Module #2, Post #5
This site is about the Sto:lo Nation Shxweli Language Program. It has information about the Halkomelem language, their vision to ensure the future of the language, learning materials for the language, and a history of the program itself.
Are ghettos profitable? If so, is the ghetto what we have to look forward to in Canadian living spaces? With the colonially motivated systematic destruction of First Nations way of life and culture, isn’t it possible that the same model is being used to convert non believers of neo-liberal economic policy? Honestly I don’t think so, as if we were all living hand to mouth, there won’t be any profit to be had, but the reason I posed the considerably drastic question is simply to wonder aloud what the future holds for those of us unwilling to convert to a neo-liberal economic system since they seem to be following a very similar plan to their colonial ancestors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism
Because the Neoliberalism process tends to decimate the middle class due to the reduction in blue collar/union jobs and seeks to privatize public assets and jobs, which in turn reduce purchasing power in the general public, I find it interesting and hard to believe that most who subscribe to privatisation believe that it is better for the economy in the long run. Similar to the decision to place First Nations people on reserves, I suspect it is entirely self serving.
http://www.mcgilldaily.com/2013/02/gap-between-rich-and-poor-widens/
According to the 2011 census, less than one in four first nations people currently live on Canadian reserves, but this wasn’t always the case and most that leave are moving due to the problems inherent in poverty stricken areas. Unfortunately, a lot of these problems have become synonymous with reserves in Canada. Issues such as “corruption, incompetent leadership and nepotism, too many residents permanently scarred by addictions, fetal alcohol syndrome, dependence on government, under-education and unemployment” are rampant on reserves. So why is this allowed to continue?
The system of reserves in Canada is extensive. The following is a resource that shows all the different reserves in existence in Canada today.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indian_reserves_in_Canada_by_population
This U.S. based author proposes that disparity between the rich and the poor is necessary for a successful society, and if he believes that the poor use the rich as models to better their personal economic situation, is it possible that reduction of ghetto space isn’t a prioritized social policy because it increases the overall bottom line? It doesn’t seem to make logical sense until you consider the relationships between power/politics and money.
http://www.stlouisfed.org/publications/itv/articles/?id=1920
Module #2, Post #4
http://www.native-languages.org/halkomelem.htm
This site is specifically about the Halkomelem Language as well. It is a site that leads to many other links and resources about the language and people. It contains a sections on the language, Stolo tribe culture and history, cowichan tribe culture and history, and Halkomelem Legends. Under the language section there are numerous outside links about learning the language from pronunciation and spelling, to dialect differences and orthography.
Some of the outside resources that the site provides are to encyclopedia articles about the language, news articles about the Sto:lo language in the classroom, and many others.
This site is valuable for those interested in learning the language and about the culture of the people who speak it.
Module #2, Post #3
http://www.firstvoices.com/en/Halqemeylem/words
I found this site when looking for examples of the Halkomelem language. The main site is hosted by First Voices which is a language archive celebrating world Indigenous cultures. The neat part about this site is that you can click on the word and hear it as well as see the English translation. I think that this site could be a nice starting point for people interested in learning the language. Learning the language is part of learning and preserving the culture.
This site provides links to traditional songs, stories, phrases, and games.
Module #2, Post #2
http://bwyse.ca/www.bwyse.ca/HOME.html
This site is hosted by Canadian Salish Aboriginal Language Artist: B. Wyse. Although the site seems non-educational at first, her navigation bar leads to an education link that features videos of the Halkomelem language of the Coast Salish people which has been on the brink of extinction.
Her site also includes links to other sites such as:
I found B. Wyse’s site useful because of the education section about the Halkomelem language. I found the videos quite interesting. It was inspiring to hear the Halkomelem language from fluent speakers and hear what they had to say about how if there is no interest in learning the language than their life would have no meaning. Through art, B. Wyse is trying to share and inspire people to learn the language. At the beginning of the first video, there was a quote saying “the language encapsulates the knowledge of culture… the spirit… the environment.” I think that this statement is very true and gives reason to why dying languages of Canada’s indigenous cultures need to be revitalized – to preserve the culture!
