Category — Module 3

The article “Guidelines for entry into an Aboriginal community” reminded me that people going from Canada to work in countries in the South might receive some cultural sensitivity training to work with indigenous people. For example, apart from private consultants, the Government of Canada (Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada) has a Centre for Intercultural Learning http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/cfsi-icse/cil-cai/index-eng.asp

But I wonder how often training is provided to non-Aboriginal people working with Aboriginal people in Canada? I know there has been “race relations training” in policing in Canada, but otherwise I haven’t been aware of any specific cultural sensitivity training that would include, never mind focus on, learning about Aboriginal culture.

An Internet search quickly led me to some consultants specializing in this. One was Aboriginal Cultural Awareness (ABA) http://www.aboriginalawareness.ca/default.php Its home page includes two short videos: one is Phil Fontaine’s endorsement of ABA; the other about historical misconceptions. ABA offers a training program with four modules: The Importance of Culture and Cultural Awareness, The Aboriginal Peoples of Canada, Canadian History from an Aboriginal Perspective, and Present and Future Challenges for Aboriginal People.

Another company is the Indigenous Corporate Training (ICT) Inc. at http://ictinc.ca/. Following the link to Testimonials gives one a view of the range of clients. They have included people from federal, provincial and local levels of government as well as numerous companies in the natural resource sector (Utility, Mining, Forest and Gas).

These seem to be reputable, successful companies. I wonder if such training programs make a significant difference in improving understanding and relationships? I guess I could find out – for $400 I could attend a one day ICT workshop “Working Effectively with Aboriginal Peoples™” in March in Toronto!!! But then, for considerably less, I could just take an online program, or order resources.

Kowalsky, Laura O., Verhoef, Maria J.; Thurston, Wilfreda E.; Rutherford, Gayle E. (1996). Guidelines for entry into an Aboriginal community in The Canadian Journal of Native Studies XVI, 2, 267-282. http://www2.brandonu.ca/library/cjns/16.2/kowalsky.pdf

Our very own guest speaker has posted a You Tube video.  It is very short but describes how she is helping bridge the gap between the Alberta curriculum and the Blackfoot culture.  Check out the other episodes while you are there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=889r-myLTjI&feature=rec-LGOUT-exp_fresh+div-1r-2-HM

I thought of this after reading Miguel’s post on the main discussion forum. When I was doing ETEC532, I wrote my major paper about the benefits of using digital video productions in the classroom. One of the oldest, and most closely investigated programs was City Voices, City Visions from Buffalo, New York. The program started as a way to motivate inner city youths who were at high risk to drop out of school. It has been a great success, not only in motivating student retention, but in creating authentic learning.
http://gse.buffalo.edu/org/cityvoices/
Like I said, Miguel’s post made me think about how this kind of a program, where a central organization trains teachers on how to use digital video in the classroom, could be used in a First Nations setting. The benefits such as improved self esteem have been seen in the two course videos, the Fraser River Journey and the March Point trailer. I have used digital video projects over the last few semesters in my classroom and have found them to be extremely enlightening and awesome tools for student constructive learning. This is a little bit outside of the box, but it is something that is relevant.

“White Privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh (1988)

http://www.amptoons.com/blog/files/mcintosh.html

Both Module 3 films (the trailer March Point and film Fraser River) allude to the feelings of marginalization and powerlessness that is the backdrop to the lives of many Aboriginal youth. I was reminded of the article “White Privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack” written in 1988 by Peggy McIntosh, a white American woman. Her work as an educator in women’s studies brought her to a recognition that while those with power and privilege may recognize people who are disadvantaged, they often do not recognize themselves as advantaged. McIntosh suggests that whites are carefully taught not to recognize white advantage, but are taught “to think of their lives as morally neutral, normative, and average, and also ideal, so that when we work to benefit others, this is seen as work that will allow “them” to be more like “us.”

In the article McIntosh lists 50 “daily effects of white privilege.” Reading this list as a Canadian white woman living in multicultural Toronto in 2010, I think that too much of it is still accurate.

Indigenous people living in rural and remote communities in countries of the South not only have poor access to ICT and no television broadcasting, but also very unreliable electricity. With the development of wind-up and solar radio (http://www.freeplayenergy.com/product/lifeline), I have wondered about the use of community radio broadcasting for educational purposes. In particular I wanted to hear a broadcast.

I found articles like the one below describing the effective use of radio broadcast. In this case it followed the distribution of solar radios to indigenous people in four remote villages in Cambodia. Since development of the radio system in 2007, the Cambodian government has begun “to acknowledge the importance of addressing a lack of information among indigenous communities and of promoting the use of Cambodian indigenous languages, some of them at risk of disappearing forever.” http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2010101343955/Lifestyle/radio-links-villagers-to-language.html

Finally, I did find a broadcast and from a country I’ve lived in – Malawi, in sub-Sahara Africa. The broadcast is available through the media link of Farm Radio International http://www.farmradio.org/english/donors/multi-media/. The script and audio is in English, with some exclamations and singing in one of Malawi’s indigenous languages, Chichewa. (Also available is a clip in Chichewa.) In the opening, presenter Gladson Makowa identifies the work of indigenous farmers as “research,” saying

“Do you know that farmers are good researchers? Imagine how useful it can be to you to discover a thing on your own, on your farm. Why don’t you start researching one of the issues you hear on the radio?”

