Twinkle's Happy Place

The story of the jingle dress

2012-01-30T12:03:00.000-08:00

The story behind the jingle dance is one of the coolest ones, and now it's available on youtube!

It's part of Carlton University's Virtual Pow Wow Project. Check it out :)

Powerpoint from 2009 BCTELA Presentation - Filling the page from the heart: Using emotion to respond to literature

2012-01-28T13:00:00.000-08:00

Hey,

Check it out. Here's a powerpoint I did years ago at BCTELA. My supervisor Leyton Schnellert dug it up.

I am revamping it sort of for a different presentation.

It's funny because there are a few things that I'd do differently today, but for the most part I am still the same person. I always worry that I'll go back and look at old work and not even recognize myself in it because my career has rapidly changed from one thing to another. It's comforting, however, to go back and look at old work and know that my core values remain the same.

Anyways, in Saturday class. Lunch break is over. Back to the grind.

Movie night in Chase - Native American Basketball Movies

2012-01-22T23:38:00.000-08:00

Shout out to SD78. I was supposed to do a presentation there on Friday but the conference was cancelled due to freaky weather.

I was in Chase this weekend for stickgames. We didn't place in the tournament but we did well in open games. It was a smaller event but all the die hards were there :)

Then I spent the night at my boyfriend's relatives' house. We got trapped there because a creek flooded the driveway and froze then thawed underneath. All I remember is shovelling ice and being surprised when someone hit asphalt.

It sort of reminded me of Alexis Creek. Whenever I cross the Fraser at Sheep Creek a sense of timelessness takes over. It's like la la land or something. I'm just seduced by the possibility that this is all there is. When I am ready for that kind of state of mind I'm quite happy to just exist in it. It's like the deepest peace you can experience. However, when I am supposed to be packing for an international trip that may or may not happen it kind of drives me crazy because I know once I get into that lull it takes awhile to get out of it again.

Anyhow, last night before we realized we were trapped by a creek we watched TV and I don't have cable at home so that was sort of exciting. We watched Edge of America on APTN. You can watch the trailer here.

It's an American basketball movie where a black coach goes into a New Mexico reservation to teach basketball. His teaching style conflicts with the culture of the community.

There are a few moments that stick out in the movie in respect to how-to-teach, including:
-a player thinks she's been witched, so she has an elder come smudge her in the locker room. The coach comes in, gets mad, and tells everyone to get to practice. When the elder is leaving they say something to him and he tells them to speak English. A teacher who speaks the language tells him that the elder called him "whiteman"
-the coach kicks a girl off the team for getting pregnant
-the girls have a meeting with the coach about the way that he talks to them
I think these moments could be really good discussion points in a teacher training program.

As someone who has been a basketball coach (despite not knowing much about basketball) and taught in a predominantly First Nations school, there were a lot of moments in the movie that made me feel warm and fuzzy. The coach said that he came to teach in that community because he needed to slow down. I can relate to that. There's something special about teaching in a small community. You still work hard, but it's a different vibe... almost the timelessness described above.

In the movie the coach initially has a rather heated conflict with a young man. At the end of the movie, however, the young man helps the coach winterize his trailer. I appreciated how they showed that relationships, especially in small communities, change. From experience I know that just because someone called you a stuck-up b**** in the first week of your teaching doesn't mean that someday they won't trust you to provide them with life advice and file management tips. You just have to stick it out and find some common ground.

I also really liked Irene Bedard's role of interlocutor. I know people like her... people that come from the community where the students are from and work in the schools. If teachers take the time to collaborate with people like Irene Bedard's character they'll quickly improve their effectiveness, however, the willingness to trust the voice of someone inside of the community and the humility to recognize that the worldview you acquired in university may be inappropriate for the setting you work in has to be there.

Those of you who are teaching The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian might want to share parts of the movie with your class. I've been on a lot of BC reserves, and they have a different vibe than the few American reservations that I've been on and that I've seen on TV. American reservations are larger, and I get the sense that they are more isolated (just a hunch... maybe someone can look it up for me!). American sports are definitely different than what we have in small towns here in BC. Can you imagine having a person who is employed full time by the school to coach girls basketball in a small town in BC? That would be amazing. Because of the structure of American post-secondary education the pressure on athletes to get scholarships is also much greater and this movie certainly conveys that in an emotional way.

I could review this movie in a critical way... but I can't because it makes me really warm and fuzzy inside.

Another good movie is the documentary Rocks with Wings. You can read a review here. It's a similar tale however in this case it's a 13 year documentary. Amazing.

There's another natives/basketball/hardcore coach movie that I saw when I was a kid at my grandparents's house. My uncle really liked it but I can't find it by looking on the internet. If you know what movie I'm talking about feel free to post :)

Non-convo with the Minister

2012-01-20T23:59:00.000-08:00

Our Minister of Education was on Twitter the other day. I was reading about it over at Staffroom Confidential and I thought I'd share my non-convo with him. Here's our non-convo:

Me:
How will #bcedplan integrate Indigenous knowledge and pedagogy into mainstream classrooms?

Many teachers say they wish they know more about Aboriginal education. Will #bcedplan account for this knowledge gap in the teaching populat
____________________
Him:
@starleigh_grass I share your view. We've got some gr8 new BC history in this area i.e. Dr John Lutz #bcedplan
_____________________
Me:

@georgeabbottbc So how, then will #bced plan address the lack of knowledge about Aboriginal education among the teaching force?
____________________
Him

*Insert silence here*
_____________________
An Indigenous teacher who just completed her Masters:

@starleigh_grass ...who is Dr. John Lutz?

____________________

Post game analysis:

1) It's odd that he used gr8 instead of great when he still had 30 characters to work with. As an English teacher I now want to ask him what his opinion is on the importance of conventions and the use of MSN-speak in written work.
2) He didn't answer the question.
3) I'm sure Dr. Lutz does fine work, but it was a somewhat obscure reference. I think it's very white male to reference another white male when talking about the marginalization of Indigenous knowledge.
4) This conversation pretty much lived up to my expectations.

*Update - Dr. John Lutz does fine work. I've used one of his websites in my practice. You can learn more about him here http://web.uvic.ca/ocbr/node/826 The minister still didn't answer my question, it's still very white male to reference a white male in a conversation about the marginalization of IK, especially if that's all you have to say about the topic.

“I belong to the community”: The intersection of race, class, and geography on my perceptions of and decisions in education

2012-01-20T23:13:00.000-08:00

Here, dear readers, is another paper excerpt. This one asked us to reflect on the diversity wheel we completed. It's unusual because it contains a lot of personal information. I've removed some parts to preserve other's privacy so it might be choppy in places.

The most influential elements of my diversity wheel on my education have been and continue to be class, geography, and race. These three elements are interconnected. I am Tsilhqot’in so my roots are rural. Due to government policies which targeted Tsilhqot’in well-being I spent part of my childhood in poverty. Class, geography, and race influenced the educational opportunities that I had and the way that educators perceived me. I don’t want to dwell on the negatives, though, so instead I will focus on how these three factors have influenced my perception of education and how these elements brought me here to UBC Okanagan to pursue my Master of Arts in Education.

I chose a narrative format to tell this story because these three elements are intertwined and unless they are seen in the context of a larger whole they lack resonance.

When I was born my mom took me home to our tent outside of my grandparent’s cabin in Alexis Creek which didn’t have running water or electricity. As a small child my dad drove a cab in the winter and in the summer we went to the Okanagan with other members of my extended family where we lived in tents or picker shacks and worked in the orchards and vineyards. My parents decided that they couldn’t do this forever and that they didn’t like the life they were living so they both went back to school. My mom got her grade twelve and some university and my dad got a certificate in human services. This was enough to boost our family from poverty to middle class. They raised us with the sincere belief that getting an education is the only way to secure independence and security.

My grandparents were illiterate and before my mom went back to school she only had a grade eight education. As a result of this a lot of employers took advantage of them. The stores in the Chilcotin operate on credit, that is, you can buy items on credit and when your pension comes in the store owner cashes your check and takes their share, however, not all store owners are honest and sometimes they’d take more than they deserved. As my mom increased her education she was able to advocate for my grandparents. I was raised with the understanding that education is a hedge against racial discrimination and employer exploitation.

I have a somewhat paradoxical view of education. On one hand it is necessary for my own survival and I inherently enjoy refining skills such as writing, however, at the same time I am resistant to conformity. My resistance comes in part from my mother’s side of the family who went through residential school. For them education was something that tried to take something from you and it was important not to lose yourself in the process of education. It also comes from spending a lot of time with my grandfather, who some refer to as a societal drop-out because he moved to Anaham Lake a few decades ago and has an unusual lifestyle He is an eccentric man who introduced me to a lot of colorful people and taught me that an unconventional life can be rich and rewarding.

I was brought up with a strong non-conformist bent and struggled with both authority and peer dynamics in high school. After dropping out or getting kicked out from three different schools three years in a row I was placed in an alternate program where I kept my own schedule and completed correspondence courses with the support of Mr. Green. This method of education worked really well for me and I completed my grade ten, eleven, and twelve credits in two years and graduated with honours.

I graduated from high school and had my son less than a month later. That fall my dad placed a university application in my hands and told me to fill it out. I asked him what I should take. He asked what I wanted to take. I said I didn’t know. He said just take something. So I took a first year English correspondence course which I failed miserably. In the spring I got a letter informing me about fall registration dates and my father gave me a student loan application. When I went to register (this was back when you had to actually show up and stand in line) I had no idea what to take. I was totally lost. I think I chose my courses based on availability. That’s pretty much how I registered for all of my courses during the first few years of university. I didn’t know how to plan my education or how to get guidance in my planning so I took too many electives and not enough core courses. I learned a lot but it took longer than it should have to finish my first degree.

That’s also part of the reason that I acquired a large amount of student debt during my undergraduate degree. As a single parent of a child on the autism spectrum I took a 60% course load for much of my undergraduate studies and didn’t work because it was nearly impossible to find people equipped with the skills to care for a special needs child and my sisters had children at the same time that I did so our family network was already stretched. We didn’t grow up with a lot so I knew how to live on very little and while it was hard it never seemed impossible. As an undergraduate it was difficult sometimes socially to have less money than my peers but I never really fit in to begin with so I took it in stride. At times I felt very isolated, but this connected me to my studies even more, especially when I started studying critical theory.

During my undergraduate in Sociology I met a lot of Indigenous activists and academics from across Canada through my involvement in the NDP and the students’ union. A recurring message that I heard was the need for more Indigenous teachers and faculty so I decided to become I teacher.

I grew up largely in the Okanagan but spent a lot of time in the rural communities of Alexis Creek, Anaham Lake, and Williams Lake. When I went into teaching I decided to stay in the interior and sought employment in a rural community with a large Aboriginal population. My first teaching job was in Lytton and it was a good fit. My second position, District Aboriginal Resource Teacher, spanned the communities of Lytton, Lillooet, Ashcroft, Cache Creek, and Clinton. My third teaching job was in Lillooet.

Spiritually leaving the Okanagan was amazing. I was welcomed into my teaching communities and formed attachments to the land through ceremony and stories. I discovered a network in the interior of people who are drug and alcohol free and have a life-long commitment to cultural continuity. When my grandparents were alive we had a spiritual connection to our territory, however, when they passed away we spent less time there because the remaining family members do not live on our territory with the exception of one uncle. Some of our traditions are similar to neighboring nations, and the community in Lillooet especially embraced me as one of their own. I began to think more deeply about the spiritual and cultural responsibilities of living in a territory and the obligation to honour the ancestors of the land through ceremony and stories. As I grew in this way I deepened friendships with people here in the Okanagan who had similar values.

I’ve been part of large curriculum development projects and facilitated a lot of professional development workshops, however, over time my faith in the public education system began to wane. Again and again I saw ways in which the ossification of the public school system trumped the needs of Aboriginal learners and communities. I began having terrible flashbacks to my own childhood education where I felt invisible and inferior and my teen years when I lashed out at a system which I perceived to be both callous and unfair. When I entered teaching I thought that I could change public education from the inside, but as an educator I increasingly felt trapped in it so I decided that it was time to leave K-12 education for awhile.

When I was living in Lillooet I was a literacy coach for students who were doing upgrading and university transfer courses through NVIT. I saw how the Lillooet Tribal Council shaped the content and form of these courses, and how education, rather than eroding Indigenous identity, could be a method of enhancing it. In particular, I saw the connection between self-governed post-secondary education and curriculum and pedagogy which served the needs of Aboriginal students and First Nations communities. I became friends with one of the faculty members and she really solidified my commitment to the interior and to community oriented Indigenous education.

I reflected on the structure of NVIT’s community based satellite campuses. I reflected on my visits to the En’owkin Centre for cultural events. I reflected on my own readings on Indigenous education and presentations that I had seen by academics such as Jeanette Armstrong and Lorna Williams. I saw freedom and hope in self-governed post-secondary education and I decided that I want to be part of it. I also realized that change doesn’t happen, it is built by individuals with a deep commitment to a set of ideals and the ability to work with both community and non-Aboriginal bureaucracies in order to create something concrete out of those ideals. To me the decision to return to university is a step towards becoming one of those individuals by building my own capacity to serve the communities in the interior and work towards positive change.

I will always live in the interior of British Columbia. The cultural network that I belong to here is irreplaceable, and even if I were to try to establish similar relationships somewhere else it wouldn’t be the same because I would always be an ancestral outsider. I will spend the rest of my life living in the interior learning how to live in a way that honors the ancestors by participating in and promoting culture. I belong to community which means that my work as a masters student and beyond is geared towards the community’s well being. As Heath Justice states, being an Indigenous academic is not enough, in my scholarship at every step of the way I have to ask myself “and what will you do for the people?” (2003, p.50). I have a commitment to the communities and people here in the interior that have nurtured me socially, culturally, and spiritually and that is why I am doing my masters in the interior.

Research supports my decision to remain in this place. Drywater-Whitekiller report that students who have strong cultural ties are more likely to be successful in their post-secondary studies (Drywater-Whitekiller, 2010, p.3). Kovach, who wrote a book on Indigenous methodologies geared towards Indigenous graduate students, interviewed Indigenous academics about their work and reported that it is important for Indigenous graduate students to stay grounded in Aboriginal community in order to survive the colonial oppression that can be graduate studies and research (Kovach, 2009, p.56).

There is a drawback to that commitment, though. Larger universities have more Indigenous faculty and stronger programming in terms of Indigenous education. However, my cultural education is more important than my formal education. If in the long term I wanted to immerse myself in academia and pursue a mainstream career then I would leave the interior. That is not what I want, though. I want to strengthen the cultural ties that I have here. This means that I will have to take a lot of initiative during my masters studies in order to indigenize the courses and that I will have to familiarize myself with Indigenous theories and methodologies on my own time with the support of my supervisor. It is somewhat isolating because there are very few people in my cohort who are familiar with or interested in Indigenous education, however, through cultural events and social media I regularly interact with other masters students or people with masters degrees who specialize in Indigenous education and are excited to engage in dialogue.

Works cited

Drywater-Whitekiller, V. (2010). Cultural resilience: Voices of Native American students in college retention. The Canadian Journal of Native Studies 30 (1). p1-19.

Heath Justice, D. (2003). Renewing the Fire: Notes Toward the Liberation of English Studies. English Studies in Canada 29 (1-2). p45-54.

Kovach, M. (2009). Indigenous Methodologies: Characteristics, Conversations, and Contexts. Toronto, Ontario: University of Toronto Press.

Culturally responsive teaching with caveats

2012-01-20T22:35:00.000-08:00

I submitted a paper today for a class on diversity and thought dear readers might be interested in this portion of it.

Throughout my career I have provided leadership in teacher development through workshops, blogging, and resource development. I’ve explored a number of possibilities for addressing this disconnect between white teachers and Aboriginal student populations. I am an advocate of culturally responsive teaching, however, I find that it is limited in its application to teaching in Aboriginal communities. Culturally responsive teaching is a pedagogical and research framework which puts the teacher at the centre of educational transformation. It assumes that by transforming the work of teachers in the classroom society can be changed. As an activist I find this perspective empowering because while I cannot replace every colonial text or drastically change legislation I can build teachers’ pedagogical knowledge and skills by building curriculum resources and providing professional development workshops.

Culturally responsive teaching emphasizes the role of the teacher as cultural organizers, cultural mediators, and orchestrators of social contexts for learning (Gay, 2000). It incorporates diverse cultural representation in instructional materials, recognizes and validates students’ cultural heritage and knowledge, and emphasizes the articulation and affirmation of students’ culture in the classroom (Gay, 2000).

I am an advocate for culturally responsive teaching, however, I have devised a list of caveats to enhance its effectiveness in Aboriginal communities.

Due to residential schools and a variety of other governmental policies Aboriginal culture is in a delicate state of renewal. Culture right now is being nursed back to life. I like that culturally responsive teaching asks students to bring their culture into the classroom, however, what if that student is unfamiliar with their culture because it is currently in a state of crisis? I think that schools have an obligation to nurture Aboriginal culture, especially since schools have historically played a role in trying to destroy them.

Culturally responsive teaching ignores the degree to which Aboriginal culture has been publicly degraded and the degree to which many Aboriginal students are ashamed of their heritage or hide it to avoid discrimination. I’ve taught many visibly Aboriginal students with Aboriginal last names who claim other Aboriginal students as cousins yet tell me that no, they are not Aboriginal. Even my own son often tells me, “school would be easier if I were blonde.”

If culturally responsive teaching is to be effective, teachers need to understand that because of the history of racism in Canada and the reality of current stereotypes it is a risk to identify as an Aboriginal person. A key element in Canadian colonization has been the systemic and ongoing attempt to annihilate culture and take away the dignity of Aboriginal people (Manyard, 2011, p. 121). As a result of this both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students may have misconceptions about Aboriginal people and teachers have a responsibility to address these stereotypes in the classroom (LaRoque, 2002, p.213). A safe environment has to be created by positively acknowledging Aboriginal culture consistently and by providing opportunities to learn about Aboriginal culture in schools even if students do not self-identify as Aboriginal or provide glowing feedback.

Teachers must acknowledge that there is a power imbalance between non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal students and as a result of this power imbalance activities which seek to present intercultural activities in a neutral way can actually be neo-colonial (Gorski, 8). Episkenew cautions that Aboriginal students may be uncomfortable being “the objects of investigation”(2002, p. 153). Unless teachers are aware of these elements culturally responsive teaching, which relies heavily on encouraging students to bring their culture into the classroom, might actually cause Aboriginal students to feel disproportionately pressured to be on display for non-Aboriginal students.

Culturally responsive teaching relies a great deal on students as the means through which teachers learn about students’ cultures, however, if a student is young or if they are in a culture that is in a state of recovery they might not be very helpful in educating the teacher about their culture. In workshops teachers often ask for a primer on Aboriginal culture and protocol so that they have background information on students’ culture in order to be culturally responsive teachers, however, I often cannot give it to them because I only have background knowledge in four First Nations cultures. I tell teachers to go out into Aboriginal communities and participate in events. BC is very diverse when it comes to Aboriginal populations and there is no way that one person or resource could educate a teacher on Aboriginal culture. Even within a particular culture there is a great deal of heterogeneity from community to community.

