Category — Module 4

A Look Through Indigenous Eyes

http://www.worldpulse.com/node/12206

A very powerful occount written by Cristina Quisbert about the Discriminations and Racism in her native Bolivia.  Christina gives a brief history of the Domination of the 36 Indigenous Peoples over the last 5 centuries by Spanish Rule.  Her quote “losers should be under the power of winners” resonates the feeling of helplessness the Bolivian “Indians” have been feeling for quite some time, where a white face automatically lent itself to an air of superiority over anyone “ Indigenous Looking”

The article goes on to chronicle the stride Indigenous People have taken since Bolivia became a republic in 1825, with marginal inclusion in the Government, first by males, and finally by females. Despite continued open racism in many areas of Bolivia, on December 18, 2005 Evo Morales Ayma was elected the first Indigenous President.  The fight for equality continues among indigenous people throughout the world.   Felicitación Christina.

The Ecology of Hinduism

http://www.arcworld.org/faiths.asp?pageID=77

In the Hindu faith, ecology of the mind is a necessary prerequisite to the ecology of the natural world.  One cannot exist without the other.  A central belief in God extends to preservation of the human mind which in turn is nourished by food, a cycle of ecology of respect and preservation of all forms of life in earth.  We cannot cut off the branch on which we sit.  We must contribute to the maintenance of the cycle of life. The sacredness of the cow is attributed to the milk to nourish our bodies, and the manure to nourish our land.

These themes run parallel to the ecology of indigenous people.  Indigenous knowledge, becoming favourable to western ideologies, is the nourishment and protection of the land, through firsthand knowledge and generations of learning.  Indigenous people teach the ecology of nature through stories, language, and traditions.  This ecology of the mind is essential for the protection of the natural resources needed to sustain and nourish their people.

This balance of mind and nature has long been the footpath followed by indigenous people around the world.  ‘We are disturbing the balance because of our greed for material enjoyment and our craze for power’, a sentiment of both Hinduism and Indigenous People.

Rethinking Contemporary Indigenous Rights

http://www.britannica.com/bps/additionalcontent/18/31954645/Toward-Sustainable-SelfDetermination-Rethinking-the-Contemporary-IndigenousRights-Discourse

This is a very intense discourse by Jeff Corntassel in which he references many of the shortcomings of previous attempts of self-determination by indigenous people throughout the world.  Jeff is able to give historical references to self-determination claims that do not work and that have negative consequences for indigenous people in the future. 

As well as pointing out past and current problems, Jeff makes some suggestions to rectify the situation, most notably through the political venue of the United Nations.  At one point he seems to want to bring up the notion of forceful resistance, but cleverly steers away from that politically charged notion.

Revitalizing Canada’s Indigenous Languages

http://www.universityaffairs.ca/fight-to-revitalize-canadas-indigenous-languages.aspx

Language is one of the cornerstones of culture.  With the exception of the Inuit “Inuktitut” still spoken fluently by 2/3 of Canada’s Inuit people, the rest of Canada’s indigenous languages are at or near extinction levels.  This website chronicles some of the projects, both past and present that have been put in place to try to stabilize and/or revive some of the indigenous languages.  There are a number of links throughout the site, linking to specific projects dealing with language revitalization. 

The Yawenda Project is an attempt to revitalize the Wendake language which researchers say has not been spoken for over a century.  “Nesting” is a preschool program where students are paired with elders to enable these young individuals to grow up bilingual.  Both of these programs have experienced a fair amount of success, but economic factors have slowed progress recently.

Worth a look, especially the Wendake Link.

The Aboriginal People of Sri Lanka

http://vedda.org/

Sri Lanka’s indigenous inhabitants, the Veddas — or Wanniya-laeto  “forest-dwellers” as they call themselves — preserve a direct line of descent from the island’s original Neolithic community dating from at least 16,000 BC and probably far earlier.  This very comprehensive website offers numerous links to most aspects of Veddas culture and history.

Robert Knox was one of the first westerners to give an account of Wanniya-laeto culture in 1681 when the island was known as Ceylon.  His chronicles and a host of others that followed are laid out so the reader can “easily” follow how western colonization has altered and interacted with these indigenous people for over four centuries. 

Early photographs, maps, conflicts, and treaties are all part of the history and wreckage undergone by the Wanniya-laeto people since western historians and anthropologists have entered into this unique island culture.

Stories of Our Elders is a website dedicated to telling both the experiential and mythological/ traditional stories of the Cree and Ojibway people. The site takes a very innovative approach to archiving 22 stories in written, digital audio, and digital video formats all provided in both English and Cree or Ojibway. There’s also a small but interesting set of historical photographs related to the stories and storytellers and a map with detailed information about the tribes involved.

 In addition to providing a very interesting set of stories told by a variety of respected elders and community members, the site also offers users tips on moving forward with similar projects. They specifically address difficulties related to embedding syllabic fonts, which would be useful for anybody working on a multilingual web project, as well as tips for acquiring funding to pursue these types of projects.

I noticed that Terri has posted a YouTube clip related to this report earlier in the semester but since I have been taking such a close look at it for my own work, I thought I would post the entire report here. There is plenty of very useful up-to-date data in the report and the findings are very relevant to the work we’ve done in the class to date. It is worth noting that as I’ve brought this up within the community I am working in, there has been plenty of skepticism about the motives for the report and the findings within. I suggest you make those judgments for yourself, as at the very least it is an interesting read filled with compelling data related to the importance of preserving First Nations languages and the specific challanges and opportunities with British Columbia.

www.fphlcc.ca/…/2010–report-on-the-status-of-bc–first–nations–languages.pdf

As mentioned in the learning café, the UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger contains a comprehensive guide to the thousands of endangered languages around the world, including those in Canada and British Columbia.

