Module 3 Post 2: Looking for Learning in all the Wrong Places, Tracy Friedel

Leave a reply

Friedel, T. (2011). Looking for learning in all the wrong places: Urban native youth’s cultured response to Western-oriented place-based learning. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education. 24(5). 531-546.

In this article, Tracy Friedel analyses the response on native youth to an outbound place-based learning experience, which is ment to reconnect them with their ancestral territories. The analysis takes place within the greater context of the youth striving to be both “Aboriginal” and “modern” at the same time, stereotypes of the “Ecological Indian,” Western interpretations of place-based learning and the responsibilities of Indigenous youth to “protect and preserve their traditional lands, resources and sacred sites upon which indigenous cultural heritage and identity is based.”

Friedel finds the youths’ response to be neither apathetic nor rebellious toward hegemonic power, but a subtle and complex cultured response based in orality, kinship and community.  Somewhat ironically, she describes the groups’ recognition of the most significant places to not be within nature, but in the van used to transport the youths between sites.

Additional concepts of note described in the article include: Indigenous youths’ sense of urgency in preserving their culture, particularly with respect to traditional languages; the false perception of Western ecological/environmental experiences as synonymous with place-based learning and identity;  and the focus of educational research aimed at improving Aboriginal graduation rates juxtaposed with the youths motivations for significant learning

Module 3 Post 1: Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language Among the Western Apache, Keith Basso.

Leave a reply

Basso, K. (1996).  Stalking with stories. In Wisdom sits in places: Landscape and language among the Western Apache. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press.

In this chapter of Wisdom Sits in Places, Basso exemplifies the reciprocal relationship of the Western Apache to their land is as it informs their moral being and self-image which then defines their relationship to the physical world, including the land.  To do this, Basso elucidates the meaning of a variety of phrases from Western Apache elders that, when interpreted from a Western perspective seem nonsensical.  However; Basso demonstrates that when taken in context of the Western Apache world view, which he also asserts is not dissimilar from many other Indigenous world views, these sayings not only make sense, but are deeply rooted in social and cultural belief.  In his approach, Basso recollects his teachings under Western Apache elder, Nick Thompson, over a number of summers.  In these recollections he describes the significance and subtleties of Indigenous place names, then connects stories to them–noting how Western Apache stories are always rooted in places, and all places have stories.  Finally he describes the four main genre of Western Apache stories (distinguished by their temporal locations) and explains how historical tales, short and direct, are used to guide members of their society on “what it is that being an Apache should normally and properly entail.” (p. 52)

Module 3 – Post #3 Ethnobiology

Leave a reply

On my search to discover more about ethnobiology, I decided to start with Wikipedia. Here is the Wikipedia site on ethnobiology.

To highlight a bit, we have “Ethnobiology is the scientific study of the way plants and animals are treated or used by different human cultures. It studies the dynamic relationships between peoples, biota, and environments, from the distant past to the immediate present.”

and:

“Traditional ecological knowledge: In order to live effectively in a given place, a people needs to understand the particulars of their environment, and many traditional societies have complex and subtle understandings of the places in which they live. Ethnobiologists seek to share in these understandings, subject to ethical concerns regarding intellectual property and cultural appropriation.”

Currently, there is more interest in ethonobiology. It “is a rapidly growing field of research, gaining professional, student, and public interest .. internationally.” Wikipedia just scrapes the surface for a description here so I will need to research more on ethnobiology.

Module 3 – Post #2

Leave a reply

Stó:lō Research and Resource Management Centre

http://www.srrmcentre.com/index.html

Through maintaining ties to the ties to local universities and consulting firms, this group of professionals works toward offering a range of professional and technical services. Some of these include: archives, educational tours, genealogy, GIS (Geographic Information Systems), lands Management, and so on.

Here are their principles of operation as derived from traditional Stó:lō  teachings:

  • Know your history
  • Xaxastexw te mekw’stam – ‘ Respect all things’
  • Tómiyeqw – ‘7 generations past and future’
  • Xólhmet et mekw’ stam s’i:wes te selsila:lh chet – ‘Take care of everything our great grandparents taught [showed] us
  • Haqles chexw xwelmi:ay staxwelh – ‘Remember the future generations’
  • Letsemot – ‘one mind’
  • Do what is right, according to Xexa:ls
  • Ma’mt lam te mekw wat – ‘Share with everyone’

The purpose of this group, among many things, is to preserve Stó:lō heritage. The website mentions upcoming Cultural Place Names Tours that are run by Sonny McHalsie. This tour is offered to select teachers throughout the school year and I missed out on this profession development tour this year due to a prior conflict. This website will be providing a lot of connections and directions to important people around the Fraser Valley area in which I will be basing my final paper on.

Language Revitalization and New Technologies

Leave a reply

This is an interesting article on how electronic mediation can help save endangered languages.  One example given was to use digital technology (which is inexpensive) to record the last remaining, competent speakers of a language, who otherwise would have failed when it comes to intergenerational transmission of competence in the language.

Some questions in the article that arise are:

  • How can electronic mediation help in the revitalization of endangered languages?
  • Are there limitations on specific technologies used?
  • Why do some communities face resistance when recording their languages (onto CD Roms for example)?
  • Are English language influences able to be avoided (for example in Radio Broadcasts)?
  • Will there be conflicts between the language “purists” and those who speak different dialects when it comes to creating official recordings?
  • How can one be sure that all stereotypes of a community are avoided as well as being careful not to represent the people as “unmodern” or “backwards” (when compared to western societies) during the process of documenting the language?
  • How can ethnic identity and cultural differences be portrayed truthfully without being adapted to the way that the producers “think” they should be portrayed?

It was interesting to notice that (Ginsburg, 2002) was referred to in this article.  I believe that the only way for indigenous people to have full control over their own language and identity when it comes to using technology, is for them to become their own producers and to control the technology 100%.  For example, the Aboriginal People’s Television Network (APTN) in Canada is controlled by indigenous people which has played a “revitalizing role for Inuit and First Nations people, as a self-conscious means of cultural perseveration” (Ginsburg, 2002).  In order to avoid any western bias  or stereotypical views, 100% control of all First Nation recordings, films or other, I believe is the only way to go.

References

Eisenlohr, P. (2004).  Language Revitalization and New Technologies. Cultures of Electronic

          Mediation and the Refiguring of Communities.  Annual Reviews Anthropology.

          doi:10.1146/annurev.anthro.33.070203.143900

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

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

Interior Salish: Revitalizing Endagered languages

Leave a reply

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

Leave a reply

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

Leave a reply

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

Leave a reply

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

Leave a reply

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.