Weblog #3: Entry #5

While the University of Victoria pays homage to the Coast Salish community of southern Vancouver Island, it does so in an indirect fashion which does not seem to place as much importance on the role FN cultures on the origins of the people or roots of the land. Based on the description of the First Peoples House, perhaps more attention and respect is directed to the local nation(s) through the artwork and structure itself. However, the text on the site does do a fantastic job of welcoming to all nations.

Site: http://web.uvic.ca/inaf/index.php/first-peoples-house

Weblog #3

The Indigenous Environmental Network

http://www.ienearth.org/

The IEN was started in the United States when a group of grassroots Indigenous peoples began addressing environmental issues, as well as economic problems. The IEN works towards helping Indigenous communities to protect what is most important to them (eg. Their sacred sites, land, water, natural resources and the health of people and living things), and keep their communities sustainable. They provide support and resources to Indigenous communities and youth throughout North America, but anyone could access their resources on the web. Their website site provides links to media resources, news articles as well as videos about how indigenous peoples are protecting the earth and using their knowledge of ecology to protect and sustain habitats.

Project Overview: Why a Native American Science Curriculum?

https://sites.google.com/site/indigenousscience/about-us/overview

The cultural heritage of most Native American and Alaska Native peoples incorporates considerable knowledge and experience of the natural world. Despite having these strong cultural traditions, the indigenous voice is rarely heard in the science curriculum. For example, Native Americans remain the most under‑represented minority in scientific disciplines overall, and in environmentally oriented sciences in particular. According to the research done here, there are currently less than twenty PhD level Native Americans in the natural and physical sciences in the United States and Canada. Native scientists would be able to bring new, fresh perspectives and insights to environmental science as well as resource management. This particular website has two PowerPoint presentations embedded, which can assist in the understanding of the importance of an indigenous perspective in the science curriculum.

Renee Gurneau – Foundations of Indigenous Thought (video)

This video was posted to YouTube on Apr 8, 2012 by ienearth, the YouTube channel for the Indigenous Environmental Network. Their YouTube channel has many videos which highlight the indigenous perspective on environmental issues. In this particular video Renee Gurneau highlights the importance of including the indigenous perspective when environmental issues are discussed. Renee, Previous President of the Red Lake Nation Tribal College, talks about Indigenous Knowledge and the importance of the reality of connections to Mother Earth. Indigenous science and Indigenous knowledge in the past has been discounted for generations – and the message in this video is that “now is the time to return to our original instructions”.

United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

http://social.un.org/index/IndigenousPeoples/ThematicIssues/Environment.aspx

The UB Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues is an advisory body to the Economic and Social Council. They discuss indigenous issues with respect to such issues as economic and social development, culture, the environment and health. The permanent forum has recently posted about the effects of climate change on indigenous peoples. They state that “Indigenous peoples are among the first to face the direct consequences of climate change, due to their dependence upon, and close relationship, with the environment and its resources”. Climate change speeds up and makes worse difficulties that indigenous communities are already facing. For example, indigenous peoples in Africa’s Kalahari Desert have been forced to live near government drilled sources of water and depend more and more on the government’s support for their survival. This is directly related to rising temperatures. Other environmental problems, such as sand dunes expanding and increased wind speeds have caused a loss in vegetation and have had a negative impact on the traditional cattle and goat farming practices that would otherwise take place there. The forum provides many rich resources and case studies to consult in terms of traditional ecological knowledge and environmental concerns of indigenous peoples worldwide.

ANKN Resources: Culturally-Based Curriculum Resources

http://ankn.uaf.edu/Resources/course/view.php?id=2

The curriculum resources included here have been selected to illustrate ways in which Indigenous and Western knowledge systems can be included in schools through a balanced, comprehensive curriculum framework that can be adapted to local school communities to suit their needs. The resources are intended to help teachers and students make the connection between the knowledge, skills and ways of knowing used to maintain a livelihood in the villages and on Native reserves, and the knowledge, skills and cultural standards for teaching and learning reflected in the school curriculum. They have a searchable database. Also, the two diagrams are useful. The first is the curriculum spiral chart with 12 different categories for lessons, such as cultural expression and applied technology. The next diagram is a representation of an iceberg with three different levels. The first is surface culture (eg. Fine arts and story telling), the middle layer of the iceberg is folk culture (eg. dancing, cooking, and games) and the deepest part of the water under the iceberg represents deep culture (eg. language, tools, genealogy). The diagram shows the different levels of culture which these lessons can delve into.

