Category Archives: Module 3

Interior Salish: Revitalizing Endagered languages

As a break from searching through papers on Google Scholar, I decided to check out Youtube to see if I could come across any videos on indigenous language revitalization in British Columbia. The following video presents groups of First Nation people from Salish Interior Nations who have come together to discuss revitalizing their native languages:

http://youtu.be/u9IqljCpkpw

What I learned from this video was that there are 8 Salish Interior Languages which are located in Oregon, Idaho, Washington, Montana and British Columbia. They are:

1. Shuswap

2. Coeur d’Helene

3. Lillooet

4. Thompson River

5. Lakes

6. Columbia Moses

7. Okanagan

8. Flathead

Some important notes that I took from this video were:

The Salish can better serve their community by creating more speakers and retaining and supporting teachers.
The aim is to create an Immersion school where community members try to stay with the language all day.
In a “white man’s” world, you need to go to school (it’s the law – “it’s their law”). However, Indians can go through their whole life talking Indian and learning about everything and the mountains etc.
The key is for community members to learn the importance of the way of life so that their children can live this way.
One of the biggest struggles now is that the only way for language education is the “formal” way, not informal (meaning they need to come to school to learn their language – most elders live in rural, hard to reach places which makes passing on the language to the younger generations much more challenging).
The younger children learn much quicker because they are like “little sponges”. Also, using the communicative approach in the classroom works well and the people learn their language better if they are active in the classroom.

It is great to see that people are working together to create Immersion for the Salish languages. I know that they have a big task ahead of them since the English language is ever so dominant and always there to clash with the traditional languages. However, as long as everyone involved wants it to work, I believe that they can make it work.

Models of successful collaboration

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This article focuses on documenting indigenous languages and how important it is to have a successful collaboration of all parties involved. One major point that is mentioned in this article is that language projects are multilingual and intercultural in nature. Therefore, having a corporate management model organizing a project for example, could clash with the cultural practices of the participants. This would be similar to someone doing research on an indigenous community who is unaware of that communities’ way of life and special cultural traditions.

Many aspects of the entire process involved behind undertaking such a large project of documenting languages take into account some of the following:

Participants (community members, outside linguists, native speakers, leaders)
Roles (Mentors, administrators, archivists, tech people, native knowledge experts, sponsors)
Operations (Design, training, prioritization, management (personnel & equipment), distribution)
Possible Products (textbook, radio, T.V., newsletter, film, dictionary, data base, writing system, pedagogical materials, conference papers, visit to funders and visits to government officials)
Finance (funding agency)

When one thinks of doing research I believe that we often overlook how many people are involved and the enormous task it would be to coordinate and organize everyone. Allowing for the research to happen, or in this case, having the process of language documentation run smoothly, would take a lot of commitment on the part of the organizers and all people involved. Furthermore, I think back on some of the readings we have done and how the way indigenous people deal with time management in comparison with the way westerners may deal with it. As (Ginsburg, 2003) mentioned, “what in the dominant culture is regarded as a normal production schedule under such circumstances (completing a video in under three weeks) – twelve hours a day – was not appropriate to the pace of life a Yuendumu, Australia”, which created considerable tension during filming. Therefore, when organizing video projects for language documentation, organizers really need to take into consideration many things, especially how the different cultures can work in harmony together.

References

Dwyer, A. (2010). Models of Successful Collaboration. In N. Louanna Furbee and Lenore A.

Grenoble, eds. Language Documentation: Practice and Values. Amsterdam: Benjamins:193

–212. Post print.

Ginsburg, F. (2002). Screen Memories. Resignifying the Traditional in Indigenous Media.

In Media Worlds: Anthropology on a New Terrain. University of California Press

Stabilizing Indigenous languages

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I found the work of a collection of papers, summaries and articles pertaining to stabilizing indigenous languages. In 1994 and 1995, there were meetings held with participants of 21 states as well as Canada.

This meeting brought together many tribal educators and linguistics experts who discussed language renewal, and language teaching. One of the main goals was to lay out a blueprint of policy changes, along with community initiatives and educational reforms that would stabilize and revitalize Alaska Native languages as well as the rest of the indigenous languages spoken throughout the United States and Canada.

Some of the main points that were pin pointed in the meetings were the following:

• “the lack of opportunity to practice native languages at home”

• “the parents’ lack of proficiency in the native language”

• “the teachers’ criticism of those who speak the home language in

school”

• “the tendency to correct novice learners whenever they make a mistake”

• “the likelihood of put-downs by non-speakers of the home language”

• “the perception that English is a better vehicle for economic success”

• “the teaching of isolated vocabulary items instead of communicative

skills”

This list is a great indication of the problems and challenges that are facing indigenous communities and how they need to work to save their languages. There are many great points here that will help me with my final paper which support stabilizing and revitalizing endangered languages.