By going out into communities teachers can also gain perspective on the lives and worldviews of students and honour the students’ identity outside of the classroom rather than seeing it as a barrier to teaching. According to McIntosh, “whites are taught to think of their lives as morally neutral, normative, and average, also ideal…” (2). By participating in Aboriginal communities with the intent of informing their culturally responsive teaching perhaps teachers will be able to overcome this tendency. However, the participation should be mindful of power and privilege, as McIntosh also points out that the nature of oppressiveness is often unconscious and invisible to the oppressor (2).

As a teachers there is only so much we can do to influence their lives outside of the classroom, however, their lives outside of the classroom can inform our practice and ensure that we are not barriers to their success. Culturally responsive teaching is a tool for ensuring that teachers can support students, however, there are factors unique to teaching in Aboriginal contexts which require consideration by the teacher in order to enhance its implementation.

Works cited

Clements, M. (2006). The unnatural and accidental women. Vancouver, BC: Talonbooks.

Egbo, B. (2009). Teaching for Diversity in Canadian Schools. Toronto, Ontario: Pearson Canada Inc.

Episkenew, J. (2002). Socially responsible criticism: Aboriginal literature, ideology, and the literary canon. Creating community: A roundtable on Canadian Aboriginal literature. Penticton, BC: Theytus. p51-69.

Gay, Geneva. (2000). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, & practice. New York, New York: Teachers College Press.

Gorski, P. C. (2009). Good intentions are not enough: A decolonizing intercultural education. Intercultural Education 19 (6). P515-525. Retrieved from http://www.everettcc.edu/uploadedFiles/Faculty_Staff/TLC/Diversity_Teaching_Lab/intercultural-education.pdf

LaRocque, E. (2002). Teaching Aboriginal literature : The discourse of margins and mainstreams. Creating community: A roundtable on Canadian Aboriginal literature. Penticton, BC: Theytus. 209-234.

Manyard, M. (2011). Fuck the glass ceiling. In J. Yee (Ed.), Feminism for real: Deconstructing the academic industrial complex of feminism (115-126). Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

McIntosh, P. (1989). Unpacking the Invisible Backpack. Retrieved from http://www.uakron.edu/dotAsset/1662103.pdf.

Checking out Chu Chua

2012-01-16T22:07:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I went to Chu Chua for a stickgame tournament.

I didn't place but it was cool to see familiar faces in a new place.

In a previous post I talked about learning spaces and decided that I would pay more attention to learning places in communities.

I think that teachers have a responsibility to get to know the First Nations communities that they serve. It gives them context about their students. They can also learn about ways that communities teach students and integrate some of these teaching methods into their classrooms in order to give students continuity between their life outside of school and inside of school. Teachers can learn a lot about teaching from First Nations communities, but they have to put themselves out there and actually go to communities in order to learn. I hear a lot of teachers say that they don't know anything about The Rez. It's not that hard. You just look for an event to to go to and then go to it. You'll have a good time, I promise. Check out this video if you need extra encouragement.

The video was created by Ryan Redcorn of the 1491s and you can read about it here.

Anyways, back to Chu Chua... Prior to the stickgame tournament there was a day long community event and one of the activities that children took part in was illustrating a traditional story about a boy who was taken by an owl. The story was printed off on large paper and posted on the wall, then children drew pictures to accompany it and their pictures were posted on the wall.

I thought this was a cool way to teach a story and to celebrate learning. Here's a picture of the final product -

First Nations student success can be enhanced by making culture visible and celebrating First Nations culture in the learning the environment. Here are some cool examples of how this can be done:

Nice flag!

It says "For the good of Simpcw First Nation"

Same sign, different angle :)

The bottom got cut off. It says "Care for the good of all; cooperate"

Beautiful morning! We got snowed in but David and Allison generously offered us their giant air mattress for the night!

On Tricky Ground: Researching the Native in an Age of Uncertainty by Linda Tuhiwai Smith Reading Notes

2012-01-16T21:54:00.000-08:00

Reading notes...

I read Chapter 4: On Tricky Ground: Researching the Native in an Age of Uncertainty by Linda Tuhiwai Smith which you can access online for free!

My awesome supervisor Leyton Schnellert (follow him on Twitter @LeytonSchnell) suggested it, and suggested that I take notes according to themes rather than just notes alone so here are my themes and notes grouped by theme.

Role of the researcher (responsibility)	-p87 The role of research from many indigenous perspectives is so deeply embedded in colonization that it has been regarded as a tool only of colonization and not as a potential tool for self-determination and development. P87 For indigenous peoples, research has a significance that is embedded in our history as natives under the gaze of Western science and colonialism. It is framed by indigenous attempts to escape the penetration and surveillance of that gaze while simultaneously reordering, reconstituting, and redefinding ourselves as peoples and communities in a state of ongoing crisis. P87 This shift in position, from seeing ourselves as passive victims of all research to seeing ourselves as passive victims of al research to seeing ourselves as activists engaging in a counterhegemonic struggle over research, is significant. P89 He [Lester Rigney] like other indigenous researchers, connects research to liberation and the history of oppression and racism. Rigney argues that research must serve and inform the political liberation struggle of indigenous peoples. It is also a struggle for development, for rebuilding leadership and governance structures, for strengthening social and cultural institutions, for protecting and restoring environments, and for revitalizing language and culture. P89 Other writers state that purpose more explicitly in that they define indigenous research as being a transformative project that is active in pursuit of social and institutional change, that makes space for indigenous knowledge, and that has a critical view of power relations and inequality. P89 Others emphasize the critical role of research in enabling peoples and communities to reclaim and tell their stories in their own ways and to give testimonio to their collective herstories and struggles. Embedded in these stories are the ways of knowing, deep metaphors, and motivational drivers that inspire the transformative praxis that many indigenous researchers identify as a powerful agent for resistance and change. P92 An important task of indigenous research in “becoming” a community of researchers is about capacity building, developing and mentoring researchers, and creating the space and support for new approaches to research and new examinations of indigenous knowledge. P96 …thes people are not in the academy to “play word and idea games” but intend to contribute to change for the benefit of communities, to ensure that science listens to, acknowledges, and benefits indigenous communities. The role of these indigenous professionals is similar to the role played by the first generation of indigenous teachers and nurses and by the first generation of medical doctors and social workers in native communities, a difficult role of translating, mediating, and negotiating values, beliefs, and practices from different worldviews in difficult political contexts. P99 Research is often assumed to be beneficial simply because it is framed as research; its benefits are regarded as “self-evident” because the intentions of the researcher are “good.” P103 Qualitative researchers, however, must be more than either travelers or cultural tourists. Qualitative research is an important tool for indigenous communities because it is the tool that seems most ale to wage the battle of representation; to weave and unravel competing storylines; to situate, place and contextualize’ to create spaces for decolonizing; to provide frameworks for hearing silence and listening to the voices of the silenced; to create spaces for dialogue across difference; to analyze and make sense of complex and shifting experiences, identities, and realities; and to understand little and big changes that affect our lives.
Reciprocity	P90 [Kaupapa Maori] It is also an approach this is active in building capacity and research infrastructure in order to sustain a sovereign research agenda that supports community aspirations and development. P97 For indigenous and other marginalized communities, research ethics is at a very basic level about establishing, maintaining, and nurturing reciprocal and respectful relationships, not just among people as individuals but also with people as individuals, as collectives, and as members of communities, and with humans who live in and with other entities in the environment. The ability to enter preexisting relationships; to build, maintain, and nurture relationships; and to strengthen connectivity are important research skills in the indigenous arena. P97 Bishop refers to an example of relationship building in the Maori context as whakawhanaungatange, “the process of establishing family (whanau) relationships, literally by means of identifying, through culturally appropriate means, your bodily linkage, your engagement, your connectedness, and therefore, an unspoken but implicit commitment to other people”. P97 Bishop and Glynn also make the point that relationships are not simply about making friends. They argue that researchers must be self-aware of their position within the relationship and aware of their need for engagement in power-sharing processes..
Relevance	-p87 The genealogy of indigenous approaches to research and the fact that they can be reviewed in this chapter is important because they can be reviewed in this chapter is important because they have not simply appeared overnight, nor do they exist – as with other critical research approaches – without a politics of support around them or a history of ideas. This chapter speaks from particular historical, political, and moral spaces, along with a set of relationships and connections between indigenous aspirations, political activism, scholarship, and other social justice movements and scholarly work. P88 I would emphasize the importance of retaining the connections between the academy of researchers, the diverse indigenous communities, and the larger political struggle of decolonization because the disconnection of that relationship reinforces the colonial approach to education as divisive and destructive. This is not to suggest that such a relationship is, has been, or ever will be harmonious and idyllic; rather, it suggests that the connections, for all their turbulence, offer the best possibility for a transformative agenda that moves indigenous communities to someplace better than where they are now. P90 For indigenous activists, this moment was also one of recognition that decolonization needed a positive and more inclusive social vision and needed more tools for development and self-determination (as an alternative to violent campaigns of resistance). Research, like schooling, once the tool of colonization and oppression, is very gradually coming to be seen as a potential means to reclaim language, histories, and knowledge, to find solutions to the negative impacts of colonialism and to give voice to an alternative way of knowing and being.
Knowledge Claims, axiology	-p86 The native did exist before the “gaze” of the settler and before the image of “native” came to be constituted by imperialism, and that the native does have an existence outside and predating the settler/native identity. P87 There are, however, still many native and indigenous families and communities who possess the ancient memories of another way of knowing that informs many of their contemporary practices. When the foundations of those memories are disturbed, space sometimes is created for alternative imaginings to be voiced, to be sun, and to be heard (again). P87 Research is a site of contestation not simply at the level of epistemology or methodology but also in its broadest sense as an organized scholarly activity that is deeply connected to power. P91 The spaces within the research domain through which indigenous research can operate are small spaces on a shifting ground. P91 This makes indigenous research a highly political activity that can be perceived as threatening, destabilizing, and privileging of indigeneity over the interests and experiences of other diverse groups. Decolonization is political and disruptive even when the strategies employed are pacifist because anything that requires a major change of worldview, that forces a society to confront its past and address it at a structural and institutional level, is indeed political. Indigenous research presents a challenge to the corporate institution of research to change its worldview, to confront is past and make changes. P91 There continues to be vigorous critique of indigenous approaches and claims to knowledge, and, inded, the indigenous presence in the academy. In some cases, this critique is framed by the discourses of anti-affirmative action, such as calls for “colour and race-free” policies. In other cases, the critique is a very focused attack on the possibility that indigenous people have a knowledge that can be differentiated from dogma and witchcraft or is a very focused and personal attack on an individual. P95 It is a very seductive process, but something gets lost, in this process, for the community. For indigenous communities, the “something lost” has been defined as indigenous knowledge and culture, In biological terms, the “something lost” is our diversity’ in sociolinguistics, it is the diversity of minority languages; culturally, it is our uniqueness of stories and experiences and how they are expressed. These are the “endangered authenticisities” of which Rey Chow speaks, ones that are being erased through the homogenization of culture. P95 One of the perspectives that indigenous research brings to an understanding of this moment in the history of globalization is that it is simply another historical moment (one of many that indigenous communities have survived) that reinscribes imperialism with new versions of old colonialisms. This is not as cynical as it may sound; rather, it comes from the wisdom of survival on the margins. This moment can be analyzed, understood, and disrupted by holding onto and rearticulating an alternative vision of life and society. P101 More important, indigenous communities hold an alternative way of knowing about themselves and the environment that has managed to survive the assaults of colonization and its impacts. This alternative way of knowing may be different from what was known several hundred years ago by a community, but it is still a way of knowing that provides access to a different epistemology, an alternative vision of society, an alternative ethics for human conduct. It is not, therefore, a question of whether the knowledge is “pure” and authentic but whether it has been the means through which people have made sense of their lives and circumstances, that has sustained them and their culture practices over time, the forms the basis for their understanding of human conduct, that enriches their creative spirit and fuels their determination to be free.
Methods (data collection, analysis, communication, representation)	p87 more recently, however, indigenous researchers have been active in seeking ways to disrupt the “history of exploitation, suspicion, misunderstanding, and prejudice” of indigenous peoples in order to develop methodologies and approaches to research that privilege indigenous knowledges, voices, experiences, reflections, and analyses of their social, material, and spiritual conditions. P88 The decolonization project in research engages in multiple layers of struggle across multiple sites. It involves the unmasking and deconstruction of imperialism, and its aspect of colonialism, in its old and new formations alongside a search for sovereignty’ for reclamation of of knowledge, language, and culture; and for the social transformation of the colonial relations between the native and the settler. P88 Decolonizing research, then, is not simply about challenging or making refinements to qualitative research. It is a much broader but still purposeful agenda for transforming the institution of research, the deep underlying structures and taken-for-granted ways of organizing, conducting, and disseminating research and knowledge. P89 …has argued for an indigenist approach to research that is formed around the three principles of resistance, political integrity, and privileging indigenous voices. P95 Research plays an important role in the creation of knowledge and, as argued by Steven Jordan in an article he entitled “who stole my methodology?”, even the most participatory research models are being subjected to the processes of commodification “for the purposes of supporting and reproducing the social relations of accumulation in their multifarious forms. P99 One concern of indigenous communities about the informed consent principle is about the bleeding of knowledge away from collective protection through individual participation in research, with knowledge moving to scientists and organizations in the world at large. This process weakens indigenous collectively shared knowledge and is especially risky in an era of knowledge hunting and gathering. P99 Ethics codes are for the most part about protecting the individual, not the collective. Individuals can be “picked off” by researchers even when a community signals it does not approve of a project. P100 From an indigenous perspective, the “who” on ethical review boards is representative of narrow class, religious, academic, and ethnic groups rather than reflecting the diversity of society. Because these boards are fundamentally supportive of research for advancing knowledge and other high-level aims, their main task is to advance research, not limit it. In other words, their purpose is not neutral; it is to assist institutions to undertake research – within acceptable standards. These boards are not where larger questions about society’s interests in research ought to be discussed; they generally are the place where already determined views about research are processed, primarily to protect institutions. P100 In the case of the International Society of Ethnobiology, a society of scientists whose work involves indigenous communities, the Code of Ethics that was developed with Indigenous participation identifies 15 principles upon which ethical conduct rests.

Thesis formatting

2012-01-10T19:06:00.000-08:00

Oh look, this is how my thesis will be formatted. How exciting. http://www.grad.ubc.ca/sites/default/files/materials/thesis_review.pdf and this is how it will be written http://www.library.ubc.ca/pubs/apastyle.pdf

Ok, sorry, this isn't a real post. I'm just storing the link here because this is where I put all of my important things. Real post tomorrow. Or the next day.

Conflicts and Lessons in First Nations Secondary Education: An Analysis of BC First Nations Studies.

2012-01-05T23:44:00.000-08:00

Reading notes from

Mason, R. (2008). Conflicts and Lessons in First Nations Secondary Education: An Analysis of BC First Nations Studies. Canadian Journal of Native Education 31 (2). pp 130-153.

p130

"In the Canadian and United States public education systems, knowledge about the history and culture of Indigenous peoples has historically been excluded from or misrepresented in social studies curricula. This exclusion and misrepresentation reinforces the oppression of Indigenous peoples in society at large. This study examines efforts to develop and teach a course that counters this history of misrepresentation. Through an investigation of British Columbia's secondary-level social studies course entitled BC First Nations Studies, this article explores the tensions that arise in teaching about the history and culture of Indigenous peoples in the public education system. An analysis of these tensions examines how they are related to deeper issues of epistemology, pedagogical values, and legitimation and this provides useful lessons for educators teaching Indigenous studies and for educators in general who struggle to implement education as the practice of liberation in the mainstream education system."

"Social studies education in Canada has historically been composed of the political history of White, economically privileged males. Even when included, the perspectives of other groups have often been deemphasized. Such deemphasis of the history of non-dominant groups in society serves two purposes. First, it normalizes their oppression and makes that oppression seem natural, insignificant, or even
p131

nonexistent. Second, it denies people who identify with these groups a role in history: it silences the histories and experiences of them and their communities. In both ways this type of history education serves to uphold structures of racism, oppression, and colonization."

"Thus the central question guiding my research was: What can educators learn from an analysis of BC First Nations Studies that will help them to create and teach social studies curricula in the mainstream education system in a liberatory way?"

p132

Methodology - qualitative interviews with teachers and other education professionals, obersved the course being taught, student surveys, student interviews, "teach the course myself... kept notes on my experiences as a teacher, events that occurred in the classroom, how students reacted to the course, and the pedagogical choices I faced."

p133

Three major theoretical frameworks
1) Critical theory: "acknowledges the relationship between what goes on in schools and structures of power in society and is useful for examining how knowledge and power create and influence each other in education and how education can be a transformative force in society."
2) Postcolonial studies: "situates Indigenous education in the context of colonialism and explores the links between colonialism and modern society's perceptions of Indigenous knowledge and is useful for examining how education can be a decolonizing force."
3) Indigenous educational theory: "explores epistemologies and pedagogies of Indigenous cultures and is useful for understanding why tensions arise when teaching about Indigenous cultures in the mainstream education system."

p147
-"One of the themes that emerged strongly from my research was the notion that the public school system is organized such that it often limits or discourages Indigenous epistemologies or pedagogies. Although many schools appear to welcome multicultural curriculum when such curriculum does not challenge Eurocentric epistemology and pedagogy, a true understanding of and respect for non-Western cultures is not possible. True de-colonial teaching is not only a matter of adding content about the histories of Indigenous peoples, but also necessitates using Indigenous epistemologies and pedagogies in the program, and in so doing dismantling the privilege ascribed to Eurocentric ways of thinking and being."

p148
-"In order to engage in decolonial teaching, educators must undergo a decolonial epistemic shift in their own classrooms by challenging Eurocentric conceptions of knowledge and learning."
-"In practice, decolonial teaching of Indigenous studies would incorporate Indigenous pedagogical methods such as experiential, student-centred, and place-based learning. teaching about First Nations culture entirely through books and standardized tests is not respectful of Indigenous ways of knowing and teaching and does not challenge the colonizers' control of what counts as knowledge. Decolonial teaching, on the other hand, involves expanding the narrow Eurocentric definitions of what it means to know and how knowledge can be assessed, thus making genuine space for non-Western ways of knowing and being."

"The standardization of BC First Nations Studies, although intended to increase esteem for the course, also had the effect of leaving teachers with less time to incorporate local and cultural knowledge, include the voices of Aboriginal people, and encourage experiential learning and personal

p149

growth. Many educators struggled with the pressure they felt to adopt non-Indigenous pedagogies in their efforts to meet the content demands of the course."

"the system as a whole must place a greater value on ways of knowing, teaching, and evaluating learning that stem from non-Western cultures."

p150
-"Educators who believe in education as the practice of freedom are responsible for working toward such systemic changes in values. this responsibility demands of educators that they do more than simply deliver prepackaged curricula and act as forces for personal and social change, and in doing so shape the field of education toward a liberatory ethic."

"That would certainly be spoiling them": Liberal discourses of Social Studies teachers and concerns about Aboriginal students

2012-01-05T22:57:00.000-08:00

Reading notes post. I have to add that this is one the best articles I've read in quite awhile. No holds barred. What an ally!

Orlowski, P. (2008). "That would certainly be spoiling them": Liberal discourses of Social Studies teachers and concerns about Aboriginal students. Canadian Journal of Native Education 31 (2). p110-129.