Module 3, post #5

In a 2009 article by Stephen Hui, Denise Williams of the Cowichan Tribes discusses the First Nations Education Steering Committee and the need for broadband – “It’s the infrastructure that’s going to strengthen the entire social fabric of the community,” and it can help broaden opportunities on the often remote and isolated reserves. “We have all these small communities and small, remote schools, and the issue is that we need math teachers, we need physics teachers, science teachers,” Williams is the Youth initiative officer for the steering committee. “Their scope of what’s possible is limited to where they are,” Williams said. “What technology can do in a school with the Internet is open the whole world.”

href=”http://www.straight.com/article-254208/first-nations-kids-need-net”>

Weblog  #3

As I begin to narrow down my research interest, I thought the best course of action would be to investigate what kind of programs are out there locally so that it can be more relevant to my teaching practice. I have added a few posts regarding groups in the lower mainland area that our school works closely with.

1) L.O.V.E.

The leave out violence group has base stations throughout the whole of Canada. It was initiated by a lady (Sheila Rudberg) who had lost her husband in what appeared to be a random act of violence. This group uses various forms of media such as photojournalism to address and empower youth to speak out against violence.

2) Strengthening the Circle Aboriginal Leadership Conference

This annual event hosts students from across the lower mainland along with support staff and brings together important figures from within the aboriginal community. During the 2-day event, students participate in a variety of activities intended to build upon leadership and communication skills.

3) Pacific Cinematheque

This organization is involved in all aspects of video production. They have a 4 day digital bootcamp program where they go to schools and let them use their professional movie making equipment. Students are allowed to take on various tasks such as script writing, casting, editing, etc. The ultimate goal being the production of a mini-movie ready for publishing and entry into contests across North America.

4) First Nations Films

This website provides a catalogue of movies created by first nations communities across Canada. They are open to educators and span a wide range of topics such as residential schooling and politics about life on the reserve. These documentaries have been created by first nations people for first nations people. They range in price from $100-$150 each but showcase some of the finest works over the past decade.

5) CBC – Aboriginal

This link highlights pertinent issues facing aboriginal communities across Canada. It contains links to many issues that face aboriginal communities and highlights a lot of the topics we have been deconstructing in our cohort.  There is also an archive section in which there is a documentary on the “fight for native rights.” It is well worth a quick browse and appeals to many different research interests.

Weblog #3: Entry #4

Seems like Royal Roads University (RRU) in Colwood, BC just 20 min Northwest of Victoria, has taken a leading role in recognizing the realities of land claims and title as it relates to the land surrounding the city. More specifically, RRU through it’s website recognizes its history beyond the ownership of the land by 18^th century coal barons and mentions the Coast Salish as the original residents. The school then goes on to give thanks to the Coast Salish people for sharing their traditions and teachings with the university. The fact that the Indigenous Relations page is a mere two links away from the home page highlights the importance of FN culture in the Western Communities and RRU has done a good job in keeping this relationship at the forefront rather than burying it within obscure, difficult to find links on their website.

I wonder how UVic’s and Camosun College’s sites deal with the issue of giving land recognition and thanks to local FN groups?

Site: http://www.royalroads.ca/about/indigenous-relations

Entry #1:  As I began to grapple with the notion of decolonization and what that means to me and to my learners, I came across this Powerpoint by Dr. Marie Battiste of the University of Saskatchewan.  She outlines a number of recommendations for instructors on how to gain better perspective on decolonization.  Specifically, she recommends accepting diversity as the norm; while recognizing the uniqueness of the aboriginal learning process in gaining outcomes from place.  She asserts that relational work with Elders and community is of utmost importance.  She asks of instructors to approach learners by sharing your own stories, not judging or nullifying another’s story.

A quote I found of particular interest was from Ningwakwe George, “We have the emotional drop-out from the institutions before the physical drop-out; we need to dismantle fears if we are to engage spirit; fulfill their needs, not ours, but our learners’ needs.”  This is reminiscent of the video we watched of Dr. Lee Brown in Module 1 about teaching for the well-being of the whole learner.  It also leads me to critically reflect on my practice – am I doing enough to engage learner spirit?

