Assignment 1:1
Hello everyone! I am Gaby. I am taking online classes this term because after traveling and being out of the country so much, I am tired and want to rest at home in California while having the flexibility to do other things that I’m passionate about. As a sociology major, I am excited to learn about Canadian perspectives and worldviews through literature; to be able to compare this with the American outlooks; to gain a more wholesome understanding of how narratives shape societies, worldviews, and social dynamics overall; and to learn about why some voices are heard more than others when building a society, and how to influence this process… My motivation in attending university was to gain the knowledge, and therefore, power, to create social change. I want to learn how to influence discourses, how to attack discourses, and expand the collective mind of society even when people don’t want to listen.
I am excited to learn about the indigenous perspective. “Indigenous people are the descendants of the original habitants of a region prior to colonization. These groups have maintained some or all of their linguistic, cultural and organizational characteristics and consider themselves distinct from the societies currently governing those territories.” (Welker, Glenn) Our world views have very much been shaped by western culture, and, in my opinion, this limits us. Western culture adopts a rationalized approach to viewing the world, that often makes the world seem more dry and mechanical. Many cultures have seeped in bits of the Western approach because it has been framed as the dominant and most “civilized” approach.
One of my earliest memories as a child, was viewing the world with wonder and a sort of mystical quality tied to a sense of spiritual connection with the world. However, my parents and the school system seemed to dismiss this way of looking at the world, and, as a result, I sometimes felt ashamed of it. Overtime, I lost touch with this feeling because of an emphasis on the rational approach as the “right” and “admirable” way to think in Western culture.
However, I believe indigenous cultures have their own ways of seeing the world that make the world feel like a different place. The world makes sense in a different kind of way. It would be nice to get in touch with that so I can experiment with my own way of seeing the world.
Taylor, Steve. “Two Ways of Seeing the World.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 30 Aug. 2016, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/out-the-darkness/201608/two-ways-seeing-the-world.
Welker, Glenn. “Indigenous Nations.” Indigenous Peoples’ Literature,
Thank you for a lovely introduction to your world view – I am looking forward to working together this semester Interesting links as well. But I could not help but notice this line in the essay about Two Ways of Seeing the World, the author writes:
“ … the differences in the way that modern Westerners and indigenous peoples …”
Do you see what is wrong with this excerpt?
Here is another example of the same:
“… indigenous peoples generally perceive the world around them as … / we ‘civilized’ Westerners tend to see …”
Why is Westerner’s capitalized – but not Indigenous?
Why are Westerners ‘modern’ but not Indigenous? Do Indigenous peoples belong to some other — different time?
The author of Two Ways of Seeing the World, like all authors, shapes the world with word for us to see, and sometimes in subtle ways that we do not even notice, unless we really pay attention.