford Library, Call Number: E 75 A525 (1974+)
  Internet access through Project Muse (2000+)
  Internet access through Academic Search Premier (1990+) 

• Anthropologica 
  U of A Rutherford Library, Call Number: GN 1 A62 (1955+)  
  Internet access through CBCA FullText Reference (1993+)

• Anthropology and Education Quarterly
  U of A Rutherford Library, Call Number: LB 45 C856 (1977+) 

• Canadian Journal of Native Education
  U of A Coutts Library, Call Number: LC 2629 I382 (1980+)  

• Canadian Journal of Native Studies – fulltext from 1981-1996
  U of A Rutherford Library, Call Number: E 97 C23 (1981+) 

• Journal of American Indian Education – fulltext from Volume 1 (1961-62) to Volume 35 (1995-96)
  U of A Coutts Library, Call Number: E 97 J86 (1966+)

• Native Americas: Akwe:kon’s Journal of Indigenous Issues
  U of A Rutherford Library, Call Number: E 75 N38 (2001+) 

• Native Studies Review – abstracts from 1984-2000
  U of A Rutherford Library, Call Number: E 78 P7 N278 (1984+) 

• Wicazo sa Review
  U of A Rutherford Library, Call Number: E 75 W633 (1985+)
  Internet access through Project Muse (2000+) 

Usefulness for research on Indigenous knowledge, media, and community reality:

This site offers access to scholarly research concerning indigenous nations accross Canada. I particularly like their “Indigenous and First Nations Education Web Resources” section:

• Canadian Resources on Native Education
• American Resources on Native Education 
  Databases 
• Indigenous Knowledge 
• Indigenous Languages and Oral Histories 
• Residential Schools in Canada

These links are very rich in dependable resources. I recommend this site for excellent research papers and documents.

Address: http://www.library.ualberta.ca/subject/education/native/index.cfm

First Nations / American Indian / Native People / Aboriginal Media

Initiated by the Turtle Islan Native Network: a site where you will find numerous aboriginal cultures represented through their own media.

Resources available:

• National Native news
• Aboriginal Peoples television network
• Cherokee Youth Native ration theatre
• Metis radio
• First nations languages (information on many different dialects)

Links to other sites:

• Directory of Native radio (USA)
• Storyteller Native radio
• Northern Native Broadcast Access program
• CTV First Story (Canada)
• UN radio

Usefulness for research on Indigenous knowledge, media, and community reality:

This site offers an impressive compilation of Firts nations, Aboriginal and Native peoples’s traditional and contemporary writings; communciations and media channels (radio, tv and online); books; films and other publications.

The most interesting aspect of this site is that it presents media that portray Natives as they wish to be seen. Not as other media conglomerates may want to depict them. What an opportunity to experience native cultures in a more authentic manner!

Address: http://www.turtleisland.org/news/news-media.htm

http://www.sami.uit.no/indexen.html

This website wasn’t quite what I expected, but it is still of interest as an artefact of cultural identity. The Centre exists as a research unit within the University of Tromsø, Norway. As such, the website presentation is suitably dry and academic. In the description of the campus, I found the Sámi Cultural House to be strikingly similar to the way Laurentian University’s new Native Centre has been planned, incorporating natural building materials, natural surroundings and traditional structures (turf hut : teepee). Culturally, this centre seems to be on the outside looking in, as far as I can tell without learning to read Norwegian. Even with studies on Indigenous Policy, Rights and Development, Sámi language courses and cultural events, the centre’s activities appear to be more of a portal between Sámi and Nordic cultures than a participatory player in Sámi culture.

Resources linked from this site include:

Forum for Development Cooperation with Indigenous Peoples
for researchers, development workers, administrators and activists.
Read more …

Survey of Sami and Indigenous
Research

• Read more …
• Register project
• Search the database!

Publications

• Publication series
• Sámi dieđalaš áigečála
• Other publications

The Indigenous University

• Meeting place
• Árdna – The University Sámi Cultural House
• The Juho-Niillas Turf hut
• Honorary Doctor

Studies and Related Activities

Research and Reports

Strategic Planning

Native American Wisdom, Sayings, Quotes, Philosophy & Issues

A collection of sayings, quotes and words of wisdom reflecting the beliefs and philosophy of the Native Americans. Also offered are a selection of Native American books and American music.

