Category — Connection to Research Topic

Weblog #1: Entry #1

Hey everyone,

At this stage, my ideas seem pretty specific to me but let me know if I’m either too specific or not. I presently teach in SD 62: Sooke which is just outside of Victoria BC. The area has a rich and involved history meshing First Nations, Spanish, English and Russian cultures, a a clear result of European exploration here on the West Coast of Canada. Next semester, I’m scheduled to teach what I believe to be is a locally developed course called, English 10: First Peoples. Based on my meetings thus far it seems to be focused on delivering the English 10 Curriculum while focusing on First Nations Culture, Literature and Art.

My intent with regard to our collective research is to explore how the Sooke and Songhees Nations helped to build the existing culture that is prevalent in the Western Communities just outside of Victoria, BC.

More to come as I refine my resources and links,

Ryan

There are so many interesting areas related to the general subject matter of this course. I’ve definitely been having trouble choosing a focused field of study.

I took an undergrad course way back when I was doing my undergrad that focused on oral storytelling and particularly on the oral stories of a man named Harry Robinson. His stories had been transcribed by a woman who seemed to be very interested in preserving their oral nature in textual format. I can’t quite recall her name now (sorry to any of you who may be friends, family, or fans of that particular person!). I was always interested in that crossover space after experiencing Robinson’s oral stories in textual format. In the course of seminar discussions for that course a story, now foggy in my memory (my own lack of the skills and abilities that come with oral tradition I suppose), about a court case in which the chief of an indigenous group was accused of abandoning his tradition because he had at some point suggested ordering pizza during a recess came up. I guess one doesn’t live in a vacuum forever; ordering pizza doesn’t constitute abandonment of tradition in my mind, and neither does modification of oral to print format. I suspect my research will follow this sort of path. This is still a huge area to ponder, so I have some more narrowing to do. It’s a start though~! Ideas?

I am interested to research places or perhaps a way that technology integration can support traditions and values.  More specifically, I would like to focus my research on using technology to record and document traditional stories, so that they are not lost by future generations.

My Research Interests

Being a teacher in Northern Canada in a school that is largely First Nations, I would like to focus my research on First Nations’ traditional knowledge. In particular, I would like to look specifically at:

1.    How technology can be used to effectively preserve the integrity of traditional knowledge

My perception of technology being culturally neutral has evolved during the first module, and I would like to explore further how the use of technology effects how we see culture, traditions and knowledge. Furthermore, I would like to explore best practices to preserve culture with technology rather than undermine it.

2.    What strategies can be used to validate the authority of traditional knowledge to a broader audience within a westernized paradigm

I want to delve into the subject of legitimately including traditional knowledge in areas of science, ecology and environmentalism, without seemingly pandering to political correctness.

I have started collecting the following articles:

Huntington, H.P. (2000). Ecological Applications: Using Traditional Knowledge in Science: Methods and Applications. 10:5, 1270-1274.

Usher, P.J. (2000). Arctic: Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Environmental Assessment and Management. 53:2, 183-193.

Wenzel, G.W. (1999). Artic: Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Inuit: Reflections on TEK Research and Ethics. 52:2, 113-124.

David McInnes

I have always been a student of the outdoors. That is how I came to be a teacher. I took a course at Bamfield Marine Station on intertidal ecology in 1988 and was hooked with the desire to learn about the creatures that lived around and in the ocean. I then took a job as a kayak guide on the  inland waters of the Pacific coast. Working in that area I was compelled to educate myself and then my clients about the land and the people that used to live there. I spent a whole summer in Haida Gwaii and was privileged to hear stories and teachings from some of the native watchmen who looked after village sites. It was when I was taking young people out into these waters that I could see the how they opened up to the world around them and became curious about nature. When starting to read, in this course, about the sacred connection indigenous people have to the land, I find my interest turning to education in the outdoors and native ecology. I am curious about stories behind the ecology and like the idea of having students begin to explore and learn outside, in their own communities and neighbourhoods.

My vocation was selected for me – it was by good fortune that I found myself instructing for the Adult Basic Education program.   Aboriginal learners make up 50-75% of my classroom, and are therefore deserving of deeper consideration and contemplation.   As I reflect on my practice, I am often troubled by the task of appropriately serving the needs of these learners.  Do the learning activities promote or hinder their sense of culture and identity?

The learners I am in contact with have suffered numerous obstacles throughout their young lives:  abusive relationships, addictions, poverty, oppression, racism, disabilities, illnesses, and lack of self-identity to name a few.   Their “learning spirit”, as defined by Marie Battiste in this video (link provided here), has been diminished and they have forgotten their purpose.