Summary: "This article explores a dynamic that Aboriginal people have known for a long time, namely, that despite lofty rhetoric of liberalism about tolerance and equality, Aboriginal students are still at an academic disadvantage for succeeding in high school. In particular, the author examines the role that social studies, the course that ostensibly explores social relations in Canada's past and present, might have in exacerbating the situation for Aboriginal high school students."

p110
-BC in 2005 - 42% Aboriginal students grad high school, 78% non-Ab
-social studies and achievement gap - similar to what Black scholars have found with curriculum and Black student success
-this article "is about the work of a White researcher discussing Aboriginal issues in education with 10 veteran White social studies teachers. It is an example of what Jeanette Armstrong describes as a member 'from the dominant society [turning] over some rocks in [his] own garden for examination.'"
-What can teachers do to help more Aboriginal students graduate from high school

p111
-school is a filter for how Aboriginal people are seen in social and political terms
-school is at least partly responsible for how Aboriginal people are seen in social and political terms
-teachers are in the role of hegemonic or counter-hegemonic agents whether they are conscious of it or not

p112
-settings and methods
-framing the study: three dimensions of whiteness: 1) social location of structural advantage and race privilege, 2) standpoint from which White people view themselves and the Other in society, 3) a set of cultural practices that is unmarked and therefore is the invisible norm
-Liberal discourses blame the victim- colour blind (beneath our skin we are all the same, cultural deficiencies to explain social inequities, colour blind discourse is power blind... race-cognizance discourse acknowledges that an individual receives or experiences varying amounts of privilege or oppression based on his or her racial background
-"In this article I critique the discourses of liberalism, especially those that focus on egalitarianism, tolerance, fairness, and cultural deficiency from the standpoint of the race-cognizance discourse. I locate the nexus of power-blindness in the liberal discourses of social studies and in Canadian multiculturalism today." [SHAZAM! I LOVE THIS GUY!]

p114
-Canadian Multiculturalism: A Brief Overview
-The BC Social Studies Curriculum as Context
[overview, excerpts, and analysis of BC social studies curriculum going back to 1941 - impressive!]

p116
-Teachers' Attitudes [analysis of qualitative data]

p126
-Summary and Conclusions
-...preponderance of [Liberal] discourses should not be surprising given that the Canadian state has taken great pains to promote our national identity as one that has been fair in its treatment of minorities...
-"Overall, the teachers refused to accept the suggestions that they alter the curriculum to make it more relevant for Aboriginal students. Instead they were almost unanimous in their suport of the color-blind curriculum. One teacher called race cognizance in social studies nothing more than "an apologist's appraoch to teaching history," and another said it would result in "creating victimization." In fact the strength of their refusal to accept the race-cognizance discourse or to develop culturally relevant pedagogy was surprising. The finding leads me to think that the White backlash phenomenon whereby White Canadians feel victimized by multiculturalism has infiltrated the thinking of teachers."

p127
-teachers cite lack of time to learn about Aboriginal land issues
-"The attitudes of most of the teachers in this study support Mackey's point that the discourses of Canadian liberalism enable the state to manage both the Aboriginal peoples and the discourses about them. Increased representation in the curriculum and the celebratory nature of difference can be used effectively to hide the power wielded by the dominant society. After all, it is members of this same dominant group who decide which differences to highlight and which to ignore, a clear expression of social power. As well, the teachers did not have a grasp of the knowledge needed to alter their teaching from either the one-size-fits-all color-blind curriculum or the celebratory aspects of pluralist multicultural education to a power-focused critical multicultural education. In sum, although the social studies curriculum has evolved into a document that allows them to engage in race-cognizance discourses, the teachers are reluctant or unable to do so."
-intention of study not to blame teachers, but grad rates are an ethical issue that must be discussed
-"Teacher education programs in Canada are responsible for deconstructing these liberal discourses to locate the power inherent in them. Also, preservice teachers need to learn other pedagogical strategies to help increase the academic success of Aboriginal youth."

p128
-suggests Ladson-Biling's culturally relevant pedagogy
-suggest Goulet who says there's a need for teachers to learn how to make connections to Aboriginal communities and learn about their histories
-need more Aboriginal teachers
-"Educators have a responsibility to help Aboriginal students. Liberal discourses have failed aboriginal students. As Mackey points out, 'this celebration of Canadian tolerance, and how far Canada has come... erases the difficult question of how far the nation still needs to go to have genuine justice and equality for Aboriginal people.'"

Power in Community Building: Learning From Indigenous Youth How to Strengthen Adult-Youth Relationship in School Settings by Patricial D. Quijada Cerecer

2012-01-05T17:58:00.000-08:00

Reading notes post from-

Quijada Cerecer, P. D. (2011). Power in Community Building: Learning From Indigenous Youth How to Strengthen Adult-Youth Relationship in School Settings. In A.F. Ball & C. A. Tyson (Eds.), Studying Diversity in Teacher Education (pp. 171-182). Lanham, Maryland: Towman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

p171
-The aim of this chapter is to illuminate how Indigenous youth describe adult-youth relationships as an important part of their learning experiences and problematize the type of engagements they are xperiencing in schools. By describing their experiences with adults in school settings, Indigenous youth link how knowledge, culture, and power are embedded in the formation and maintenance of relationships. youth describe how these adult-youth relationships impact their day-to-day experiences in school settings and their motivation to further their education.
p172
-In this chapter I first review the literature on culturally responsive schooling and Indigenous knowledge in school contexts. Second, I discuss the methods, provide an overview of th youth who participated in the project, and describe school context. Finally, I draw upon examples from my research in rural public high school that illuminates how Indigenous youth describe their experiences in building and establishing community through schoolwide events and their relationships with teachers and adults at the high school.
p172 in order to achieve culturally responsive schooling "educators must have attained a certain degree of cultural competence. In so doing, educators must understand and affirm the Indigenous knowledge that youth bring to the school context. At the forefront of this process, educators must understand and position youth as being social change agents and knowledge producers."

p173
-"Valuing, affirming, and understanding Indigenous epistemologies and the culture each student brings to the school and classroom setting is essential."
-"Engaging in relationships in this manner will also illustrate for educators the important in understanding and affirming diverse learning contexts."
-"At the core of enhancing academic productivity for this group of students is the development of strong healthy relationships with adults in school settings, reconfirming the importance of understanding and valuing Indigenous epistemologies. In fact, students are interested in building relationships with adults that are mutually reciprocal, affirmed their identities, and valued their knowledge. Such a relationship demonstrates an interest in understandingng and valuing the individual youth, their respective families, and communities."

p180
-"In looking toward the future several important and central questions for educators would be: How can educators in school settings forge alliances with youth to come together across differences to create learning relationships that (in)form, (re)form, and maintain cultural practices that are central to development and education? How can educators strive to establish a reciprocal transformative learning relationship with youth in school settings?

Teaching Native Youth, Teaching about Native Peoples: Shifting the Paradigm to Socioculturally Responsive Education by Tiffany S. Lee

2012-01-05T17:39:00.000-08:00

Reading notes post from:

Lee, T. S. (2011). Teaching Native youth, teaching about Native Peoples: Shifting the paradigm to socioculturally responsive education. In A.F. Ball & C. A. Tyson (Eds.), Studying Diversity in Teacher Education (pp. 275-293). Lanham, Maryland: Towman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

p276

-many teachers in study expressed assimliationist perspectives, some felt Native culture was a distraction
-often stereotypical and non-critical representations of Native people's lives, histories, and contributions are taught
-many teachers in study "expressed a desire to include their students' sociocultural identity and experience in the curriculum. It is just that they felt constrained and unsure about how to incorporate students; heritage and lived experience into their classrooms."
-"The purpose of this this chapter is to address the need for a paradigm shift in education from one based on the insinuated superiority of Western society, which promotes assimilation, to one that is more inclusive of authentic representations of Native peoples, that is socially, culturally, and locally respectful and that is responsive to all students."

Dilemmas for teacher education and the teaching of Native students

-"Part of the problem is in seeing Native peoples as fellow citizens... recognized as First Americans but often not as citizens with contemporary lives who simultaneously participate in our Native family and community life and in the larger mainstream American life."

p277
-author distinguishes between culturally responsive teaching and socioculturally responsive education - "... the essential issue for teachers and teacher educators is to learn about and draw upon the community and identity of Native students through socioculturally responsive education. Socioculturally Responsive (SCR) education includes pedagogy that utilizes students' lived experiences, hom-based knowledge, and local environment to inform curriculum and relationships with students. While researchers have generally called it culturally responsive or culturally based education, I distinguish and broaden the term to sociolculturally responsive education because Native youth's lives are also inclusive of social influences not solely defined Native culture such as mainstream media, family income, and occupations, tribal economic development, off-reservation residence, and peer influences. Socioculturally responsive education is comprehensive in recognizing the breadth of Native students' lived experiences today."

p279
Castagno and Brayboy's study on SCR aka culturally responsive schooling
"an education that draws on the heritage language and culture Indigenous to particular places, communities, and Native Nations and is fundamental to students' intellectual, social, emotional, and spiritual development and connection to those places... SCR teaching is more than being sensitive and aware of students' cultural background, but it is also recognizing how cultures are contextually based and necessitates educators become culturally competent in order to meaningfully and appropriately incorporate students' cultural and linguistic backgrounds into their teaching. This incorporation thereby validates students' home-based knowledge and experiences and allows them to participate in constructing what counts as knowledge in their classrooms and schools."

p280
Pedagogy can't teach culture as something separate and discrete, must be integrated

"SCR education is also inclusive of caring about students' cultural heritage and everyday lives. Many scholars have written about the significance of caring relations in teacher-student interactions and many have written about its particular importance in teacher interactions with Native youth. These author demonstrate that caring about students involves learning about their daily lives, establishing a relationship of trust with them and their families, and using that deeper social and emotional knowledge in assessment or evaluation of their performance and behaviour in school."

p281
Community-based education (CBE)
-experiential education that places the community at the center of learning and decision making with regard to the content that is shared and taught
-allows students to learn through their direct experience and service to community
-applies tenets of Indigenous educational philosophy -l learning about who you are based on your role and contribution to your community, emphasizes development intellectually, socially, emotionally, physically, and spiritually
-CBE successful in simulating, motivating, and developing students' sense of self because it makes their education relevant to their lives, validates their community's knowledge and experiences, and provides a direct opportunity for contribution to their community

-a Native teacher might have background knowledge and experience to better facilitate SCR teaching but being Native doesn't "automatically ensure one will be aware or know how to utilize their cultural knowledge in instructional strategies. Additionally, being Native does not ensure the teacher's acceptance to promote changes that are responsive to the values, goals, and ideas of Native communities. Thus, training as SCR teachers is also necessary for Native American teachings.

p283
-Loewen "The antidote to feel-good history is not feel-bad, but honest and inclusive history"

Happy New Years! Footage from the St'at'imc New Years Powwow

2012-01-03T21:26:00.000-08:00

I spent New Years at the St'at'imc New Years Powwow and after the countdown we broke out in song.

Check out this video footage. I am on the left in a black shirt singing and drumming and you can tell me apart from the other person in a black shirt because I receive a hug from a guy in a purple hat within the first ten seconds of the video.

What a great time! If you know of any other footage from that night, particularly the Constitution Song which we sang right after the countdown, please post the link as a comment.

Beading and listening to a Gord Hill podcast... g'night :)

Reading notes "My journey to Indigenous feminism" by Jocelyn Formsma

2011-12-24T21:30:00.000-08:00

This is actually just a reading note. A succinct yet powerful paragraph :) Follow her on Twitter

@JossOssim

Formsma, J. (2011). My journey to Indigenous feminism. In J. Yee (Ed.), Feminism for real: Deconstructing the academic industrial complex of feminism (149-152). Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

p151
To me, Indigenous feminism is a way of practicing the values that I have been taught. Identifying as an Indigenous feminist means, without explicitly stating, that I believe in the inherent strength of women. It means that I not only am aware of and understand some of the historical and contemporary challenges and barriers that affect Indigenous women but also can appreciate that not all Indigenous women experience those same challenges and barriers in the same way or even at all. As an Indigenous feminist, I believe in the restoration of balance amongst the genders and the sexes and Indigenous feminism is where I find myself able to connect and commit to action.

Reading notes "Fuck the glass ceiling" by Robyn Manyard

2011-12-24T21:25:00.000-08:00

If you're wondering what's going on here tonight with the fast and furious posting it's that I was visiting a friend and she returned a book that I was planning to blog but lent to her before I could so I'm posting all my reading notes that I did forever ago in one night.

Manyard, M. (2011). Fuck the glass ceiling. In J. Yee (Ed.), Feminism for real: Deconstructing the academic industrial complex of feminism (115-126). Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

p119-120 Next, let's examine 'marginalization'. I've always felt wary about the community sector's use of the word 'marginalized populations' but didn't always understand why I felt it was so dubious. Now I do: 'exploitation' has always been a better term than 'marginalization', because where marginalization just means that people are pushed into, or exist already in, the margins of society, it doesn't explain how, or why. The process of marginalization isn't intrinsic to the meaning of the word, and 'margins' seem to pre-exist, as a natural location for people to inhabit in a society. It seems like something that just accidentally happens, and needs to be fixed by pulling people into some kind of imaginary 'centre', which I imagine is meant to be the middle class, or something to that effect. It is a watered down description of the extreme hardships and daily violence experienced by those living in extreme poverty and facing the harshest realities of racism in our society, and it also disguises the reasons for why it takes place... The word 'exploitation' is clearer. The process of exploitation is inside of this word, it contains, in its definition, the fact that somebody is being exploited for the benefit of somebody else; it is describing a relationship. And this makes it easier to understand what is meant in stating that the status of racialized, Indigenous, and immigrant women today is 'structural'.

p121
Canada has always had a stake in the destruction of the self-determination of Indigenous people; the very attempts to annihilate culture, and take away dignity, are both historically, and currently linked to colonization, and therefore the theft of Indigenous territory.

p121
'Canada' has been built now, but, the violence of its creation is not a historical legacy. Colonization is ongoing, and this is because there is still a benefit for the Canadian government, and Canadian corporations, to perpetuate the cultural destruction, incarceration, and systematic under-protection of Indigenous women. Trying to destroy Indigenous cultures' ability to survive helps Canadian financial interests because those very interests are still encroaching on Indigenous territory!

p122
As we know it is women who bear a large burden of impoverishment and displacement, and because of this colonization is always a feminist issue.

p123
The reason that I'm focusing so much on the fact that there are people benefitting from perpetuating the dire situation faced by women in Canada and worldwide is first to dispel the notion that not holding racist and sexist stereotypes is proof of having eliminated racism and having achieved gender equity.

126
Real empowerment of women, of 'marginalized people' is scary because... it involves things like popular education, mass civil disobedience, and refusing to accept the moral authority of illegitimate power structures.

Reading notes "Maybe I'm not class-mobile; Maybe I'm class-queer: Poor kids in college, and survival under hierarchy" by Megan Lee

2011-12-24T20:45:00.000-08:00

I read this article, "Maybe I'm not class-mobile; Maybe I'm class-queer," by Megan Lee a few months ago in the book Feminism for real: Deconstructing the academic industrial complex of feminism and it really stuck with me.

At the time I was teaching and considering re-entering the university as a grad student, but it brought me back to the first few years of my undergrad when I was the struggling single parent and my son was a toddler. I remember doing that dance where I'd try to figure out who was 'safe' to reveal information about myself to and who was not. I often didn't tell people that I had a child. I didn't hide it, but no one ever asked. Half the time when people found out they'd give me some weird mixture of pity and admiration.

I also remember avoiding social engagements within the university for the first few years. If I were invited to a potluck I'd have to say no because we couldn't afford it and it was too hard to take the bus home, pick my son up from daycare, prepare food, then get back on the bus and go somewhere new. But I didn't want to tell people about it because we live in a time where Indigenous children are frequently abducted by the government and I worried that if I let people know that I was financially struggling as a parent I would draw attention to myself that might result in unwanted government attention. I don't know if my concern was unwarranted or not.

Regardless, for the first few years I just tried to blend in and be somewhat invisible. I remember that feeling that I had somehow snuck in and I had to be careful because until I proved myself intellectually my belonging in this place was tenacious at best. I knew that if I proved myself academically my belonging would be secured, but for the first few years academics were a struggle because I was raising a small child on my own with relatively few resources.

I really held back out of fear that I would be excluded on account of my parenthood and poverty, so I stayed away from socializing with other university students.

It was studying critical theory with Pati Tomic and Ricardo Trumper that brought me out of my shell and allowed me to see that the things I feared were class oppression and racism, and that even if those things did occur it was not a reflection on my worth as a person.

When I first started teaching in Lytton that fear that letting people know that I struggled would lead to exclusion and unwanted government attention still lingered. However, as time went on people such as my principal and other single parent teachers were really supportive. They let me know that they were willing to accommodate me because they valued my presence. Their generosity and caring really changed me at the core of my being and I am so grateful that I started my career in the rural community of Lytton for that reason, among others.

Anyhow, the article was a timely read that has stuck with me, and here are some of my favorite excerpts:

Lee, M. (2011). Maybe I'm not class-mobile; Maybe I'm class-queer: Poor kids in college, and survival under hierarchy. In J. Yee (Ed.), Feminism for real: Deconstructing the academic industrial complex of feminism (85-92). Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

p85 Few academics that I encountered were comfortable or even conscious enough to deal with the ways that university works as a mechanism to perpetuate class hierarchy.

p85
Getting educated didn’t just entail a change in my C.V. and prospective earnings; the institution and the student body were permeated by a value-set and worldview that pressured me to alter my language, my appearance, the elements of my personal background that I learned to conceal, the values that I was expected to hold, my relationships, my alliances, my family ties, and my identity as a person.

p86

Wherever I tried to raise the issue, it was acknowledged briefly but the discussion quickly shifted before anything meaningful was said. Academic institutions reinforced class privilege, but academic feminism, for all its espoused anti-oppressive commitments, did not want to get into the details.

p87

Growing up, my single mom struggled to keep my brother and me fed, clothed, and safe from an abusive father, and to give us the kind of foothold in the world that she herself had never had. She fought her whole life to survive, and that spirit of tooth-and-nail survivalism permeated my childhood and is the
bedrock of my feminist convictions. I was raised with the understanding that in this upward battle, it is not only our bodies but our minds and identities that must endure and remain whole.

p88

Unlike the rest of my family, I have the safety and luxury of being racially invisible when I choose to be. I am privileged by the same racist systems that oppress my mother and my brother; at the same time, my brother is privileged by heteronormative patriarchal systems that subordinate me as a lesbian. Ignoring these dangerous dynamics is not an option — not for my family, and not for any human being who wishes to participate in the creation of an anti-oppressive movement.We need to understand these mechanisms of oppression in order to understand and love one another

p88

Poverty is not simply having no money — it is isolation, vulnerability, humiliation and mistrust. It is not being able to differentiate between employers and exploiters and abusers. It is contempt for the simplistic illusion of meritocracy — the idea that what we get is what we work for

p89

The fight for accessible education has to be a panoramic fight against poverty — against dehumanization, ghettos, exploitation, and fear. It needs to be the fight for anti-racist collectives and radical immigration reform, and it needs to be the fight against the non-profit industrial complex wherein some organizations, under the guise of anti-oppressive activism, re-enforce the status of the privileged (for they are the educated professionals) and remain invested in the oppression of the poor and racialized (for they are the “clients” who legitimize the non-profit organization.)

p90

Universities teach us to renounce our sense of identification with the poor; they teach this by mainly ignoring the existence of poor people, and by treating us as “other” when we do become the subject of discussion. Universities teach us not to care too much, because it will undermine our professional role

p90-91

University is a classist institution — not only in the sense that financial barriers render it inaccessible to most poor people but in the sense that the culture of university imposes a homogeneous set of classist values, including dangerous delusions of meritocracy

p91

Even when the
oppressed person is sitting right there, the university setting
permits everyone to talk about us in the third person.

p91-92

We can participate in the institution on our own terms rather than on theirs, and we can redefine what an educated professional looks and sounds like. We can challenge what knowledge is seen as legitimate and what is seen as illegitimate. And most of all, we can identify the role of the university itself, and the way that it sustains class divisions, the way that it functionally excludes people based on their economic status, and the way that it alienates the few who make it through the cracks

Reading notes - Indigenous methodologies: Characteristics, Conversations, and Contexts by Margaret Kovach

2011-12-24T19:36:00.000-08:00

I'm on page 128 of this book and I'm worried I won't finish it because I am supposed to be starting a sewing project tomorrow so I thought I'd post what I have so far.