The internet, it’s very basic level is about information and I think that although it has become an extremely important tool for accountability, it is also somewhat of a double edged sword. What I mean by this is that the sharing of information certainly helps to raise awareness about issues, but it can also lead to severe apathy and information overload. As a result, it has created a new movement of slacktivism, where people think that they can change things by clicking the “like” or “share” button on a facebook link.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slacktivism
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-05/4/unicef-slacktivism
That’s not to say that all the sharing of information taking place doesn’t lead to activism against injustice, as there have been many benefits to the residual quality of the information found on the internet. Nowhere else is the metaphor of the double edged sword more apparent than during a comparison between the The Arab spring and occupy Wall St. movements. They are possibly the most dramatic events of public dissent, (and in some cases outright rebellion), in recent memory with the Arab spring actually affecting serious social change. What most people don’t realize is that the roots of these events have roots in the same issue, corporate and government collusion to create an exploitive situation that is a detriment to the general public. Noam Chomsky speaks about the Arab spring and the motivation behind it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8GZhtwgVKk
On the other side of the coin, Occupy Wall street started in the streets of the New York Financial district on September 17th, 2011 as a non violent reaction towards the problems in the system that had created and precipitated the 2008 financial crisis.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_Wall_Street
The reason in my opinion that Occupy Wall St. failed in the Western world was because of two reasons. First they failed to participate or operate in the same arena as the corporate power they were attempting to disrupt and overthrow, (the judiciary system). The second is that their passive approach modelled on the teachings of peaceful protest (that were successfully used by Gandhi to implement change in India) combined with the lack of a rallying issue or point possibly also worked against them as well as it allowed them to be labelled as over-entitled and lazy, thus reducing support in the general public.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi
Most recently the Idle No More movement, which began in December 2012 as a reaction against the omnibus bill c-45, and more specifically the overhaul of the Navigable Waters Protection Act (NWPA) of 1882. It’s possible that the Idle No More movement will suffer from the same lack of a rallying cry as Occupy Wall Street as although the movement started as a reaction to the bill, it’s mantra has since evolved into a concern for ” Indigenous Sovereignty to protect water, air, land and all creation for future generations”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More
I think if the three movements has taught us anything, it’s that if you are going to refuse to operate within the judiciary system as all three have, than the movement has to be kinetic, passionate with people actively working in the street and have clear direction and a rallying point for those not involved to empathize with.
Module 3 Post#2
I have jumped ahead with two of my module three posts as I have an extremely busy three weeks ahead of me.
I just received an email today from our Aboriginal Education teacher at our school letting us know that today is:
National Aboriginal Day, it is a day recognizing and celebrating the cultures and contributions of the First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples of Canada.
I Googled this to learn more about National Aboriginal Day and found the below link very informative:
http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/canada/national-aboriginal-day
I also learnt that National Aboriginal Day is a paid holiday for employees in the Northwest Territories, except those in the Northwest Territories Teachers’ Association (NWTTA).
Regards,
Greg Campbell
Module #2 Post #5
Today, it is common for young people to be mobile, moving for work opportunities, post-secondary education, and world travel. With the introduction of ICT the world has simply gotten smaller.
“Most post-secondary education and employment opportunities exist outside aboriginal communities, and as a result, younger generations have become increasingly mobile and more removed from the communities that are traditionally the nurturing places for Aboriginal culture.” (Nickerson, Marcia. 2005. pp. 3).
Building on my 4th post, I wanted to look at an article that had an optimistic sentiment regarding the role of ICT within Aboriginal culture and the reality of moving into contemporary times. Aboriginal Culture in the Digital Age makes one thing very clear, as we move into the digital age, awareness is key to mitigating cultural threats posed by ICT. I have broken down and summarized the threats and opportunities that Nickerson outlines for preserving and transferring Aboriginal culture in the digital age:
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Challenges of ICT |
Opportunities of ICT |
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Nickelson provides a successful model for cultural integration into ICT for learning (*I do have an issue with the word integration, for me it is synonymous with assimilation. I believe that we should look at this scenario as approaching learning and ICT’s from a different perspective where ICT is molded to fit into Aboriginal culture and needs, rather than the other way around). Anyway…. Sunchild eLearning Community (www.sccyber.net) focuses on specific learning needs of Aboriginal people and incorporates them into the program, which has attributed to high success rates for learners. Learning needs include First Nations’ sense of time, relationships, personal and family factors. In addition, the program is available to students within a more flexible context, to address ACT access issues which are common and prevention of relocation requirements.
I wanted to provide the example of Buffy St. Marie, who has become a very visible Aboriginal activist, artist, musician etc. She appeared on Sesame St in 1975, where confronted the continued survival and existence of “Indians.” Buffy did guest spots on Sesame Street over a five year period, taking such risks as breast-feeding her son on air, discussing the reality and lives of Aboriginal people (simply as equals and perspectives on belief). I recommend you go to YouTube and type in “Buffy St. Marie, Sesame Street” to view the videos.