Articles and links provide information dealing with the issues of prejudice and shameful displacement that are still faced by the Native Americans to this day.

Resources available:

• Quotes; books; music; meditations
• Film:
  • Canada’s Complicity in Genocide
    A contemporary David and Goliath tale that will inspire and challenge the reader. It is the personal story of Reverend Kevin Annett, the minister who single-handedly exposed the murder and genocide of aboriginal people by the government of Canada and his employer, the United Church of Canada. This is his own gripping and passionate account of his heroic efforts against insurmountable odds to document hidden crimes among west coast native people after he began a ministry among them in Port Alberni, British Columbia in 1992.

Links to other sites:

• My Two Beads Worth
  Native American Indian/First Nations/Indigenous Peoples’ News Online.

Usefulness for research on Indigenous knowledge, media, and community reality:

“Pearls of Wisdom” offers an artistic and mystical view of the indigenous world.

Address:

http://www.sapphyr.net/natam/

First Nations Pedagogy Online

This site provides best practices and support for online learning initiatives that are intended for aboriginal students, elders, educators, curriculum developers, and educational leaders.

Resources available:

Pedagogy: (examples)

• Best practices
• Talking circles
• Culture
• Elders
• Holistic balance
• Interconnection
• Literacy
• Natural world
• Respect
• Storytelling

Links to other sites:

• Multimedia
  • Aboriginal Communities on Google Earth
  • Connecting Traditions: Tsimshian Pre-Contact Life
  • Digital Drum
  • First Nations Film
  • etc.
• Presentations:
  • First Nations Pedagogy for Online Learning
  • Podcasting for the Benefit of Aboriginal Languages: How to establish a Podcast Website via iweb
  • Digital Literacy in BC First Nations

Usefulness for research on Indigenous knowledge, media, and community reality:

This excellent site, divided in community; practices; learning; resources and circles, offers valuable resources about onine learning designed for indigenous cultures. It also includes articles and various sites about planning and future trends.

Address:

http://firstnationspedagogy.ca/planning.html

 Indigenous Education

• Aboriginal Language Education
• Associations, Organisations & Unions
  • Includes both Aboriginal and other groups interested in developing Aboriginal education and opportunities.
• Commonwealth
  • Includes educational and other supportive processes.

Resources available:

• Australian Institute of Aboriginal …
  [And Torres Strait Islander Studies]
• Dare to Lead
  ‘Dare to Lead is a Commonwealth funded national project with a focus on improving educational outcomes for Indigenous students.’ Access information, resources, professional development, research, professional readings, school initiatives and much more.

Publications
Includes Bibliographies, Books, Journals, …

• A Model …
  [Of More Culturally Inclusive and Educationally Effective Schools]
  Downloadable document.

Links to other sites:

• Indigenous Early Childhood Education
• Indigenous Education [Adult and Community Education]
• Indigenous Education [Higher Education]
• Indigenous Education [School Education]
• Indigenous Education [Vocational Education and Training]

Usefulness for research on Indigenous knowledge, media, and community reality: 

This site offers articles and general information on aboriginal education.

• Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, The
  ‘Is the only journal for educators devoted specifically to issues of practice, pedagogy and policy in Indigenous education in Australia. The journal has an international audience and is highly valued by its readers as a reliable source of information on Indigenous education issues.’

A teaching resource section offers strategies for Aboriginal education:

• Aboriginal Astronomy
  ‘Australia’s indigenous peoples have a rich heritage of astronomical observation and story telling. Archaeoastronomy is an important field of research in Australia and other parts of the world. These stories are from Questacon’s book The Emu in the Sky, a collection of Aboriginal astronomy stories from all around Australia.’
• Aboriginal Dreaming Stories
  Include The Dreaming and Dreaming Stories, Aboriginal Dreaming Stories Online, Games, Lesson ideas and Dreaming Stories in the Classroom – a lesson plan by Jackie Miers and Loraine Turner. A quite extensive collection.
• Aboriginal Dreamtime Stories
  Listing of Aboriginal stories [with authors] compiled by a Victorian library.
• Aboriginal Education Research & Curriculum Resources
  From the New South Wales Board of Studies, links to information regarding ACAP, numeracy, literacy and Primary Links. A number are to PDF documents. Also try the listing of sites [almost 40] from EdNa Online