Kovach, M. (2009). Indigenous Methodologies: Characteristics, Conversations, and Contexts. Toronto, Ontario: University of Toronto Press.

p13 There has een a crisis in Indigenous educational and child welfare policy (among other sites) in this country. Why? Because the research that influences policy and shapes practices that impact Indigenous communities emerges from Western, not Indigenous, knowledges or forms of inquiry. The proposition is that methodology itself necessarily influences outcomes. Indigenous research frameworks have the potential to improve relevance in policy and practice within Indigenous contexts.

p29 From a qualitative methodological perspective, i sense that there are two overriding political challenges as we enter into the seventh moment of qualitative research. The first involves finding (and using) a research approach that is not extractive and is accountable to Indigenous community standards on research so as to honour the tribal worldview. The second challenge is dealing with the undeniable. There is a fundamental epistemological difference between Western and Indigenous thought and this difference causes philisophical, ideological, and methodological conflicts for Indigenous researchers. From the perspective of those who wish to employ a methodological approach guided by their own cultural epistemology, but cannot beause it is personally and/or structurally shut out (intentionally or not), it feels as though the space is uninviting. This applies to quantitative research, qualitative research, and the post-secondary research environment in general. This sense of exclusion has a direct impact on Indigenous scholars and students within academia.

p32 In commenting on the 'insider' space, Indigenous methodologies share two interrelated characteristics with other qualitative approaches (e.g., feminst methodologie and appreciative inquiry): (a) both approaches are relational, and (b) both approaches must show evidence of process and content.

p32 Reflexivity is the term often utilized within a variety of qualitative research approaches to reference the relational. Reflexivity is the researcher's own self-reflection in the meaning-making process.

p34 An indicator of a relational approach in research can be found within process and content, and the reader must be able to identify both in the methodology. Indicators that this holistic epistemology is present include explicit reference to personal preparations involving motivations, purpose, inward knowing, observation and the variety of ways that the researcher can relate her own process undertaken in the research. Anothe way to assess process is to see the inclusion of story and narrative by noth researcher and research participant. In an Indigenous context, story is methodologically congruent with tribal knowledges.

p47 Characteristics of Indigenous theory
-located with a culturally contextual site
-born of an organic process involving community
-the product of a theorist who has an understanding of the cultural epistemic foundations of an Indigenous worldview
-focused on change
-although not universal, portable to other sites
-flexible
-engaged with other theoretical positionings (i.e., it is not an isolationist theory)
-critical
-workable for a variety of sites of struggle
-user-friendly - people can understand what the theorist is talking about

p52 In considering research validity, I hear the Elders' voices: Are you doing this in a good way? There is a Cree word, tapwe, which means to speak the truth. This is about validity, or relationally speaking, credibility. to do this means to tend to the process in a good way, so that no matter the outcome you can sleep at night because you did right by the process.

p76 While the colonial visage of our ancestors' time has shifted, the relationship continues. On an international level, this is felt through globalization and consumerism, which feed an economic system that preys on Mother Earth striving to sustain the human species event as we abuse her. Colonial interruptions of Indigenous culture continue, and there is no way to address tribal epistemologie and Indigenous research frameworks without considering these relations. It is a dilemma that is distinctively Indigenous and sets us apart from other marginalized groups. It has become part of our collective experience and a burden that our pre-contact ancestors did not have to shouler. The relationship with the settler society impacts our world daily, in the supermarket, in neighbourhoods, and in educational institutions. In post-secondary education, Indigenous students experience the burn of colonial reearch on a consistent baes most evident in the suppression of Indigenous knowledges. Postcolonial? There is nothing post about it. It has simply shape-shifted to fit the contemporary context.

p85 The risk of being absorbed by Western thought once inside colonial spaces is great. Jeannine Carriere states that conscious effort is required: 'That is our western mind that is always in the background. That is the other struggle, always having to push it back all the time, that other voice.' Kathy Absolon describes the 'internal gymnastics' of carrying out activities such as research within Western sites:' We talk about decolonization, but we ar talking about decolonization in a colonized context of learning and so there's that inherent contradiction in what we are doing. ' She suggests that to maintain a sense of cultural and personal integrity as an Indigenous researcher/person in the academy, it is important to have grounding outside, because the academy can consume.

p86 Increasingly, as communities heal from the colonial interruption and experience a cultural renaissance, the desire for proficiency i mainstream domains (e.g., research and higher education) is a strategy to build capacity as a means to protect culture.

p87A pragmatic and highly political strategy within research has been the approach set out in the article entitled 'Ownership, Control, Access and Possession (OCAP) of Research or Self-Determination Applied to Research: A Critical Analysis of Contemporary First Nations Research and Some Options for First Nations Communities' (Schnarch, 2004). This article, by B. Schnarch, states very clearly how exploitive research within Indigenous communities in Canada is no longer acceptable.

p89
MAGGIE: What has been the interface with the Western universities?
GRAHAM (Hingangaroa Smith): Oh, it's been a struggle. Fundamentally, we are contesting at the level of knowledge, but we are also contesting a history of colonization and colonizing processes. If you understand schooling and education as 'selection of knowledge' that is taught in institutions, and that dominant cultural groups can determine what knowledge is selected to be taught, then you will understand how schooling and education become sites for colonization and assimilation. The interests of the dominant white society at the university are able to be reproduced within the structures of social, political, and economic dominance, and so forth. In order to overcome Indigenous complicity in the reproduction of white social, economic, and political privilege, Indigenous academics need a philosophy that allows us to engage within the academy, within the ambit of what I call 'the politics of truth.'

p94 Stories remind us of who we are and of our belonging. Stories hold within them knowledges while simultaneously signifying relationships. In oral tradition, stories can never be decontextualized from the teller. They are active agents within a relational world, pivotal in gaining insight into a phenomenon. Oral stories are born of connections within the world, and thus are recounted relationally. They tie us with our past and provide a basis for continuity with future generations.

p97 The notion that everyone understands story and that it is an effective means for gaining insight and making sense of the world is not contested. What is contested, however, is that story is an apolitical, acultural method that can be applied without consideration of the knowledge system that sustains it. From that perspective, engaging with tribal stories means understanding their form, purpose, and substance from a tribal perspective. To attempt to understand tribal stories from a Western perspective (or any other cultural perspective) is likely to miss the point, possibly causing harm.

p100 Reliable representation engenders relevancy and is a necessary aspect of giving back to community.

p101 'All stories are didactic to varying degrees, but they hardly ever have built-in analysis - analysis is the job of the listener' (Stevenson 2000: 33).s

Culturally responsive teaching, socially responsible criticism, and resistance scholarship

2011-12-23T21:40:00.000-08:00

Hey folks, here's another excerpt from a different paper. I like all three of these concepts (culturally responsive teaching, socially responsible criticism, resistance scholarship) so I thought I'd share the summaries of them. I find socially responsible criticism to be particularly practical for thinking about curriculum development at the secondary level.

Culturally Responsive Teaching

To date many of the materials that I have created utilize culturally responsive teaching in the study of Aboriginal literature. Culturally responsive teaching is a pedagogical and research framework which puts the teacher at the centre of educational transformation. It assumes that by transforming the work of teachers in the classroom society can be changed. As an activist I find this perspective empowering because while I cannot replace every colonial text or drastically change legislation I can build teachers’ pedagogical knowledge and skills by building curriculum resources and providing professional development workshops.

I embrace culturally responsive teaching because the positive recognition of Aboriginal students’ cultural heritage has been shown to improve Aboriginal student success^⁠(Muhajarine, Puchala, & Janus, 2011) and decrease the suicide rates of Aboriginal youth (Chandler & Lalonde, 1998).^⁠However, I find that a limitation of culturally responsive teaching is that it does not emphasize colonial power relations in terms of student/student, teacher/student, teacher/text, and student/text interactions. While culturally responsive teaching advocates for positive cultural recognition, it does not go far enough in explicitly acknowledging ongoing colonial attitudes that infiltrate all aspects of education and as a result does not give teachers enough tools to perform decolonizing work in the classroom through the study of Aboriginal texts.

While I embrace culturally responsive teaching, I also choose to supplement it with the theoretical frameworks of socially responsive criticism and resistance scholarship in order to address its limitations in the area of decolonizing the classroom.

Socially Responsible Criticism

Socially responsible criticism is a framework for talking about and teaching Indigenous texts. It recognizes that teachers bring their own worldviews into the classroom, that teachers can impose their own worldviews onto the texts, and that the study of texts if not done carefully can reinforce stereotypes of Aboriginal people (Episkenew, 2002).

A number of phenomena may arise in the teaching of Aboriginal texts. Teachers might misrepresent Aboriginal people during the study of the texts (Episkenew, 2002). Episkenew also found that settler students may identify with the oppressed, abdicating themselves of responsibility in the colonial system and that settler students may go through a process of grief, anger and defensiveness. Episkenew mentions that Aboriginal students may become uncomfortable as “the object of investigation” (153).

In the context of a heterogeneous public school setting this is troubling because it means that teachers can both contribute to the internal colonization of Aboriginal students and re-affirm colonial mindsets in settler students. Without a framework for respectful treatment of Aboriginal texts colonialism can be reproduced in the classroom during the study of Aboriginal texts.

Episkenew encourages teachers to practice socially responsible criticism in order to prevent this from happening. Practices which Episkenew encourages include teaching students about the social, political, and cultural context of the texts; recognizing their own limitations in understanding the texts and working to understand the context of the texts; attempting to “listen to what the text asks of the reader” (90); engaging all students as “subjects and agents of history” (148); and linking “knowledge, social responsibility, and collective struggle” (152).

Emma LaRocque (2002) encourages resistance scholarship which involves “setting a social purpose for knowledge” (214); learning the specific Aboriginal epistemology and cultural context of the texts being studied; and ensuring that literature is being studied in the context of Canadian history rather than as a cultural curiosity. LaRocque emphasizes that both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students have misconceptions about Aboriginal people so it is important to give students background knowledge about Aboriginal people so that they can understand the texts being studied.

Deena Rymhs (2006) also mentions the possibility of looking at Aboriginal texts through the lens of big P Politics, that is, seeing how they relate to Aboriginal nationalism issues such as land ownership, law and governance. Rymhs notes that instead, many scholars look at the small p politics such as power relations and large scale issues.Seeing texts through the lens of Aboriginal nationalism and big P Politics is necessary in order to practice socially responsible criticism and resistance scholarship.

References

(not all items references appear in above excerpt)

Annenberg Learner Foundation. (nd.). Teaching multi-cultural literature workshop 3: Shirley Sterling and Linda Tahoe. Washington, DC: Annenberg Learner Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.learner.org/workshops/tml/workshop3/index.html

British Columbia Ministry of Education. (2007). English Language Arts 8-12: Integrated resource package. Victoria, BC: Government of British Columbia http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/pdfs/english_language_arts/2007ela_812.pdf

Chandler, M. J., & Lalonde, C. (1998). Cultural continuity as a hedge against suicide in Canada's First Nations. Transcultural Psychiatry 35 (2). 191-219.

Gay, Geneva. (2000). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, & practice. New York, New York: Teachers College Press.

LaRocque, E. (2002). Teaching Aboriginal literature : The discourse of margins and mainstreams. Creating community: A roundtable on Canadian Aboriginal literature. Penticton, BC: Theytus. 209-234.

Muhajarine, M., Puchala, C., & Janus, M. (2011). Does the EDI equivalently measure facets of school readiness for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children? Social Indicators Research 103. 299-314.

Regional Vancouver Island Literature Circle. (nd.) My Name is Seepeetza novel study. Ashcroft, BC: School District No. 74. Retrieved from http://www.sd74.bc.ca/abed/My%20Name%20is%20Sepeetza.pdf

Rymhs, D. (2006). Appropriating guilt: Reconciliation in an Aboriginal Canadian context. English Studies in Canada 32 (1). 105-123.

Bitterroot as a metaphor for locally contextualized curriculum reform

2011-12-23T21:29:00.000-08:00

Here's an excerpt from one of my papers I thought that you, dear readers, might enjoy.

Bitterroot as a symbol of socially, politically, and economically contextualizing Aboriginal knowledge in the Southern Interior of BC

Standing around a fire I once heard half a story about buffalo in the Okanagan, but I have neither adequate detail nor permission to share it here. Regardless, the buffalo as a metaphor for education is not as powerful here in the interior of BC because it does not encompass the social, political, and economic context of Aboriginal knowledge in this geographic and cultural context.

I propose bitterroot as both an alternative metaphor for describing the history of Aboriginal knowledge in BC, what is at stake when it comes to Aboriginal knowledge in education, and a means of curriculum reform.

Bitterroot is a small plant. In order to harvest it you put a digging stick under it and gently loosen the earth around it, then pull it up. Once you pull it up you fix the spot that you disturbed. The root itself looks like a little person. To process it first you peel it, then you take the little red heart out of it. From there you can either eat it raw, cook it, or put a string through it and dry it. After drying it you can pound it into a powder and mix it with other things to eat it.

Bitterroot was a staple in the southern interior (Turner, 2007). It grows in the grasslands in the area around Cache Creek and in the Okanagan (Turner, 1990). It was an economic aspect of life because it was used to directly sustain the people who harvested it and as a precious trade item (Turner, 2007). It was a social item because sometimes people would harvest bitterroot, then after a long day of working they would play gambling games and gamble the roots that they had harvested (Turner, 1990).

In the Okanagan the bitterroot is one of the four food chiefs. As such, it is not just a food source, but also a carrier of knowledge about how to ethically live one’s life:

Chief Bitterroot is “the Chief for things under the ground” The bitterroot is a beautiful yet peculiar plant that only comes out above ground once a year and can only be found in certain parts of the Okanagan. The harvesting window of the bitterroot lasts for only two weeks, after which the bitterroot cannot be used and retreats to the underground world of roots.

Chief Bitterroot represents the land, as that is where it grows, and it is from the land that it gathers its nutrients, and it is into the land that the bitterroot retreats to wait until the proper time to reappear. First Nations People have always endured a complex relationship with the land; a relationship that is seldom understood by others and is often the focus of treaties and land settlements. Without the land none of the animals or plants that we rely on for food would be able to survive. Even the mighty spring salmon comes inland from the sea to spawn her eggs. To the First Nation person the land is precious, the land is sacred and the preservation of land is a communal responsibility.

(Westbank First Nation, 2000)

As colonial social, political, and economic violence progressed in the interior, bitterroot became threatened. Agriculture, in particular, was harmful because it limited First Nations access to bitterroot harvesting sites and cattle damaged and continues to damage the delicate conditions required to grow bitterroot (Turner, 2007). As a social, political, and economic symbol the history of the bitterroot closely resembles the marginalization of Aboriginal knowledge and people in the southern interior of BC.

Bitterroot is a plant that was actively cultivated by First Nations people (Turner, 2007). By interacting with the land and creating ideal growing conditions through harvesting practices and selective burning First Nations people in the interior strengthened the population of bitterroot plants and extended the territory that bitterroot grows in (Turner, 2007). This method of cultivation differs from colonial agriculture because it does not involve clearing the land of all other living things, drastically changing the landscape, or single person land ownership. Instead it involves gently nurturing small spaces to make them more inviting to bitterroot growth, caring for the earth once the bitterroot has been removed, and collectively working to ensure that bitterroot spaces are taken care of. The bitterroot plants are not externally imposed, they are nurtured to thrive and grow in situ as cultivators work with the local existing ecology to promote healthy bitterroot growth.

How the bitterroot embodies First Peoples Principles of Learning

Bitterroot is a useful metaphor for understanding some of the more abstract First Peoples Principles of learning. Nurturing bitterroot patches “supports the well-being of the self, the family, the community, the land, the spirits, and the ancestors.” (Ministry of Education, 2010). Nurturing bitterroot patches is “holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational” (2010) because one has to respond to the environment, reflect on what is working and what isn’t, experience the land and context, and understand how different elements interact. Your activities will not be effective unless you understand the local relationships surrounding the bitterroot and how your activities in the bitterroot’s ecology impact the bitterroot. Bitterroot harvesting “is embedded in memory, history, and story.” (2010) because when one is harvesting and nurturing bitterroot they must rely on others for memory of where bitterroot grow and how to support bitterroot. Working with bitterroot involves understanding the history of how bitterroot was traditionally used as well as how contact has impacted the bitterroot population’s health. By nurturing bitterroot patches and harvesting bitterroot, one becomes part of the story of the reclamation of Aboriginal knowledge.

Bitterroot as a metaphor for locally contextualized curriculum reform

I postulate that bitterroot is the perfect metaphor for locally contextualized curriculum reform. Because of the diversity in BC, curriculum development must be localized. Like the First Nations groups of the southern interior developed bitterroot patches in situ, so must educators develop the integration of Aboriginal knowledge into their schools in situ. Like the First Nations interacted with their local surroundings in order to nurture the health of bitterroot patches, educators must work with the community in order to nurture the health of Aboriginal knowledge. Like bitterroot is a symbol of social, political, and economic relations, Aboriginal knowledge must be viewed in the context of social, political, and economic relations in the community.

References (not all items listed are contained in this excerpt)

Alberta Teachers Association. (2006). Education is our Buffalo: A Teacher’s Resource for First Nations, Metis, and Inuit Education in Alberta. Edmonton, Alberta: Alberta Teachers Association. Retrieved from http://www.ldaa.ca/assets/pdfs/freeResources/EducationIsOurBuffalo.pdf

Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada. (2010). National Working Summit on Aboriginal Post-secondary Education. Ottawa, Ontario: Association of Colleges and Universities Canada in association with the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.aucc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/aboriginal-report-summit-aboriginal-pse-2010-12-15-e.pdf

BC Ministry of Education. (2010). English First Peoples 10/11 Integrated Resource Package. Victoria, BC: Ministry of Education. Retrieved from http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/pdfs/english_language_arts/2010efp1011.pdf

Chandler, M. J., & Lalonde, C. (1998). Cultural continuity as a hedge against suicide in Canada's First Nations. Transcultural Psychiatry 35 (2). 191-219.

Council of Ministers of Education Canada. (2010). CMEC summit on Aboriginal education - Strengthening Aboriginal success: Moving toward Learn Canada 2020. Toronto, Ontario: Council of Ministers of Education Canada. Retrieved from http://www.cmec.ca/Publications/Lists/Publications/Attachments/221/aboriginal_summit_report.pdf

Drywater-Whitekiller, V. (2010). Cultural resilience: Voices of Native American students in college retention. The Canadian Journal of Native Studies 30 (1). p1-19.

Muhajarine, M., Puchala, C., & Janus, M. (2011). Does the EDI equivalently measure facets of school readiness for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children? Social Indicators Research 103. 299-314.

