Posts from — November 2009

http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ai/ofi/uas/index-eng.asp

The Urban Aboriginal Strategy (UAS) is a community-based initiative developed by the Government of Canada to improve social and economic opportunities of Aboriginal people living in urban centres.

Through the Urban Aboriginal Strategy, the Government of Canada partners with the Aboriginal community and local organizations, municipal and provincial governments and with the private sector. These partnerships support projects that respond to local priorities and advance the UAS national priority areas of: improving life skills, promoting job training, skills and entrepreneurship and supporting Aboriginal women, children and families.

http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ap/uap/index-eng.asp

The term – Urban Aboriginal people – refers primarily to Inuit, Métis and First Nations currently residing in urban areas.  According to 2006 Census data, off-reserve Aboriginal people constitute the fastest growing segment of Canadian Society. In 2006 a full 56% of Aboriginal people lived in urban areas, up from 50% in 1996.  The cities with the largest Aboriginal populations were Winnipeg (68,380), Edmonton (52,100), Vancouver (40,310), Toronto (26,575), Calgary (26,575), Saskatoon (21,535), and Regina (17,105).

The Office of the Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians works closely with provinces, national Aboriginal organizations, federal departments and organizations towards improving the services available to off-reserve Aboriginal Canadians.

http://www.sd62.bc.ca/Aboriginal_Education

http://www.aboriginalroundtable.ca/sect/index_e.html

The Canada-Aboriginal Peoples Roundtable took place in April 2004, with a follow-up session in November 2004 and a policy retreat in May 2005. Of particular interest are the Facilitators’ Reports from the November 2004 meetings, with links to summaries of flip charts from the break-out groups, profiles of status and non-status North American Indians in Canada and a variety of background papers on such stakeholders as the Government of Canada and the Assembly of First Nations.

One of the areas addressed in the Lifelong Learning – Inuit breakout groups is the issue of improving access to Post Secondary Education. Specific recommendations included “Flexibility of program delivery” via broadband, language of instruction, modular delivery, distance education delivery in communities, continue to support learning (by) disabled students, and co-op work experience.

Instituto Lingüistico de Verano en Mexico

Web Site address http://www.sil.org/mexico/ilv/eInfoILVMexico.htm

I thought twice about putting this site into the weblog, but the discourse in Indigenous languages is so lacking, that I can’t be picky nor let my prejudices get in the way.
The Summer Institute of Linguistics in Mexico is an organization that studies Indigenous Languages. It produces, dictionaries, grammars, didactic aids, translates traditional stories and last, but by no means least, translates the protestant Bible.
It works with Indigenous students, teaching them to write their Indigenous languages and helps them to produce Bible translations.
There is a branch in Oaxaca and I have met the director. They have excellent, highly qualified American linguists and their output is very impressive. Unfortunately, I am uncomfortable with the Indigenous evangelization aspect.
The site houses many, many excellent documents on the linguistics of Indigenous languages, but I am more interested in the hundreds of traditional stories written in Indigenous languages. It is a gold mine!

An example of a story in Zapotec: http://www.sil.org/mexico/zapoteca/yaganiza/L124c-GallinaBlanca_Leer-zad.pdf

An example of a story in Triqui: http://www.sil.org/mexico/mixteca/sotlaxiaco/L139c-ChivoHuerfano_Leer-meh.pdf

Trikis en Movimiento

Web site address http://trikisenmovimiento.org/triquis-en-movimiento/

This site is in Spanish and is run by a Triqui Movement, in Oaxaca, Mexico. It is maintained by just one person Fidel Hernandez, a young Triqui.
The aim of the movement is to contribute to the development of the Triqui culture, towns and people. The web page is a Blog with sections on music, images, essays, poems and videos. There isn’t much written in Nanj nïin’in, the Indigenous language of the Triquis, except a small vocabulary section. The site contains several links; the most interesting are:

http://triquis.org/
Another Triqui web page for the Triqui towns of Baja –Copala Media_ Itunyoso and Alta- Chicahuaxtla. This site has only 14 registered users and certain sections are restricted only to them. However, anyone can register. There is information about Triqui history, music, culture and Indigenous justice.

