Statement Connecting Weblog – Ecotourism in BC

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http://www.aboriginalbc.com

“This spectacular province is home to our people who have preserved our way of life.  We are proud of our culture and heritage and most importantly we want to share it with the world.  We want to celebrate the fact that we’re still here.”  (promotional video for Aboriginal Tourism Association of British Columbia).

Ecotourism is a niche market that includes responsible travel to fragile, pristine and usually protected areas.  The goals of ecotourism are to

      • educate the traveler
  • provide funds for conservation
  • directly benefit the economic development and political empowerment of local communities
  • foster respect for different cultures and human rights. (encyclopedia of ecotourism)

While there is a strong tendency to focus on case studies in countries such as Costa Rica, Brazil and Ecuador, I am interested in the growing ecotourism industry here in British Columbia.  I teach a class focused on ecotourism at the highschool level (I’m currently teaching it for the second time) and I include a unit on First Nations ecotourism in BC.   Ecotourism affords First Nations communities a chance to educate visitors in their culture and history, which aids in the breaking down of stereotypes.  It also affords new economic ventures coming from sustainable use of land and natural resources.

However as with all tourism, there are both benefits and threats.  The ETEC 521 course shell points out that there is a need for Indigenous communities to protect vital resources from outside exploitation.   How do communities balance educating non-Indigenous people, while preserving their culture?  What are the other potential threats to culture that an increase in ecotourism would bring?

I would like to start by surveying the variety ecotourism opportunities available in British Columbia and then follow by assessing the potential threats/benefits to First Nations culture.  The Journal of Ecotourism will likely be a valuable resource as it includes articles such as:

Indigenous Ecotourism in Central British Columbia: The Potential for Building Capacity of Tl’azt’en Nations Territories

 Not “Ecotourism”?: Wilderness Tourism in Canada’s Yukon Territory

I have also obtained a copies of the following books:

Indigenous Ecotourism – Sustainable Development and Management

Ecotourism – Management and Assessment

Module 1.3. Indigenous Language iPhone Apps

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Many smart phone applications intended for “indigenous language” use on iPhones, iPads and iPods abound, making such tools accessible to users worldwide – although their use require somewhat advanced computer literacy.

More than 3,000 languages around the world are facing extinction today. Aramaic, for example, the language that Jesus spoke, has been lost in the Middle East for long centuries. However, in two small villages in Israel/Palestine and in one in Syria Aramaic is still being taught to young children at schools. In desperate hope of saving, preserving and reviving Aramaic as a part of humanity’s cultural heritage, an Aramaic application has been launched. The app teaches the alphabets and their pronunciation, as well as, a few phrases.
Another example is the vulnerable Tamazight, the indigenous language of the Berbers of North Africa. The surviving Berber languages receive some official support from North African countries, and some of them have been made available through applications for smartphone and tablet users.
First People’s Cultural Council published a list of indigenous language learning apps; hundreds of these apps teach endangered languages through word games, interactive lessons, word lists, writing tools, flashcards, etc.
Web Links

Module 1.2. Indigenous Arab People

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I think Arab Bedouins present a special case as far as indigenous people are concerned. I would say there are four criteria when it comes to the definition of an indigenous people: 1) ethnicity; 2) language; 3) culture; and 4) lifestyle. If we take Arabia as an example, the term “endangered” indigenous culture or language is a far cry from reality. The only Arabs who can (proudly) claim pure Arab descent are Arabia’s tribes, almost all of which have Bedouin roots. Arabs of Bedouin descent, albeit long settled, constitute the ethnic majority in Arabia (and a considerable portion of the population in Iraq, Jordan, and even Syria). It is a linguistic fact that Classical Arabic emerged in the desert among the nomads, and exploded out of Arabia to replace the ancient (indigenous) languages of the fertile crescent and North Africa. Traces of Bedouin culture are present in different degrees in pan-Arab culture, and it was the culture of the Arab nomad that overtook and subdued that of long-settled agricultural societies even within Arabia itself (e.g., the Yemen). As for lifestyle, being a nomadic people versus a sedentary people, I doubt that alone would make the few remaining Arab Bedouins stand out as an “indigenous” people, except where they are socially marginalized (e.g., Egypt, Lebanon) or constitute an actual ethnic minority (e.g.,Israeli desert, Persian Iran).

Web Links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedouin

http://www.geographia.com/egypt/sinai/bedouin.htm

http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/people1.html

Module 1.1 Traditional Aboriginal Children’s Games

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Play represents a natural process through which young children are able to learn and explore their environment. As an early childhood educator, I, therefore, decided to begin by researching games in aboriginal cultures in an attempt to discern their unique characteristics and better understand their educational benefits.

Around the world, people pass on their games across generations as a part of their heritage. Aboriginal people played games to develop hunting skills. A form socio-cultural interaction, a number of games also served as educational tools, entertainment tools or as a form of religious practice.

Many of the sports games we see today, namely games that use a ball, have evolved from or were inspired by the traditional games of the past (e.g., baseball, football, cricket, shinny or bandy, lacrosse and tennis, bowling, golf, etc.).

For example, according to Wikipedia, Marn Grook or marngrook, from the Gunditjmara language for “game ball”, is a collective name given to a number of traditional Indigenous Australian recreational pastimes believed to have been played at gatherings and celebrations of up to fifty players.

Moreover, other games served as problem-solving tools, embedding mathematical concepts and logical patterns.

I have gathered that there are three prevailing types of games;

1) Chance games;

2) Strategy games; and

3) Mathematical games.

Web Links

http://www.nativetech.org/games/index.php

http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/sport/traditional-aboriginal-games-activities

http://www.manataka.org/page184.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marn_Grook

 

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.