Turner, N. J. (1990). Thompson Ethnobotany: Knowledge and Usage of Plants by the Thompson Indians of British Columbia. Victoria, BC: Royal British Columbia Museum.

Turner, N. J. (2007). The Earth’s Blanket: Traditional Teachings for Sustainable Living. Vancouver, BC: Douglas & McIntyre.

Urban Aboriginal Peoples Study. (2010). Urban Aboriginal Peoples study: Main report. Ottawa, Ontario: Environics Institute. Retrieved from http://uaps.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/UAPS-Main-Report_Dec.pdf

Westbank First Nation (2000). Bitter Root: Our Land. Retrieved from http://www.wfn.ca/bitterroot.htm

Williams, L. (2010). Keynote Speaker. School District #74 District Day. Retrieved from http://twinkleshappyplace.blogspot.com/2010/11/notes-from-sd74-district-day-keynote.html

An Stickgame Education Celebration! (and my newest lahal creation!)

2011-12-19T12:30:00.000-08:00

So, I was at Kekuli Cafe with my son, boyfriend, and a friend and we got a text from a UBC student saying that she wanted to play stickgames when she came back to the Okanagan for the break.

We asked Kekuli if we could play there and have an event celebrating all the students who made it to the winter break and Sharon in her awesomeness said yes.

Then the UBC student asked if it would be a tournament... so we started asking around for donations. That was on Monday night. Then I went into hiding for a few days to write and the sixteen year old friend took over organizing.

As the week progressed he started looking for an alternate location for logistical reasons and donations started coming in. We got two donations from individuals, one a UBC employee and another a community member.

Saturday night came and there were more than 20 stickgamers at Sensisyusten ready to play plus a few supporters! People even travelled from Skeetchetsen, Canim Lake, Vernon, and the South Okanagan. A Scamble tournament was set up. That's when everyone puts their name in a hat and teams of five are randomly drawn from the hat. Then a game schedule was drawn up and people started playing.

The prizes were modest in comparison to bigger tournaments ($100 first, $60 second, $40 third) but there were only four teams so almost everyone walked away with something. There was also no entry fee because money is tight during the holidays and because it was to celebrate students who usually aren't well known for having tonnes of spare cash on hand. Wouldn't it be terrible if students couldn't play in a tournament to celebrate students!

Anyhow, I made sticks to put up for first place and here's a picture of them. The UBC student who asked to play stickgames was on the team that won first. When her team won they did a draw for the sticks and she won that draw, too! How fitting!

It was a really cool event. I am in awe of the fact that it was set up in less than a week.

Anyhow, it was really cool to see grassroots organizing in action and to see community support come forward for this celebration. I feel really inspired by the event. I think it's a great example of how a few individuals with community support can make something cool happen. I keep thinking more and more lately that culture is created and owned by individuals and we can't wait for culture to happen, it has to be given opportunities to happen and owned by the individuals in the community. We are all accountable for culture and we can all support culture.

Yes. So there's your story of the education celebration.

The book

2011-12-12T23:16:00.000-08:00

Ok. I've decided. I'm going to write a book within the next three years. I don't know if anyone will publish it or whatever, but I'm going to write the darn thing anyhow.

I keep looking at books and thinking, really, it's not that hard. It's hard, but not impossible.

Yep. When I really want to do something I really do it. I really want to write a book.

Mark your calendars. Make a donation. Suggest burning issues.

I'm thinking less than 200 pages, something useful for practicing teachers who work within Aboriginal communities and based on sound pedagogical research. I want something accessible and useful. It has to be authentic to my own Indigenous ethics and it can't be market driven (aka - here's a packet of magical lesson plans that will magically "fix" all of your Aboriginal students). It will be BC-centric, but not limited to BC in implementation. It will honour communities. It might be slightly inflammatory in parts but that will be tempered by a serene and unshakable conviction that classrooms are capable of change.

I have a feeling it will be related to English Language Arts. That's where I'll start for this book. I don't want to limit myself, but I should start from a place of strength.

I can hear someone's voice in my head asking about action research, collaboration, and test driving the ideas in the book. I hear them, but that sounds like a lot of work. We'll see...

Sahali Chek - "Up river" as an Indigenous metaphor for ethical living

2011-12-11T23:54:00.000-08:00

I am reading about Chinook tonight. Chinook is a pidgin trader language that was used in BC and the Northwest US.

It is a language that you see everywhere in these regions even if you didn't know it existed.

I like it because I spend time in a lot of plateau territories and it's a common threat that connects us. For example, siwash means meeting place. In my territory there is a siwash and it's where my family fishes. When I moved to Lytton I was so freakin' excited because they have a siwash too! Since then I've seen it in a couple other places but I can't remember exactly where.

Anyways, when I was looking at the dictionary I came across the words sahali and chek and it got me thinking.

Sahali means "up" and chek means "river."

I'm reading Earth's Blanket, a book about BC First Nations (of course!), and when the settlers were blasting a tunnel in the rock face around Hells Gate around 1915 (I'd have to check the exact date) there was a major landslide that blocked the Fraser River. There were a bunch of Nlaka'pamux there and they saw that the salmon were trying to swim upriver but couldn't because of the rockslide. They were worried that the people upriver wouldn't get any salmon so they built a thing that the salmon could swim up and they also formed a line and passed buckets along the line from one side of the rockslide to the other with salmon in the buckets to help the salmon get upstream and save as many as possible so people upriver could eat.

Isn't that beautiful? Can you imagine a line of people working so hard during that terrible suma created disaster, standing in a line on top of a rockslide over the river working so hard passing those fish along up so people upriver wouldn't starve. It just gives me chills to think about their generosity and care.

Up river is a way of thinking about the people upriver. For example, people who fish the Fraser traditionally only caught as much as they needed and waited till a certain time after the salmon run started before they started to fish so that there would be enough for those who were upriver. The Fraser is over 1000km long. That's big picture thinking to be considerate of all the people living that far up river from you!

I think up river is a way of thinking and being ethical. It's a metaphor for living sustainably, remembering others who are far away but connected to you, intertribal unity, and thinking about the future.

Reading notes from Colonial Reckoning, National Reconciliation? Aboriginal Peoples and the Culture of Redress in Canada

2011-12-08T12:50:00.000-08:00

Reading notes post. Still thinking. Any volunteers to write my paper? Going once, going twice...

Henderson, J. & Wakeham, P. (2009). Colonial Reckoning, National Reconciliation?: Aboriginal Peoples and the Culture of Redress in Canada. English Studies Canada 35 (1). 1-26.

Skipped straight to p15, heading "Culture as Intervention"

p16
-"However, the iteration of the trope of healing might mean different things in different contexts of utterance, ranging from an affirmation of Indigenous lifeways to a potential remedy for Indigenous anti-colonial resistance understood in pyschopathological terms as anger to be overcome, to a process of confession and redemption. At stake in these differences is the relation of healing to decolonization: whether or not healing means adherence to a normative timeline of the modern, which requires "an absolute and therapeutic mourning of the lost" or, rather, a process "that is at one with the effort to create new communities of survival" (Lloyd 227).
-Jo-Anne Episkenew quote: "Healing does not imply that Indigenous people are sick.{...} Colonialism is sick; under its auspices and supported by its mythology, the colonizers have inflicted heinous wounds on the Indigenous population that they set out to civilize. Although Indigenous people understand their need to heal from colonial trauma, most settlers deny that their society is built on a sick foundation and, therefore, deny that it requires a cure. "

17
-Resilience
-"part of the nexus of psychological concepts used to discuss historical trauma, including wound, survival, dysfunction, ad healing, resilience produces value out of oppression experienced as adversity, stressing the individual resources developed to survive int he face of this adversity as a surplus store of strength and adaptability, with open ended potential. Informed by assumptions in behaviouralist psychology, research on resilience tends to focus on the conditions that enable the development of coping strategies... used to describe a collective resource, including the stress on "cultural continuity" which allows some Aboriginal communities to thrive better than others (Chalnger and Lalonde 214)."
-"a key goal of traditional Aboriginal parenting practices"
-tensions in resilience - individualizing vs. cultural continuity, intention to name what is positive and strong in those who have had to suffer and insist on dignity vs. validation of qualities which ease absorption into neo-liberal economy
-alternate phrase to resiliency "suvivance" (Gerald Visenor) - insists on the condition of creative presence of Aboriginal peoples. "Survivance names 'an active preesence of absence, deracination, and oblivion. Survivance is the continuance of stories, not a mere reaction... Survivance stories are renunciations of dominance."

19
-"If cultural loss is one of the critical injuries of colonialism, cultural affirmation must, according to many Indigenous theorists, be a central aspect of any process of redress or reconciliation."
-careful to ensure the culture is not co-opted as an alibi for political reform

20
-summarizes Epsikenew "not only must cultures be reinvented in defiance of colonial assimilationist policies, the must also - and indeed already do - contribute to the revitalization of Indigenous communities."

Reading notes from Subjects of Empire: Indigenous Peoples and the Politics of Recognition in Canada.

2011-12-08T11:27:00.000-08:00

Reading post. You know the drill. Read. Write notes. Post. A whole whack'of'em coming your way today! I am processing and revisiting some articles that have been in the shadows of my thought process. I am supposed to be writing a paper but I am avoiding it a little bit because I am trying to step back and figure out what I actually want to do so this is warming me up.

Couthland, G. S. (2007). Subjects of Empire: Indigenous Peoples and the Politics of Recognition in Canada. Contemporary Political Theory 6. p437-460.

438
- "much of this literature has tended to focus on the relationship between the affirmative recognition of societal cultural differences on the one hand, and the freedom and well being of marginalized individuals and groups living in ethnically diverse states on the other... In Canada, it has been artgued that this synthesis or theory and practice ahs forced the state to re-conceptualize the tenants of its relationship with Aboriginal peoples, whereas prior to 1969 federal Indian policy was unapologetically assimilationist, now it is couched in the vernacular of 'mutual recognition'. In this essay, I challenge the idea that the colonial relationship between Indigenous peoples and the Canadian state can be significantly transformed via a politics of recognition."
-most existing recognition based models "involve the delegation of land, capital and political power from the state to Indigenous communities through land claims, economic development initiatives, and self-government processes."
439
-author proposes that politics of recognition serves to reproduce existing power relations,
-Canada entices Indigenous participation in colonialism by getting them to identify with the asymmetrical and non-reciprocal forms of recognition imposed on or granted to them by the colonial-state,

Three parts to essay
1. Outline assumptions of Hegel's master/slave to Charles Taylor's work on politics of recognition
2. apply Fanon's critique of Hegel's dialectic of recognition to highlight problems in Taylor's politics of recognition in a colonial context
3. "I hope to show that the process of colonial subjection identified in the previous sections, although formidable, are not total. Indeed, as Robert Young has recently argued, Fanon himself spent much of his career as a psychiatrist investigating the inner effects of colonialism in order to establish a means through which they could be resisted, turning the inculcation of inferiority into self-empowerment. Thus, with the intention of closing on a more uplifting note, part three will briefly explore how the self-affirmative logic underlying Fanon's writing on anti-coonial agency and empowerment prefigure a means of evading the politics of recognition's tendency to produce Indigenous subjects of empire."

453
-In effect, Fanon claimed that the road to self-determination instead lay in an quasi-Nietzschean form of personal and collective self-affirmation. Rather than remaining dependent on their oppressors for their freedom and self-worth, Fanon argued that the colonized must struggle to critically reclaim and revaluate the worth of their own histories, traditions, and cultures against the subjectifying gaze and assimilative lure of colonial recognition. According to Fanon, this self-initiated process is what 'triggers a change of fundamental importance in the colonized's psycho-affective equilibrium.'
-first, they recognize themselves as free, dignified and distinct contributors to humanity
-struggle for freedom on their own terms and in accordance with their own values
-process of critical self affirmation leads to development of postcolonial epistemology and ontology which enables colonized to begin to conceive of and construct radical alternatives to the colonial project itself
455
-"'At the very moment [the colonized come to] discover their humanity', wrote Fanon, they must 'begin to sharpen their weapons to secure its victory' (2005, 8, emphasis added)."
-revolutionary violence

Reading notes - Cultural Resilience: Voices of Native American Students in College Retention

2011-12-07T00:12:00.000-08:00

Drywater-Whitekiller, V. (2010). Cultural resilience: Voices of Native American students in college retention. The Canadian Journal of Native Studies 30 (1). p1-19.

I was less interesting in her study and more interested in her theoretical base so this is an extract of the abstract and two paragraphs straight up copied.

p1

-19 interviews support HeavyRunner and Marshall's (2003) "theory of cultural resilience as specific cultural factors such as prayer, giving back and family support were expounded upon as relating to persistence in college retention."

p 2
"Strand and Peacock (2003) define cultural resilience for Native Americans as the incorporation of traditional practices and ways of thinking as a means to overcome oppression and other negative obstacles faced by this population. The theory of cultural resilience stems from a strengths perspective that all populations have positive attributes (Lum, 1996) and this correlates with resilience studies (Bernard, 1997; Masten, 2001; Rutter, 1997) that have measured why some people did well and others did not in adapting to negative environments. The literature indicates that the strengths perspective is a particularly appropriate choice for Native American populations as they have employed and utilized cultural fac-
p 3
tors for centuries as a means to survive (Harris & McFarland, 2000). Within these populations, commonly shared Indigenous values are effective in substance abuse treatment (Harris & McFarland, 2000); prevention programs for Native American youth to build strong identities (Sanchez-Way & Johnson, 2000) and Native American women's wellness (Walters & Simoni, 2002).
Furthermore, a review of the literature strongly suggests that some Native American students persist in completing undergraduate eduction in mainstream institutions by employing pre-entry Native American cultural factors that serve as coping mechanisms for navigating institutions of higher education (Garcia, 2000; HeavyRunner & Marshall, 2003). HeavyRunner and Marshall (2003) refer to Native American cultural factors as cultural resilience and define them as factors that support, nurture, and encourage Native American students, families, and communities. They categorize and name these Indigenous factors as: spirituality, family strengths, elders, ceremonial rituals, oral traditions, tribal identity, and support networks that serve as effective coping mechanisms."

Reading notes/dialogue - Redman in the Ivory Tower: First Nations Students and Negative Classroom Environments in the University Setting

2011-12-06T23:52:00.000-08:00

Lindsay, W. G. (2010). Redman in the ivory tower: First Nations students and negative classroom environments in the university setting. The Canadian Journal of Native Studies 30 (1). p 143-154.

Notes from article are in bold, my thoughts are in normal.

-summary of two projects at UBC documents Aboriginal students' experiences of discrimination in the classroom including numerous "never evers" in terms of pedagogy
-summary of anecdotal evidence he has had as someone who works at the uni in student support where students come to him and share incidents of discrimination that have occurred in the classroom
-introduces programs being implemented at UBC, however, also conservative in speculation about their long term success
-University classroom climate and behaviour of professors is responsible for high drop out rate of Aboriginal students (148)

This stands in contrast to the Urban Aboriginal Peoples Study which found that the number one reasons students dropped out was lack of financial support
This however supports Culturally Responsive Teaching's theory about systemic change. According to CRT, effective change can occur by giving teachers the pedagogical knowledge and skills to become culturally responsive teachers.

Reading notes - Renewing the Fire: Notes Toward the Liberation of English Studies

2011-12-06T23:33:00.000-08:00

Read, take notes, post.

Heath Justice, D. (2003). Renewing the Fire: Notes Toward the Liberation of English Studies. English Studies in Canada 29 (1-2). p45-54.

Lots of headings subheadings, recording headings in the event that I want to revisit the piece again in the future.

45
Reading Roots
-Memories of reading as a child, bullied for reading

46
A Vulnerable Passion
47
-"In other words, how can we make English Studies matter more to ourselves, to our students, and to the world?"

48
Literature and Liberation
-"In the early 1800s, a crippled Cherokee silversmith named Sequoyah developed a written alphabet based on the syllables of the Cherokee language. Although initially treated with some scepticism by traditionalists, Sequoyah revealed his syllabary to the headmen of the Nation at a gathering in 1821, and the success of that introduction spread the syllabary throughout the Nation with remarkable speed. By 1825, the Cherokees had one of the highest literacy rates of any people in the world."

49
-when he teaches Jeanette Armstrong's Slash he includes documents about the 1969 White Paper and the history of AIM and listen to personal stories of people who lived through the era
-when he teaches Gregory Scofield's I knew to Metis Women or Maria Campbell's Halfbreed, they listen to old time country music of Kitty Wells and Jimmy Rodgers and study the history of Metis disenfranchisement and resistance in Canada, also touch on issues of blood quantum

50
-anecdote leading to central question that leads his teaching and scholarship "And what will you do for the people?"

"I've never found the literary to be an obstacle to an active engagement wit progressive social activism on behalf of Native rights; if anything, the literary is central to a holistic understanding of our current and historical realities. Indigenous epistemologies generally don't divide knowledge into hierarchical and easily divisible categories; thus all of the courses I teach include substantial historical, sociological, and political content. This is particularly important in Aboriginal literature as most of my students have little experience with Indigenous peoples beyond media stereotypes and broad cultural biases. To focus only on the literary texts is to erase the necessary contexts that would place the literature into broader streams of thought and experience that the writers themselves are addressing yet to focus only on historical or political context is to strip away the human voices emerging from the texts. Both are needed for understanding."

Reading notes - Trickster Ethics, Richler and King Fiddling

2011-12-06T23:09:00.000-08:00

Reading notes post where I read and take notes and then post it.

Heinimann, D. (2004). English Studies in Canada 30 (3).

p40

"If repetition is about inculcation, then we can say that this trickster ethic, this "pomoco" offspring (postmodernism+postcolonialism), is a didactic literature deeply concerned with alternative ways of showing us the recurring problems we encounter in the recognition and accommodation of alterity."

Defines trickster using a bunch of pomoco theories.

p43

"... the trickster is also the emblem of pluralistic anti-imperialism."

p45

Quoting from Paul Radin's The Trickster: A Study in American Indian Mythology- "a hero who is always wandering, who is always hungry, who is not guided by normal conceptions of good or evil, who is either playing tricks on people or having them played on him and who is highly sexed. Almost everywhere he has some divine traits." - neither human nor god

p45

Quoting June Singer "He symbolizes that aspect of our own nature which is always nearby, ready to bring us down when we get inflated, or to humanize us when we become pompous. He is the satirist par excellence, whose transcendent wit points out the flaws in our haughty ambitions and makes us laugh though we feel like crying... the major psychological function of the trickster figure is to make it possible for us to gain a sense of proportion about ourselves."

Stopped reading on p45.

Chapter 3 reading notes and rant on writing for an Indigenous/non-Indigenous audience Iskwewak Kah' Ki Yaw Ni Wahkomakanak: Neither Indian Princess Nor Easy Squaws by Janice Acoose

2011-12-06T11:05:00.000-08:00

I'm reading this book to write a paper. I decided to include a summary of chapter three in my paper. I read the rest of the book but decided chapter three was the best one.

In the book Janice Acoose notes that part of her motivation for writing was to educate non-Aboriginal people.

I am at the opposite end of the spectrum. I'm tired of writing for the Empire, especially since it usually distorts and appropriates my voice anyhow. I get really miffed when someone says "It's like when Starleigh said [insert thing that I most certainly did not say to justify position that I would never take]."