Motivated by that video and the work of the CCL, I have chosen to focus my weblogs and conduct research on ways in which I can nourish, inspire and guide aboriginal learners to reignite their sense of purpose and to build upon their talents using technology.  The research will lead me to a greater understanding of indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing, and allow me to explore suitable learning strategies.

The most memorable lessons I had the pleasure of being a part of were linked to powerful stories. As an immigrant from an Eastern country, stories my Western friends, mentors and teachers shared with me helped me understand life in Canada in a very personalized way. These experiences inspired me to weave stories into my own practices. As an instructor, I often receive feedbacks on how stories helped my students gain understanding of a theory in a practical way.

Far beyond my personal experience, stories have been used as a vehicle of learning for thousands of years. In indigenous culture, stories are often used to communicate values, ideas and knowledge. They are an important and inseparable part of indigenous education. As stories tend to promote active discussion and individual reflections, they tend to be etched deeply into the minds of learners. After all, many indigenous stories have survived centuries without prints (Mace, 1998). Hence I will focus my exploration on the power of stories in indigenous culture would help us gain a worldly educational view through countless generations of wisdom and create classrooms that respectfully accommodate individual differences.

Mace, F. (1998). Human rhythm and divine rhythm in Ainu epics. Diogenes, 46(1), 31.

Environmental Progress for Indigenous Groups

I would like to investigate what positive impacts technology can have on Indigenous culture, particularly in an ecological sense. Can the internet be used effectively to spread information about specific ecological concerns that Indigenous groups have? Will it help give a voice to groups that have often been marginalized or silenced? Often there are environmental issues that arise within the traditional territories of Indigenous groups. These issues often have a direct and lasting impact on the health of the land and the people that live on it. Indigenous groups may be able to use the internet to voice their opinion in meaningful ways, but there needs to be more than that. Real change needs to be affected and this can be hard to attain, even with the best online presence. Internet and other new media might be the way to create this change, but how effective are they really? To distill it down to one main question, I would like to know: In relation to making a positive ecological change, including revitalization, what is the most effective way for an Indigenous group to use technology to make improvements within either their territory, or an area that has specific traditional importance?

#4 The Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources

The CIER is an organisation which is established by Canadian First Nations groups. Their website is easy to navigate and has four major focusses: taking action on climate change, building sustainable communities, protecting lands and waters, and conserving biodiversity. Basically this is a gathering point for initiatives, partnerships, issues and anything else concerning First Nations environmental concerns.

The website provides links to their library collection, reports on initiatives and also encourages partnerships with different communities. If any FN group is wanting to partner with CIER they will either help them address a topic area through project funding that they already have, will help them find funding to work on a community project, or will provide workshops.

Aside from the obvious good that the site provides, what struck me, after our readings so far, was how much this site looks like a typical government or company site. Also, even though the individuals on the board are FN members (and the majority have had some role in the leadership of their own community) they are also all people who have lots of credentials in the western sense; they have signed major financial deals, have degrees, headed up different societies, etc.. I’m not sure if this is an important observation or not, but I wonder what message this website sends, and whether it is also set up in a way that would be appealing for those who provide the funding for the projects the CIER carries out.

http://www.cier.ca/

#5 Indigenous Food First

While on the CIER site I followed a link to find out more about a program called IFF (Indigenous Food First). This is a new website with a focus on Indigenous Youth exploring food and what it means to them. The launch is in October 2012, so at this time there is only a section with some articles, an about page and a sign-up section for the newsletter that they put out. One interesting link is to the Dreamcatcher Youth Conference, which supports positive projects by Aboriginal youth who are making a difference in their community.

http://iffculture.ca/

My final research paper will be focusing on First Nations K-12 youth and their access to public libraries within Canada. School aged students typically have access to libraries within their schools, so I am therefore more concerned with student access to libraries outside of a school campus.

From what I have discovered thus far, it seems Canada’s First Nations population is only allowed to rent resources from ‘on-reserve’ libraries and not allowed to rent resources from publicly funded libraries. Since reserves typically do not raise tax dollars for use within non-reserve bordering cities, residents of reserves are therefore not permitted to use the available resources available for people who pay city taxes.

Again, I am just in the initial stages of research for my final paper but it seems as though this legislation does not make entire sense in regards to youth access to libraries. Since youth living on or off a reserve within Canada do not pay city taxes it seems strange to restrict access to public libraries.

Regardless of the fairness of the legislation, it is a shame that First Nations people cannot exploit the great resources and technology that libraries can offer. Finally, the paper will also try and match possible uses of technology to First Nations culture that may preserve and present First Nations culture in a unique and timely manner.

Thanks.

-Regen