Address:

http://www.aussieeducator.org.au/resources_indigenous.html

http://www.gcc.ca/

This website serves as a central online location for all information having to do with the Cree peoples of Quebec and Ontario. As such, it has the potential to be a personal learning tool for both Cree and outsiders. While not overly interactive, the site does its best to present information about Cree traditions, history, spirituality, etc. through the use of photographs, some video, and short narratives. Culture is a thing to be preserved here, but not as a historical artefact. The short narratives concerning Cree traditions all show how those traditions, such as a strong connection to ‘the bush’, are being lived and are vital to the Cree identity.

Amongst the many links and resources available on the site are the following educational links:

Cree/ Aboriginal Education and Culture

• Rupert River Legacy Canoe Trip
• Nation Magazine
• Arctic String Figure Project
• Arctic Circle
• Canyon Records
• Cree School Board
• James Bay Cree Culture: creeculture.ca
• Native North American Art Links
• Chisasibi & LG-1 Road
• Build an Authentic Cree Tee-Pee
• East Cree Language Web
• The University of Tromsø Indigenous Studies Centre for Sámi Studies

This last link, to the University of Tromsø, is quite intriguing – I’m curious to discover what similarities there may be between the Cree and Sámi peoples.

David

iPhone Racist Game

            While looking for a site that dealt with cultural diversity in a wider context I found this interesting site. I was particularly drawn to an article in the controversy section about the misuse of an iPod game. The article talks about a game in which the characters are obviously meant to represent Polynesians, who are meeting all sorts of terrible ends. I was especially interested in a comment by Elaine Howard, who “stresses that if a game were produced that gave people the power of a God over Asians or Mexicans then there would be outrage.” (2009. p. 1) This article made me wonder if that is a true assessment of the situation. Cartoons got away with stereotyping ethnic groups until fairly recently and the world of electronic games is so vast, that I suspect most of us have no idea of their content. Nevertheless, it is an area which must concern us if we plan on using technology to educate. For as many of us have noted, while we concentrate may concentrate on teaching, they will be more assiduously playing and often without adult supervision.        

Main site:

Ethnic Mulicultural Media Academy

http://www.emmainteractive.com/

Article

iPhone Game deemed Racist to Pacific Islanders.

http://www.emmainteractive.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20016&Itemid=3321

It is interesting to note the convergence of themes in these postings and discussion. There is a strong connection between protecting Indigenous lands and reviving languages. The names of plants, animals, and tradtional place based stories are connected to ancient relationships people had with landscapes. The land in this sense is the teacher. Anthropologists Keith Basso and Julie Cruikshank are two notables with regard to pointing out the inextricable connection between language, land, and morality. They show that the stories connected with places on the landscape teach people how to behave toward each other and the environment. This is consistent with what elders often want from education for youth; a way to remind them of their responsibilities and relationships to their homelands. It is remarkable how much diversity is being displayed in these weblogs– yet, they cohere around these integrated themes.

Reaching the digitally disadvantaged

            I decided to try out the search engine “metacrawler” for a change as I find it is a good idea not to always use the same browser as I have a tendency to use the same key words and then I find myself in a rut. Whilst playing with a random selection of key words, like technology and disadvantages, I found the following site. I found a number of interesting articles, but Lenoy’s article was precisely what I had been looking for.

            I was curious to see what research had shown about the disadvantages of not being technically proficient. Lenoy comments that “With communication and information technologies currently converging on all forms of work, study and play, it is critical for Indigenous people to become skilled in these contemporary and future skills.”(Lenoy.2001.p.4). However, Lenoy also warns that there will be little success unless we take into account that “These measures require adequate involvement of Indigenous people to control and determine outcome expectations.” (Lenoy.2001.p.7)

Main site:

            http://www.nationalforum.com/editor.htm

Article:

