Category — Module 1

Site #1

Nancy Turner is an ethnobotanist from University of Victoria who has written two books on the ethnobotany of plants and peoples in this coastal region. This is a commentary by her which addresses the direction of the people-place-plant connection of ethnobotany. It is succinct and has a list of pertinent resources at the end.

Site #2

Although it is over 10 years old this document provides a comprehensive  set of strategies for  teachers to consider that will “assist the learning and success of aboriginal students”. It includes a review of inclusiveness for native children and employment equity for native teachers. Also a history of important dates to indigenous people in BC since European contact and a list of relevant resources.

Site #3

The author of this weblog, Tom Henley, has been involved with outdoor education and native youth in Haida Gwaii, Skeena and in many other parts of the world. He has some activities that connect students to the outdoors in a hands-on exploratory manner.

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.

Site #4

Vancouver Island University along with Coast Salish community groups are implementing a digital storytelling project . It  is advertised as a way to revitalize the native language of the Hul’q’umi’num; people from southeastern Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and the lower Fraser River.  They will have native elders tell traditional stories in their own language and offer the opportunity to ask questions about the values and the meanings of the stories. This is a new project and is being implemented and driven by input from indigenous community. The completed project will be available in a wide variety of technologies for any educational group.

Site #5

The program Rediscovery is something I used as a resource when involved with outdoor education for youth. Rediscovery integrates outdoor education for youth within an indigenous model. Wilderness activities in remote settings are tied with cultural teachings and traditions.  I could see this program being used in the school system as part of an outdoor/cultural education program.

I read an article in the National Post recently that I thought I would share with the rest of you regarding Africentric Schools in Toronto. They make reference to Toronto’s First Nations School, and it resonated with me as we have a First Nations School initiative here in Yukon as well. I too wonder about the longevity of such culturally specific schools.

What I found most interesting was the comments by one of the city councillors:

City councillor Josh Matlow, a former school trustee, wishes the program had never been established.

“I believe the school board, rather than putting resources into schools that separate students based on ethnicity or culture, should invest in reforming the curriculum so that it reflects the diversity of our city and our society,” he said.

Here is the link to the article:

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/09/20/torontos-controversial-africentric-high-school-program-suffering-from-poor-enrolment/

David McInnes

I am not a very adventurous person, as I have always been taught in my family to think ten-times before taking actions. It is a way of ensuring quality of work, but at times, I feel that I should be a bit more impulsive to catch my opportunity while it is there. Perhaps I would try that in the next module of research.

I am not sure if this is appropriate but other than researches, I want to document some of my own reflections as I progress. This way, I will be able to follow my own story when I reach the final paper at the end of this term.

I wavered on my research interest because I feel loyalty towards writing another research paper focusing on my corporation, as my education is currently supported by my company right now. However, I feel the need this time to deviate from a corporate focused research and explore topic that I have a lot of passion for – the Power of Stories. Hopefully I will learn a lot and be able to bring back new experiences and knowledge to my team in the end. Since I was uncertain of my topic for a long while, my list of exploration is a bit shorter than I hope.

Exploration #1 – PBS Circle of Stories

http://www.pbs.org/circleofstories/index.html

The Circle of Stories contains various audio clips, artful collage, music and photographs which unveil Native American storytelling. There is a substantial list of resources on indigenous culture of America on this site. Currently, there are four storytellers sharing their stories on this site – Rosella Archdale, Hoskie Benally, Corbin Harney and Tchin. Each of them shares their biography and information about their tribes to their site visitors. The story audio clips and ability for visitors to connect with storytellers build a very warming and connecting experience for visitors.

Personal Connection:

This connection may be very useful later in my exploration when I seek for a deeper understanding. However, questions are not forming yet in my mind at this moment.

Exploration #2 – California Indian Storytelling Association

http://www.cistory.org/index.html

The California Indian Storytelling Association provides a storytelling forum for American indigenous people. The site is not focusing on any specific tribe. They support all tribes in California as well as members of other tribes who have relocated to California. According to the website, this association hosts an annual storytelling event that promotes and honor storytelling. The purpose and goal of the association communicates the importance of storytelling in indigenous culture.

Personal Connection:

Since my brother was born in California, this association grabbed my attention because of its location. Although he was born in California, we have never had the chance to explore the indigenous culture there. In a way, this is a mean of connecting to my brother’s birthplace. In regards to my final research, I think the purpose and goal communicated on this website capture the value of storytelling clearly, which includes honouring elders, passing on the storytelling tradition, respecting family and community…

Exploration #3 – Online Ghibli: Princess Mononoke

http://www.onlineghibli.com/mononoke_hime/review-synopsis.php

Online Ghibli: Princess Mononoke provides a review and a synopsis of the famous production of Studio Ghibli. This story shares the journey of a young man from the Ainu tribe seeking reason for destruction of the spiritual forest as human progress slowly eat away resources of nature.

