Posts from — November 2009

I have been spending some time researching different materials that are aimed at bringing Aboriginal knowledge and history into the classroom.

There are a lot of resources out there and I becoming surprised by the number of them that are developed by educators who are attempting to reach their Aboriginal students through relevant content or promote cross-cultural understanding among their students.

This site is simply a blog article which provides links to a complete First Nations Identities Course.  An overview of this course can be found here.  Feel free to browse these great resources which are all in printable pdf form.

• Ojibwe language handouts and games
• More Ojibwe stuff
• nish bingo
• Syllabics
• More handouts!
• The Great Indian Bus Tour of Toronto: student version
• Final project/summative

There is a lot of material here and would be very useful for any teacher looking for quality Aboriginal Identity focused materials for the classroom.

Developed by the Heritage Community Foundation this site is an “edukit” which is designed to enhance student understanding of the knowledge developed by Fist Nation people throughout history.

http://www.edukits.ca/aboriginal/contributions/index.htm

This resource was developed in conjunction with numerous agencies including Alberta Aboriginal Affairs, Museums, Schools, Aboriginal researchers, historians and elders such as Billy Joe Laboucan and Laura Okemaw.

The site features a student and a teacher zone.  In the student zone you will find numerous activities, biographies, puzzles, games, links and a photo gallery.  The resources contain a great deal of information about Aboriginal people and honours the contributions made by such historical figures as Alex Decoteau, Pakan and Star Blanket, as well as present day people like Allen Sapp and Jordin Tootoo.  In the teachers zone you can find activities and lesson plans for integrating these resources into the classroom.  There are both junior and senior high sections containing links to curriculum outcomes, teacher information, a full lesson plan and related downloads.

Here is an example of the resources available for a Grade 12 Lessons on Aboriginals in Business:

Generalization & Rationale

Objectives

Introductory Activity

Main Lesson

Download

Anyone who is trying to incorporate more Aboriginal history and knowledge into their classroom should consider checking out this site.  Also it gives a good idea of how such traditional First Nation knowledge can be weaved into the curriculum.

http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/library/PRBpubs/prb0338-e.htm

This is an informative and relevant website from the publications List of the Canadian Library of Parliament (prepared by Tonina Simeone). Information is organized under the following sub-headings:

• Introducation
• How Does Indigenous Traditional Knowledge Differ from Western Science?
• Why Protect Traditional Knowledge?
• How to Protect Traditional Knowledge
• Limitations of the Intellectual Property Rights Regime in Protecting Traditional Knowledge
• International Initiatives to Protect Traditional Knowledge
• Selected References
• Endnotes

I like how the content of this website is concise and well-researched. It helped me to better understand how traditional knowledge has been exploited, and how awareness of this injustice has recently led to improvements, such as the development of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC).

http://colours.mahost.org/articles/burke.html

Devin Burke, of the Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement (IPSM), presents his views on colonialism. He feels that Canada has been “waging a war” against Indigenous people since 1867 in working towards “assimilation and extermination”. Burke goes on to explain how “this war has often been waged by institutions, through the bureaucracy of Indian Affairs, in residential schools, through the imposition of band councils, and more recently by notorious multinational corporations and the likes of global trade regimes, such as the World Trade Organization”.

My first impression of this article being negative and biased started to change as I reached the part where Burke suggests ways that we can ally with Indigenous people by owning up and taking responsibility for our history. Further, Burke identifies himself as a non-native and states that all Canadians have been affected by colonialism and that we all must assert our autonomy in order to more towards decolonization.

Although I don’t agree with some of the points expressed by Burke, I read his article with interest and feel that it does have an important message regarding the unjust treatment of Indigenous groups.

The purpose of this project is to ensure “the survival of cultural knowledge and “opportunities to demonstrate practices that have the ability to ‘innovate’ 
    contemporary management and community outcomes for the benefit of all
 generations to come.”

A crucial element of this project is that it is community based.  The community owns and control’s the research data that is collected as well as other resources the project produces.

