CulturalSurvival.org

This website is the work of a group of people who believe deeply that indigenous peoples have the right to be indigenous people – on their own lands, on their own terms. Members include preeminent indigenous leaders, anthropologists, philanthropists, entrepeneurs and the team is currently led by a human rights lawyer.

The homepage includes powerful images and statistics. There are links to important news items and a sign up for the email newsletter. Other links include publications, programs and what you can do.

This site would be very helpful for any one looking for information around language and cultural  preservation.

Creative Spirits

I came across this site linked to an actual Australian government website. I cruised through quite a bit of it before I actually worked my way back to the homepage. It was only then that I realized that this was a blog created by a non-Aboriginal. The following quote from the author really jumped out at me:

“I present Aboriginal culture in Australia from a different angle. While you can find many texts by white authors I like to involve Aboriginal authors, Aboriginal resources and even Aboriginal people themselves as much as possible.”

I’m quite confident that I would have noticed this statement in the past but after reading chapter four of the textbook and participating in the discussion threads I have to say I take issue with this. I’m curious to hear if others feel the same way.

The sites byline says it best

“Bridges to Understanding uses digital technology and the art of storytelling to empower and unite youth worldwide, enhance cross-cultural understanding and build global citizenship.”

They try to connect ‘middle and high school students in the developed world connect with their contemporaries in indigenous communities established in Peru, South Africa, India, and Guatemala.’

A great resource for a classroom teachers, this site includes student documentaries and curriculum resources.  The videocasts  create a ‘cyber-gallery’ (this one is for North America). You have to be patient the videos take a while to download