I have had deep conversations with Indigenous academics where we get to the heart of what matters to us. When a non-Aboriginal person jumps in, though, it's like we have to pull things back to Indian 101 and we just talk about basic things. This is nice, I guess, to educate the suma, but it's not intellectually stimulating.

I've decided that from now on I'm going to write my papers as though I'm writing for an Indigenous audience and non-Aboriginal allies might be listening but if they engage I'm not going to let them steer the conversation.

I know all that blah blah about intercultural discourse and such. I believe it to a degree. But right now I need to take care of my own growth and creating awareness among settlers is intellectually taxing without intellectual growth. It's an imbalanced relationship in terms of costs and benefits.

I think that I write better when I'm writing to an Indigenous audience, anyhow. When I write for a non-Aboriginal audience I'm all stilted and self-conscious and almost watering down the core concepts of what I'm saying. When I write for an Indigenous audience it's accessible to non-Aboriginals, so it's not like I'm excluding them, I'm just not targeting my message to them.

Some people are really inspired by the whole write-to-educate-settlers thing. I find that it just makes me sound confrontational and didactic. I am inspired by writing for Indigenous people to share stories about what's going on, questions about where we're going, and so on.

At this point dear readers may be worried about my mental health. Don't be worried! I am happy. Here is a picture to prove it.

Since I started my masters I've taken to taking at least weekly pictures of myself "studying." In this particular picture I am in my supervisor's office marking undergrad papers and drinking a soy mocha. This is how I spend most of my time... sitting in front of a computer consuming caffeine, so I figured I might as well document it over time. Someday I'll look back and be like, "oh yeah, that's when I studied in a cubicle instead of at a table. Good times, good times."

Oooooh kay. That was a really long and rambly intro to Janice Acoose's book. Just because her writing is inspired by the desire to educate settlers doesn't mean that I can't use her concepts to write for an Indigenous audience. I am going to write little page by page summaries and then I can refer to them while writing my paper. Processing commence!

p55
-the misrepresentation of Indigenous women leads to sexual, physical, verbalm or psychological violence against Indigenous women and maintain white eurocanadian-christian patriarchy
-prior to colonization many societies were women-centered
p56
-colonialism has sought to disrupt Indigenous matriarchial structure by oppressing Indigenous women because it threatens the white eurocanadian christian patriarchy
p57
-Ossennontion/Marlyn Kane describes role of women as "keepers of culture, values, and beliefs. But more than keepers of culture, we also exercised political autonomy over our bodies, relations with others, and in the social, political, economic, and spiritual realms."
-colonization has imposed discriminations against women
-literature can entrench racism and sexism through stereotypical portrayals of Indigenous women
p58
-resist stereotypical portrayals by deconstructing and decolonizing them (I don't really care about this part. I'm interested in what Indigenous people say about themselves, not what settlers say about Indigenous people. In my experience by focussing on settler dialogue we are allowing settlers to hijack the direction of the discussion. While I respect that this is a site of resistance for some academics, I choose to avoid this arena entirely)
-Cree non-hierarchical relationships between people and connectedness
-interconnectedness as central to Indigenous identity
62
-summarizes Fannon - after the colonizer disempowers the native, the colonizer imposes upon the native an image of who they are
64
-more on Fannon - colonizer image of native justifies and maintains oppression
66
-Indigenous women have produced literature about Indigenous women struggling against and surviving racist, gendered colonial violence
67
-critics have dismissed their writing as biased and bitter
-Halfbreed - inspired Indigenous female voices

So there's my notes. If you want to see the paper I wrote head on over to TalonBook's online literary space MetaTalon.

Learning place - Penticton Indian Band Youth Centre

2011-12-05T22:27:00.000-08:00

In one of our classes we keep talking about the impact of location on learning. How does the physical environment contribute to or detract from effective learning?

One of the things that my prof said was that if you're going to create an alternate learning space don't call it a school or it will take on all of the things that encompass the concept of "school" that you are trying to get away from by creating an alternative.

Since then I've been paying a lot more attention to the places where I learn.

I am learning to sing and most of my learning to date has taken place in people's houses, at the Lillooet Friendship Centre, and in outdoor settings. These are cool places to learn but they are not specifically constructed with learning in mind.The other evening, though, we went to the Penticton Indian Band's Youth Centre to go to singing practice. As soon as I walked in I was immediately struck by three things.

First, I was struck by how much the centre took on the personality of the people who had been there before. Woodburned art and other works were everywhere and it really gave it the feeling of being occupied by people who felt a sense of pride and ownership in the community created within those walls. It just felt good.

The second thing that struck me was the degree to which culture was visually present. It was all over the walls and on the table and painted and hung and being interacted with. Sometimes I go places and you know it's an Indigenous space but it doesn't feel like an Indigenous space because culture isn't visually present. At this place culture was clearly celebrated and it felt like a welcoming place to take part in cultural activities.

The third thing I noticed was that this was a learning place. There were posters about learning, equipment for music lessons set up, and aids for language learning. It brought me back to discussions in teacher education about how you should ensure that there are no distractions in the room, and bare walls and uncluttered spaces are best for student learning. Meh. This place was full of distractions, but I wanted to interact with those distractions in a meaningful way. The more time I spend in learning spaces outside of schools the less I believe that old adage that students learn best in rooms with empty walls.

In public school students are there to some degree because they don't have a choice. I think, however, that we should be looking to places where people choose to go and learn for inspiration. Props to everyone who makes the PIB youth centre a place that feels alive and limləmt for the time and space to gather with other singers :)

I didn't get a picture of a really cool activity that I saw in the office. Youth were given a huge poster with a map detailing the boundaries of the Penticton Reserve. They then filled in the boundaries with positive things that they'd like to see in their community. Sort of a community visioning process for youth. I thought that was really cool. I've met a lot of really inspiring young people in the Okanagan and it's reinforced my belief that in secondary schools we should be engaging with students as though they are already leadership and developing their sense of community engagement, responsibility, and ownership and enhancing the skills that they need to take on leadership roles.

Here are some pictures that I took while I was there.

You are here

Bandana from The Savage Family/Higher Grounds of Struggle. They came in during the summer and I took my son to their four day workshop hosted by PIB. They were so empowering. I loved the way that they raised youth's social conscience and empowered them to confront issues in their community and envision their own role in resistance.

Oh wow. I just love this. Can you feel the caring? The caption under "Free hugs" says "preventing suicide one hug at a time." I feel warm and fuzzy every time I look at this.

Who wants to get their Nsyilxcən on?

Smudge, anyone?

CUST 562 Resource List

2011-11-30T17:23:00.000-08:00

In one of my classes our assignment was to create a resource list on a topic of reform.

I chose... wait for it... wait for it... Aboriginal education!

I made this chart on readings in Aboriginal education to organize readings that I have read or want to read and classified based on themes that I'm interested in.

It's due at midnight tonight. If you see something missing from the list can you please suggest it so that I can add to the list? I know a few of you readers are uber-geeks and have suggested great readings before and I would appreciate your advice if you have it.

Random notes from videos on effective instruction of Native adults

2011-11-30T17:14:00.000-08:00

Apologies, these notes don't fit into any of my Scrivner documents so I'm putting them here. I was watching videos and taking notes on the videos.

Watching videos

How Native students can succeed: A session with Howard Rainer – INDED 1986, 27 minutes
This video highlights Howard Raine’’s presentation at the Village Schools’ Conference. Howard begins by posting a problem: How would you teach an eaglet to fly? Howard uses this dramatic device to focus on the situation that often confronts parents and teachers. How do you encourage your children to do well at school? Howard insists that we do not dwell in the past but look forward to the future and the potential possibility and promise our our native young people. One teachers guide accompanies program.
(international Indian consultant from Brigham university)
Provincial Education Media Centre?
_____________________________
Community based education, Pt. 1 (Effective Instruction of Native adults series) – produced and distributed by the Native Resource Centre, Salmon Arm , BC
Series examines six pillars of good Native androgogy and explores these areas through the experienes and observations of Native adults educators, elders, community leaders, and students
1.     Community based education
2.     Student-centered learning
3.     Native learning/teaching styles
4.     Building culture into programs
5.     Counseling and support services
6.     Life skills
  1.     Community
Can’t just come in with pre-conceived notions, you have to start where the community is at
OMG a young Jeanettte Armstrong – have to meet the needs of the community or you won’t be invited back
Elected local education authority, formal reporting relationship, obliged to report to committee, talk about program, whereit’s going, what it’s hoping to do, and asking for input
Your best resource is your community - validates expertise and resources that community ometimes doesn’t even know is there, brings community closer to recognizing goals of that student and helping them achieve it,
Creates a sense of pride, good for community members to share their knowledge, gives students a proud feeling,
Museum - Restoring buildings, boats, photos, made a museum, hired young people, made use of aspects of community
Important for instructors to get out of classroom and into classroom – traditionally our people, the world, mother earth, environment around them was the classroom, learned from process, translation today people have to learn to write and read to survive in environment today, but you don’t necessarily have to make it the white middle class value system, look at what’s going on in the Indian community because we’re in a transitional process, so to reinforce the things our people have to do is real important, so the actual process is more looking at worldview rather than just isolate them to a classroom situation, mot important thing in education of Native adults is holistic approach,
Bringing community into centre, centre to community, so there is a sharing and a growth between a native community and our centre, our responsibility to bring issue of what politicians are saying about Indian rights, land claims, self government, brought people from all three parties to debate what those questions were, students asked questions on those issues, that’s community based, we’ve got that responsibility
Classroom assignments based on community issues are Involving and interesting while benefit to entire community
We address issues in community and bringing them in whenever we can, philosophically the program is part of the community, and if the community has needs that our program can help serve, our program should respond
We’re looking at communities the issues that are happening in the community right now and aht their priorities are, we pick one of the issues at hand and research it in our classroom,, once we’ve done research we analyze it, the result of discussing it in our classroom has some very real and emotional … in our classroom, very relevant to what’s happening in our world, community today
Analyze – a potlatch – Bella Bella – breakthrough
It seems clear that adult instructors role in urban and rural is to gain and understanding of the values, culture, behaviours and issues of each community that they serve and to try their best to accomadate not just students but the community as a whole, adult educators are facilitators or community based education
Has to be owned by community, directed by community, the community has to know what comes out other end has to be useful to that community because that’s the only way it can succeed,
Wayne Christiann – spallumcheen band
Jeannette Armstrong – Enowkin Centre
Ron Klassen – Arctic College
Pat Baxter – Native Education Centre
Howard Green Native Education Centre
John Colbert NVIT
Video 2 - student centred learning
Start from the learners, identify student interests, indientfy goalsm use background, values, goals to create program
Fundamental relationship teachers students – power in a classroom, the system gives teacher position of power, you cannot deny or ignore it, you are in a position of power, if you wanted to you could have comlete control, instead of having a curriculum that is to the benefit of the students it is teacher centered, teachers allow that to happen or not happen,
Self introspection, reflection, conscious decisions, deciding what specific things yu’re going to do to relinquish that power and pass it on, reeducating students expectations,
Students are in charge of their education, teacher is not here to feed them, if they have ideas about what they need suggest to teacher and techer follows up on, really important that education is not being forced on students to assimilate into system that doesn’t fit the, they have opportunity to design education that works for them, if what I’m doing isn’t working why would I do it?
If your’e in control learning is going to take place, if someone is shoving information into you you’re not interesting in, there won’be any learning, learning only takes place if there’s something there already that you can click things into, learning doesn’t happen on a blank slate, alreadya whole life of exp knowledge in your head, when you’re learning something new you’re making connections, going into something quite full and mixing and intermingling, you can only learn if you go through that process, if a teacher seesyour head as something to put things into no learning will take palce but if learning is initiated by you and you take what you need and what makes sense to you, that’s going to stay
Getting a feeling for each other’s background and experience, student input into developing course and program, letting them toake responsibility and be part of the decision making process
It’s up to the students ho wthe program runs, if they have their imput they are interested because they actually put the program together themselves,
Even in the classroom situation, functioning as a facilitator, as a catalyst in the classroom to generate interst in the subject, as an evaluator so they can see how they’re doing, I like to generate a lot of class involvement rather than speak to them from the point of a teacher saying “this is the way it’s going to be” and have them regurgiatate it, as what I say being the truth, which is not happening in our public school system, teachers speak down to students, I feel very strongly that we should speak across as equals,
Starting with the student means respecting individuals needs and background while recognizing the power, support, and common issues of the group,
The role of the teacher in that sense is to bring out the common history behind the individual histories and to find out from the students what are these common interesting, concerns experiences, why is it that we’re here in a group, by listening long enough, then you can bring out those themes, those common themes, and organize your curriculum around the themes that are actually part of their history, giving room for common goals of the group and the invidiaul skills that need to be developed as part of this whole process
Activities flow out of group work, structured learning nd experiences, simulation games, whatever means they may work, they become active, it’s an indirect way, often experiences relate to what they’re doing in class, they have voice
Starting from student means accepting and using students dialect as a starting point
Think about it, when you are that other person being told the way you’ve spoken your entire life and the way that your mom speaks and your dad speaks and your grandparents speak is wrong, what does that do to you as an individual? The language, that’s the most intimate way that you communicate, that’s your tool to reach the world, and if you’re told that the language you use is wrong, not different, that it’s wrong, well then you say “well then I’m wrong too.”
Building self esteem in writing is important because many come into classrooms with a history of failure in English and no one’s every said write what you want, write what’s important to you, it’s real easy, just do it
Enter into authentic dialogue with students about their needs, goals, and aspirations,
We can be part of this group at the same level, we’ve been put up here and the students have been put down here, at a conscious level we have to come down, there’s always a tendencacy to play the role we’ve been given,
Video 3 – Teaching styles
Mismatch between culture of classroom and home and community one of the elements that creates lack of success in school system
-creating relaxed atmosphere based on mutual respect using experiential learning close interpersonal relations respecting their adult roles, non competitive
Typing out of TRG now
This segment of the video series is one of the most important, most controversial, and the one that require the most elaboration and discussion. Toward this end we are

Is there such as thing as Aboriginal learning styles?

2011-11-29T22:32:00.000-08:00

I've been finding some of the discourse around Aboriginal learning problematic, in particular the assumption that there is one singular Aboriginal learning style.

In BC we have a dizzying array of Indigenous diversity. This manifests itself in songs, ceremonies, language, and traditions. Assuming cultural continuity, translated into a current context, one can assume that there would be accompanying diversity in the way that tasks are approached, the way that goals are set, expectations around how to interact with authority, degree and type of autonomy, responsibilities to communities in terms of knowledge, how to care for other's learning needs, and how to establish your own learning priorities.

Both cognitively and socially this has implications for classroom practice. I think it's dangerous to say "this is how an Aboriginal student learns." I think a better approach is to get to know the community context of where you're at by interacting with the community, finding information about the local culture, and seeking local resources to inform your practice. There are best practices, such as culturally responsive teaching and community based instruction, however, there is no generic Aboriginal learner and there are no generic lesson plans that work with all learners.

Anyhow, while reading the Discussion Guide for Effective Instruction of Native Adults Video Series by Don Sawyer (writer) and Calvin White (contributor), (1990), Native Adult Education Resource Centre, Okanagan College, Salmon Arm, BC - I came across this essay and thought I'd share.

___________________________________

Native Learning Styles - Shorthand for Instructional Adaptations?

In approaching the issue of Native learning styles, we are confronted with a range of problems and dangers. One fo the primary problems is defining exactly what we mean by learning styles. Swisher and Dehley (1989) conclude that

In summary, the body of research which examined learning styles of American INdian students, although small, does present some converging evidence that sugget common patterns of methods in the way these students come to know or understand the world. They approach tasks visually, seem to prefer to learn in in careful observation which precedes performance, and seem to learn in their natural settings experientially. Research with other student groups has clearly illustrated differences in learning styles... can result in "academic disorientation"... what is clear from the research is... that American Indian students come to learn about the world in ways that are different from mainstream students.

Judith Kleinfeld (1988), however, remains unconvinced.

Good teachers always adapt to the culture of the children and the culture of the school. Nothing is lost by using the term "learning style" to denote such teaching adaptations, but little is gained. "Learning style" becomes a vague and ambiguous concept without significant heuristic value.

Indeed, an examination of the literature on Native learning styles offers a bewildering array of perspectives on exactly what is meant by learning styles, many of which seem to have little to do with the generally accepted view that learning style relates to students' cognitive patterns - "distinctive ways in which individuals learn from their environment" (Walker, 1989)."

The most commonly accepted and widely publicized Native learning style characteristic is the often reported preference for visual (as opposed to verbal and kinaesthetic) learning. Kaulback (1984) cites numerous studies that point to a visual learning preference, and he attributes this visual orientation to child rearing practices that emphasize observation and imitation. Builmet (1976) looks at both anthropological accounts and contemporary examples to conclude that Indian students learn primarily through non-verbal mechanisms. He suggests, however, that Indian students' tendency to be less verbal in the classroom is also attributable to "interference theory" - Indian students speak less because classrooms are not structured to allow Native students to display their verbal competence.

Dumont (1972) further supports the "interference theory" concept, observing that classrooms which emphasize teacher dominance, formal lecturing, spotlighting, and low tolerance for dialogue produce what she calls "the mask of silence." Here the lines blur between learning styles, the ways students process information, and teaching styles, the things instructors do (and don't do) to accommodate students' backgrounds, behaviours, and culturally based communication patterns.

Henry & Pepper (1988) further obscure the meaning of learning styles while emphasizing the teaching accommodations we need to make for culturally based student characteristics. They begin by concluding again that Native students prefer observation vs. verbal learning, which, they say, places the Native student at a disadvantage in school "where teaching methods tend to cater to the auditory learner", and then go on to list 21 characteristics of the Indian learner. Many of these (e.g. "they may have difficultly with the correct verb" and "many Indian children have low self-image") are not even remotely related to learning styles, though they are listed as "learning style inclinations". The authors then suggest 22 teachings strategies to accommodate the "learning styles" factors noted.

In a study that does look at learning style as strict cognitive preferences, Diessner and Walker (1989), using data from WISC & WAIS tests administered to Yakima Indian students, combined with previous research elsewhere, suggest that Native students may have a "typical cognitive pattern": spatial ability is greater than sequential ability which is greater than verbal conceptual ability. They conclude that "it would be warranted to search for curriculum materials that use a spatial, visually presented format" for Native students.

More (1987) moves in different directions when addressing learning styles. He suggests four learning style bipolarities - global vs. analytic (or simultaneous rather than successive) processing, imaginal vs. verbal coding, concrete vs. abstract learning, and trial and error vs. "think-(or watch) then-do" patterns. He suggests that Native students tend toward the global, imaginal, concrete, and think-then-do poles.

Wauters (1989) used the adult version of the Dunn Learning Style Inventory to conclude that the Alaskan Native students he tested desired more teacher-student interaction, were more peer-orientated (thus were more oriented to collaborative and small group tasks) and preferred kinaesthetic and visual learning. Walker, (1989) employing yet another set of learning style descriptors, the Walker Learning Preference scale, demonstrated some preference for "patterned symbols" learning among Native students. These learners prefer small group participation, allowance for personal interpretations, a cooperative learning environment, and integrating new information with what they already know. As in many similar studies, it is significant to note that the sample was very small (28 participants), and the patterned symbol" learning pattern (one of four) was actually preferred by just over half the sample.

