Tag Archives: Indigenous Peoples

Module #1-1: Charter of Quebec Values

The Parti Québecois (PQ) charter of values has caused an uproar since its introduction by the Quebec government on September 10, 2013. If this charter passes the National Assembly of Quebec, it would essentially ban public employees from wearing religious symbols in all public institutions. Although the PQ assures that this charter would not affect the province’s relations with First Nations and Inuit communities, these two articles (1, 2) are skeptical for the following reasons:

For many indigenous peoples in Quebec, spirituality is inextricably linked to governance and this would bring them into conflict with the duty of neutrality imposed by the charter.
The history of Quebec involved suppression of the spiritual expressions of the original inhabitants land and now the PQ wishes to impose these same restrictions on the “settlers.”
Indigenous peoples are now in a unique position to support their friends (settlers) from other religions such as Muslim and Jews and other religions.

This charter could prohibit Indigenous communities in Quebec from wearing medicine pouches or any “ostentatious” religious symbols during working hours if they are public employees, including teachers and school employees. Up to now the religious symbols of Indigenous peoples’ have been ignored by the government, however this charter is an imposition that goes totally against the attempts by Indigenous peoples to preserve their culture, beliefs, and traditions for future generations.

Module 1 – Post #5 – Sharing Insights

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Media Indigena is a multimedia magazine which began as a collective of 7 Aboriginal bloggers from Canada, but seeks to aggregate and debate Indigenous news and creative/interactive works from across the world.

The site offers multimedia content and commentary on current issues in Indigenous arts and culture, business and politics. Of all the sites I have visited so far in my research, this one has presented some of the most interesting snapshots of Aboriginal contributors exploring expressions of their cultures and the relative states of their traditions and knowledge. One of the posts from June of last year is titled Why there ain’t no such a-thing as “Aboriginal culture”. This post touches on the important distinctions between terms such as “nations”, “confederacy”, “bands”, etc. It also demonstrates the challenging balance of interests between uniting against colonialism and maintaining strong identities as individual and unique cultures. This is a theme that I’m sure we will return to throughout this course.

As I proceed through my research, I’m sure that the voices that come through in this online magazine will provide important benchmarks against which to check my assumptions.

Module 1 – Post #4 – The Value of Cooperation

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Collaboration and cooperation are key elements of Indigenous culture that have come up in our Module 1 readings. As I have continued my research into storytelling through rich media, I encountered a great posting from Australia about Victorian Indigenous Communities and Digital Storytelling .

The post is an entry on a site called “Screening the Past”, a site which is devoted to:

the history of photography, film, television and multimedia;
the representation of history on/in these media;
the role of these media in social history;
the history and development of critical and theoretical analysis in these areas

(Retrieved on 22nd September 2013 from http://www.screeningthepast.com/about-us/)

The post includes a great story about how a reluctant “Aunt” (term for female elders in Victorian Indigenous Communities) was supported and encouraged to participate in a digital storytelling workshop by two “Uncles” (term for male elders in Victorian Indigenous Communities), who offered up photos and stories of their own. As one of the writers of the post states, “…behind every one of these individual stories is another story about how the film was made, and that’s a story about being in the community.”

Module 1 – Post 5 – The Altai and the Land

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A vivid examination of the importance of the local Indigenous connection with the land can be seen in the following video:

http://vimeo.com/7111821

The focus in the video is of the Altai people in central Russian and how they are seeking to rebuild their connection with their knowledge and customs that have suffered due systematic neglect and Russian colonization. This short documentary focuses on the environmental knowledge of the Altai, yet one of the most striking aspects of this piece is that it shows how differing types of knowledge is transmitted between members of the community as well as the profound connection that the speakers have to the place they live in. What is inspiring about this video is that it also represents a restoration of traditional knowledge and practice.

This film, sponsored by United Nations Diversity Project is a very effective reference tool in understanding the universal challenges confronting First Nations peoples globally and their struggle to reclaim their ancient heritage and traditions.

Module 1 – Post #2 – “Modern” Education vs. Indigenous Knowledge

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Dr. Lee Brown’s video got me thinking about how Indigenous approaches to knowledge and learning could be of great benefit to our planet. As Indigenous knowledge has been sacrificed for the more abstract approaches of “formal” educational systems, our natural environment has paid a price. How can we honour and support a more indigenous style of education for all young learners in the interest of their futures?

Indigenous Knowledge and Sustainability is one module of a UNESCO supported education programme called Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future. The module supports a number of learning objectives including an understanding of the role of ‘modern’ education in undermining indigenous knowledge and ways of teaching and learning. It links out to a number of other sites and resources such as the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The module materials include a variety of engaging learning activities, templates and resources, including a helpful table comparing Indigenous Education and Formal Education. Case studies are provided to illustrate the integration of indigenous knowledge into classroom teaching.

This module echoes many of the arguments emerging from our Module 1 readings and provides additional food for thought re: thinking “locally” when identifying learning goals.

Module 1: Post 1: Indigenous Peoples of South East Asia

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I thought about the question posed by Marker (2006) “Can school be a place to be indigenous, a place to be non- homogenized, a place in which all children learn, question, and grow from a position that values and builds upon who they are (487)?”

I think this can only happen if education is geared towards teaching methods and content which is reflective of the culture of children being taught. I do not think that mainstream education can address all the needs and differences indigenous children have in order to “build upon who they are.”

I currently live in Vietnam, there are millions of indigenous peoples living in the mountain ranges through Southern China, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Burma speaking more than 1,000 languages. These cultures have suffered a lack of education, health care and social services and have been either marginalized or forced to assimilate to the mainstream cultures.

This website is an article written by UNESCO addressing the problem of education of South East Asia’s indigenous peoples. It was stated that most education is taught in another language other than the indigenous student’s mother tongue, and most content is usually irrelevant to the students. This has resulted in astonishing rates of illiterate men and women. Due to this problem, the UN is trying to fight for the rights of indigenous people by encouraging education to be taught “in their own languages” and “in a manner appropriate to their cultural methods of teaching and learning”.

In advocating education to be taught in Indigenous languages and incorporating cultural methods, this may help break the cycles of poverty suffered by Indigenous peoples in South East Asia. It will be a difficult task to change mainstream attitudes towards these cultures through appreciating diversity and accepting different worldviews.

I think it is very important to provide education in a child’s mother tongue and to teach curriculum that is consistent with one’s own culture. I think that through assimilating all children into a mainstream classroom children are unable to be successful and results in increased poverty rates and marginalization due to lack of cultural understanding.

http://www.unescobkk.org/education/news/article/why-we-should-support-mother-tongue-based-education-for-indigenous-peoples/