The following link is a Youtube clip regarding the TKRP, its purpose to ensure the survival of cultural knowledge and the benefits of using multi-media to achieve the above stated goals by using youth to film, Elder to inform others of traditional practices, and children to sit and observe, thus learning from both generations.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnOS9FX1VEo[/youtube]

In addition the site has a link to several other TKRP movie productions, as well as case studies.

Other TKRP SERVICES

Mentorship

Presentations

Land Management

Film and Production

Topics Include:

Identities, Conflict and Cohesion

“Identities affect patterns of exclusion and solidarity, and provide a basis for both social cohesion and conflict. This programme aims to assess how processes of development and social change, as well as public policies, shape identities.”

Identity, Power and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

“This project theoretically and empirically traces the structure and interlocking nature of relations between governments and international organizations in order to analyse how these links impact on the identity, rights and livelihood of indigenous communities.”

Programmes and Areas of Research 2005 – 2009:

Social Policy and Development

Democracy, Governance and Well-Being

Civil Society and Social Movements

Markets, Business and Regulation

Identities, Conflict and Cohesion

Gender and Development

Published Papers Include:

Transnational Governmentality and Resource Extraction: Indigenous Peoples, Mutlinational Corporations, Multinational Institutions and the State

http://www.unrisd.org/unrisd/website/document.nsf/(httpPapersForProgrammeArea)/DD4690C7DCC1A303C1257512003066D6?OpenDocument

Natural Gas, Indigenous Mobalization and the Bolivian State

http://www.unrisd.org/unrisd/website/document.nsf/(httpPapersForProgrammeArea)/D96F71885FB60F74C1257512002F471E?OpenDocument

“The world’s most comprehensive independent online magazine: written and edited by professionals, trusted by over 24 million monthly readers!”

This site leads to an article on “Native Right to Self-Identity Reclaiming Indigenous Heritage Can Result in Anglicised Packaging of Aboriginal Identity and Culture” by Tyson Yunkaporta.

The following is an excerpt from the opinion piece.

There are huge challenges associated with re-entry into the Indigenous world, and it takes a lifetime of hard work, unlearning, and relearning.

Many Indigenous thinkers have a problem with this, citing cases of people claiming Aboriginality but still living and speaking from a middle-class Australian point of view. With “new” Aborigines in the public spotlight, such as Sally Morgan (author of “My Place”), it has been argued (convincingly) that this results in a marginalising of “unsanitised” Aboriginal viewpoints in literature in favour of a “white middle-class” packaging of Aboriginality, more easily swallowed by the colonial mainstream without necessitating any real attempts at understanding un-Europeanised Indigenousness.

The posts lend them to some interesting perspectives on the issue.  I’m sure this topic could lend itself to a rather lively discussion forum.

Read more: http://aboriginalrights.suite101.com/article.cfm/native_right_to_selfidentify#ixzz0WPcyzUTc

http://aboriginalrights.suite101.com/article.cfm/native_right_to_selfidentify#ixzz0WPbcR1Ou

Related Topics/Links:

aboriginal rights (general)

african indigenous peoples

american indigenous peoples

asian indigenous peoples

australian indigenous peoples

canadian aboriginal peoples

european indigenous peoples

latin american indigenous peoples

Links to read more:

http://aboriginalrights.suite101.com/article.cfm/native_right_to_selfidentify#ixzz0WPalzwXR

This site has a basic, yet effective layout.  It addresses issue that are salient to Native Women.

“The Native Women’s Association of Canada is founded on the collective goal to enhance, promote, and foster the social, economic, cultural and political well-being of Aboriginal women within the Aboriginal community and Canadian society. In 2009, as we celebrate our 35th year of service, we are proud to continue to speak as a voice for Aboriginal women.”

Front in centre of the site is a link to a page of missing person alert.  The location of the link in the front and centre of the page suggest how these missing family members are front and centre for the Native Women’s Association.  As a side bar, I reviewed all the missing persons, and couldn’t help but feel the pain of these young and older women and their families.

Indigenous Peoples Issues & Resources

Indigenous Peoples Issues and Resources is a worldwide network of organizations, academics, activists, indigenous groups, and others representing indigenous and tribal peoples.  Members of the network consist of a social scientists, activists, scholars, laypeople, indigenous people, and others who all share a combined goal: to provide resources, news, articles, and information on current issues effecting indigenous and tribal peoples around the world.