References

Cantoni, G. (2007). Stabilizing Indigenous languages. A Center for Excellence in Education

Monograph, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Revised Edition.

Wade Davis: Dreams from endangered cultures

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Module #3, Post #4

http://www.ted.com/talks/wade_davis_on_endangered_cultures.html

I was going through some TED talks when I came across this particular one about the diversity of the world’s indigenous cultures and how they are rapidly disappearing. I found this video to be exceptionally positive and interesting. Wade Davis not only gave an inspiring speech about the endangered cultures of the world, but provide snippets of information to provoke curiosity and hopefully acceptance of other cultures.

He also talked about how when we were born there were over 6000 languages spoken in the world and that only half exist today. He spoke about language as being a crucial part of a culture. He said that “language is not just a body of vocabulary or a set of grammatical rules. A language is a flash of the human spirit. It’s a vehicle through which the soul of each particular culture that comes into the material world. Every language is an old growth forest of the mind…”

In his speech, he also referred to ethnocide… a word I had never heard of before, but understand completely and believe to be sad. One part that really stuck out for me was the fact that he said that change and technology do not threaten a culture; it’s the political power of those that want a monolithic culture as opposed to a pluralistic one.

He states that story telling can change the world and I truly believe that if we continue to tell the stories of our elders, then these endangered cultures will survive.

He concludes his speech by stating that the world deserves to exist in a diverse way and that all the wisdom of all people can contribute to the well-being of the human race. I think that this TED talk can definitely contribute to research on Indigenous knowledge, media, and community reality.

This TED talk led to two others that I thought might be of interest as well:

http://www.ted.com/talks/wade_davis_on_the_worldwide_web_of_belief_and_ritual.html

http://www.ted.com/talks/phil_borges_on_endangered_cultures.html

Module 3: Youth Have the Power

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Youth Have the Power

I actually found this site through one of the others I have posted in my weblog research, and I am excited to share it. This site is a collection of youth-directed You Tube videos created by First Nations students from around British Columbia. The videos relate to staying healthy physically and sexually through knowledge, discussion and prevention. This type of student action reminds me of the videos we watched last week in which youth themselves take the reigns and create mini documentaries related to their experiences. Here is an excerpt:

“Star In Your Own Stories is an ongoing video workshop project transforming First Nations high school students into filmmakers and sexual health campaigners. So far, youth have made the films By My Name, Strong Path, Step Up and Stand True. The project has also produced a fun, animated short on STI testing called Don’t Stress the Tests!”

It’s very powerful for any students to take an active role in their advocacy, and this is powerful evidence of this learning.

Module 3: Saskatchewan Prevention Institute

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Saskatchewan Prevention Institute

This site is a wealth of information related to maintaining healthy children through practical education. One of our topics lately has related to parental involvement in holistic education of First Nations children, and this site supports many facets of this education. There are tabs that provide support for parents about how to educate their children on topics such as:

Sexual health
Alcohol and other substance
Prevention of injury
Reproductive health
Being a young parent
Mental health

Interestingly, there is also a tab called ‘First Nations Traditional Teachings’ where an overview is provided of core cultural values; here is an excerpt:

“Traditional knowledge is information that is passed down from generation-to-generation, often by Elders and healers, and often shared through storytelling. Historically, First Nations people had protocols, customary laws and social conventions that were negatively overshadowed or forgotten with European contact and more recently with the experiences people had in residential schools. However, many First Nations people feel that it is time to reclaim the traditional cultural values to help prepare young people to make healthy life choices, including their sexuality and reproductive health.”

At the bottom of the page, there is also an overview provided of a DVD called ‘Traditional Teachings: A Journey from Young Child to Young Adult’, along with a series of helpful clips that support many of the main topics from the site, and that relate to topics that have surfaced lately in some of our discussions. I find this particular resource to be quite interesting because it is a way for Elders and parents to educate their children using a modern medium that embeds storytelling and traditional values.

Module 3: ‘Engaging First Nations Parents in Education: An Examination of Best Practices’

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‘Engaging First Nations Parents in Education: An Examination of Best Practices’

The interview between Dr, Marker and Heather was very interesting because it caused me to really think for the first time about how the skill of parenting, and the notion of pastoral care within families, was impacted by the removal of children into residential schools. I knew aspects of this history, but, as I’ve said in posts lately, I did not make a firm connection between these two events. I find this resource from Chiefs of Ontario.org to be an interesting address of this issue, and it overviews some policy documents that shows how parental engagement in First Nations education developed. Here is an excerpt from the paper by Lise Chabot:

“Parental involvement in education is not a concept that is distinct to First Nations people in North America nor is it a struggle that only First Nations people embark upon. What distinguishes the First Nations situation from others is the culture, languages and world view that they bring to the equation – none of which exist anywhere else in the world – and the number of stakeholders – Departments, Ministries, School Boards – that must be cajoled to realize First Nations‟ goals. These groups have posed and will continue to pose the biggest challenge to accomplishing a meaningful degree of parental and community involvement in First Nations education. At the same time, however, given the difficult realities these same groups are now encountering in the realm of education, they may also prove to be our greatest allies.”