Lenoy. M. 2001. Reaching the digitally disadvantaged. Australia’s educational neglect of indigenous learners in the information age. Australian Journal of Teacher Education Vol. 26, No.1. 2001

http://ajte.education.ecu.edu.au/ISSUES/PDF/261/lenoy.pdf

The Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project is run by SOAS at the University of London. It has a staff of about 14 people, many of them with PhDs and is extremely thorough and professional. My original idea was the use of technology to allow communities in rural Mexico to build up a cultural discourse, through the exchange of shared experience, knowledge and linguistic resources among children in  isolated communities, perhaps using Wikis. Just looking at the extent and depth of the material on this site I now realize that the project is much more complicated than I had envisaged. I really need to read many of the articles from this site before I go any further.The site houses OREL: Online Resources for Endangered Languages, that is up to date and contains about 350 links to resources for every aspect of revitalizing indigenous languages.

Site Address: http://www.hrelp.org/

Though there are many articles and links for documenting languages by experts (which does not interest me), there are also tasty numbers like:

The Birth and Death of Languages

David W. Lightfoot

Developing Linguistic Corpora: A Guide to Good Practice

ed. Martin Wynne, AHDS

What Native Communities Want from Web-Based Data

Doug Whalen

Who Owns Native Culture?

Michael F. Brown

First Nations University of Canada

First Nations University of Canada (2003)  was formerly known as the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College which was founded in 1976. The university boasts programs which are designed to specifically address the needs of Aboriginal communities. Programs at the university include: Indian Communication Arts, School of Indian Social Work, Indian Fine Arts, Intercultural Leadership Program, Department of Indigenous Education, a multitude of programs related to the health sciences and many more.

The FNUC allows students of all nations to learn in an environment of First Nations cultures and values.Their mission statement ” To enhance the quality of life, and to preserve, protect and interpret the history, language, culture and artistic heritage of First Nations.”   

Links

First Nations Veterans Memorial

First Nations Pedagogy

This site has been active since 2006 and is a personal site for June Kaminski of mixed race (First Nation and European blood) who is currently working on a PhD in Curriculum Studies and Technology Education. The objective of the site is to promote First Nations Pedagogy worldwide. It focuses on the ways of knowing, learning and teaching in first nation education and the sites works to help educators design educational initiatives for first world communities. June works as a consultant and offers her services through the site, however there are also links to interesting and scholarly papers.

Site Address: http://firstnationspedagogy.com/portfolio.html

June’s specialty field is health, but the site offers links to several interesting papers on pedagogy such as:

Aboriginal literacy and education: A wholistic perspective that embraces intergenerational knowledge.

Indigenous knowledge and pedagogy in First Nations education

Enabling the Autumn Seed: Toward a decolonized approach to aboriginal knowledge, language, and education.

Distance education in remote Aboriginal communities: Barriers, Learning Styles and Best Practices. –

Pedagogical Considerations of Using Moodle in Course Development

This site offers a good place to get idea of best practices in indigenous education. As I am particularly interested in using technology to help Indigenous communities develop a discourse, the articles on distance education and the use of Moodle are particularly interesting.

RedWAY BC News E-zine

Description and Relevance

In my ongoing search for a research topic I came across this site which was linked to the one Sophie posted on First Nations Pedagogy. The purpose of the site is stated in the heading byline:

Harnessing Technology to Honour, Inform and Connect Urban Aboriginal Youth to Services, Opportunities, the Community and Each Other

Once again I found this to be intriguing considering the points of view we explored in Module 1 that questioned the value of participating in the online world from a cultural perspective for First Nations Communities.

The main goal of the site seems to be focused on empowerment for urban aboriginals through employment potential, leadership, community building, advocacy groups, etc…

Features and Links

Some of the areas of interest I navigated to from the home page included:

• profiles of success
• Metro Vancouver Urban Aboriginal Strategy

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVHgvURX_vM[/youtube]

American Indian Education

The site was set up in 2009 and is hosted by Northern Arizona University.

It is a comprehensive web site that aims to provide information and on many topics related to American Indian Education (AIE). It offers many, many links to other interesting sites. Some of the areas of focus of this site are the history of AIE and the way American Indians are being taught now. It has interesting pages on learning styles, identity, literacy and languages among many others. More than specializing on any one theme, it is a very up to date link to hundreds of relevant resources on the Web, be they sites, articles or journals on everything to do with North American Indigenous Education. It is scholarly and a really good place to start any investigation on American Indians.

