Category — Module 3

Stolen Children: Truth & Reconciliation

Sponsored by CBC, Stolen Children: Truth & Reconciliation is rich collection of resources that help provide a historical account of residential schools and their lasting impact on Aboriginal people. It also documented the efforts of the The Truth & Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which was established by the Canadian government as an independent body to oversee the safe disclosure of individual experiences by former residential school students in a culturally respectful manner as part of the Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. Their mandate also includes helping reconcile the relationship between Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal Canadians by raising awareness around the impact of the residential school sytem and its lasting effects that continue to affect people and communities today, although it’s a part of history that many Canadian’s continue to be fully aware of.

The site includes current news coverage as well as CBC Digital Archive videos to help illustrate a timeline of Aboriginal education policies in Canada. The sharp contrast in early propaganda produced to encourage residential school attendance to the 2008 apology by the Canadian government provide an eye-opening view to begin processing a more comprehensive understanding of the need for social and restorative justice.

Excerpt: Storytellers in Motion Episode 12: The Maori Voice Part One: http://youtu.be/sJLRruZNJfU

‪Excerpt: Storytellers in Motion Episode 13: The Maori Voice Part Two: ‬http://youtu.be/vdfRT3bidvI

The series looks at storytellers in Canada and other countries. These two episodes look at the huge resurgence in Maori film and how it has preserved language and culture, as against predictions that their languages would be gone by now.  Part Two follows Barry Barclay, a very well known Maori film maker, to England and he talks bout some of the challenges he has faced. There are other resources of interest around his latest documentary Kiapara Affair which documents struggle of a small community to stop commercial overfishing in their harbour. This article documents political interference in the final cut of the documentary:

The Kaipara Affair, New Zealand, 2005. Director: Barry Barclay 
http://www.filmarchive.org.nz/feature-project/pages/Kaipara-Affair.php

Storytellers in Motion: ImagineNATIVE 2008 – Discussing the issues in mainstream media from the aboriginal perspective, and the rational for starting ImagineNATIVE:  http://youtu.be/qBPna6gngaI

ISUMA: I am looking at examples of the way media can be used to give students an interactive experience with language and culture. Isuma, in addition to video resources has many excellent teaching resources – this is one example of an interactive resource developed around their film The Journals of Knud Rasmussen:

in Teacher Resources area:  http://www.isuma.tv/sites/default/swf/journal/en/index.html

Indigenous Knowledge and Pedagogy in First Nations Education A Literature Review with Recommendations.  Battiste, Marie (2002) This article details features of traditional knowledge and links these considerations to learning styles and instructional methods. These recommendations went forward to INAC, where they were applied I have not found yet.  Retrieved from:

http://www.afn.ca/uploads/files/education/24._2002_oct_marie_battiste_indigenousknowledgeandpedagogy_lit_review_for_min_working_group.pdf

http://www.inuitq.ca/aboutProject.html

This is the website of Nanisiniq Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, or The IQ Adventure! an interactive sea voyage of Nunavut, a collaboration between the people of Nunavut, the government of Nunavut and several university partners.

It is a journey, studded with images of art and artifacts, as well as interactions with Inuit stories and elders. It is a self-representation of Inuit culture in a virtual space, designed to educate. The site appears to have a non-native audience in mind, but could also be used within the community.

For a detailed discussion of the site and its implications see:

Cynthia J. Alexander et. al. (2009). Inuit cyberspace: The struggle for access for inuit qaujimajatuqangit. Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue d’études canadiennes 43(2), 220-249. Retrieved January 22, 2011, from Project MUSE database.

“The case study’s focus on environmental stewardship reveals how online representations of ancient knowledge systems can inspire postcolonial patterns of engagement between humans, and between humans and the environment. ” (Alexander et. al., 2009)

http://www.imaginingindians.net/home2.htm

Further to my quest for finding aboriginal spaces in cyberspace I have come across ImaginingIndians.net. This is a paper doll timeline project created in 2000 by an aboriginal artist skawennati tricia fragnito. It traces some of aboriginal history from 1490 to 2490 through journal entries and outfits for the paper doll.

Does this project create an educational space for an aboriginal artist to self-represent her perspective of the image and history of indigenous peoples in North America? Artists have historically represented both the dominant cultural practices of the time, but also have acted as activists and produced works that subverted mainstream culture. Can a presence in a virtual environment have the same effect? I have asked for an interview with the artist to ask her opinion, but from what I have seen there is a movement among many aboriginal artists, world wide, to create spaces to connect them to each other, but also to put forward their telling of the past and their vision of the present and future.

This is then, an educational space. Where aboriginal and non-aboriginal peoples can meet and exchange information, and this information can be created by indigenous peoples. This does give contemporary FN peoples an opportunity to control the message. To me this is a very good reason for FN communities to educate themselves and their youth about electronic technology. You have to understand the medium in order to re-purpose it for your own ends.

Powow outfit circa 2273 from imaginingindians.net

Aboriginal People’s Television Network (APTN): Did You Know?

This four part series comprises an episode of APTN produced documentary television show The Sharing Circle from its 16th season. The Sharing Circle investigates current Aboriginal issues while providing insight into Indigenous ways of knowing and spiritual practice. In this episode, Did You Know?, the relationship between Aboriginal people and Canada is investigated through people’s interpretation of historical facts that have significantly impacted Aboriginal life, but still remain largely unknown by the general population.  It highlights the lack of knowledge Canadians have about their own history and sheds light on the origin of some of the issues that continue to affect the political, economical, and social landscape for Aboriginal people today.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4

This site provides a New Zealand published report on Virtual Learning Environments and e-Learning in the Context of Te Reo Māori and Kaupapa Māori Education.  Emerging themes include:

• The Learning Environment
• Relationships and Communication
• Collaboration
• Pedagogy
• Quality Tools

Barriers and benefits to effective eLearning are also identified.

This paper discusses ways to use Moodle to support the learning strengths of Indigenous Australian university students.  It looks at the ways that ICTs can be aligned with Indigenous ways of learning and presented in ways that are culturally relevant.  The paper identifies ways in which Aboriginal learning styles differ from non-Indigenous learning styles, and provides strategies for using Moodle to support Aboriginal eLearning.

www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/auckland09/procs/duggan.pdf

This is a VERY short visual look at ways that allow teachers to include Aboriginal perspectives by using Aboriginal learning techniques.  It is presented by “Australian Policy Online”.  I liked the visual.

http://apo.org.au/website/8-aboriginal-ways-learning

This online presentation looks at ways to enhance success for high school students engaged in web-based learning in Canada.  It looks at areas identified that need improving (organizational, communications, motivation, and contextual).  Key issues are addressed, and then strategies for improvement are given.