I find this site to be useful because it shows an emergence in the movement to involve parents in various stages of education (early years, middle and high school). It is also informative about how the Ontario government has integrated parental involvement in First Nations education over time.

Indigenous Knowledge and Pedagogy, Mod 3 -Post 4

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Perhaps my first mistake was making the assumption that the word pedagogy could be used to describe indigenous knowledge. After reading Battiste’s (2002) Indigenous Knowledge and Pedagogy, First Nations Literature Review with Recommendations, it became extremely obvious that the idea of pedagogy and literature reviews are both extremely Eurocentric.

My hypothesis – which formed as result of working with FNMI students, learners, elders and communities over the last year- is that that the traditions, values and key features of indigenous knowledge appears to be what Eurocentric pedagogy is searching for. The way to learn is already out there.

So- I am not surprised that I will have to reconsider my wording, and vocabulary is order to compare and contrast the way we could learn.

Since I can already tell this topic is way too deep for me, I am going to create a project that introduces the common definitions of emerging/current European centric pedagogy, try to create a story about indigenous knowledge and then link current examples of how FNMI educators are integrating technology within these different frameworks.

Of course – this all developed out of my original question – how do we develop “value” for learning (give credit?) in alternative programs with FNMI youth? When you think about assessment – you have to ask yourself – what is the learning objective and how do we plan on getting there? That’s how my new project emerged.

The project outline is on a wiki and the framework looks like this:

Home Page – Indigenous Pedagogy

Page 1 – Constructivism – Inquiry Based Learning – google Hangout (and examples)

Page 2- Connectivism – MOOCs – open learning OER’s – open practice

Page 3 – Adventure Learning (and examples)

Page 4 – Place Based/ Experiential Learning

Page 5 – Chart comparing pedagogies – Summary – Need a collaboration and awareness of “emerging” and “traditional” pedagogies

Page 6 – Assessment options – Creating programs with alternative assessment practices and integrated technology based on indigenous pedagogy (Brief summary of indigenous assessment research)

Page 7- Examples of possible tech integrated programs based on “collaboration” of pedagogies

Metis Camp Blog example http://www.forwardlooking.ca/wp/

Sister School Exchange Alaska – http://youtu.be/aQZ_NU5g95M

Page 8 – Resources/References

Any thoughts, examples or links would be greatly appreciated.

Verena 🙂

MOBILE APPS AND INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE LEARNING

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I was searching through Google Scholar this morning and was pleased to find a very, recent Master’s paper (written in 2013) that was created by a graduate student, Winoka Rose Begay, at the University of Arizona. The theme of her paper is “NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN THE FIELD OF INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE REVITALIZATION”. Winoka focuses on mobile technology and how it can be used with indigenous communities. She discusses the language learning software that is available for learning indigenous languages. In addition, she examines online learning, technology-based language projects, language websites and virtual worlds.

It was interesting to see that there are also indigenous language immersion programs in the United States, similar to the Chief Atham school in Chase, B.C. Winoka also gives examples of communities such as the Navajo, who have community members under 40 years old who are either latent speakers of the language or who don’t speak Navajo at all. There is a fear amongst community members that teaching the language will only hinder the children’s academic performance.

This is an excellent reference for my final paper, since it goes along exactly with my theme of revitalizing native languages.

References

Begay, W. (2013). Mobile Apps and Indigenous language learning: New Developments in the Field

of Indigenous Language Revitalization. Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate

Interdisciplinary Program in American Indian Studies. Masters of Arts at the University of

Arizona.

Some books…

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Module 3, Post 4

I’ve found a couple of online e-books (accessible through the UBC library) that deal with photography and representation with an emphasis on Aboriginal people.

The first is titled Reservation X… from the brief glance I had it’s more about photography and art through contemporary Aboriginal eyes. Here’s a website that goes along with the book:

http://nmai.si.edu/exhibitions/reservation_x/intro.htm

The other book I found is Photography’s Other Histories. This one is a bit more broad in its intent, and the essays tend to focus more on social-activist issues in photography within a post-colonial framework. I’ll have to comb through the essays to see if there are any nuggets in there.

[update]

There are indeed some golden nuggets in the latter book. One fascinating essay is Poignant’s “The Making of Professional Savages”. What a tragic tale for those australian aboriginals, specially Tembo whose body was eventually displayed in a museum, and ended up in almost being forgotten in the basement of a funeral home. Who would’ve guessed the circus had such a strong influence on Native American objectification.

Pinney, C., & Poignant, R. (2003). The Making of Professional “Savages” From P.T. Barnum (1883) To the Sunday Times (1998). Photography’s other histories (pp. 55-84). Durham: Duke University Press.