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

I stumbled across this website when I was researching the commodification of totem poles   On further exploration, I realized this UBC website is an excellent resource for finding information on Indigenous stereotypes and Indigenous people.  Particularly, the article Aboriginal Identity and the Classroom discusses the historical and current issues indigenous people have faced in the Canadian education system.  The article also highlights stereotypes Aboriginal students face and the importance Aboriginal identity plays in education.  The writer presents a historical context for teachers wishing to understand Aboriginal educational experiences and their students’ perspective.  This article is part of the larger What I Learned in Class Today: Aboriginal Issues in the Classroom Project. which highlights political, cultural and identity issues faced by Aboriginal students in the classroom.

For my weblog this module I started looking at different aspects of Indigenous identity in relation to ecological issues.

The Six Faces of Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Challenges and Opportunities for Canadian Co-Management Arrangements

This website is about natural resource co-management. It discusses First Nation involvement in making decisisons and incorporating the values and worldviews of First Nation’s groups. Also discussed is the idea that there are 6 faces of TEK that need to be considered when negotiating co-management arrangements.

First Nations Land Rights and Environmentalism in British Columbia

This is a very different sort of website than the others I came across. The website opens with “We were never conquered and we have never surrendered the right to govern or be stewards of our traditional territories.” The website also states “Disclaimer: strategies of dispossession of First Nations have included representing them in degrading ways. This website promotes a re-iconization of some of these illustrations by placing them in a new context to serve indigenous peoples.” The author of the website is a German woman, Dr. Karen Wonders and the site is very political in nature and continues on with the very clear standpoint taken on the first page. There are links to the websites of different First Nations groups as well as all kinds of lectures, symposiums, exhibitions, articles and media that relate to these topics.

LASA 2003 Meeting Article

The focus in this article from the Latin American Studies Association is on Indigenous people in Columbia. The author looks at how “representations of indigenous peoples have changed from ‘the savage colonial subject’ to ‘the political-ecological agent.'” This is a point that I think is important with respect to our discussions this module and also when I am doing my research and writing my paper. Even positive steretypes must be examined. In addition, the political aspect of environmental issues and resource management is an important consideration. The main website of LASA provides links to a variety of articles, some of which involve Indigenous issues.

First Nations Environmental Network

Incorporating traditional values, this network of individuals and groups encourages and supports others who are trying to protect traiditonally important areas. There is an area where members can post news updates and links and a link to the forum Turning Point,which offers up a place for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal individuals to egnage in discourse. Even though the site does not appear to have been active since 2009/2010, the way the site, and particularly the forum, is set up and the guiding principles are interesting and useful when considering how Indigenous communities could network and share their experiences.

Assembly of First Nations: Environmental Stewardship

This is a fantastic resource with respect to First Nations’ environmental conerns and current stewardship examples. The areas of Earth, Air, Water and Fire each have a variety of link to videos, factsheets, First Nations funding, articles and other resources to do with environmental stewardship within an Aboriginal context.