Site Address: http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/AIE/index.html

There are far too many links to sites to post all of them here, but here are just a few from the most general page :


Carlisle Indian School Barbara Landis’ site

If I can read, I can do anything Aims to assist Indian communities with increasing literacy skills 


Indian Education Links Montana Office of Public Instruction


Indigenous Studies Portal: Education University of Saskatchewan


Journal of American Indian Education Over 100 full text articles from 1961-2002


Native American EducationWill Karkavelas, Osaka University


Northwest Indian College Virtual Library


Selected Resources on American Indian Education Annotated bibliography of printed sources by Jon Reyhner


Teaching & Learning with Native Americans Handbook for non-Native American adult educators.

FirstVoices is run by the First Peoples’ Cultural Foundation established in Canada. FirstVoices is a site that offers tools and services to help indigenous communities record and teach their languages and so to promote cultural revitalization. It is supported by a trust, the Government of British Columbia and the Federal Government. The site allows indigenous communities to add their languages bit by bit to build up a comprehensive record of the written and spoken language and share it for future generations. The interesting thing about the site is the way that indigenous communities are allowed to choose whether to give access to their linguistic resources to the general public or not. This site is a ready-made tool that allows indigenous communities to easily teach their written and spoken language and share images of cultural practices, songs and stories. There are also games that work with the database of words that a community has added. There are currently over 60 communities storing their linguistic history on the site, but this should increase. At the moment Membership is only available to indigenous communities in Canada, America and Australia, but I see no reason why it would not be possible to write to the production team and get the Indigenous communities of Mexico included.

Site address: http://www.firstvoices.com/

The site does not include links to other sites, but it is a very interesting use of media technology to help the revitalization of indigenous culture by indigenous cultures.

Native Studies 20

This webpage was create by a fellow Native Studies teacher in Saskatchewan. She developed this site around the Sask curriculum (which has since been revised) and shared with her colleagues. I used this site a tremendous amount as we did not have access to a text. Although I am not teaching Native Studies this year I have passed on this site to many teachers who teach social studies. It is a fantastic resource for teaching Treaties and Global Indigenous Issues. I found it an excellent way to show students the similarities and differences in treaty experiences around the globe.

Unit One: Introduction

Unit Two: Self Determination and Self Government

Unit Three: Determinism

Unit Four: Social Justice

Turtle Island Native Network’s Forum

Description and Relevance

As a ‘current events’ junkie I found this area of the overall TurtleIsland.org site to be very useful. This is a news and discussion forum that organizes current events issues impacting first nations people into broad categories and acts as a collection for news items related to those topics. Members can post and comment and participate in a online discussion community related to those issues.

Features and Links

• Note: This page is divided into three basic sections
  1. The first section is organized by topic/interest area for community connections
  2. This second section is the area that focuses on Current Events Issues
  3. The third section looks at issues related to indigenous people around the globe

• Areas of interest for me in the Current Events Section included:
  • • Residential Schools
    • Justice and Human Rights for First Nations
    • Education/Learning/Training

Address: http://www.turtleisland.org/front/_front.htm

Indigenous Peoples, Technological Globalization, and Social Mobilization

            I was originally looking for a site which deals with the problems that indigenous communities face when dealing with technology. I came across this site and in particular a paper by Green-Barber about the use that indigenous groups have made of technology. The author states that “technology is creating new possibilities for the empowerment of marginalized groups, such as indigenous peoples, in the political, social, and civil spheres as well; indigenous peoples themselves are selecting the ways in which they wish to be empowered.”(Green-Barber. 2009. P.3) The article is very thought provoking and the site has a number of interesting academic articles, although I was a little concerned that I could not find who is ultimately responsible for choosing the material.

Main site

http://www.allacademic.com/

Article:

Green-Barber, L. , 2008-04-03 “Indigenous Peoples, Technological Globlization, and Social Mobilization” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the MPSA Annual National Conference, Palmer House Hotel, Hilton, Chicago, IL Online <PDF>. 2009-05-23 from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p267575_index.html