It has come up repeatedly in our discussions that we need to stop thinking about the First Nations culture just as a static artefact from the past and need to look at their existing culture as well. So to remediate this I ventured on the Web to look for sources that would introduce me to the present day culture of the First Nations people. I examined sites that were reaching to the aboriginal people through the arts. I looked for traditional art and dance; contemporary and traditional music, movies. I was also looking for the presence of the aboriginal youth on the web: a sign of self-identity and pride. This follows from my research focus of reaching out to the aboriginal child and helping them succeed.
I’ll divide my finds in different categories.

Art

http://resources.curriculum.org/tcf/teachers/projects/repository/AboriginalArt.pdf

This document is an excellent repository about aboriginal art, myths, and their environment. While created as a teaching tool, the links are very diverse and provide in-depth knowledge about the aboriginal life style.

http://www.artistsincanada.com/php/~aboriginal.php

This is an excellent resource to find contemporary artists practicing a variety of arts. The site provides links art galleries or the artist’s website where you can see the work of these artists and also read their biographies.

Music

http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/aboriginal-music-song/028012-2100-e.html

This Canadian government site provides audio of many traditional songs of the aboriginal people. This is a very educational site which explains the musical instruments used and the significance of music and singing within the culture.

http://www.angelfire.com/wy/nativepride/tribal.html
This is a similar site which has songs from various aboriginal groups from the USA and Canada.

http://www.canab.com/mainpages/events/musicawards_files/2011/winners/#bestalbumoftheyear
The Canadian Aboriginal Music Award site showcases contemporary artists. It was fascinating to see the different categories of awards for aboriginal singers and to realize how diverse their contemporary music is

Dance

I was totally unaware of there were many aboriginal performance art groups that traveled around the world to show case their culture.

http://www.fullcircleperformance.ca/content.asp?chapterID=2&SubchapterID=5&PageID=4&portal=1&eventID=168

http://www.ksan.org/html/arts.htm

Movies

The Aboriginal groups have also joined the movie making industry and are using it brilliantly to showcase their pride and their struggle

http://www.isuma.tv/atanarjuat
Atanarjuat is Canada’s first feature-length fiction film written, produced, directed, and acted by Inuit. It is an exciting action thriller set in ancient Igloolik, the film unfolds as a life-threatening struggle between powerful natural and supernatural characters.

http://www.firstnationsfilms.com/

First Nations Films distributes and creates award-winning educational Aboriginal documentary films and videos for, by and about First Nations people. They create exclusive native programs that are shared with schools, universities, libraries, organizations and other groups and institutions.

Nureen also provided a link for Native American Public Telecommunications in her post

Getting Involved

We have discussed how the Web can be used by the aboriginal people to reach out and share ideas. I found some examples of the younger generation showing pride in their cultural believes.

What Counts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keczbYdbvpE

I Can Tell You a Legend: The Mink Story – Gwa’sala-‘Nakwaxda’xw Digital Storytelling
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBcTQF5qYFQ

The Native American Public Telecommunication (NAPTA) is a resource for sharing Native stories globally through the use of the Web in an effort to support the creation, promotion and distribution of Native media. This creates a trusted venue for Native voices to be conglomerated and resources to be collected and shared with the public. NAPTA helps build relationships between Native producers, public television and radio. NAPTA also gets assistance from Native producers to create, produce and share educational telecommunication programs for various types of media such as public television and radio. NAPTA encourages individuals from Native backgrounds by training them to create public broadcasting programs of quality some of which are geared at advocating for the use of technologies. NAPTA’s goal is to build relationships with Native communities and organizations and creating media that can be used as a means of sharing Native perspectives globally. The programs are created with the vision of making Natives visible and trying to achieve equity through the use of media. Furthermore, these types of media are a good source of highlighting and honouring components of Native culture such as heritage, wisdom and storytelling.

http://www.nativetelecom.org/

Below are some URL links about language revitalization and language endangerment. These videos are examples of media that NAPTA tries to showcase.

First Nations Language Revitalization

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxJr7yw1j2A

Saving First Nations Languages

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzfgvqkoTVM&feature=related

This paper by Mark Fettes is interesting because it has a different take on analyzing language and renewal of language. The author talks about language renewal and how this requires a combination of knowledge and skill from the dominant language as well as knowledge, skills and relationship associated with native languages. The author believes that renewal of language can help restore society while balancing it with nature. He conveys that language is linked to all aspects of life in indigenous cultures. Thus, language associations result in what beliefs and practices a person has and impact how they will live life and be a part of the world.

http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/TIL_25.html

The Center for World Indigenous Studies (CWIS) is an independent, non-profit organization that is based on research and education. The intent of this organization is to help people develop a broader understanding and appreciation for aspects of indigenous society such as social, economic and political views. This institution strives to educate the public by publishing and distributing ideas, views and voices of individuals from sub-populations who struggle with social exclusion in society. An important goal of CWIS is to establish cooperation between nations; and, to democratize international relations between nations and between nations and states. Dr. Rudolph C. Rÿser, Ph.D. and Chief George Manuel of the Shuswap Tribal Nation founded this independent organization. The organization originated as a means of archiving tribal documents and then transitioned to an organization based on research, education and policy analysis for Aboriginal groups.