Another striking quote was from R. v. Côté, ([1996] 3 S.C.R. 139), “Where there is an Aboriginal right, there is a corresponding right to teach that right.”  Perhaps the right to teach is more essential to recognize and acknowledge the crimes of trauma and oppression that have occurred.

http://www.usask.ca/education/people/battistem/presentations/aboriginal-pedagogy.pptx

Entry #2:   My second episode of “googling” led me to the article:  “Decolonizing Diaspora:  Whose Traditional Land are We On?” by Celia Haig-Brown of York University.   From the article, I gather that she is a University Professor within the Faculty of Education.  She poses opportunities for deeper understanding and reflection as she works towards decolonization of our country and our lives.

She begins by posing the question to her class, “Whose traditional land are you on?”   In this way, she acknowledges the rich history of this land and Aboriginal people.  She delves deep into the colonization experience the complex histories with schools.  She affirms that these students become better prepared to cope with the complexities of a diverse classroom.

She speaks of using “decolonizing autobiographies” in her classroom in which she asks her students to consider their relationship with the land and the original people who lived on it.  She tells her own narrative as a “first step in the long journey of possibility for decolonizing” (p. 11).  I personally feel that I could also share my narrative and connect my history with the land and the original people who lived there.  This would begin the dialogue with my learners about their stories and their connections.

http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/cpi/article/viewFile/7118/5827

Entry #3:  Further along on my cyber-journey and contending with the issues around decolonization and education, I came across this document about a project in the Toronto District School Board.   In the Executive Summary (p. v), they succinctly summarize the problem, “institutions of formal schooling…are failing to provide Aboriginal students with the educational environment and experiences they require to achieve success.”

What was most striking to me were the student profiles on pages 31 – 33, in which the learners shared their stories and their experiences with schooling, before and after.  Their themes ring true as those presented to us in the class materials:   learners need to feel a connection with place and identity; they need to be approached holistically, they need to trust their surroundings, and they need to be nurtured to develop confidence in their abilities and sense of worthiness.

http://www.tdsb.on.ca/wwwdocuments/programs/aboriginal_voices/docs/Decolonizing%20Our%20Schools%203.pdf

Entry #4:   As I was having a rather animated discussion with a coworker regarding the concept of decolonization and aboriginal rights, I was reminded of that Innu community that had been featured in the news whose young people were addicted to sniffing gas.  I decided to revisit the story and found it here:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/aboriginals/sheshatshiu.html

When I first heard this newscast, I didn’t ask the important question, “why?”  I just focused on the tragedy of the lost souls.  If you read further down the page, the Innu speak of being “severely demoralized” by colonization and now turn to drink and self-destruction.  They feel “powerless” to prevent the destruction of the land and their culture.

Following this “walk down memory lane”, I decided to bring this story up to date if I could.   I found that a money settlement had been reached, but it seems that the money is not reaching those who really need it.  The news article tells of a band official that had resigned due to corruption within the band council.  It seems, as well, that the chief has been accused of misappropriating funds. No happy ending here, at least not for a while longer.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/07/24/sheshatshiu-innu-director-michael-rossignol-resigns-in-disgust-over-questionable-band-funding/

Entry #5:  What gives?  A coworker sent me this link for a quiz in honour of Remembrance Day and testing our recall of Canadian history.  (By the way, take note of the spelling of the word remembrance in the link 🙂 )

http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/v5/content/features/quiz/remeberanceday07/

As I proceeded through the 20 questions, I was shocked to note that there weren’t any referring to indigenous peoples and their role in the history of Canada, not to mention their service to Canada in the military, although a monument has been erected in their honour.  The Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson was quoted to have said, “The thousands of miles that aboriginal soldiers travelled over the course of more than two centuries to help defend this country make up a thousand memories, so many of which have been ignored or lost.  Yet these are the details of our history which we must remember, which we must commemorate.”

