Category — Module 2

“Aboriginals” is the term commonly applied in reference to the indigenous peoples of Taiwan. Although Taiwanese indigenous groups hold a variety of creation stories, recent research suggests their ancestors may have been living on the islands for approximately 8,000 years before major Han Chinese immigration began in the 17th century. What I find interesting is that Aboriginals are only now being recognized as an important part of history on Taiwan.

Much of 20th century history in the “modern world” has been focused on Taiwan-controlled by the Chinese and Japanese governments; yet, indigenous peoples have been subjugated for the most part. It is only now that Taiwanese aboriginal peoples’ are starting to recover their collective past and histories. The Digital Museum of Taiwanese Indigenous Peoples is an important digital online resource for not only Taiwanese, but all cultures throughout the world wanting to learn more about aboriginal peoples and indigenous histories.

This digital portal reveals the many different ethnic groups within the indigenous population in Taiwan, dispelling the cultural stereotypes that aboriginal peoples are a homogenous group.

Link http://www.dmtip.gov.tw/Eng/index.htm

Module 2’s focus on indigenous knowledge made me think about how indigenous knowledge and science differs from the conventional western approach that I had grown up learning here in North America. This website offers an interesting mix of resources, as it is a library collection of online text, video, audio, and image files of Indigenous science. In “Indigenous science,” it includes both knowledge about the “natural world and ways of teaching and learning about it.” The Digital Library of Indigenous Science Resources is produced by Indigenous persons or organizations, and approved for inclusion in the library collection by an elder or other Indigenous person with the expertise to assess the resource. That’s why I believe that this collection is an extremely important one as it helps dispel the cultural untruths about the “primitive” approach to science that is often reported in cultural stereotypes about Aboriginal peoples.

http://www.dlisr.org/search.html

This is a fascinating digital collection that integrates more than 2,300 photographs and 7,700 pages of text relating to the American Indians in two cultural areas of the Pacific Northwest, the Northwest Coast and Plateau. As a librarian who manages a digital collection in his line of work, I find that these resources as an outstanding way that illustrates many aspects of life and work, including housing, clothing, crafts, transportation, education, and employment — an interesting and useful way to dispel the many cultural misinterpretation and stereotypes of Aboriginal peoples’ histories, particularly between North American Aboriginal peoples on both sides of the borders. The materials are drawn from the extensive collections of the University of Washington Libraries, the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture (formerly the Cheney Cowles Museum/Eastern Washington State Historical Society), and the Museum of History and Industry in Seattle.

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/pacific/

The most recent grade eleven program of study created for social studies in Alberta deals with the concept of nationalism. Like other high school level social studies courses, the new curriculum includes a much greater focus on First Nations issues than what had been included in the past.

Quoting from the program of studies:
“Students will . . . evaluate the importance of reconciling contending nationalist loyalties (Canadian nationalism, First Nations and Métis nationalism, ethnic nationalism in Canada, civic nationalism in Canada, Québécois nationalism, Inuit perspectives on nationalism)”
http://education.alberta.ca/media/774373/soc20.pdf

A great resource that I have found is the movie Kiviaq vs. Canada. The film is a documentary from filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk. The subject of the film, Kiviaq is an Inuit man who was moved to Edmonton as a boy. He discusses his life and in the process gives great insight into the concept of nationalist loyalty, marginalization, and assimilation. Kiviaq was given the name David Ward by his father, and grew up boxing, playing football (ironically for a period for the Edmonton Eskimos), and working as an alderman and radio host. Later in life, he went back to school and became a lawyer. The film also examines his legal battles to be recognized by his Inuit name, and the challenges to have the Inuit receive similar funding as other First Nations people in Canada. The McGraw-Hill Ryerson textbooks for Social Studies 20-1 and 20-2 each have a short section dedicated to the story.

In the context of ETEC 521, the film is a great example of Aboriginal film makers using the media to illuminate an issue. This is not presented as a movie about Inuit issues. The issues become clear through an examination of the subject, Kiviaq.

http://www.isuma.tv/hi/en/isuma-productions/kiviaq-vs-canada

The link (http://www.cpac.ca/forms/index.asp?s=our+home+and+native+land&x=0&y=0&dsp=template&act=view3&pagetype=vod&lang=e) is to a series of documentaries that aired on CPAC a couple of years ago. The programs take a look at different reserves across the country. It’s interesting to see the contrast between the different communities.