Author: Al Davidson

Module 4 Weblog 5 (A.Davidson)

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.

Module 4 Weblog 4 (A. Davidson)

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

Module 4 Weblog 3 (A. Davidson)

Sky Stories: A First Nations Journey Teacher’s Resources

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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


Module 4 Weblog 2 (A. Davidson)

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

Module 4 Weblog 1 (A. Davidson)

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

Module 3 Weblog #5 (A. Davidson)

Aboriginal Ethics Guide Ethical Research

Description & Relevancy

This is a short piece by Marlene Brant Castellano who is involved with an Interagency Panel on Research Ethics. They are currently developing new information that will add to the growing body of literature on the ethics of research with First Nations research subjects and situations. This new perspective and consideration into research ethics includes the perspective that Indigenous traditional values and beliefs add to the overall understanding of ethics. The result is that their work considers ideas such as the following traditional virtues into the ethical guidelines for research:

  • Kindness implies respect for the dignity of the others involved, not dominating or pressing our own agenda at the others’ expense
  • Honesty involves communicating our principles and intentions as the basis for relationship and ensuring free, informed consent for actions taken
  • Sharing recognizes that the common good requires give and take by all, with respect for the different gifts that each party brings
  • Strength is courage to stand firm for our principles; in some cases, strength is resilience, as in the capacity to bend to circumstance while holding on to important values

Links

http://www.heretohelp.bc.ca/publications/aboriginal-people/alt/2

CIHR guidelines for health research

National Aboriginal Health Organization Journal of Aboriginal Health (article)

Module 3 Weblog #4 (A. Davidson)

First Nations Voice (On-line News and Media Center)

In Partnership with the Winnipeg Free Press

Description & Relevancy

One of the strong themes that run through the course and this module in particular is the need for First Nations people and communities to tell their own stories. To get an authentic and accurate understanding of issues related to First Nations people research on any level via print, film, print-news, radio broadcasts and other forms of media must be conducted through a First Nations perspective. This news publication was conceived to achieve such a goal and to act as a means to educate First Nations people themselves and the general public from a First Nations Perspective.

Links

http://www.firstnationsvoice.com/

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/

Module 3 Weblog #3 (A. Davidson)

Julie Gough – Tasmanian Aboriginal visual artist

& Julie Gough’s Website

Description & Relevancy

These sites highlight the artistic pursuits of Julie Gough and the themes that she explores through her artwork. There are links to her various works of art, writing, and reviews. When considering the focus in this module on the impact of outside researchers on indigenous communities I was deeply interested in the following piece and description….

jg_themes_1The Whispering Sands (Ebb Tide), 1998
mixed media, dimensions variable
photograph courtesy the artist

The Whispering Sands (Ebb Tide) installation comprises sixteen lifesize portraits pyrographically (hand-burnt) onto 5 mm plywood. These figures were placed in the tidal flats at Eaglehawk Neck, Southern Tasmania during November 1998 in the ‘Sculpture by the Sea’ Exhibition. The portraits represent British individuals, collectors, who historically and subsequently impacted on Tasmanian Aboriginal people through their accumulation of material culture, stories, anthropological/medical information, human remains, and even Aboriginal children in the names of science, education, history, anthropology and the increase of their own personal status and power.

Links

http://www.anu.edu.au/culture/abstractions/artists/jg_1.htm

Julie Gough’s Website

Module 3 Weblog #2 (A. Davidson)

FNEHIN

First Nations Environmental Health Innovations Network

Research Ethics Protocols and Guidelines (Page)

Description & Relevancy

This page is part of the broader website of the First Nations Environmental Health Innovations Network that endevours to:

“…have a central role in knowledge transfer, facilitating research partnerships, and showcasing best practices in environmental health research with First Nations.”

The page highlights the existing major concerns related to research practice in First Nations communities and frames the idea that each community is unique and a variety of research methods and protocols are being developed to address the sorry past of research in First Nations communities.  As well, this page includes a great number of links to Aboriginal groups and organizations that have developed research protocols and guidelines for conducting research with indigenous populations.