It has a weekly news section that covers 5 key Indigenous issues/events.  This is a worthwhile weekly read to learn about global Indigenous issues.

• Indigenous Peoples: Culture and Groups
• Military Digital Archives – this page list books covering various wars that included Native American participation in Military actions.
• Journals – it has a page covering a fair list of journals that cover Indigenous topics.

The site has a fair bit of advertising, including UBC’s Met program.

“Nepal Journals OnLine (NepJOL) is a service to provide access to Nepalese published research, and increase worldwide knowledge of indigenous scholarship.” There are 42 academic journals with 139 tables of contents listing 1960 articles of which 1319 are in full text. Unlike the journal selection offered by Digital Himilaya, these journals are all in English. There is also a journal content search option allowing searches by; all, authors, title, abstract, index terms, full text, date, supplementary files, etc.

Of course all the information accessible from NepJOL is specific to Nepal and might not be very useful for research of other areas or Indigenous groups.

The Digital Himalaya website is a project by the University of Cambridge “to develop digital collection, storage and distribution strategies for multimedia anthropological information from the Himalayan region.”

The information offered on the site is essentially divided into two areas: Collections and About the Project. In the Collections is a wealth of information including the Census of Nepal, Films, Journals, Maps, Music, etc. There are links to over 30 different academic journals (of which most are written in English)!

The most useful resource under the About the Project are the links which are divided into three sections: Anthropology, Himalayan/Tibetan/Central Asian Areas Studies, and Digitisation of Cultural Resources. This last area is not regionally specific to the Himalaya and would be of considerable interest in the context of this course.

The United League of Indigenous Nations (ULIN) is based on a treaty between 11 Indigenous Nations in the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia to join forces and confront common issues such as climate change, trade and commerce among the Nations, protection of their cultural property as well as human rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Their website lists upcoming events such as ULIN annual convention as well as a review of pervious events such as ULIN leadership conferences, National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) and Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI) conferences.

In their working groups section, they list their five areas of focus: Cultural Property Protection, Trade, Climate Change, Border Crossing and Indigenous Nations Relations. There are relevant documents available in each of these areas such as “Understanding Maori Intellectual Property Rights.”

They also have a discussion forum as well as a news and updates section where they post press releases and such. Curiously, all of the external links in their links section are devoted to climate change resources. There are many here, but the breadth is limited.

Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP) is a research and educational institution supported by Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona. It was established in 1992 “with a vision to assist Indian Tribes in the management of their environmental resources through effective training and education programs.”

Their website lists all 12 of their programs which range from the American Indian Air Quality Training Program to the Water Resource Program. The majority of these are training programs and the others are resource management programs. Each program is a link and within several programs, there are additional resources and links specific to that program.

Their resources section offers resources for ITEP programs as well as external resources. These resources range from links to external websites to newsletters and brochures.

The Northwest Indian Applied Research Institute (NIARI) is an organization run by Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. Their website is a great source of information about Native American education and tribal community issues.

NIARI accepts research proposals as well as archives research papers such as Tribal Identity: Fighting for Our Soul and Tribal Curriculum Development: A Tribal Decision-making Model. They also list many projects that they support. Of particular usefulness to the context of this course is Public School Curriculum on Tribal Issues, Cultural Revitalization and Cultural Property Rights.

In the resources section, there are five subsections of links: Web Information on Western Washington Tribes, Regional Native Organizations, State and National Government Resources, Other Resources and Resources at Evergreen (State College).

NAN Decade for Youth  – (M-3 Post #4)                        

http://www.nandecade.ca

Website designed by Nishnawbe Aski Nation’s Decade for Youth & Development Office.   The Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) started this web site to give NAN youth a voice in the decision-making processes that affect our future as a Nation. The website is a resource for young Nishnewbe Aki youth wanting to learn more about youth empowerment or wanting to know more about youth activities.  The information could prove valuable to other young aboriginals as well.  The website contains information on history of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, a section devoted to young aboriginal females, several topics involving aboriginal suicide and prevention and youth council news.   There are other links to pertinent websites and other information.  The site serves as an example to other Indigenous groups as a tool for reaching their young people.