The Atlas is described on the UNESCO site as:

“……presented on the eve of International Mother Language Day (21 February), enables searches according to several criteria, and ranks the 2,500 endangered languages that are listed according to five different levels of vitality: unsafe, definitely endangered, severely endangered, critically endangered and extinct.”

The interactive map and statistics page are easy to navigate. Most of the available information appears to rely on census data, which is in some cases dated and comes with the usual set of limitations related to census taking. However, being able to compare data on issues facing indigenous languages around the world is quite useful when discussing languages issues related to Canadian First Nations.

And who knew there was actually an International Mother Languages Day?!?!

The First Peoples’ Cultural Foundation

The site was created with the recognition that First Peoples’ languages are in peril. With that acknowledgment, there are two stated purposes.

One part of the site is the First Voices language archives the documentation of languages. Rather than simply recording and flash freezing (Littlebear, 1996) the languages, the purpose here is to use the recorded language as a learning tool. This program has been running since 2003 with funding from the province of British Columbia and the Department of Canadian Heritage. So far they have archived less than 5% of the potential languages.

The other main section is the Aboriginal Languages Initiative. Summarized on the page:
The Aboriginal Languages Initiative (ALI) is a federal program funded by the Department of Canadian Heritage. The ALI provides funding support for community and regionally-based projects directed at maintaining, revitalizing and promoting First Nations languages. ALI funds are distributed to provincial and territorial delivery organizations. http://www.fpcf.ca/ali2010forms/index.htm
This section has an application system for interested groups to request participation.

The site gives hope that there is enough interest to possibly save some languages that are on the verge of extinction.

Littlebear, R. (1996). Preface. In G. Cantoni (Ed.), Stabilizing indigenous languages. Flagstaff: Northern Arizona University, Center for Excellence in Education.

The Cognitive Media website is an elaborate advertisement for their services. It does not share the technology behind it but it is basically a group of artists performing visual representations of other people’s ideas. Elaborate visual notetaking is a method that may work for those students who do not like copious written assignments or are auditory/visual learners. One could show this website to a student and offer an alternative assignment to an essay on a topic. I had a first nations adult student how would jump at the chance to do this type of an assignment. It could also be video recorded just like the Cognitive Media artists an edited so that his work could be shared electronically on his band’s website; which routinely showcases the accomplishments of their students (like a local band’s paperless newsletter)

I admit that following the technology behind the visual that accompanied Sir Robinson’s lecture in a previous blog only resulted in an idea for an adaptation for one student’s learning but it ended up being something I could use for my research on technology integration for adult first nations students.

http://www.cognitivemedia.co.uk/

I revisited Marian Thatcher’s blogspot which is focused on adult eduaction and technology, and it had a new post that talked about an animation by Sir Ken Robinson about Concept Animation. It reminded me of way back when teacher’s used to have to draw their visuals on the chalkboard. I remembered that I always loved the drawing the most rather than copying the words from the board for notes. The blog had imbedded a youtube video showing Sir Robinson in action. I could use the link as a discussion starter for students stumped or frustrated with the limits placed on how a student usually tries to show their knowledge. We could brianstorm other methods of showing their course learning than the usual written essay.

http://www.thersa.org/home

 This NIH webpage supported a previous observation I made about a gender gap between those teachers who were willing to use computers and those who were against utilizing any new technology in their classrooms. This site revealed results of a psychological study done. Some of the results were that older people were less likely to utilize computers to access the email or information on the world wide web due to computer anxiety, fluid intelligence, and crystallized intelligence. These were important predictors of the use of technology.  Some training strategies to promote technology adoption were also discussed.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1524856/

 This webpage is actually a part of the ERIC database (Education Resources Information Center). The site is one of the few you can actually access a full text pdf of an article without paying or being a member (with hidden costs). The article, Factors Influencing the Effective Use of Technology for Teaching and Learning: Lessons Learned from the SEIR-TEC Intensive Site Schools. 2nd Edition, is valuable to any research focused on the uses of technology in the classroom; not just for adult education centers. I found it interesting that the article mentioned that one of the factors that influence the use of technology in the classroom also depends on the ability of the teacher to use the teachnology as well. The article focused on the years 1995 to 2000, a whole 10 to 15 years before I read it but it is still true today. I have recently encountered teachers not open-minded to the use of technology because they don’t know how to use it either. I have also noticed a generation gap between the teachers who are incorporating technology and those set against it.

http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED471140&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED471140

http://www.knba.org/

Koahnic Broadcast Corporation (KBC) operates out of Alaska and is a First Nations radio network. The programming, which is sometimes shared with NPR is centred on Indigenous news and issues. Live streaming is available. The website and the programming seem to be only in English. However, there is a word of the day section on the site that highlights a word from one of the Indigenous languages spoken by the listening audience.

I listened to the stream of a program called Native American Calling for a while and the interview was very interesting. The subject of the interview was an Alaskan musician who was asked the story of how he chose his profession. The answer was told in the form of a beautiful story about a relative who was the last fluent speaker of his language in the family. This struck a chord with me after doing research for my analytical paper. Callers also brought up the issue of language revitalization. There is a real urgency voiced about saving languages. . . even if it is being stated in English.

The news section comes mostly from wire sources. The first story about Indigenous people was not until the middle of the page. http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kbc/news.newsmain

I also learned that it’s warmer in Anchorage than it is in Lethbridge.