Links

http://www.fnehin.ca/site.php/research_guidelines/

Module 3 Weblog #1 (A. Davidson)

Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession (OCAP) or Self-Determination Applied to Research:

Description & Relevancy

This paper explores the themes and questions we are examining related to research ethics and indigenous communities. The paper highlights where past research practices have been conducted from a colonial perspective and is critical of the research relations with Aboriginal people in the past that has, among other things, violated community cultural expectations. Following this review of past practice the paper then chronicles improvements in the ethics of First Nations research and how OCAP offers some options for improving the relationship between indigenous communities and academic research.

Interestingly, throughout the paper,  there are a number of excellent artistic representations of the dilemmas that have plagued research into First Nations Communities. I found these to be quite helpful in synthesizing some of the big issues in this field.

Links

http://www.research.utoronto.ca/ethics/pdf/human/nonspecific/OCAP%20principles.pdf



Module 2 Weblog #5

Media Awareness Network – The Impact of Stereotyping on Young People (focus on Aboriginal people)

Description & Relevancy

This article on the Media Awareness Network examines the negative impact of stereotypes in media on aboriginal people, as the Harding study in this module did. It also highlights positive changes in some avenues of Canadian media to show new sensitivities and support for cultural diversity.

The broader Media Awareness Network website promotes critical thinking in young people about the media and compliments the information Sandra has recently posted on critical thinking and media.

Links

Module 2 Weblog #4 (A. Davidson)

Vanishing Voices

Description and Relevancy

This is a link to the digital version of the Calgary Herald which is currently featuring a 3 part series on the struggle to protect vanishing and extinct First Nations languages in Southern Alberta.  I thought it quite timely for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the first article examines the perspective of technology and language for these endangered languages at several points. Secondly considering the Robert Harding article in our current module, that examines constructed stereotypes of Aboriginal people in newsprint media, I examined the article closely to detect any of the stereotypes that Harding and previous studies identified.

Links

Part 1

Part 2


Part 3 (Will Update)

Module 2 Weblog #3 (A.Davidson)

Judgement at Stoney Creek (Google Books preview)

Stoney Creek Woman: The Story of Mary John (Google Books preview)

Relevance & Description

I moved to my hometown of Vanderhoof in the summer of 1977 just as the criminal case that this first book, Judgement at Stoney Creek,  was shedding a national spotlight on the town and exposing the brutal racism that was a reality there. As an 8 year old I was unaware of all of the criminal proceedings and ‘news’ and only discovered this issue when I read the book in University, in the early 1990’s,  far from my hometown. Of course I recognized the stereotypes and racism that were at the heart of this chronicling as I had observed and lived with them in the intervening years.

The second book, Stoney Creek Woman: The Story of Mary John, tells the story of a powerful community advocate who was integral in preserving her communities language, traditions, and serving as a role model for many. I remember Mary working in my elementary school and sharing her culture with all of us following the tragedy recalled in the first book mentioned here.

I include these here because, although there are still many issues facing the people of Sail’uz First Nation (formerly Stoney Creek), there has been much positive change in the past 30 years. Technology is one way that they like others First Nations groups are engaging in cultural preservation. As well, these stories expose a different stereotyped image of First Nations than the ‘primitivist perplex’ Prins speaks of that is present in media worlds. I think technology and media can help to move past these damaging stereotypes.

Module 2 Weblog #2 (A. Davidson)

The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative

This is a link to the set of 2003 Massey Lectures delivered by Tom King and broadcast on the CBC radio program ‘Ideas.’ I have listened to this lecture series twice and would highly recommend them to everyone in ETEC 521.

“…Thomas King looks at the breadth and depth of Native experience and imagination. Beginning with Native oral stories, King weaves his way through literature and history, religion and politics, popular culture and social protest, in an effort to make sense of North America’s relationship with its Aboriginal peoples.”

In this lecture series King explores and touches on some of the themes we are exploring in this module, including mythic/primitive imagery and self-representation. Unfortunately this lecture series is not available through CBC as a free podcast. You can purchase the text or audio versions through Ideas Transcripts or from  House of Anansi Press. and listen to a free clip from their website.