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/aboriginals/aboriginals-military.html

Entry 1

Rural Poverty Portal – IFAD

This resource provides some valuable ideas about how to encourage an Indigenous voice within the discussion about poverty, development and other major world issues. Also a central point is that Indigenous groups often have an “information gap” that media can fill. This article or commentary, put out by IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development), also provides details on international forums for Indigenous knowledge.

http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org/topic/voice/tags/indigenous_peoples/ipday

Entry 2

International Labour Organization – Social Media Gives Voice to Indigenous Communities

This website provides information on how social media is supporting the spread of international and local Indigenous issues. It suggests combining community radio and social media to reach the most people, and provides links to documents on Indigenous rights and examples of social media.

http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/features/WCMS_186824/lang–en/index.htm

Entry 3

Indigenous Media Action

The project coordinator for this site is a Dine’ man who has been a media activist for 10 years. The site is a place to combine the efforts of different Indigenous groups with respect to issues they are facing. It is a very politically-minded site and has excellent resources on current issues for a variety of Indigenous communities. In addition to articles and other resources the site also allows for a variety of content from users. For my specific research it also provides much information on current environmental initiatives and “Calls to Action”.

http://www.indigenousaction.org/

Entry 4

Outta Your Backpack Media

A Indigenous youth empowerment site that promotes media justice. Youth can apply for a “backpack”, which provides them with a camera and tools to encourage the sharing of stories, situations and issues within their own lives and communities. There are additional resources on the site for interested youth and videos of completed projects. It is a great example of promoting Indigenous youth community building and identity through media.

http://oybm.org/

Entry 5

Embedded Aesthetics: Creating a Discursive Space for Indigenous Media

This article by Ginsburg (1994) discusses Australian Aboriginal media and how diverse it is in purpose, production and use. An important consideration presented in the article is the difference between how Aboriginal and non-Aboriginals view the work and what value and level of credibility they assign to it. First Nations Film and Video Makers World Alliance is mentioned in this article and may be a good place for future research regarding my topic.

https://files.nyu.edu/fg4/public/pdfs/Ginsburg%20-%20Embedded%20Aesthetics%20Creating%20a%20Discursive%20Space%20for%20Indigenous%20Media.pdf

Exploration #11 – Sacred Healing Stories Told at the End of Life

Tuck, I., Johnson, S.C., Kuznetsoya, M.I., McCrocklin, C., Baxter, M., Bennington, L.K. (2012).Sacred Healing Stories Told at the End of Life. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 30(2), 69 – 80.

This article explored the use of storytelling and its healing properties to patients suffering from cancer. The study indicates presence, active listening, contact or noncontact touch in  storytelling have a potential positive effect on the wellbeing of suffering patients, through building stronger emotional support through connectedness with their shared experiences.

Personal Connections: 

I think this article connects with what I have learned from this module with regards to stories being a great medium to convey emotions. This is an important part of life that I have found to be missing from education. Textbooks often do exceptionally well on delivering logical, sequential content, but completely lack the flexibility to individual exploration and interpretation with integration of the more human side of learning, which involved inner connection with the subject. The finding from this article, although not strong enough to say stories definitely has a healing effect, I do not think that it would be a disadvantage for us to include more in what we do.Personal Connections

Exploration #12 – Vancouver Society of Storytelling

http://www.vancouverstorytelling.org

The Vancouver Society of Storytelling is a member of the National Storytelling association. They support the art of storytelling through hosting workshops and monthly events. Due to the nature of the population in British Columbia, the Vancouver Society of Storytelling is also support storytelling in order to maintain cultural diversity. They provide toolkits to educators and students to help them engage in the art of storytelling.

Personal Connections:

I have not yet examined a storytelling society in my research that is local, so finding this website was definitely an exciting experience! As with the previous storytelling society explored, this one goes hand in hand with education. The fact that storytelling society is generally associated with the field of education, shows the important role stories play in teaching and learning. Interestingly, when I look back to my childhood, stories were often the lessons I remember most, aside from any sort of hands-on experience. In accordance, I have little memory of the years of school that I had from grade 1 to grade 4, where stories were not often use in the classroom. However, I do remember all the home teaching and moral of the stories told by my mother and my spiritual leader. As an instructor, I wonder how we could bring this traditional and holistic form of learning (back) into our classroom. I am curious to find out more about the toolkit the Vancouver Society of Storytelling has to offer.

Exploration #13 – Power of Stories

Terrence, L. G. (2006). Power of stories. The Journal for Quality and Participation, 29(1), 4-8.