Judith Kleinfeld (1988) takes much of this research to task. While acknowledging that Native learners may indeed have a visual learning preference, for instance, she examines several studies that failed to demonstrate increased learning ont he part of Native students when the information as bolstered by visual materials. While the studies she cites are few, sketchy, and suspect (only still visuals were used to reinforce narrow, very possibly irrelevant content), she argues persuasively that the real value of research into Native learning patterns "... does not lie... in telling teachers to 'match' instruction to high/low verbal ability patterns. It lies rather in helping teachers understand the cultural context in which they are working so that they can respond with better judgement."

She suggests that we may be better off looking at teaching approaches that teachers have found work with Native students, approaches, she points out, that rarely include visually based instructional techniques.

Such an examination revelas a great deal about accommodating Native students. Several researchers (Dumont, 1983; Phillips, 1972) concluded that the cultural incongruity between the home and school - especially the school's tendency to isolate control in the hands of the instructors - caused Native student resistance and lack of participation. Dumont (1972) found classroom teachers that shared social control and employed warmer and more personal teaching styles were more effective.

Pacing - the ability of the instructor to adapt to the speed and movements of the students - was identified as an important factor in working successfully with Native students by Collier (1979), Erickson & Mohatt (1981), Esmailka Barnhardt (1981) and others. Erickson & Mohatt (1981) also identified the importance of being senstive to non-verbal cues; avoiding "spotlighting" or singing students out for praise, criticism, or recitation; accepting silence' and using more small group instruction.

Arbress (1981) speaks of the need to have instructors "negotiate a culture of the classroom" where cultural differences and learning and communication patterns are discused and understood and a real negotiation of the operation of the class is carried out through genuine dialogue. He also warns againt stereotyping or making assumptions about Indian learning or behaviour patterns - these must be verified.

In a seminal study, Judith Kleinfeld (1975) concluded that effective instructors of Native students displayed two primary characteristics: personal warmth (vs. professional distance) and active demandingness (vs. passive understanding). Because, she suggests, learnign for Native students tends to be more of an interpersonal activity (as opposed to goal-oriented, imporesonal activity), establishing close personal relations with Native students is essential if an instructor is to be effective. On the other hand, if the instructor is not actively demanding - expecting and pushing for excellence - students whose school experiences have been negative and whose self-esteem has been battered may avoid academic situtions and work below their capacity.

Phillips (1983) concluded that certain classroom participation structures produced different degrees of Native student involvement and that those most frequently used in schools (teacher lecturing and teacher directed small groups) produce the last Native student participation, while the least used (individual work and self-run small groups) produce the greatest partcipation.

Barnhardt (1981) advocates what he calls "culturally eclectic" curriculum that can adjust to the realities and world view of the Native student and uses traditional culture as a basis for examining and adapting to changing conditions. He points out that conventional curriculums are culture-bound as they segment, classify, and view the world in a manner that is culturally based. His curriculum incorporates four characteristics: it is process centred, community based, utilizes group learning situations, and emphasizes experiential learning.

Swisher & Heyhle (1989) bring the issue full circle by arguing that while there is ample evidence that Native students come to school with an approach to learning that is "culturally influenced and often different from mainstream students, our teaching approaches tend to remain the same. They sugget that teachers first know their own cultural biases and personal learning and teaching styles. Then they make specific suggestions that "have special significance for teachers of Indian students": 1. Discuss learning style and why students do what they do in learning situations. 2. Be aware of student background knowledge and experiences. 3. Be aware of appropriate pacing. 4. Be aware of the discourse patterns and discussion styles of your students. 5. Avoid singling students out. 6. Use multi-sensory instruction. 7. Provide time for practice before expecting performance. 8. Be aware of proximity and other non-verbal preferences. 9. Become part of the community; "observe and ask questions so that genuine caring and concern is communicated."

Even this cursory review of the literature suggests some of the problems of the learning style debate: wildly differing definitions, the inclusion of cultural and personal factors beyond the usual view of learning style as cognitive patterns, dangerously generalized conclusions, and a confusion between student learning styles and teacher behaviours.

Perhaps the most useful way of looking at the issue is to abandon a narrow definition of learning styles for a more inclusive view. As Judith Kleinfeld (1988) puts it, "(Learning styles" has become a short-hand reference for a wide variety of instructional adaptations necessary in a cross-cultural context." In this view, we look beyond the narrow debate over the meaning of the term to the broader instructional practice that result in greater Native student success.

Language and student centered learning - Aboriginal students and dialects of English

2011-11-29T21:09:00.000-08:00

Long time reader(s) (AKA Colleen M over in Ashcroft) will remember that I was on a quest a few years ago to learn about supporting Indigenous students who spoke dialects of English in the classroom.

This quest partially had to do with my teaching assignment. For five months 0.4 of my assignment was English Language Development (ELD) which is a BC program designed to help Aboriginal learners who speak a dialect of English.

It's fairly common to encounter Indigenous individuals and communities who don't speak standard English. This is because the grammar, syntax, and pronunciation of the original Indigenous language is super-imposed onto English, creating a variation of English.

One of the most powerful articles that I read during my quest was Roots and Wings: Teaching English as a Second Dialect to Aboriginal Students and I used the information from that article to inform my practice. One of the biggest things that I took from that article was not to pounce on learners and constantly correct them, but rather to give them the tools of bi-culturalism, that is, to learn how to be in both worlds. You can teach students standard English, however, it doesn't have to be at the expensive of whatever dialect they speak and you cannot approach it from the standpoint that the version that they come into the classroom with is inferior.

Right now I am in the library watching VHS videos series Effective Instruction of Native Adults Series produced by the Native Resource Centre (1990), Part 2 - Student Centered Learning, and one of the speakers brought me back to that powerful aha! moment. Here is what she said (possibly not ver betim because I don't type as fast as she speaks) -

Starting from student means accepting and using students dialect as a starting point.
Think about it, when you are that other person being told the way you’ve spoken your entire life and the way that your mom speaks and your dad speaks and your grandparents speak is wrong, what does that do to you as an individual? The language, that’s the most intimate way that you communicate, that’s your tool to reach the world, and if you’re told that the language you use is wrong, not different, that it’s wrong, well then you say “well then I’m wrong too.”

If you have a chance watch the video series. I'm totally loving it. It's a series which interviews Aboriginal adult educators from around BC on the topics of -

-Community based education -Student centered learning -Native learning/teaching styles -Building culture into programs -Counselling and support services -Life skills

Dan Sawyer and Art Napoleon were part of the project. When I was doing my undergrad I relied heavily on another one of their projects for an exit research project. They were in the middle of some giant burst of resource production on Aboriginal androgogy in the late 80s early 90s. If anyone knows that back story behind this burst of resource production please do share because I've wondered for quite some time what sort of conditions led to the creation of a lot of materials in a short period of time and why it was a spike rather than an upward curve.

The Honouring Life Network

2011-11-28T20:47:00.000-08:00

Forever ago I used to be a fan of the Aboriginal Youth Network website. It was a cool thing to link to literature and student writing. Then, poof, it was gone and I was so sad.

Well, guess what? It's been replaced.

Now there's a thing called The Honouring Life Network and it's similar but with a tighter focus on suicide prevention.

Features I appreciate include media on how to honour life and prevent suicide, a resource centre, and fact sheets on suicide prevention.

My favorite feature, though, is the personal stories section. I think youth stories are so powerful to share with other youth. I usually don't pick one and say "we're all going to read this." Instead I say "go here, pick one, connect it to what we're reading/studying." Then students end up reading a whole bunch and the one that they actually choose is one that is meaningful and speaks to them. Having them own their own connection to the reading is half of the lesson.

It's a good jumping off point, too, for a writing activity where students describe how they honour life and support other youth as a means of suicide prevention.

Awesome.

If you're wondering I found the site because it's linked to the You Are Not Alone Network, which someone posted on their Facebook.

Anyhow, a few more pieces to review for McGraw Hill tonight, then I'll post a video for you.

Hope you're having a good one, readers, and I'll talk to you soon!

Voices for Choices - 24 Hour Drumathon to raise awareness about Aboriginal graduation

2011-11-26T21:28:00.000-08:00

On Thursday and Friday I went to a very cool educational event.

The 24 hour drumathon, Voices for Right Choices, was hosted by Kevin Kaiser's @KaiserTheTeach grade 10-12 Leadership Class from Mount Boucherie Secondary School.

The event involved 24 straight hours of drumming and singing to raise awareness about Aboriginal graduation rates. It was held at Sensisyusten House of Learning on Westbank First Nations, making it highly accessible to the community.

Here is a video about the event.

I went to the stickgames on Thursday night and entered into the tournament with my son (who played for the first time ever!), my boyfriend (who definitely has played before!), a friend, and a youth that I hadn't met before. People came from all over the interior of BC to support this event.

I left after we were knocked out of the tournament but I heard that a group of Westbank First Nations youth won.

On Friday all day straight until 3PM the drums were kept going. There were two big drums and many handdrums.

It was really cool to see community members and youth come together to encourage youth to aspire to educational excellence and to raise awareness about the need to support youth in their pursuit of education.

Given that including Aboriginal culture into the curriculum has been shown to positively impact Aboriginal student achievement and that Aboriginal communities with many cultural activities for youth to participate in have a lower suicide rates than communities that don't have a lot of cultural events going on I'm sure that this event will have a positive impact on both the community and the youth involved!

Way to go everyone involved!

I heard there might be another one when the weather improves. I'll keep you posted and let you know when I know :)

Krystal's Shushwap Sticks for stickgames AKA lahal

2011-11-25T20:45:00.000-08:00

These are my newest creation, Shushwap sticks!

Growing up Tsilhqot'in I was raised with certain misgivings towards our traditional enemies.

The most humorous of these occurred when I was thirteen and I was on a school field trip. The Aboriginal Advocate introduced me to another Aboriginal student. I was from what was then known as Anaham, and she was from what was then known as Anaham Lake. The advocate thought we were from the same place because the names are similar (a common mistake) and we clarified that no, we were not from the same place, she was Carrier and I was Chilcotin.

She then turned to me and said "my mom says all Chilcotins are liars, drunks, and thieves." I shrugged, looked her in the eye, and said, "that's funny. My mom says the same thing about Carriers."

I only find this funny because I'm so over it. Since then I've recognized that some of the ongoing animosity between our nations springs from the fact that colonial forces drove the Carriers down into Chilcotin territory, and as we were already marginalized in a colonial economy the forced encroachment onto our territory did little for inter-tribal relationships. As an adult I now recognize that this is not the fault of Carriers, but rather the fault of ongoing colonialism, so I no longer hold a grudge against Carriers, especially since I now know that Anaham Lake actually has a lot of Chilcotins in its mix.

After contact we didn't have a lot of interaction with our neighbours to the south, the St'at'imc, like we did before contact. When I lived in St'at'imc territory we were historical enemies but it was so far in the past that it was something we laughed and teased each other about rather than taking seriously.

Our other neighbours, though, the Shushwap, had a somewhat bad rep in my mind for awhile because they were traditional enemies and because according to some of my family members they claim parts of Chilcotin territory as their own, so it's a jurisdictional dispute.

However, I don't think it's really fair to hold it against them. We live in a time where governments have pitted us against each other in the land claims process. Now, more than ever, we need to have a sense of unity. We might not agree on where the boundaries are, but we can agree that our land, values, cultures, language, and lifeways are under attack and worth preserving and we can work together in that fight.

Last month I went to a stickgame tournament in Kamloops with some Okanagan friends and a Shushwap friend. There I ran into a lot of my stickgame Shushwap friends and sang some great Shushwap songs and had a fantastic time.

On the way home I thought about how much the Shushwap people have enriched my life and how many of them were generous and welcome and caring to me even though I'm not Shushwap.

It occurred to me that I needed to symbolically cast off whatever lingering ill will I had towards Shushwaps and celebrate all that the Shushwap people have done for me in my life.

So I researched the Secwepemc Nation and found this cool flag -

I decided to make the flag the inspiration for my newest set of sticks. The sticks are a symbol of getting over the divide that colonialism placed on us. They are a symbol of my commitment to inter-tribal unity and friendship.

An Okanagan friend, Krystal, hosts drum night at her house periodically and she mentioned that she didn't have sticks so I gave her my Shushwap sticks. The gift is to honour her cultural leadership and generosity in supporting the community of singers here in Westbank.

So there you have it, my Shushwap sticks and their story :)

Trickster description/definition - from "Our bit of truth: An anthology of Canadian Native literature"

2011-11-15T01:43:00.001-08:00

I know readers love trickster description/definitions, so here's one from Our bit of truth: An anthology of Canadian Native literature, Ed. Agnes Grant, 1993, Pemmican Publications. p25-26

The trickster-figure is found in all world mythologies thugh he may be interpreted in a wide variety of ways. Every Native culture also has a trickster figure, and teh stories are very similar. he goes by many different names - Raven, Mind, Napi, Old Man, Coyote, Bluejay, Badger, Ishimiki, Manabozo, Nanabush, Wee-sak-a-chak, Iktomi, Cahkapes and Wichikapache, just to name some. The trickster was responsible for the changes that took place in the world. He could create, change, and destroy, and though his motives were usually self-centered, the results were beneficial to humanity. The future still exists in oral narrative today and his character has not changed over the years. He does not plan, he is impulsive, he is jealous and he imitates others without thinking of the consequences. The consequences are usually disastrous for hi, but he must suffer alone' no on comes to his rescue. He is neither good nor bad, but is responsible for both because the reader can learn from the trickster's actions what is good or bad. It is not so much that he plays tricks on others as that he "sets them up" and his ploys invariably fail, much to his own grief.
Trickster stories are funny; irony is found in almost every one. It is hard to know whether the readers are laughing at the trickster or because the trickster reminds them so much of themselves, their friends, and family.
The trickster is male, but he can change his shape at will and many stories tell how he moved from an inchoate shape to the shape of a human male and how he learned about his sexuality. He seems to have no moral values and is always looking for women.
He is superior to human beings because of his ability to choose his form, but he is inferior because he does not think his actions through. Often he changes into the shape of an animal and then forgets that he cannot, while in that form, act like a human being. He does not possess animal instinct and is incredibly clumsy, so he is inferior to animals as well. The reader who takes everything literally may have some difficultly with this shape shifting, but once the phenomenal possibility is understood the stories are coherent and entertaining.
The trickster is also the first of the picaresque heroes, the loveable rogues of fiction who travel from place to place, largely ignoring the rules of society. Popular throughout history, they continue as characters in modern television programming.

Let the Drums be your Heart: New Native Voices

2011-11-15T01:09:00.000-08:00

Aayo.

Busy weekend. Went to Idaho for stickgames. 142 teams, we took 6th. Yep.

Here's a video I shot after our first game -

After our fourth game -

And after our seventh game -

Anyhow, I'm reading a bunch of stuff tonight. It's one of those reading sessions where I'm half doing it for an assignment, half doing it for the sheer love of books. I stumbled upon this book, Let the drums be your Heart: New Native Voices and the first poem in it nearly knocked me out of my seat:

Farms and Reservations

I wanted to stay at a writers' retreat, but I couldn't find a ride
I wanted to join the Writers' Union, but I didn't have the membership fee
I wanted to send out manuscripts, but I couldn't afford the postage
I wanted to type my poems, but I had no ribbon
I wanted to read my poetry, but the people were deaf
I wanted to send out my poems, but they got homesick, so they stay here with me
and we tire of each other

-David Groulx

Ooooh. It gives me chills. Usually when I read an anthology I just read it and that's it. Once and awhile if something really grabs me I follow up by looking for more work by the author. I am totally chasing down more of David Groulx's work.

Back to the grind. Goodnight readers :)

Lahal night at Lenora's!

2011-11-01T22:09:00.000-07:00

Last weekend a friend from Kamloops graciously let two dozen people invade her house for open games. It made for a good recording environment. Most of my lahal practice tapes take place in large halls with a lot of noise in the background.

There were a lot of good singers there, too. It's unusual to go hours without singing the same song twice but I'm pretty certain that we did.

I have a youtube channel jastanotheruser and I'm processing my practice tapes and putting them on there to share with friends.

Here's a sample. Check out the body language of the people in the photo! I love lahal :)

?asil steqecpina!

2011-11-01T01:14:00.000-07:00

Monday was good to me today. I am happy because I have a swa7 mila! Count von Count is happy for me, too.

Happy Halloween, readers :)

Incorporation of indigenous knowledge-base for learning within classrooms has been shown to significantly impact academic outcomes and rates of high school completion among Aboriginal populations

2011-10-28T11:48:00.000-07:00

I write you from a Kelly O'Bryans. I'm waiting for my car to be fixed and frantically trying to finish a paper by tonight so that I can work on a deer hoof rattle with a friend.

I'm reading all sorts of fun stuff in the process of writing this paper and I found this little nugget that I thought I'd share.

I'm reading this -

Nazeem Muhajarine • Chassidy Puchala • Magdalena Janus (2011). Does the EDI Equivalently Measure Facets of School Readiness for Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal children? Social Indicators Research, 103, 299-314.

- and on page 302 it says -

Access to culturally appropriate educational curricula can be rare in some Canadian settings, though the incorporation of an indigenous knowledge-base for learning within classrooms has been shown to significantly impact academic outcomes and rates of high school completion among Aboriginal populations (Reading and Wein 2004). Moreover, many Aboriginal parents feel marginalized within the educational settings of their children and experience difficulties participating within this context which, as a result, impacts the success of their children (Pushor and Murphy 2004). Therefore, it is not Aboriginal status that places children at an increased risk for being rated as having poor school readiness, but rather a host of explicit and implicit factors related to Aboriginal status which heightens this likelihood.

I love facts that back up my work. A lot of us know in our heart of hearts that what we're doing is right for students, but it's still nice to have a little bit of research to back it up.

Here's the full citation for that fact -

Reading, C.L., & Wein, F. (2004). Health inequalities and social determinants of Aboriginal Peoples’ health. Prince George, British Columbia: National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health. Available at:

http://www.nccah-ccnsa.ca/. Accessed 22 March 2009.

- which I'm totally going to read someday when I'm not under pressure to finish my work in order to make a new musical instrument.

How to make your own lahal (stickgame) bones

2011-10-26T23:44:00.000-07:00

This post is related to the post How to make your own lahal set.

So, the friend that I made sticks for finally reminded me that I owe him some bones.

I want to make bone bones out of actual bone. I have some deer legs in the freezer that I'm going to make deer hoof rattles out of so I might see if I can salvage some bone out of those to carve into real bone bones. Until then I made some wood bones.

To make bones you need two that are white and two that are striped. I'm told that in order for bones to be legal for use in tournaments you need to be able to see the ends of them when you hold them in a closed fist.

You have to make sure that all four look the same, too, which is a lot of pressure for a novice woodworker.

I cut up what I think might be 3/4 inch wooden rods into 2 3/4 inch lengths using a miter box.

Then I sanded the edges down and sanded them smooth.

For the striped bones I carved the part where the stripe would be. Some people like to be able to feel the difference between striped and not striped without being able to see it so that's why I carved the striped set.

I made sure that the bones could stand up on their ends just because it would drive me nuts if they didn't.

Then I painted them with two coats of white acrylic paint.

After that I put tape down to make guidelines and painted the striped bones.

Finally I varnished them. Don't skip this step or all your hard work will go to waste! If you don't varnish then when people are handling the bones the black paint will transfer onto the white part of the bone and over time it will turn your striped bone grey and your white bone will stay white and then you won't be able to use them anymore.

I traded my original set of basket sticks and my salmon sticks for a drum. I needed another set of sticks so I made these. They're the prettiest set I've made yet, but I'm working on another set to keep handy for trading that might be even prettier.