Other publications and work by Thomas King include:

Module 2 Weblog #1 (A.Davidson)

Website of Dr. Brian Dippie – UVIC

This is the home page of Dr. Dippie, faculty in the Department of History at the University of Victoria. Areas of research interest, related to technology and aboriginal  self-representation, include:

  • The Mythic West
  • History and Art
  • Racial Stereotyping in the American West

Listed on this homepage are citations for a number of publications that might be of interest for someone who would like to explore further image and identity in of aboriginal people in American art:

“‘Now or Never Is the Time’: Anthropology, Government Policy and the Concept of the Vanishing Indian,” Hemispheric Perspectives on the United States: Papers from the New World Conference (Greenwood Press, 1978) .

The Vanishing American: White Attitudes and U.S. Indian Policy (Wesleyan University Press, 1982; reprinted, University Press of Kansas, 1991) .

“Representing the Other: The North American Indian,” Anthropology and Photography, 1860-1920, ed. Elizabeth Edwards (Yale University Press/Royal Anthropological Institute, 1992)

“Photographic Allegories and Indian Destiny,” Readings in Aboriginal Studies, vol. 4: Images of the Indian, ed. Joe Sawchuck (Bearpaw Publishing, Brandon University, 1995)

“What Valor Is”: Artists and the Mythic Moment,” Legacy: New Perspectives on the Battle of the Little Bighorn, ed. Charles Rankin (Montan Historical Society Press, 1996)

Module 1, Weblog #5 (A. Davidson)

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:

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

Module 1 Weblog #4 (Al. Davidson)

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

Module 1 Weblog #3 (Al. Davidson)

First Voices

Description and Relevance

This interactive website is developed by the First Peoples’ Cultural Foundation and supported by the New Relationship Trust, TELUS, the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Government of British Columbia. I navigated to this site from the First Nations Technolgy Council Website in my exploration of Language and Technology.

The stated purpose of this site is to “support Aboriginal People engaged in language archiving. language teaching and culture revitalization.”

Features and Links

There are a number of interactive tools that facilitate learning activities. An interactive map connects to a number of language groups across Canada (currently most participating communities are in BC) where learners can then access a variety of interactive tools including:

  • language games
  • audio players
  • alphabets
  • slideshows
  • video clips

Address: http://www.firstvoices.com/

Module 1 Weblog #2 (Al Davidson)

First Nations Technology Council

Description & Relevance

This site outlines the Mission, Mandate, Goals and the organizational  structure  of the  British Columbia First Nations Technology Council. The relevance of this organization and supporting partnerships to our focus in Module 1 of ETEC 521 is significant, pasrticularly when considering the mission “supporting the full integration of technologies to improve the quality of life for l First Nations in BC,” progressive goals, and support for technology integration which highlight the values of the First Nations Technology Council. In the first module we are asking ‘big questions’ about the paradoxes between indigeneity and technology. When exploring the ambitious and benevolent efforts of this council it seems as if the potential negatives and consequences of technology integration into first nations communities are not at issue. Regardless, the site itself is excellent and contains many links to partners and associated sites that explore the use of and connections between First Nations, technlogy, and education.

Links and Features

There are too many links to list but here are some that have strong connections to our course of study

  •  From the Community Applications page is a link to a documentary titled “Cedar and Silicon” which explores the process of bringing technology to a First Nations community.
  • The Youth Cafe page links to a number of related sites as well as a Film Festival in part supported by the First Nations Technology Council.[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsYbvXZerTY&feature=channel_page[/youtube]

Address: http://www.fntc.info/

Module 1 Weblog # 1 (Al Davidson)

TSUUT’INA LANGUAGE

Description and Relevance

This site has been created by members of the Tsuut’ina First Nation to help preserve and protect a language that is considered to be an “extinct language”

Having a small number of Tsuut’ina students in our school prompted me to revisit this site during Module 1 discussions. It provides an exemplar for First Nations cultures attempting to use modern technology to bridge cultural divides and preserve language. This also provides food for thought when considered against the position of Howe, Craig, “Cyberspace is No Place for Tribalism,” Wicazo Sa Review (Fall, 1998), 19-27.

Links and Features

  • This site includes a downloadable keyboard for Tsuut’ina characters as well as audio and video lessons.
  • Links from this page are to other categories on the Tssut’ina main site including other relevant cultural and historical information that is being preserved through the use of technology.

Address: http://www.tsuutina.ca/page.aspx?pageID=5-1

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