Category Archives: Module 3

Entry 11 : Remembering an Aboriginal war hero

I felt it was an appropriate time, during Remembrance, to show how technology, and the media, can be used to honour Aboriginal accomplishment. Too often, great people are forgotten or not recognized, due to the colour of their skin or their ethnical background. (I am not saying this is the case with Tommy Prince). But I’m certain there are many other native heros that have not be recognized.

I have shown the Canadian Military Heritage minutes previously to my students, with discussions on where soldiers originate. Here is the vignette on Tommy Prince. I have just found a second Youtube video, Tommy Prince: Canadian Hero at War, which offers more infrmation on Tommy Prince’s exploits. Together they make a great discussion and informational piece.

Module 3 Post #3

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This paper is from the Aboriginal Healing Foundation and deals with resiliency and the legacy of the residential school system. It provides sections pertaining to the distinct impacts on individuals, families and communities – recognising the atrocities inflicted on aboriginals with these forced school systems but also discussing healing and moving forward.

Aboriginal People, Resilience and the Residential School Legacy

Module 3 Post #2

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A paper written by Cheryle Partridge detailing the intergenerational impact of residential schools and her own experiences and the experiences of her family. Cheryle discusses what aboriginal education was like before the residential schools, what it was like during, and what she hopes it will continue as for generations to come.

Residential Schools: The Intergenerational Impacts on Aboriginal Peoples

Module 3 Post #1 Residential Schools and Decolonization

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Looking more into the effects on culture from the impact of residential schools (in general), there are a number of good resources to consider. This article from the Canadian Journal of Law and Society, titled Introduction: Residential Schools and Decolonization, provides a good introduction (as you would expect from the title) to many of the issues that had such a direct impact on the culture of First Nations children.

Canadian Journal of Law and Society
Volume 27, Number 1, 2012

Module 3 Weblog – Post #5 – Promoting Indigenous Media Arts

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After viewing the numerous short films and documentaries offered in Module 3, and in my continuing research to understand the role of digital media in Indigenous culture and education, I have been seeking out resources having to do film making and new media creation. One such source of these resources that I have recently discovered is the National Indigenous Media Arts Coalition (NIMAC). NIMAC is the Indigenous branch of the Independent Media Arts Alliance (IMAA).

NIMAC promotes and advocates for the work of Indigenous media artists and arts organizations. The coalition has a variety of initiatives including advocacy, the commissioning of works, artistic residencies and the maintenance of resources for Indigenous media artists on the NIMAC website. Two very helpful sections of the NIMAC website are the Training and Education page and the Tool Kits. These two areas of the site provide a very thorough idea of the organizations and programs across the country that support the development of new media materials by and for Indigenous people.

Module 3 Weblog – Post #4 – Aboriginal Multimedia

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The Aboriginal Multi-Media Society (AMMSA) was founded in 1983 and states, as part of its mission that it is “…dedicated to providing objective, mature and balanced coverage of news, information and entertainment relevant to Aboriginal issues and peoples while maintaining profound respect for the values, principles and traditions of Aboriginal people. “(History and Mission page, retrieved 03/11/13).

By 1993 society’s work has resulted in the creation of Windspeaker magazine, Canada’s sole national aboriginal news publication. The site offers links to information regarding AMMSA’s regional publications for at least four provinces and one territory – BC/Yukon, Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan. In addition to the news publications, the site also provides links to CFWE, an Alberta based fm radio broadcaster.

Finally, the site includes a Daily blog and Community Access Links along with numerous “in depth” resources on current issues of particular relevance such as IdleNoMore, Missing and Murdered Women, and Pipelines and Tankers. These areas of the site are rich sources of information and perspectives on the lives of Aboriginal people in Canada, their contributions to their communities and the challenges that they continue to face with respect to self-governance, their cultures, their lands and their resources. While these materials are not stories in the traditional sense of narrative, they nonetheless help to fill in important gaps in the story of our country that many Canadians have been told over the years.

Module 3 Weblog – Post #3 – Digital Expressions of Identity

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In one our earliest readings for the course, we learned from Faye Ginsburg of the events leading to the founding of Canada’s Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN). One of the web sites affiliated with APTN, is Digital Drum. This site calls itself “…..an online gathering place for the young Aboriginal person” (About page, retrieved 03/11/13).

On the site, contributors can post and share digital media as a means of inspiration and expressing identity. The categories on which contributors can post are numerous and include everything from #IdleNoMore to the arts, food and travel, culture, politics and science and technology. What is interesting about the posts on the site is the mix of links that relate directly to traditional aboriginal culture and those that address a wide range of contemporary issues. Some, but not all posts on the site include commentary. Selfishly, I wish that more of the posts did include commentary in order to provide some insight into what it was about each piece of media that resonated most with the contributor and how the media relates to their personal identity.

Module 3 Weblog – Post #2 – Native Daughters

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The role of women in preserving traditional Native American language and customs is outlined in the multimedia article Native Storytellers Connect the Past and Future. This article is found on the website Native Daughters, a project of the University of Nebraska Lincoln.

The site includes contributions by a group of Native American women and young girls described as:

Artists
Environmentalists
Healers
Lawgivers
Leaders
Storytellers, and
Warriors

Through video clips and text content, some very interesting perspectives are shared. While similar topics/themes are covered in these pieces to some of the film and video material from Module 3 of this course, there are certainly areas where the perspectives differ, e.g. the idea/definition of warrior. For me, this is an important reminder of how critical context/place/community is to Indigenous knowledge and culture.

Module 3 Weblog – Post #1 – Supporting Decolonization

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While researching for Module 3 and continuing my work on my final research project, I found a relatively new online journal which may support many of the themes and questions emerging from our studies in this course.

Launched in 2012, Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society is an inter-disciplinary publication which describes itself as a “….. peer-reviewed, online Open Access journal committed to decolonization work within education, as part of a larger project of decolonization in society” (Home page, retrieved 03/11/13). While the Editorial Board of this journal all appear to be associated with the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto, the Editorial Review Board includes individuals from across the globe, each of whom are in some way connected with Indigenous Studies. Many of the names/voices on this board have already been introduced to us thanks to ETEC521.

The journal has also launched a blog as an active means of creating dialogue with the larger community.

Together the journal and the blog serve not only as a valuable source of perspectives on decolonization; their existence also serves as an active means of challenging and addressing the ongoing effects of colonialism across the world.

Note: Apologies for any duplication — just prior to preparing this post, I noticed that our classmate had just added a post describing the very same site — not surprising given what this journal has to offer!

Entry 13 : the Healthy Aboriginal Network

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I came across this site, the Healthy Aboriginal Network, and immediately ‘symbaloo’ed it for my own classroom use. The site offers comic books that have been created to cover many of the issues- social, personal, family, etc, that aboriginal youth face today. The titles, listed below, can be ordered, but if you click on the comic book, it opens into a pdf that you can preview. I believe that comic books are a great source of media to reach the students, in hopes of discussing these important issues.

Topics include:

Financial Literacy – The Game Plan

Dog bites – The Gift

Residential School – Lost Innocence I am using this possibly in my final project.

Maternal Child Health – It Takes a Village

Sexual health – Kiss Me Deadly

Droppin’ the Flag deals with gangs

Youth in care – Lighting up the Darkness -recalling painful childhood lost memories

Living with FASD – Drawing Hope

Smoking prevention – River Run

Sports/Gang awareness – In Path of the Warrior

Just a Story – deals with Mental Health situations

Diabetes awareness – An Invited Threat

Level Up – deals with dropping out/staying in school

On the Turn – deals with youth gambling