Terrence outlined the power of stories in a corporate environment. The article promotes the use of storytelling would benefit both managers and their teams. Nine key functions of stories were outlined, they include:

• Stories empower a speaker.
• Stories create an environment.
• Stories bind and bond individuals.
• Stories engage our minds in active listening.
• Stories negotiate differences.
• Stories encode information.
• Stories are tools for thinking.
• Stories serve as weapons.
• Stories bring about healing.

The nine functions not only brings with it benefit to the team, but it could also be used to help heal a team that has gone under stress and pain from conflict. Stories allow sharing of experiences, which is an important factor in team building.

Personal Connections:

As an instructor in a corporation, I always wonder if there is a motivation for leaders to see the importance of the stories I tell in my classroom. Often, storytelling is seen as something one would do if time permits. However, this article summarizes the effectiveness of storytelling even outside of the education department. I still remember when I was selecting the topic of research for this course. I was having quite a bit of conflicted feelings not being able to bring direct value to my team as I did not see storytelling as a corporately appropriate topic. Yet, this article contains a good deal of reasons to include storytelling from a management point of view that has changed my view of my research.

Exploration #14 – Scheherazade’s Secret: The Power of Stories and the Desire to Learn

Willis, P. (2011). Scheherazade’s Secret: The Power of Stories and the Desire to Learn. Australian Journal of Adult Learning, 51, 110 – 122.

This paper presents how stories can help engage the minds and heart of a learner, rather than how stories can transfer information. The author outlined the four modalities of learning which can be supported by stories: ‘embodied sensations and feelings’, ‘imaginal’, ‘conceptual analysis and critique’, and ‘reflective action’. Willis argues that stories is a holistic view of approaching human pedagogy, as it does not force learning upon learner, instead, it provokes self reflection and brings about self-initiated actions.

Personal Connections:

I really enjoy reading this paper as the paper was written in a storytelling manner, which shows me directly engaging power of storytelling. Although I already view storytelling as a great way to deliver learning, I have not actually reviewed how stories can support human pedagogy directly. The way Willis presents his view connected with my view of education as a constructive process rather than a single-direction instructive process. The paper gives me much inspiration with regards to how I could structure my own research paper for this term.

Exploration #15 – Collaboration in Animation: Working Together to Empower Indigenous Youth

Davenport, M.G., & Gunn, K. (2009). Collaboration in Animation: Working Together to Empower Indigenous Youth. Art Education, 62(5), 6-12.

This article documents the experience Davenport and Gunn shared while they taught animation to indigenous youth in Mexico. The workshop hosted was a part of an effort in encouraging indigenous youth to value their tradition and culture, while developing skills that could help them voice their culture to the rest of the world. Davenport and Gunn expressed that they have changed their perspective as the program progressed. They mentioned that one of the most important skill in making this workshop work is actively listening to one another and be flexible to changes.

Personal Connections:

My exploration through this article was purely out of curiosity of how non-indigenous teachers could help indigenous students in voicing themselves to the world, as the production of Fraser River Journey video has intrigued me in wanting to find out how this collaboration works. I enjoyed reading through the two authors’ journey in Mexico, however, I wish there were some voices of the children included in this study. I guess this will form the more mainstream perspective of my research and I will continue to hunt for indigenous perspective in my next chapter of research!

1st Post

While doing research for my final paper I spoke with Outward Bound Program director, Julian Norris who, in collaboration with a high school teacher Jeff Horvath from Canmore Collegiate Highschool, has created a specialized program for Indigenous youth from the Nakoda tribe that has run now for 3 consecutive years and is designed in part to help increase the graduation rates among the Nakoda students at the school. The outdoor program has a philosophy that incorporates indigenous leaders and elders but also roots itself in a Framework created by the Search Institute, a youth development initiative. This comprehensive website, though commercially driven, describes their philosophy within a developmental framework based on building positive relationships and caring communities.

2nd Post

This is a website for a wilderness school run out of Hesquiaht, which is about an hour and a half boat ride from Tofino, BC. The program called Hooksum Outdoor School is run by a couple, Karen and Steve Charlson of the Hesquiaht First Nation. They offer programs for schoolchildren and adults with a philosophy based on a strong connection to the land. In an email with the co founder Karen Charlson she explained the following: “our primary aim has always been to  encourage/facilitate a person’s connection to the natural world.  It  is a connection that is the foundation of our daily lives and one that  is prominent in daily living.  Through activities and learning at  Hooksum, we hope to share that sense of connection with others.”  The site includes description of their programs, their philosophies and writings by schoolchildren and other relevant material.