What follows is a broadcast about a research project demonstrating one way smallholder farmers can adapt to climatic changes.

Indigenous people living in rural and remote areas in countries in the South not only have poor access to ICT, but have no television broadcasting. I have wondered about the use of community radio broadcasting in community development initiatives as a means of literally giving voice to people in their own languages. I have found the following websites interesting.

Community Radio http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_radio

“Community radio stations are operated, owned, and driven by the communities they serve. Community radio is not-for profit and provides a mechanism for facilitating individuals, groups, and communities to tell their own diverse stories, to share experiences, and in a media rich world to become active creators and contributors of media. In many parts of the world, community radio acts as a vehicle for the community and voluntary sector, civil society, agencies, NGOs & citizens to work in partnership to further community development as well as broadcasting aims…Community radio has historically developed differently in different countries…”

AMARC http://www.amarc.org/ (Association Mondiale des Radiodiffuseurs Communitaires or World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters)

AMARC is an international non-governmental organization serving the community radio movement, with almost 3,000 members and associates in 110 countries. Its goal is to support and contribute to the development of community and participatory radio along the principals of solidarity and international cooperation.

AMARC-Africa http://africa.amarc.org/index.php?p=home&l=EN

Exploration of this site led me to the following two documents:

Fighting Poverty: Utilizing Community Media in a Digital Age – Practitioners’ reflections from an interactive roundtable at the World Congress on Communication for Development (WCCD) October 2006. Published June 2008, by AMARC, World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters, SDC, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in collaboration with CFSC, Communications for Social Change Consortium. http://www.amarc.org/wccd/text/WCCD_doc_hi.pdf

This report addresses inclusion of indigenous people and languages. It includes stories particularly from Nepal, Francophone Africa, and southern and eastern African

Radio and Development in Africa: A Concept Paper Prepared for the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada, Mary Myers, Final Draft, August 2008

http://www.amarc.org/documents/manuals/12481943581Radio_and_Development_in_Africa,_a_concept_paper.pdf

This report describes the present status of radio in Africa with comparisons to TV, Internet and mobile phones. It looks at its potential capacity to promote development and future prospects.

Examples of other articles found as a result of such searching “Indigenous people” on the AMARC website:

Indigenous peoples and electronic media http://www.amarc.org/index.php?p=indigenous_peoples_and_electronic_media

Peru: Ancient culture in the blink of an eye –  “Ñuqanchik” – Quechua language radio programs in cyberspace http://www.amarc.org/index.php?p=peru-ancient_culture_in_the_blink_of_an_eye

Nepal: Broadcasting the writing on the wall – Nepal’s shift to community radio  http://www.amarc.org/index.php?p=nepal%E2%80%93broadcasting_the_writing_on_the_wall

As part of my research I’ve been speaking with Haisla elders in Kitimat. Unfortunately, much of what Linda Smith says about research being a dirty word seems to be true there, although I can’t say enough about how welcoming and helpful people have been with me. Unfortunately, several linguists who have worked with the Haisla do not seem to have much respect amongst the community. Much of their work has been focused around creating dictionaries, from what I understand. I decided to look into their work a little more and came across this resource called the languagegeek. It seems like it might be good for educators trying to integrate traditional language with technology although there could be issues related to intellectual property rights. Here is a brief excerpt from the about section of the site. 

“Languagegeek is dedicated to the promotion of indigenous languages – primarily those of North America. By providing the tools which speakers, educators, and learners can use to communicate on-line or in print, the realm of computers will no longer be the sole domain of a few global languages.”

 This article is a part of the Alaska Native Knowledge Network . The site is massive with a searchable database and links both internally and extrenally. It holds a wealth of information at the fingertips – so to speak- and one must focus their ideas into searchable words. This site is useful to gain statistics and knowledge of research being done currently. The Four Rs article was the result of a search for”First Nations and Higher Education”. Althought my own information gathering was for adult centers and focused on adults who have not yet graduated, I was interested in the statistics of those who did grad and go on to college and universities. I plan to use this site more…soon.

http://www.ankn.uaf.edu/IEW/winhec/FourRs2ndEd.html

 This site is actually a link to a pdf copy of  “Defining the Enemy” by Michael Newman. Newman has worked in adult education since the 60s and has published many books on the topic. Originally from Australia, which has a similar history in regards to colonization and treatment of aboriginals, he worked in the UK and his focus of adult education was for the purpose of educating the working adults of that country and not the education of Indigineous adults like I was searching for. This site is useful for information to compare adult education in other countries to what I am experiencing here in BC, Canada.

http://www.infed.org/archives/lifelonglearning/newman_defining_the_enemy.htm

http://www.genesisgroup.ca/bundle_bestpractices.htm

At first, I was a bit concerned that this was a corporate site. My worry was that although it seemed promising, there was a motive of profit here. After a bit of digging, the Genesis Group is part of the The Northern Learning Institute, which is is owned by the Nunasi Corporation, which is owned by all the Inuit of Nunavut who are enrolled under the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement. That all seems above the board… I think.

The page identifies what the group considers the “best practices in the area of Aboriginal Technology & learning across Canada.”

These include web page development, online schools, and a “talking dictionary” project.