Wade Davis on Endangered Cultures

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My first weblog posting of Module 1 was a TedTalk and I will continue in a similar fashion for Module 2 in our discussions of indigeneity and stereotyping.

“Remote lands of indigenous peoples are not remote at all. They are homelands of somebody.” In his discussion on Endangered Cultures, Wade Davis covers a lot of ground – from language to landscapes, traditional knowledge holders and indigenous peoples who face unknown modernity. He talks Voodoo, not a black magic cult (that’s a stereotype,) but complex metaphysical worldview. He talks of rites of priesthood of the Kogi, which include a strict 18-year inculturation into the values of their society. He discusses the level of indigenous intuition and relation to landscapes in comparison with the emotional disconnect evident in a contemporary resource-based economy. He talks of Indigenous people that say plants “talk” to them and the impossibility of dissect their explanation of plant taxonomy from a scholarly standpoint.

Davis notes that even those who are aware of the endangered nature of many indigenous cultures still view these cultures as quaint and colorful, however reduced from the live-a-day world of western society. He argues that it is not technology or the change technology brings that threatens indigenous societies, it is an overpowering domination to mimic Westernized notions of how technology should be used, and how change should proceed, that is the root of the threat.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bL7vK0pOvKI[/youtube]

“Grey Owl” A Man Ahead of His Time

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Archibald Belaney also known as Grey Owl, came to Canada from England in 1906 and later took on the identity of a ”Metis” with the Indigenous name: Wa-sha-quon-asin and English name Grey Owl. He lived his life with his assumed English name Grey Owl and in the years 1925 until his death in 1938, promoted new ideas of environmentalism and nature conservation. Grey Owl lived briefly at Riding Mountain National Park and then moved to Ajawaan Lake in Prince Albert National Park in Saskatchewan where the Canadian Parks Service gave him a cabin and made him Honorary Warden responsible for protecting beaver.

The Canadian Parks service made a silent film about his conservation efforts to protect the Beaver called Beaver Family. Grey Owl also published many articles and books throughout the 1930’s. He toured heavily in the mid 1930’s throughout Canada and England promoting his books and his “rare for the times” ideas about conservation. Some have said that his work on conservation and protecting the beaver changed how Canada viewed wilderness and helped create a legacy of environmental awareness and protection for Canada’s forests and wildlife.

Grey Owl was found unconscious in his cabin on Ajawaan Lake in April 1938, but later died of Pneumonia in a hospital in Prince Albert. His diminished health was brought on through his exhausting tour schedule and alcoholism. On the day of his death, the North Bay Nugget newspaper ran an expose that they had been holding for three years of his true story. At that time and for many years after word, his revealed betrayal was a shock that tarnished his name and to some extent, the grounds he had made on environmental protection.

The Movie “Grey Owl” by Richard Attenborough and staring Pierce Bronson was released in 1999 about his life in Canada. It received mixed reviews and was not released in the United States. The following YouTube clip from the movie called “Grey Owl” A Man Ahead of His Time, sums up his achievements.

I had the opportunity in 1998 to spend 4 days with my family walking along the shores of Kingsmere Lake and finally to Ajawaan Lake through the beautiful boreal forests of central Saskatchewan to visit Grey Owl’s cabin and to learn about his work. Prince Albert is a wonderful park and thanks to Archie Belaney and his fascination of the North American Indian at the turn of the 20th century in England, it and many other parks in Canada are preserved for all to enjoy.

Empowering Education

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In Aboriginal Education in Rural Australia: A case study in frustration and hope, Anne Katrin Eckerman chronicles the successes and challenges of developing a positive education environment for Aboriginal students and families in rural Australia.  Again the systemic abuse of imparted by the forces of colonialization have wreaked havoc with communities, families and even each individual’s sense of self-worth.  The article outlines some of the steps that have been taken to try and empower the community and develop a sense of ownership by giving people control over their lives and their education.  I think it’s true in many Canadian schools that First Nations students feel completely disenfranchised.  This article will likely make a huge contribution to my understanding of the trauma and challenges that have to be overcome to rebuild communities and students sense of self-esteem and give them the opportunity to determine their own futures. 

Eckerman, Anne-Katrin. (1999)  Aboriginal Education in Rural Australia:  A case study in frustration and hope.  Australian Journal of Education.

Intergenerational Connections

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http://www.evalu8.org/staticpage?page=review&siteid=6480

During the discussions we were reminded of the work of Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Mate that point out the challenges that parents are having connecting with their children.  They attribute this to a general lack of intergenerational exchange in society.  Alana Mitchel’s article in the Globe & Mail (2004)  offers an overview of their findings.  This lack of connectedness is significant to all families but even moreso to First Nations families or even to families of African Americans.  These are families that have been torn apart and uprooted and systemically denied basic human rights over the past few centuries.  Trying to rebuild those connections is an enormous challenge.  When we are planning to introduce technology into the classroom are we ensuring that there are inter-generational opportunities?  While I’m exploring using technology with young children in our schools, I’ll need to see how much of it is peer-to-peer and how much other generations are involved.