3rd Post

I live in North Vancouver so the Squamish and the Tsleil-Waututh Nation are the groups who have lived here before my family came. Many of the Indigenous students I have taught have come from the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. Their website is a community portal which is used for all major aspect pertaining to their community including a description of their Band School and its philosophy.

4th post

My feeling is that we need to know what is going on in our own educational community. The UBC Aboriginal Portal includes support for students, instructors course navigation but for our purposes it includes teacher, community and faculty research which offers unique perspectives on aboriginal education. There is also a First Nations House of Learning (FNHL) tab which is a great support site for Indigenous Education. The FNH publishes a monthly newsletter “The Talking Stick” which provides documentation of events with relevant resources included.

5th Post

I have included this site in my research weblog, the report from The National Panel on First Nations Elementary and Secondary Education which has spent 19 months traveling the country at the request of the Federal Government and the AFN to assess the needs of First Nations Education on reserves. The panel has recommended that the Federal governments create a First Nations Education Act by 2014 which has created a great deal of controversy as First Nations are not interested in legislation. Beyond the controversy, the website includes the panel’s mandate, information on the authors, news links, a wide variety of First Nations leaders who were consulted, and of course the report itself.

1^st Post: The Postmodern Condition: A Report On Knowledge

Lyotard outlines the historic grand narratives of the great nations and how these myths of perfection, liberation and unity of all knowledges has devalued and marginalized knowledges that have traditionally lied outside these grand unifying narratives. But he perceives that a new age is dawning in our postmodern world in which technology and dissolution of boundaries are enabling new forms of interaction and communication of ideas. No longer do we rely on state, church or institutions for knowledge, but rather technology and cybernetics are creating greater skepticism of these traditional legitimization myths of knowledge. And cybernetics is allowing new interactions to form in which knowledges can be nurtured in small institutions or patches. These patches provide safe places for people to share, explore and evolve specific world views and knowledges separate from the sanctions of state and “expert”. In addition, it also allows people to belong to multiple patches in which knowledges can be shared and new ideas can evolve from interactions between these world views. Although Lyotard is an optimist, he does warn that the internet is not all rosy and there are issues such as copyright law, ownership, and reductionism in the quest for optimization (idea of borrowing certain ideas out of context in the effort to evolve towards ONE ultimate optimized unifying ideal). Lyotard`s optimism and pessimism for the future of our postmodern world informs the evolution of Indigenous peoples interactions in cybernetic space and their creation of virtual communities and utilization of interfaces. The internet provides opportunities for Indigenous people to legitimize and share their knowledges within a public sphere, thereby shedding the mantle of the marginalized, however, it also contains the risk that knowledges will be stolen and perverted in the pursuit of one unifying ideal for optimization.

2^nd Post: Globalism, Primitive Accumulation and Nishnawbe-Aski Territory: The Strategic Denial of Place-Based Community

In this article, Wendy Russel, from Huron University College, studied the forty-five individual First Nation settlements in the Nishnawbe-Aski Territory of Northern Ontario, Canada. She found that although isolated from transportation networks, it has increasing economic and political links to government, companies and media. This provides unique challenges to these “place-based” communities who have existed in relative autonomy from outside interference up until now. But with the modern advancements in informational technology and globalization, new power struggles are evolving that reflect residual colonization directives. Traditional claims to territory are in competition with other “communities” claims such as resource companies. With the rise of non-placed based virtual communities, including environmental groups, mining companies and international Indigenous solidarity organizations, there results a new power struggle for control over people and territory. These communities are constantly evolving and complete for legitimacy with each other, often challenging the rights or autonomy of the people actually living on the land. Because of this continued threat of colonization of Indigenous people due to globalization and evolving definition of community, a central role of her research is to investigate how people excluded from virtual community both sustain and re-embed community within place.