SAY Magazine (M-3 Post #3)

http://www.saymag.com/canada/index.php

SAY Magazine was developed for Native youth and is distributed throughout Canada at international news stands, Indigo Chapters, and is also distributed to high schools, post-secondary institutions, libraries, First Nations communities, Friendship Centres, youth serving agencies and others.  You are able to view past issues and the current issue of the magazine and you can subscribe to the online version for full access to articles.  The website contains an abundance of links to Aboriginal media, careers, education, financial aid & scholarships for aboriginal students, health, sports, Aboriginal languages, and other Aboriginal organizations.

http://www.abo-peoples.org/CAP/Index.html

Media section devoted to aboriginal issues in the news which contains links to videos and articles.  CAP  also consists of a Congress of Aboriginal Peoples Youth Council (CAPNYC).The Mission of the CAPYNC) as stated on the website “is to represent, promote, advocate, empower, protect and educate off-reserve, Aboriginal youth from across Canada; and further, to encourage unity and the growth of emotional, physical, mental and spiritual well being of oneself, family and community.

Aboriginal Peoples Television Network  (M-3 Post #1)

 http://www.aptn.ca/

APTN programming is by, for and about Aboriginal Peoples.  Programs include but are not limited to the APTN National news and APTN In Focus which takes a look at aboriginal news stories and offers context and historical perspective.

“History would have been told differently if our reporters had been there.”

APTN Investigates tries to uncover and expose the truth about some of the most controversial news stories involving Aboriginals each week.  In addition there is children’s programming, cartoons, and programs in English, French and a variety of aboriginal languages.  The website offers access to some past news segments and programs.

The Native Village web site is professional and well maintained. It is copyrighted by an individual, but  is too good to be run as a hobby. However, no mention is made of how it is maintained financially.

Web site: http://www.nativevillage.org/index.htm

This vibrant site publishes twice a month and is designed for educators and youth. It is not particularly scholarly but is a great example of a functioning format of a Web resource for an Indigenous community.

The first publication is “Native Village Youth and Education News” which is a news magazine of interesting stories on Indigenous topics.

Link to Volume 1: http://www.nativevillage.org/NOV%20News/V1%20November%202009%20headlines.htm

The second publication is “Native Village Opportunities and Websites”, which is divided into two sections:

“Opportunities” lists all the activities (and there are plenty) going on related to Indigenous Knowledge and Community.

Link: http://www.nativevillage.org/Opportunities/10-15-09%20OPPS.htm

“Websites” offers a selection of interesting Websites every fortnight.

Link: http://www.nativevillage.org/Libraries/NativeVillageLibrariesHOME.htm

There is also the “Native American Language Library”, which received recognition by the American Indian Review Magazine as the “Best Language Website on the Internet”. The page offers a lot of good links to websites on Indigenous languages and is a great resource for teachers wanting to bring Indigenous content into the curriculum.

Link: http://www.nativevillage.org/Libraries/Language%20Libraries.htm

Archives of ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU

Indigenous Languages and Technology

Web site: http://www.u.arizona.edu/~cashcash/ILAT.html

The ILAT site is an open forum Listserv, something that I had read about, but never seen. The site is run by the University of Arizona, and is visually simple with no frills, unlike other webpages. It is similar to the forums we use on Blackboard.

It is a list of messages archived by month on topics related to Indigenous Languages and Technology. It is up to date as there are 23 threads for November 2009 alone. It is a useful site because it allows you to search the archive by keyword. This means you can find out what people in the field have said about any topic. I did a search on the Listserv for the word Wiki and got 27 matches, the most recent being from January 2009. This post took to me to a site (http://drupal.org/project/i18n) where you can download Drupal, a free online program that allows for the creation of an online dictionary that can include audio, and video. The post suggests that the dictionary can be set up in a Wiki style so that users could add words.

I did another search on the word “Zapotec” and found that a researcher brought students down to Oaxaca each year to work on a Zapotec dictionary in a village not far from my house.

A real mine of information