Personal Connection:

Online Ghibli is not a place I would go to for academic research, but I have decided to include this as a part of my research weblog of websites. This is because while I was researching on storytelling, I came across the Ainu tribe and I recall hearing that in Princess Mononoke, which is one of my favourite productions from Studio Ghibli as it tells a tale of environment preservation through mystical beast and an enchanted storyline. From this review and synopsis I have found a modernized representation of storytelling that has the ability to create deep, life-long memory.

Exploration #4 – Human Rhythm and Divine Rhythm in Ainu Epics

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

This article explores epics passed down generations in the Ainu tribe. Many of the Ainu communities has disappeared due to assimilation into the Japanese society as modernization expands and engulfed traditions. Like that faced by many other indigenous cultures around the world, assimilation began with compulsory schooling for people of the Ainu tribe. Since schools are taught entirely in Japanese, many of the Ainu descendants today do not recognize their ancestral language. Sadly, not all stories of the Ainu tribe are preserved and hence part of their culture has become extinct.

Personal Connection:

After reading about the connection between Princess Mononoke and the Ainu tribe, I decided that I wanted to learn more about the tribe itself, so I explore in the UBC library catalogue to see if I could find anything. This article was interesting and I learned that stories is not always told in prose, which I have grown accustom to. Ainu epics seem to take on a more poetic form. This is perhaps why the story survives orally for generations. It is sad though to know that assimilation has detached a lot of descendent of the Ainu tribe from their ancestral language to the point that some of the stories are long lost. At this point I wonder if modern media would be able to keep stories that survive to date alive for centuries to come, and what type of powerful lessons can we draw from them.

Exploration #5 – Animating Indigenous Knowledges in Science Education

Metallic, J., & Seiler, G. (2009). Animating indigenous knowledges in science education. Canadian Journal of Native Education,32(1), 115-128,130. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/755262758?accountid=14656

Animating Indigenous Knowledges in Science Education explores how indigenous knowledge can be used to inform science education and science curricula and pedagogy. The article is written in a way that includes conversation amongst the researchers, which, in its own way, demonstrates a more personalized and humanistic way of presenting an academic paper. This article does not promote a preference for indigenous science or western science, but a continuum where the two types of science bridges and form a more holistic classroom that could benefit students of all backgrounds.

Personal Connection:

Having been in a student and a tutor with a heavy preference of science for many years, I have come to realize that what I once thought was a neutral and logical subject contains “Western” bias. It is not as all encompassing as I once thought that it was. Science often dismiss the spirituality and more human side of life, and since I have learned of this bias, I wonder how indigenous storytelling can be incorporated into a science classroom. I have a similar question about this in regards to a corporate classroom as well. Although this article is not entirely about storytelling, but it  demonstrated that the practice of animating indigenous knowledge can be beneficial to both indigenous and non-indigenous students in the classroom by making the subject more humanistic, which is what I want to accomplish from learning about the power of storytelling.

#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/

#1:  What is “indigenous knowledge”?  How is it different?  In this article, Marie Battiste endeavours to define and characterize indigenous knowledge, and describes it as filling the gaps and balancing Eurocentric education.

Indigenous Knowledge and Pedagogy

#2:  After reading Bowers (2000) and Howe (1998), I became interested in what can be done to educate the indigenous learner without manipulating his/her culture.   This article by Aikenhead compares and contrasts the Aboriginal way of knowing science to the Eurocentric approach.   He ends the paper optimistically, citing that one day all people will combine their knowledge for a betterment of the “whole”.

http://www.usask.ca/education/people/aikenhead/firstnat.pdf

#3:  Continuing along the same theme, I decided to look more locally.   Based on this literature review, the education system in SK seems to acknowledge the necessity of traditional knowledge but has challenges in its implementation.

http://www.education.gov.sk.ca/ablkc-k-12-literature-review

#4:  After contemplating the whale hunt of the Makah in Marker (2006), I was struck by the concept of how, without emotion or spirituality, we can nurture the aboriginal learner through the process of healing.  This report from the Canadian Council on Learning speaks to that:

http://www.ccl-cca.ca/pdfs/ablkc/ResponsiveEduSys_en.pdf

#5:  In an attempt to contextualize the situation in SK, I was curious as to what advances or successes have been made in the inclusion of indigenous knowledge.  Of special note is the conceptual framework depicted on page 13.  It is a visual representation of the medicine wheel superimposed on a white birch tree.   I connect this illustration with the message from Dr. Lee Brown regarding emotional health.

http://www.education.gov.sk.ca/inspiring-success