^3rd Post: Twentieth-century Transformations of East Cree Spirituality and Autonomy

Richard Preston’s research considers what happens to Indigenous people that move from place-based territories, in which they have practiced land-based spirituality, into towns. Of particular interest to me, was his reference to the political autonomy of the Cree. Political autonomy, as practiced by nation states, includes negotiation of collective distinctiveness, a process that leaves little room for negotiation and authentic identity of individuals. But this political autonomy also gives legitimacy and boundary separation enabling the strong pursuit of rights and autonomy as a unified group. However, if this political sense of autonomy becomes part of the “formation and nurturing” of community, it risks excluding or alienating community members that do not fit within this definition of collective distinctiveness.

“The type of autonomy that is congenial to individuals, or more accurately, to personal communities, is based on inclusion rather than exclusion. In families, or in marriages, or in larger personal communities, autonomy of the type that evidences a shared ethos based on sustained responsible, respectful decisions and actions is successful, where exclusionary and power seeking autonomy is destructive. “

4^th Post: A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century

There are two reasons why I have included this article in my posts: Donna Haraway presents a warning about autonomy and distinctiveness within communities which I plan to include in my final project, and another one of my peers indicated a love for her and her teachings in one of the posts in which I mentioned her regarding Indigenous issues.

Although a feminist theoretical document, the feminist word throughout the document can be removed and reinserted with the word marginalized or Indigenous. Ultimately, her article is a manifesto for the marginalized in which political distinctiveness has led to some disastrous consequences. She declared that the way in which we assert rights and delineate communities can have profound effects on its members often alienating small patches within communities and delegitimatizing individuals. She points out that humans are often forced to live in systems of standardization that they don`t fit, but have to live with. For instance, black women have often been denied a voice in the black movement and in the women`s movement. The black movement is controlled and defined by black men and the women`s movement is defined by white affluent women leaving black women without a voice. Similarly, many communities within different Indigenous territories are all lumped in together and are defined by the powerful or the majority, leaving small collectives or individuals, on the boundaries, alienated and excluded. This is similar to the colonization process that was experienced by the Indigenous as the other. And it is this process of delineation and declaration of boundaries, required by the mainstreamers to acquire autonomy, rights and power, that further colonize their own subset of marginalized individuals. The abused run the risk of becoming the abusers in the pursuit of power and self-determination as a group. As Indigenous people become part of a globalized world in which communities become virtual rather than place-based, these definitions and boundaries may become more or less pronounced depending on socio-political circumstances, but also on choices made by the communities themselves. Through the awareness of the past and future pitfalls, Indigenous people may be in a better place to make these crucial decisions about their community`s evolution.

5^th post: Is It Possible To Have Information Technology That Reflects Indigenous Consciousness?

In this 2007 article, the participants at the Chaco Canyon encampment, including the Indigenous Polynesian, Lakota, Navajo, Cherokee, Tuscarora, Japanese-American and Euro-American scholars, computer scientists, artists and educators share their trans-cultural view of technology and answer the question: Is it possible to develop Information Technology that reflects Indigenous Consciousness? In this investigation, some of the questions they looked at included:

• “What is Indigenous consciousness?”
• “What are the characteristics distinct to Indigenous technologies?”
• “How do different aspects of information technology integrate into conscious, animate systems, which support the community?”
• “What is an appropriate interface with digital technology?”

For thousands of years, Indigenous people have adapted and evolved to their environment, and like the past, they will continue to evolve as they explore the “potentiality of all things before we begin to put limits on it.” For instance, technologies that fit within the Indigenous consciousness include the Hakamana Maori Keyboard System, that respects the cultural and language needs of Indigenous peoples or “small collectives” by using intuitive keys made of paua shells (meaningful to the Maori)

Appropriate interfaces with digital technologies would include the digital brush system that could interact with Indigenous artifacts and provide a new digital dimension to “knowledge holding”.

Pou Kapua , the cloud pillar in Auckland, New Zealand holds the spirits and stories of the Maori people.

I/O Brush – http://web.media.mit.edu/~kimiko/iobrush/

Other appropriate interfaces include those that incorporate the traditions of oral storytelling and create immersive environments and multisensory experiences such as immersive environments.

Ashes and Snow (www.ashesandsnow.com) creates an immersive environment that incorporates the movement of the mouse on the screen enabling a melding the physical and intuitive senses creating a holistic experience.

Von Thater-Braan, R. (2007). Is it possible to have Information Technology that reflects Indigenous Consciousness? Retrieved from http://silverbuffalo.org/IT4IndigenousConsciousness.pdf