http://www.triquicopala.com/index.htm
Another Triqui web page that contains a lot of information about the Triqui and has information on Triqui history, Triqui stories, the Triqui language, Triqui radio, a good collection of Triqui videos. It also has connections to Triqui migrant groups in the US. Again the site is in Spanish.

http://indigenasdf.org.mx/ami/index.php
A web page run by the Asamblea de Migrantes Indigenas de la Cuidad de Mexico (The Indigenous Migrant Assembly of the city of Mexico)

http://www.redindigena.info/
The Web page of the Red Indigena (The Indigenous Network)

http://www.reduii.org/
The Website of the Universidad Indigena Intercultural (Intercultural Indigenous University)in Bolivia

The Toledo Family Web site

Web Site address http://www.biyubi.com/did_canciones.html#naila

This website is run by a Binnizá (Zapotec) family living in the state of México, but originally from the Isthmus of the state of Oaxaca. The family are in the computer hardware business and much of the page is about computers, but there are also many songs, sayings and poetry in Isthmus Zapotec, as well as a Zapotec Spanish dictionary with 15,800 definitions and a Zapotec/ Spanish translator, both created by the family.

The page can be viewed in Zapotec, Spanish or English.
There are 357 134 speakers of the Zapotec family of languages (INEGI. II Conteo de Población y Vivienda 2005) and Isthmus Zapotec is very much a living language. However, once again, there is very little digital discourse by Indigenous Zapotecs in Zapotec on the Internet.

There are no Zapotec related links from this page.

ÄYUUJK WËNMÄÄ´NY

Web Site address http://www.pensamientoayuujk.blogspot.com/

This is the only site in Mixe, an Indigenous language from Oaxaca, México that I have been able to find.
This Blog is bilingual, with poetry in Mixe accompanied by a translation in Spanish. It has only been running for half a year and all the posts seem to be by the same person. On the right hand side, there is a section for new Mixe words, where the author has added the Mixe words for Snail, Stairs, and Venus. My search during this fourth Weblog is for evidence of Indigenous discourse in Indigenous languages from my state, Oaxaca, which has a very large Indigenous population. According to the National Statistical Department, Oaxaca has the highest percentage of speakers of an Indigenous language in the Republic. 35% of the inhabitants over 5 years of age speak an Indigenous language and 5% are monolingual in that language (INEGI. II Conteo de Población y Vivienda 2005). There are 103,089 speakers of Mixe in the state (INEGI. II Conteo de Población y Vivienda 2005), but the digital discourse is virtually nonexistent.

There are no links from this site.

Watch this video
Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story
Chimamanda Adichie speaks of her personal search for her culture. She points to how media defines a culture with a single story… a single story that narrowly defines cultures. For Chimamanda, a single story does not define a culture. She warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.
Aboriginals also need to tell their stories. They need to find global voices so they don’t become one story… the story the media creates.

If you haven’t experienced TED.com then you really must visit. It several videos with diverse topics presented by our leaders/innovators.

Learn more about TED.com

The Native American and Indigenous Studies Association was founded in 2008 as a professional organization dedicated to supporting those who work inside and outside the academic world in the scholarly field of Native American/American Indian/ First Nations/ Aboriginal and Indigenous studies. On this website you will find information about the association’s annual meetings, governing council, and announcements. The website also provides online membership signup, documents, and links to a forum that members and others can use to discuss issues regarding Native and Indigenous studies.

The above description was taken directly from their homepage.  The most useful resource this website has to offer ETEC521 students is the forum although the documents could be useful as well.  As this is a new website, they assure visitors that it will grow.

E-Pustakalaya is a digital library produced by OLE (Open Learning Exchange) Nepal.  The bilingual (English and Nepali) library is categorized into the following seven areas: literature, are, course related materials, reference materials, other educational materials, teaching support materials, and newspaper and magazines.  Most of the downloadable material is in English and in .pdf format.  Although all the material in English is useful for students of ETEC521, that material in the teaching support section are more relevant to this class.  As subcategories, there are journals, articles on educational theory, professional development, etc.