http://cwis.org/WhoWeAre/

Dare to Lead is a commonwealth funded national project that is focussed on improving educational outcomes for Aboriginal students. This organization began in 2000. It is funded by the Government of Australia, the Ministry of Education and Employee and Workplace Relations.  It is an initiative of Principals Australia (formerly known as Australian Principals Association Professional Development Council). Fifty-three percent of Australian schools are officially associated with this agency. Statistics have shown that students from Aboriginal backgrounds inAustraliaare scoring lower, academically. Hence, this network’s goal is to improve Indigenous students’ outcomes by assisting schools to successfully support pre-existing programs and to implement new initiatives to assist these students with their academic success. This process also allows for all students to be exposed to aboriginal culture; thus, fostering a better societal understanding. The Dare project also collects data and makes reports about project activity as well as Indigenous student outcomes.

http://www.daretolead.edu.au/DTL2009_Home

The Indigenous Peoples’ Restoration Network’s (IPRN) was established as an effort to support native and tribal communities with environmental restoration and cultural rehabilitation through the use of technology. The purpose of this agency is to assist leaders and practitioners from these societies to use their traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and their own views and practices in conjunction with technology to achieve their ecological goals. Aboriginal cultures can accomplish this by employing the use of ecological restoration tools to ensure the survival of their culture and people. This would require the combination of traditional ecological knowledge from indigenous communities with newer models of sustainable agro-ecosystem management.

http://www.ser.org/iprn/default.asp

The following URL (http://www.ser.org/iprn/tek.asp) is for a section on this website that explains what traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) is, its purpose and how it is a huge part of Aboriginal society.

Walking Together for a Better Future (Linda Kaser & Judy Halbert, 2011)

The recent introduction of Aboriginal Enhancement Agreements as part of the process of developing shared responsibility for Aboriginal Education has helped districts and community members realize the importance of working together to best meed the needs of Aboriginal learners in BC. Although signing these documents make them official, many questions have remained as to how to ensure the actions agreed to are implemented.

In 2008, the Director of the provincial Aboriginal Education Enhancement Branch approached the Network of Performance Based Schools (NPBS) to see if they were interested in developing a partnership focusing on how signed enhancement agreements could be best put into practice. This led to the development of the Aboriginal Enhancement Network of Schools (AENS) which has set about to help school districts and their Aboriginal communities in the development of cross-cultural understanding and Indigenous ways of knowing that encourage new perspectives on best practices for learning.

Our school district cultural coordinator just shared this writing with me. Paul Kershaw of the Vancouver Sun wrote it and dated it November 17th of this year. I am uncertain as to whether or not it was published in the Vancouver Sun Newspaper.

“I encounter many non-aboriginal Canadians today who do not consider the Truth and Reconciliation Commission a priority. They claim the schools are part of our past, and doubt they have significance for the present.”

“By forcibly isolating children from the influence of their families and cultures . . .  residential schools did not just target students. They also targeted generations of aboriginal people who would never attend them – the children and grandchildren of school survivors: the very future of aboriginal communities.”

(Kershaw, 2011)

I found this to be a concise and well organized read. I intend to share this work with our Aboriginal Inquiry group in the new year.

I have attached the paper for your convenience should you wish to read and/or share with others.

New Deal for Families promotes truth and reconciliation    By Paul Kershaw,

Vancouver Sun – November 17, 2011

This site Cultural Survival has as its motto, Partnering with Indigenous Peoples to Defend their Lands, Languages and Cultures. The article presented on this particular link looks at “The internet and the indigenous people”. It was written by Jean Armour Polly who provided details on her contribution in getting The Oneida Indian Nation’s Territory on the Web. Information on the Oneida Indian Nation website and details on the happenings and experiences there paints a picture of hope in technology offering indigenous people the chance to have their voices heard.. The offering of a virtual tour and the opportunity to listen in on stories told in the native tongue were just a few of the things highlighted to show how much of an impact the computer and internet is having on the indigenous people. An excerpts of an interview conducted with native elders adds to the authenticity of the site as well as the accurate representation of the peoples story.

http://www.culturalsurvival.org/ourpublications/csq/article/standing-stones-cyberspace-the-oneida-indian-nations-territory-web

The Interinstitutional Consortium for Indigenous Knowledge (ICIK) , is located in the College of Education at The Pennsylvania State University. ICIK forms part of the global network of more than 20 indigenous knowledge resource centres in different parts of the world. The site facilitates communication and collaboration among communities. A wealth of information particularly oral traditions which form a key part of the indigenous peoples knowledge based have been properly documented and now provide answers to many of the world’s problems The site highlights the usefulness of documentation and recorded history to a globalized economy which offers a platform and launching pad for indigenous knowledge to once again rise to prominence . Globalization triggers large impacts and with sites such as ICIK, it is hoped that the resulting impact from this interaction will be positive. Te site has a rich resource base offering links to many articles and other resources, making this site an essential center of interest.

http://www.ed.psu.edu/icik/