Category — Module 2

A colleague of mine emailed me a report titled “Aboriginal Postsecondary Education – Formal Instruction for the Adult Aboriginal Population“, written by Bob Cowin from Douglas College (2011).  The focus of the report is on British Columbia institutions (public and private) who deliver formal education which is intended to enroll adult Aboriginal students.  Services and programs are discussed (not individual courses).  It identifies different approaches taken in Aboriginal education, including assimilative, integrative, affiliated, and independent.  The report gives a history of the practices, focusing mainly on BC.

This is a link to the YouTube channel of contemporary Aboriginal artist sistagrlo. https://www.youtube.com/user/sistagrlro and this is her blog http://www.arohagroves.com/

I hope to speak with her about how she uses her presence in cyberspace to further her goals of Aboriginal identity and education about Aboriginal ideals and life in Australia.

Sometimes it is hard to get a hold of people in SecondLife, but I will post if I am able to speak with her.

Part of my research is to look at what value to education Aboriginal and Indigenous artists and creators see in their existences in cyberspace, so I want to speak with them directly as well as look at their work. Who do they see themselves as online?

My friend and I existing together in the virtual space of my cyber land.

One of the interesting developments in virtual worlds it the ability to create machinima, or films using the virtual world as the subject, setting, and actors. Using the virtual world means the director can create anything, in any space, in any time.

The link below is to a machinima created by An Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace Project
www.AbTeC.org. A young man uses a fictional technology called TimeTraveller TM to visit places and spaces of his ancestors, and the colonization of his ancestral lands.

This machinima series seems to have two purposes. One, to provide some education to the rest of us about aboriginal history in North America; and two to provide some glimpse of a future man connecting with his deep past.

I would be interested to hear what you think of this concept, and whether or not this is a positive thing or a further erosion of tribal values and identity.

My own presence in virtual worlds biases me into thinking that this is a positive expression of identity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1RNGFkzcyY