Weblogs & Research interest – 21st century urban Aboriginal youth

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Canadian Aboriginal groups are experiencing rapid demographic change.  Presently, approximately 60% of Canada’s Native People reside in urban settings, and 60% of the overall Aboriginal population is under the age of 25 (UNYA, 2011).

These demographic trends pose a distinct opportunity and challenge.  Aboriginal youth are in a unique position to steer future directions in cultural preservation and development.  My research interest is to determine how urban Native youths, particularly those who reside in Metropolitan Vancouver, have responded to life in a city setting, and to see if this provides any insights as to how Aboriginal identity will evolve in a 21st century landscape that is characterized by rapid technological change.

Specifically, my weblogs focus on the following questions:

  • What currently shapes Aboriginal identity?  Is Native identity still rooted in references to geography, linguistics, and colonialism or has the notion of identity evolved?
  • How are urban Native youths responding to the challenge of defining themselves and being authentic in the realm of two sometimes competing cultures?
  • There is now great socioeconomic and cultural diversity in Native communities. Has there been accommodation for this growing heterogeneity in programming for urban Aboriginal youth?  Are urban Native youth still being treated as a problem?
  • Are Aboriginal educational efforts effective in helping Native youth to preserve cultural knowledge and build a sense of identity?  Is technology helping or hindering this process?

Urban Native Youth Association. (2011).  A brief history of UNYA.  Retrieved from  http://www.unya.bc.ca/about-us

Indiginous Commodification (Allen Module 1 #3)

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Olympic Mascots

Readings in Module 1 warned us of the possible negative effects that the Internet might have relating to the commoditization and commercial exploitation of indigenous artifacts, values, and imagery. I did some searches on the “indigenous commoditization” and found an interesting article about the Vancouver Winter Olympics, and our attempts to promote “Canadian” culture and soften history.

The author (Adam Gaudry) questions our own human rights record in relation to how certain land acquisitions for the venues took place and then writes of the exploitation and commercialization of mascots and softening of folklore related to them in order “westernize” historical events.

Visit the On-line article

It seems the Olympics are a good example of how  organizations can trade mark and restrict the use of imagery, slogans and even words. Didn’t Donald Trump even try to trade mark the phrase “your fired”?

Documentary: Reel Injun (2011)

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I recently watched an incredible documentary by Cree film maker Neil Diamond, called Reel Injun. The documentary includes extensive footage from Hollywood films depicting Aboriginal people over the past 100 years. There is excellent commentary from Native and Non-native: actors, elders, producers, and activists all discussion how the impact of the Hollywood depiction of the “Injun” has influenced how the world views Aboriginal peoples. The cinematography is often stunning and commentary is very enlightening. I highly recommend it! It was the most educational 88 minutes I have spent in a long time!

UCNM – Kenanow Learning Model for Teachers-In-Training

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There has been much discussion over the past week about the need for Education programs to be offering aboriginal-specific awareness training.
University College of the North in Manitoba has recently developed and graduated its first group of teachers based on the Kenanow Learning Model, developed by the Elders of Northern Manitoba. The model focuses on: identity, a place of belonging, community history, responsibility of the family and larger community to hand down knowledge in a broader context. This model offers a collaborative model, bridging the successful components of western education with traditional Cree education practices.

First Nations Pedagogy site

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http://firstnationspedagogy.ca/

This site offers an extensive resource for Aboriginal education. Created by two university students, the site provides “best practices and support for online learning initiatives that are intended for aboriginal students, elders, educators, curriculum developers, and educational leaders.”
The site also offers an extensive list of articles relating to Aboriginal Education under “documents” and by clicking on the “sitemap” link you will see a breakdown of pedagogical topics from culture to literacy to storytelling. There are resource links for: multimedia, learning objectives, and so much more.
Great Resource!

Deb: History of Residential Schools in Canada

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I didn’t know what research topic I should work on until when I posted up the last posting for Module 1. Most of my postings focused on First Nations students and their education. For my weblog, I would like to pay my attention to Aboriginal schooling and its history, especially on residential schools in Canada.

Then, I started my research on the history of residential schools in Canada and discovered that CBC News has a story archive regarding Canada’s residential schools. One of the articles also ask and answer the following questions:

  • What is a residential school?
  • How many residential schools and students were there?
  • What went wrong?
  • When did the calls for victim compensation begin?
  • Under the federal compensation package, what will former students receive?
  • What will happen in those cases of alleged sexual and serious physical abuse?
  • Is there more to the package than compensating the victims?
  • Who else has apologized for the abuse?

Adding to these questions, I would like to research on “Why did residential schooling begin?”.

These residential schools remind me of the group of young Korean women taken to Japanese rape camps during World War II. Therefore, in addition to the history of residential schools in Canada, I would like to do some research on the “comfort women” and explain how these two histories are similar in terms of colonialism and indigeneity.