There is also a highlights section offering further resources such as maps, videos, a Nepali dictionaly, etc.  At the bottom of the home page, they have included the logos of their contributing partners which are actually links to the corresponding organization’s website.

“Reconciliation Australia is an independent, not-for-profit organization… building and promoting reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians for the well being of the nation.”  This is taken from their description in “Who is RA” under “About RA.”  If you are interested in anything to do with Indigenous Australian issues, this site will surely not disappoint.

As there is simply too much information available on the website to mention here, some of the highlights are: reconciliation resources and action plans, their current projects, facts and figures, films and music, learning tools for schools, and what might be the most useful for research, their publications.  In their links section, they have divided them into nine different categories including media, documentaries, government, and stats & facts.

“The Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy (NNI), housed at The University of Arizona’s Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, serves as a self-determination, governance, and development resource for Indigenous nations in the United States, Canada, and elsewhere.”   This is the short description on their homepage of who they are.  Most of the content on the website is organized into the following three pages.

• “What We Do” includes their programs such as policy analysis and research, executive education and curriculum development.
• “Resources” included publications, curricular resources, their own TV/Radio program, research reports, etc.  These resources would be very useful for research of Indigenous issues.
• “Who We Are” includes an overview of the organization, staff, international advisory council, collaborators, their logo, etc.

Finally, on their links page, they categorize many helpful links into three sections: academic departments and research centers, nonprofit organizations and other resources.

The Indigenous Research Center of the Americas (IRCA) is housed in the Department of Native American Studies at the University of California, Davis. Based on a hemispheric perspective, IRCA seeks to understand and express both the local and global dimensions of indigenous peoples in the American hemisphere. IRCA is an interdisciplinary, inter-institutional research program established with an interest in and commitment to the demographic, social, economic, political and cultural importance of indigenous peoples and the issues of self-determinatation, sovereignty and self-development. The Center has a particular interest in the global and transnational connections of indigenous peoples as well as their growing participation in the reshaping of local, regional and national identities and communities. IRCA provides an open forum for indigenous scholars, indigenous community, spiritual and political leaders and non-Indigenous researchers who are concerned with developing a hemispheric and interdisciplinary approach to the past, present and future realities of the indigenous peoples of the Americas.

The previous description was taken in its entirety from their homepage, as I would not be able to succinctly paraphrase it without leaving out meaningful details. The information presented on the site is indeed limited, but potentially very useful and will most likely grow.  There are currently six research publications available, which are posted in one of the following categories:

• Culture and identity
• Health and food
• International agreements
• Technology and communication
• Territoriality

The quote on the home page of the The Black Book site reads, “It’s taken sixty thousand years, but finally the portal to Indigenous media and the arts in Australia is here.”    This is one of many sites that features Indigenous communities in Australia using the Internet and multimedia to share their traditions, stories, and arts to inform local communities and the broader global audience.   The Black Book has two main sections: the directory and the library.  The Directory includes over 2700 listings of  Indigenous organizations that work in the arts, media and cultural areas.  The library contains over 2000 pieces of artistic work including work from the 1890s to now. The work is categorized into publications, music, screen productions, documentaries, plays, features, and albums sections. The site also serves as an up to date information portal about events in the country, jobs and training, and leading Indigenous artists.  The Black Book site was inspired by the The Brown Pages, a similar site created by the Maori community.

The Inspiration page on the site links viewers to the following “trailblazers”

Oodgeroo Noonuccal
Bob Maza
Russel Page
Emily Kame Kngwarreye
Michael Riley
Kevin Smith
Pauline McLeod

The Black Book logo [Online Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved November 18, 2009, from The Black Book website. http://www.blackbook.afc.gov.au/default.asp

Redefining how success is measured in Aboriginal learning

First Nations Holistic Lifelong Learning Model

Description & Relevancy

I really appreciated the visual model depicted with this discussion on determining success in indigenous life-long learning. The emphasis on the natural world, cross-cultural aspects of knowledge and knowing, and location of learning are all relevant to the ideas explored in this module and throughout the course.

