Category Archives: Module 1

Module 2:2 – Culturally Responsive Guidelines for Alaska Public Libraries

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http://akla.org/publications/culturally-responsive-guidelines-for-alaska-public-libraries/

These guidelines published on a one-page website are recommendations for improving public libraries services and collections to make them more relevant and responsive to indigenous Alaskans. It groups the recommendations into four categories: library environment, services and programs, collections, and library staff.

 

Many recommendations talk about moving the library beyond its walls by engaging with community events, external facilities, and representatives of the community, and even by collecting library materials that fall outside the realm of mainstream publishing. It is a useful summary that reminds us of things that should seem obvious (collect materials in the languages spoken by your community) and inspires us to achieve more in depth and meaningful connections with the different cultures we serve.

Module 1:5 – INTERculture

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INTERculture is a journal published from 1968 to 2011 by the Intercultural Institute of Montreal (IIM). I was led to it by the Wikipedia entry of Frederique Apffel-Marglin, who herself is mentioned in our class reading “Coyote and Raven Put the Digital in Technology.” Apffel-Marglin, an anthropologist, was one of the editors of the journal.

The journal defines intercultural as a way of “approaching reality and human living in light of the diverse cultural traditions of today, and not solely in the terms of modern culture.” Articles cover intercultural issues in many aspects of societies, economies and environments.

Many of the articles are available as fulltext PDFs  on the INTERculture site (hosted by the IIM). Specifically, there is a list of eighteen articles about Interculturalism and Native Peoples, including titles such as “The Shaman and the Ecologist” and “Dissolving Inuit Society through Education and Money.”

Module 1:4 – Native American “Sacred Texts”

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Native American Stories on Sacred-Texts.com

As oral societies, the aboriginal peoples of Canada and the U.S. do not have “sacred texts” – an equivalent to the Bible or the Koran, whose word order has been fixed for centuries. Their stories and myths continually change, slightly or greatly, with the teller and the circumstances and the place, as oral stories do. However, the website Sacred-texts.com has compiled a large collection of stories and myths, frozen at a certain time and place, mainly transcribed by non-native ethnographers or historians in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The website seems to be a one man project with good intentions, and I am inclined to trust it. All excerpts are documented and often accompanied with some useful context, e.g. “The study of Native Americans by anthropologists has had its share of bad science and ethical problems.” There is a section for Inuit stories, and a collection of Haida songs is included in the Northwestern Indian section (the English translations of the cradle and mourning songs are lovely). As a historical source for myths, stories and songs, it does a good job.

 

Module 1 – Post 5 – Eco Literate Law

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EcoLiterate Law is a website by Robert Hershey, a professor at the University of Arizona teaching in Law and American Indian Studies Faculties and Director of Clinical Education for the Indigenous Peoples Law & Policy Program. This website is created as a course based on an article he wrote titled Globalization and the Transformation of Cultures and Humanity: A Curriculum and Toolkit for the Efflorescence of Ecological Literacy in Legal and Business School Education. This paper includes a section called The Impact of Digital Technology on Indigenous Peoples which I thought would be very relevant to this course.

Module 1 – Post 4 – Library and Archives Canada

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Library and Archives Canada website contains historical publications, images, sound and video recordings, and other electronic documents.  I came across this site while researching traditional First Nations music. The page I found is an archived website titled “ARCHIVED-Aboriginal Sound Recordings: Music and Song“. It includes information on different types of Aboriginal music and links to listen to actual historical recordings of the music.  On this page there are also links to music from various indigenous peoples, history, genres, educational resources, and others.

 

Module 1 – Post 3 – Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards

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The Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards is an awards program broadcast on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. The winners are chosen by fans and stakeholders of the music.  This website includes information on all of the musicians who were nominated for an award.  I found it a great resource for discovering indigenous performers.

 

Module 1:3 – Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development

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The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development

While looking at some information online the about B.C. Treaty negotiations, I came across a reference to The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development. Active since 1987, the project looks at American Indian communities across the U.S. , comparing them to reach evidence-based conclusions about what works in terms of social and economic well-being.

They have distilled the key research findings into the following catch phrases:

  • Sovereignty matters
  • Institutions matter
  • Culture matters
  • Leadership matters

More than twenty years of study by Harvard University professors, and I think the key finding is the one at the top of the list (and the one that is most boldly featured on the HPAID home page), “Sovereignty Matters“:

When Native nations make their own decisions about what development approaches to take, they consistently out-perform external decision makers on matters as diverse as governmental form, natural resource management, economic development, health care, and social service provision.

The project has found that although sovereignty in itself in not sufficient to ensure that native communities thrive culturally, socially, and economically, it is a necessary element. It must be present for everything else to happen.

Although I’m sure this lesson has been learned many times before, it provides strong support for those who insist on aboriginal control of education in aboriginal communities in Canada.

Module 1 – Post 2 – Turtle Island Native Network

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Turtle Island Native Network is a site with links to “First Nations, Aboriginal, Native/Indigenous Peoples News and Information”. I came across this site while searching for contemporary indigenous music, which is included on the “Culture” page. Also included are video clips of arts presentations such as basketry, totem pole raisings, storytelling, dancing and other cultural aspects of indigenous peoples. The music section includes links to youtube videos and websites by indigenous musicians from all over North America.

Module 1 – Post 1 – First Story

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“First Story” is a 30 minute current affairs program on CTV.  It airs on Sundays at 5pm and covers a variety of current affairs that relate to indigenous peoples.  This is a web page on the CTV BC site that provides links to shows from the last few seasons. I chose to use this site as an introduction to how indigenous culture is viewed and portrayed in pop culture. The production of this show is quite slick with a contemporary, youthful vibe.

Module 1/post 5 Neutrality and Objectivity of Tackling the First Nations Issue

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One of the sources that I tackled in one of my previous courses was a book written by David Greenall. The  book was published by the government of Canada. It contains very neutral account of the attempts of keeping aboriginal people connected and updated technologically.  Greenall didn’t talk about the achievements in this field only. He also tackled the challenging factors that were hurdles in front of the aboriginal learners and western designers .  Greenall warned of the possibility of undermining a lot of patriarchal layers in the First Nations society. These layers constitute the core of the aboriginal community. I personally use David Greeall’s book as a great supplementary source to the very informative Canadian government .  Since it is a government publication, it is accessible by anyone. I recommend reading this book(report).

Aboriginal Digital Opportunities : Addressing Aboriginal Learning Needs Through the Use of Learning Technologies  by David Greenall -2001

Another neutral  and informative source is a state site:

http://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1307460755710/1307460872523

A great source about the history of the aboriginal people and how things have changed in their life.