Resources:
Nickerson, Marcia. 2005.Aboriginal Culture in the Digital Age. Public Policy Forum. Politics, Policy and Governance. Vol. 10. Accessed via: http://www.ppforum.ca/sites/default/files/aboriginal_culture_in_digital_age.pd
Weblog #1
Combining the View of Both World in Inuktitut: Place Based Science Education in Qikiqtani (Brian Lewthwaite and Barbara McMillan, University of Manitoba)
The link below Canadian Council on Learning’s website and goes through the aboriginal projects they have funded. The project I have above his project was based in three Inuit communities in the Qikiqtani (Baffin Island) Region of Nunavut. The project involved the translation into Inuktitut of the science teaching resources currently being developed by researchers in collaboration with Inuit teachers that combine the views of both contemporary science and Inuit Qaujimajatuqangi. Many of the other projects were done in regards to language revitalization and place based learning for those who are interested in these topics for their final project.
http://www.ccl-cca.ca/ccl/Research/FundedResearch/project-funding-AboriginalLearning.html
Weblog #2
http://www.uvm.edu/place/community/pbe.php
These two websites discuss place based learning and education. I thought they fit in with the last week’s discussion about authenticity and “wannabees” as all through the week I have been thinking about whether adopting more indigenous principles like place based learning is a form of being a “wannabee”. Both of these sites are not run by indigenous groups or aboriginals. The first link discusses an author Richard Louv who has written several books one of which is titled “Last Child in the woods”.
Weblog #3
http://www.ecoliteracy.org/strategies/place-based-learning
This website also discusses place based learning and the importance of participating within their communities and their environment. Successful place based programs include the following:
Weblog #4
http://straightupnorth.ca/Sikuliriji/GH-ProjInfo_files/GH-Project-Summary.pdf
This link is to an abstract of a research project entitled “Connecting Inuit Elders and Youth: Learning about caribou, community, and well-being”. It was conducted between Carleton University, the Kitikmeot Inuit Association, and the community of Gjoa Haven, Nunavut between May 2011 and March 2014. The abstract discusses that “Inuit culture and language are thus inextricably tied to place, as stories of places and journeys were woven into the social and cultural fabric of Inuit life.” The purpose of the project was to explore the value of elder-youth land camps as a means of fostering inter-generational knowledge transfer and conceptualizing Inuit research methodologies.
Weblog #5
https://indspire.ca/programs/gathering-place/
This last weblog is to a website and a program called gathering place. The website states that Gathering Place is a clearinghouse of practices evaluated by seven principles created by consultation with national Indigenous scholars. The principles honour indigenous ways of knowing and values. There is a blog area, and you can also sign up for an account to have access to webinars.
Module #2 – Post #4
I have titled my blog Integration vs. Oppression for the mere reason that this week we talked about preservation of culture, right or wrong. And in this resource below, I question how integration is better than oppression. “Integrating” into your community seems to be ubiquitous with being part of community. I disagree. Here, in this article I have linked to, is a great example of how integration/assimilation = continued oppression.
Resource:
Perkel, Colin. June 18, 2013. Half of First Nations Kids Living in Poverty. Toronto Star. Access via: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/06/18/half_of_first_nations_kids_living_in_poverty_new_study_finds.html
I have been keeping my eye on the media lately, particularly in regards to articles related to Aboriginal issues (land claims, social justice, socio-economic development, leadership etc.) in an attempt to be more critical about some of the themes from ETEC 521. Themes including perspectives and interpretations of culture, stereotypes, technology and artifacts as they are used for cultural preservation (or not) etc.
Today, in the Toronto Star, an article titled Half of First Nations Kids Living in Poverty; statistics originate from a national census pointing to Aboriginal, Metis, Inuit, non-status Indian and children from visible minorities and immigrant families as having such grim fates as well.
What I would like to ask all students in this course to do, is go to your favorite News Paper Website (or print copy if you wish) and review an article that has something to do with humanity, war, violence or poverty; how is it that these stories from around the globe pull on our heart strings and make us say things like “how could this be happening, how do people let this happen?” When in fact, we are letting it happen in our own backyard.
I try to think about the many ways that technology can be used for the benefit of people experiencing such oppression and cyclical struggles, but it is such a complex problem that is systemic and aggressive. The remote nature of many Aboriginal communities makes me wonder whether web-based employment opportunities are a great idea, or even online education – but I keep coming back to the outcome that it really takes away from the livelihood that so many Aboriginal people come from, living on the land, making their food, homes, clothing, tools and experiential learning there which must be passed down to children for preservation and identity.