Links:

PLEASE FOLLOW LINK 1/2 down this page (directly under the image on the page) to the detailed PDF version of the model.

Scientific Knowledge, Indigenous Knowledge and Biodiversity

Description and Relevancy

The concise information provided on this page connect well with the educational perspective discussed by Tim Michel as well as the broader themes that underpin module 4. This page is a sub page of the website  for Aboriginal Education Research Center (AERC) at the University of Saskatchewan. This information is included with several other sub-topics that are part of the program devoted to indigenous education. Most significantly this page includes a comprehensive bibliography on the topic (as do all of the other topic descriptions) that is useful for researchers seeking further information. Another interesting project that is part of the AERC is a project titled Learning Indigenous Science from Place. This project endevours to connect Indigenous science knowledge in Saskatchewan to First Nations worldviews and perspectives. Again, this is very closely aligned with the cultural perspectives and natural world focus explored in this final module.

Links

AERC Home

University of Saskatchewan

Learning Indigenous Science from Place

Sky Stories: A First Nations Journey Teacher’s Resources

Description & Relevancy

This educational opportunity and resource looks excellent. I wonder if any of you who teach and live on the West Coast have had a chance to view this at the HR MacMillan Space Centre? Sky Stories is the work of Margaret Grenier who has both Gitxsan and Cree ancestry, and holds a Masters Degree in Education. The focus of this multi-media presentation is to offer several  unique perspectives of the night sky by way of indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing. This excerpt from the teacher’s research package offers a more articulate description of what students will potentially learn through this experience:

Sky Stories is a unique planetarium experience that introduces students to Aboriginal perspectives of the night sky and diverse ways of knowing.  It describes the understandings of the night sky from three First Nations’ oral histories in British Columbia and the Yukon; the Wsanec moon calendar, the Gitksan origin story and Tlingit aurora borealis stories. Grandmother, Grandfather and Raven guide the audience through the journey as the audience travels from story to story, each in its own setting. The relationship between the Elders and the youth, the female roles and the male counterparts frame and balance the overall piece. This balance between young and old, male and female is reflective of the circular and non-hierarchical way of knowing where even time is non-linear but part of a continuum.

note: Andy Everson: created the Sky Stories logo. Retrieved November 20, 2009 from Sky Stories Teacher Resource package. www.hrmacmillanspacecentre.com

Links:

Quick View

http://www.hrmacmillanspacecentre.com/planetarium_details_skystories.htm

Gitxsan proposal

Description & Relevancy

This is a link to an article that outlines a recent proposal by the Gitxsan people to give up their historical status Indian designation. This would see the Gitxsan people relinquish their reserves, tax exemptions, housing and other historical financial supports.  On the other hand the proposal includes a share of resources from their traditional territories, which cover 33,000 square kilometres of northwestern British Columbia. The thrust behind this proposal is self-determination and the desire to improve quality of life through that process. I considered the Gitxsan proposal as I listened to Tim Michel (video interview Module 4) share a personal story and  discuss his sense of being ‘separated and alienated’ from his own traditional lands. Perhaps this type of governance would help overcome this idea.

Links

Globe & Mail Article

Gitxsan Chiefs Office

The Delgamuukw Decision

Gitxsan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYImYp0ci8s

Not Strangers in These Parts | Urban Aboriginal Peoples

Description & Relevancy

I thought I would share this policy research initiative that explores numerous issues related to the experience of urban aboriginal peoples in Canada. It is one of the source materials which I have used to support my research paper which explores the role of modern technologies in connecting urban and off-reserve aboriginal people with their cultural past, quality of life, and educational opportunities. There are several papers included in this index that represent numerous viewpoints and disciplines. When considered against some of the focus areas we have explored in this course about identity and indigenous ways of knowing and how those connect to land,  the papers in this volume offer a unique perspective to be considered from the urban aboriginal perspective.

Links

www.policyresearch.gc.ca/doclib/AboriginalBook_e.pdf