I really like making sticks. It's a very zen activity. I just sit down and zone out. Pretty much the perfect hobby for a grad student because when you have an idea or whatever you can just put it down and walk away and come back to it later. It's also fairly cheap once you have something to carve and sand with.

Also, lahal update. We went to Kamloops the other weekend and took second place in a tournament. Our captain was only 16! It's so cool that young people are not just picking up the game, but also showing serious leadership through the game.

This weekend I'm heading back to Kamloops to play an open game with some people who want to learn how to play the game or to practice the game so that they can play in the next tournament. We are going to sing the night away!

Racism and Education - Manitoba Justice Inquiry

2011-10-25T15:10:00.000-07:00

I'm reading the Manitoba Justice Inquiry for a class. I was interested to come across this little bit about education.

In my community of origin students are required to leave home to attend secondary school over 100km away. This section reminded me of that. It also reminded me of Reggie Bush's death.

20 years after the problem was named it remains. What to do, what to do...

The Legacy of Historical Racism TOP
The very reason that Betty Osborne was compelled to leave her home and move to The Pas also was rooted in racism. Like so many other Aboriginal young people, she was forced by long-standing government policy to move to a strange and hostile environment to continue her schooling.
The federal government has for over 100 years exercised responsibility for the education of Indian children. Beginning with amendments to the Indian Act in the 1880s, the education of Indian children was a central part of several related government policies: to assimilate Indians into mainstream society, to remove them from their lands, to facilitate their extinction as a distinct people in Canada, to obliterate their cultures and to eradicate their languages. These policies were motivated by the belief that Aboriginal cultures were inferior and should be supplanted by European values. From the 1880s, the federal government actively engaged in a policy of forcing Indian children to move away from their homes to attend school.
By 1971, even the smallest Manitoba communities had long had their own schools. Yet, the federal government still maintained its policy of moving Indian children to larger communities to be educated.
The government made a conscious decision to transport Aboriginal children away from their communities rather than build suitable educational facilities there. This decision was a remnant of the traditional view of the Department of Indian Affairs that Aboriginal communities were neither viable nor desirable, and that any effort that appeared to encourage them to grow and become self-sustaining was to be avoided.
Early on, the government concluded that Aboriginal people would become extinct because the pressure on them to assimilate and give up their "Indianness" was viewed as being overpowering and irresistible. Their demise as a people was considered inevitable. The federal policy was not simply to let it happen, but to make it happen.Removing Aboriginal children from the influence of their parents and their cultures to "educate" them to the "whiteman’s ways" was an important part of "making it happen." The actions of the government in doing so were clearly racist and discriminatory.
It was bad enough that Indian children were (and still are) required to move away from home simply to get an education. But what made the situation worse was that the services provided to these children were inferior. Social, recreational and professional supports were inadequate, and the government failed to ensure that the children’s living environments were safe and culturally appropriate. As a result of Indian Affairs policies, many lives were scarred by sexual and physical abuse as well as less overt forms of mistreatment and neglect.The racist attitudes and actions inherent in a century of departmental policy were reflected in Indian Affairs’ treatment of young Aboriginal people in its care in The Pas, both before and after the death of Betty Osborne:• The Department of Indian Affairs failed to protect their wards from the practices of cruising, assault and abuse. It failed to seek the cooperation of the schools to protect the Aboriginal students.• The department also failed to address adequately the problems of segregation and harassment facing students attending school in The Pas. Nor did it inform their parents of those problems.• The department failed to inform the students’ parents of what was for many a traumatic experience: the vicious murder of one of their friends.• The department failed to protect the legal interests of Indian students under their care from police mistreatment during the course of the investigation. Several young Aboriginal people were subject to intense police questioning without adequate protection of their legal and civil rights. Their parents were not informed.• The department failed to provide suitable professional counselling for Indian students who were affected by Osborne’s murder and by the manner in which they were questioned by the police.In our view the failure of Indian Affairs department officials to act borders on negligence. Although such treatment was consistent with a century of government indifference and insensitivity, it was nonetheless racist. TOP

University of Saskatchewan Convocation Fall 2011

2011-10-23T22:25:00.000-07:00

This weekend I went on a road trip with my St'at'imc Sisters for our sister Laura's grad. She completed her Masters in Indigenous Land Based Learning.

On Thursday I left my Indigenous Literature class and went to the airport. I flew to Calgary and then got stuck there for three hours while waiting for my flight to Saskatoon.

Calgary Airport is a creepy rat maze. To get from the main area to my gate I had to walk for four full minutes and during that time I didn't see another person. It was weird to be in such a huge public building and not see anyone else so I shot a video of it and condensed it into a one minute clip.

I got to Saskatoon around two or three local time. Nora and Laura met me there and we went to a beautiful house on the outskirts of the city where a professor was hosting our group. I shot a video of the drive to the house the next afternoon just to remember how beautiful the blue skies and fall leaves were.

My friend Grant Alphonse says one of our elders went to Saskatchewan and said that it was too close to heaven and he wasn't sure he wanted to go back.

On Friday morning I tried on Laura's bear regalia and had breakfast with Laura, Nora, and Nikki.

We went to University of Saskatchewan's education library for a quick lunch and to drop Laura off and meet up with Leona, Tamara, and Marilyn before heading out shopping. There was a beautiful mural there so I took a picture of it.

On Friday afternoon we went shopping like maniacs. I met up with Jarita and she helped me find a killer little black dress.

On Friday night we went to the banquet for the Land Based Learning grads. They talked about the program and acknowledged all of the grads. Then we got up and sang some St'at'imc Songs. You can find all of the videos of our performances on youtube. Here are my favorites:

St'at'imc Bear Song with Laura dancing

Swineya (Wildman) Song with Tamara and Nikki dancing

People's Prayer Song

Sometimes I like to look at the audience while I sing. It was so good to look out on a crowd of people there to celebrate Indigenous education. I was particularly moved by two boys sitting in the front row who seemed really into the singing. They looked at us like they'd never seen anything like it.

After our performance people were invited to come up to the mic and talk about their educational experience. It was nice to hear people talk about the program but as a current masters student I was really moved by the women who shared their struggles as mothers to get an education and the benefits of their education that they hoped would spread to their families and communities. It's not easy sometimes, and I don't dwell on it, but it's inspiring to hear other people's journeys and to hear that they, too, struggled at times but it's still not impossible.

We sang a song for the rounddance, too.

In the parking lot we still felt pretty energetic so we sang a warrior song.

On Saturday we went to the big convocation. It was awesome to see Laura get up and accept her Masters. I feel so inspired by her and by her dreams for educational change.

It was cool to see Indigenous faculty on stage and all of the Indigenous grads, too. After attending the convocation I feel determined to move forward in my studies.

As part of the convocation PhD grads were greeted by the dean of their faculty and then their supervisor led them to sit with the faculty instead of the students as a symbol of their new role in academia. Nora, who is working on her Bachelors, and I were sitting together and we talked about how moving and inspiring that part of the ceremony was. I've always sort of wanted a PhD, but after seeing that I thought, "that's going to be me."

After the convocation people went into the lobby of the building. We met Laura and while the Land Based students were getting their group pictures done Laura requested a stickgame song so we all pulled out our drums and I led the song and Laura came over and joined us singing. The song is very energetic and loud and exciting and I don't think people were expecting it.

One of the boys from the previous night's performance was there too and he looked stunned. Some people just stood near us and listened and enjoyed and some people took pictures and some came over just to see what was going on. We sang another song after that, too, but I can't remember which one.

It felt really good to reclaim that space and celebrate in our own way in a public place. On the drive from the airport on Thursday I told the group about a team of lahal players from Westbank who picked up one of their players from UBC Vancouver and they met her outside of her class. When she came out of her class they were all there drumming and singing.

As a group we were really moved by this story and it inspired us in our singing. As an individual I am really inspired by the story because to me it is an example of how communities can support Aboriginal post-secondary students. When students are connected to their community it eases the isolation of studying and being away from home and the culture shock that people often talk about. Community connection leads to higher retention and completion rates. I really respect the group that went down to Vancouver and did that for supporting that member of their team in a really powerful way.

After the big convocation we went out for a fancy dinner and then hit the road around seven. We drove for thirteen hours, even drove through a snowstorm, and then the Sisters dropped me off at my car in the airport in Kelowna. I took them for a quick tour of UBC Okanagan, too, and they really liked the coyote cube (I'll post a picture of that another time).

Thank you to the stickgame team that went down to UBC Vancouver and sang a song when they picked up a member of the team. I told the group about it and they were really inspired by it and it motivated us to represent at U of S.

A slam on feminism in academia

2011-10-20T13:30:00.000-07:00

Hmmm, interesting poem we read in Indigenous Literature class.

A Slam on Feminism in Academia.

I was that angry once but I'm not anymore. I've lowered my expectations of colonial institutions and that really takes the edge off.

Occasionally grad school fills me with terrible feelings of self-doubt and inadequacy. I was warned that this would happen though so I just call it what it is and wait for it to be over and then it goes away. My research on Aboriginal student success tells me to connect my studies to helping community, to stay grounded in culture and community, and to connect frequently with other Indigenous academics.

Weird.

Anyways, thought readers might enjoy the poem so I shared it. Enjoy :)

Checking in

2011-10-18T15:04:00.000-07:00

Hey Cyber Friends,

Just checking in with random updates.

Our team took 2nd place at a lahal tournament in Kamloops this weekend. Woo hoo!

With the advice of many and the supervision of a friend I made my own drum. I prepared the hide (hard work) myself and put it on a frame from my first drum. The hide on the first drum was commercial and it sounded really good at first but then suddenly lost it's boom.

The new drum is drying. It has to dry for four days, so I won't know the full extent of its sound till tomorrow. I've tapped on the strings and the frame just to see what it might sound like (I'm so impatient) but haven't played it yet.

Coursework is going well. I revised and resubmitted an assignment and got a much better grade. Today I had an aha! moment. You know when you're planning and you imagine the future as full of whatever classes you're currently teaching in perpetuity? Well, it just occurred to me that I will neither be taking these classes nor studying in perpetuity. After taking forever to complete my Bachelors (plural) I've really braced myself for the long haul in terms of coursework. I also sort of got into an attrition mentality where I was seriously pacing myself.

Today I looked at a calendar, though, and realized that really I don't have that far to go. I have a lot more skills and resources now than I did for my undergrad, too, so I should just give'er. Motivated by that thought I did a whole bunch of reading and notes today.

I will not be at BCTELA this weekend. Apologies. I'll be spending the full weekend in Saskatoon. I'll miss the BCTELA crew but I am excited to sing with my drum group.

Who will save us from the rabbits?

2011-10-14T14:15:00.000-07:00

John Marsden's allegorical tale of colonialism, The Rabbits, is beautifully illustrated. I think somewhere it's described as an allegory for the environment, but once you watch it you'll be like, nope, it's about colonialism.

You can watch a video of it here but if you can order a copy so that you can see the spectacular illustrations. Try to guess which page almost made me cry.

I appreciate this telling because I always struggle with the telling of the story of colonialism. How do you tell that story? Especially since our story here in Canada is so incomplete.

Excerpt from RCAP

2011-10-12T23:46:00.000-07:00

Oh, I am having too much fun outside of the classroom. I made it to both Mount Currie and Anaham this weekend. That's about 1500km in a weekend, if you're counting. I traded some lahal sticks for a drum, sang handdrum songs at a pow wow, and came in fourth in a lahal tournament.

I got all but one assignment done by Friday. That last assignment? The readings were done by Wednesday and the writing took place at my cousin's house after a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday night and in a McDonald's in Kamloops on Monday night. Today I got the grade for that paper. So embarrassingly low. Then I showed up to that class today and I'd read the wrong chapter!

Where's my mind these days? Hmmm.

Anyways, this week I have to work super hard and if I have sternly told myself that I have to get all my coursework done by Sunday afternoon or I won't be allowed to go to the lahal tournament on Sunday night. Fortunately I have some interesting readings.

Here's an excerpt from the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples in the chapter that talks about early childhood education:

Values and traditions of Aboriginal peoples and nations are diverse, but there are common elements that often conflict with those dominant in the conventional classroom. For example, Aboriginal children may be raised in a home environment where co-operation and non-competitiveness are emphasized. They may be taught that intellectual and other gifts are meant to be shared for the benefit of others rather than for personal gain. In some Aboriginal cultures, the principle of non-interference predominates; the child’s will is respected, and adults do not interfere in the choices made by the child. The imposition of the adult’s will on the child is considered inappropriate except, of course, in instances where the child may encounter harm.²⁴ By contrast, the regimentation of the classroom experience, the emphasis on individual achievement, and the exertion of the teacher’s authority constitute a rupture with the child’s home environment. This process of cultural conflict is described by Elsie Wuttunee:

A common concern of parents is when schooling becomes a threat to their developing child’s identity, primarily when the values and world view that prevail at school contradict or ignore the existence of a different perspective the child lives with at home. In the case of students of Aboriginal ancestry, this situation is all too common. The result can be that the child experiences serious conflict and doubt about the validity of his or her own identity. When an Aboriginal child’s identity has been threatened, they will withdraw into themselves; become silent and refuse to participate as a means of protecting themselves from criticism and rejection; attempt to abandon their previous identity and mould themselves to the culture which they perceive as more valid or acceptable; they may take on non-productive and rejecting attitudes which generally culminate in failure or dropping out.

It's interesting how well this fits with Kaupapa Maori theory and transformative praxis. Children might not have the words to resist colonial assimilation, yet they are still capable of resistance.

Greg's class

2011-10-11T14:57:00.000-07:00

Hello Greg's class,

It was great to spend some time with you today. I hope that you found the topics we went over interesting. Thank you for your participation.

Here are the two powerpoints. They have been stripped, that is, any material which might violate the new copyright regulations has been removed.

The White Paper

Indian Control of Indian Education

Feel free to comment on the topics we discussed in class or ask questions. I might not be able to answer every question but I can point you in the right direction :)

Kelowna Stolen Sisters Event and random rambling

2011-10-07T14:03:00.000-07:00

I went to the Kelowna Stolen Sisters event. I'm glad I went but don't have much to say about it. Here are two videos I shot. The quality is super sketchy because it was shot with my phone.

I helped sing during the march. Someone lent me a drum because mine is broken. It used to have a beautiful reverberation and bass tone. Now it sounds like "thwack" instead of "boom." I tried to remedy the situation by soaking it in wet towels for a few days and letting it dry out. When it was dry it played beautifully for a few beats and then went back to "thwack." Any advice would be appreciated.

It's that weekend again where we celebrate colonialism. If you, like I, have some serious misgivings about the entire notion of Thanksgiving, then this Everett Soop cartoon might help you survive the holiday.

"We thank thee for this land we're about to receive"

Ha! Check out the guy on the left. He's like, "what?!"

I have some important dates coming up that dear readers might be interested in -

This weekend there's a pow wow in Mount Currie which is near Whistler. If you're in the Vancouver area you could totally make a day trip out of it. I think I'll go for Saturday or Sunday, it depends on my travel schedule for a lahal tournament on Monday and my drum group's practice session. If you're there and you see me there come say hi! Our drum group is in fundraising mode for our Saskatoon trip so I might try to sell you something.
On October 20th I will be rolling into Saskatoon. I don't know what my plans are that evening because I'm with a group of people, but if we happen to go to some sort of open community event or out dancing I'll post it on my Twitter @starleigh_grass . Suggestions regarding Saskatoon nightlife are welcome, either as a blog comment or a tweet.
On October 22nd I will be presenting at the BC Teachers of English Language Arts Provincial Conference in Surrey (near Vancouver). Here is the link for registration. Register for my workshop if you're interested in multicultural education. If you're there and you see someone that you think might be me come say hi! I have new glasses and bangs and people I've known for years keep walking right past me because I look different. If you think it's me it probably is so if you're there and you want to come talk about books during the lunch break or whatever don't be shy :)

I am this close to being done my school work. I'd better get back at it so I can enjoy the weekend!

18 years after the Caribou Chilcotin Justice Inquiry - How far have we come?

2011-10-05T21:50:00.000-07:00

I was really upset the other day to read about my second cousin's daughter in the news. I think the pictures in the story speak for themselves.

The mother saw her petite teenage daughter getting assaulted by a police officer while already detained in a police cruiser. The police response is that they were responding to a sexual assault call.

The family claims they are being harassed by a gang. The police deny that a bomb was thrown in the family's house and make no statement about whether or not there is active gang activity, if there is what is being done about it, and whether or not they are taking action to support the safety of the family.

In response to the family's complaint about the daughter's assault and ongoing gang activity the police stated:

“I can assure that anybody in our community will be treated fairly,”

There was a justice inquiry in this region as a result of terrible relations between the police and community.

Here is an except of the 1993 Caribou Chilcotin Justice Inquiry:

"In the urban areas of 100 Mile House,Williams Lake and Quesnel, as in the larger native reserves, community-oriented policing is the obvious goal. The police must become members of the community in more respects than as a detached source of authority and power reacting only to stem breaches of the peace or other unlawful conduct. The people of the communities are concerned about preventing problems and they are more than willing to assist. They need to have confidence that the community is protected and that all is well when they see the officer moving about in the community, alert to signs of trouble. To achieve this, officers must be visible in the community and must take an active, even a leading part, in formulating programs and involving community members in the process of maintaining peace and good order."

After reading this story, and particularly the police comments, I wonder how far we've really come eighteen years later.

Research nightmare!

2011-10-05T14:40:00.000-07:00

Ugh.

I had a terrible dream last night.

There's a story about a stranger. I've heard a few different versions of it. It's like an urban legend, but rural.

In a small town several people are at a bar and it's a regular night. Then a stranger comes. The stranger is very charismatic and friendly and quickly makes a lot of friends. He begins buying people drinks and really brings the place to life. However, one person (usually someone related to the person telling the story, lol) does not trust the stranger. They are leery of his generosity and refuse to accept any of his offers to buy them a drink. At closing time the stranger invites everyone to his place for an after party. People readily agree and pile into cars to follow him. The road to his house is the same road to the leery person's house. People follow the stranger in a caravan of sorts, including the leery person, however, at one point in the road the stranger and all of the cars following him turn off. The leery person continues driving towards their home, and in the rear view mirror they see the headlights of all of the cars simply disappearing into the night. The cars and people following the stranger vanish, never to be seen again.

In my nightmare, I am the stranger.

I think that the terrible nightmare is the result of some reading I've been doing, particularly on research methodology. More than anything what I fear is that the work I'm doing will not be meaningful or relevant and it'll just be a waste of other's time and resources. One of my classes has a nihilistic undercurrent running through it and I think it's sort of getting to me. I despise nihilism and the study of philosophy. Maybe I had a traumatic childhood experience with a philosopher or something.

I am going to try to limit the impact of the nihilistic course on my soul and keep reading my Indigenous research methodology book in hopes it has a happy ending.

To leave on a good news note, Feminism for Real edited by Jessica Yee, made Ms Magazines list of the top 100 Feminist not-fiction titles. Way to go!

A Conversation with Walter Mignolo - Reading Notes

2011-10-02T20:29:00.000-07:00

I popped into the Indigenous Studies department to say hello to a prof I had in undergrad and he suggested that I read this article. I particularly enjoyed the last question in the interview. There are hyperlinks embedded to the original document. These are my reading notes, which means that in some places I've taken chunks of text and pared them down into bulleted lists, and in other places of bolded, italicized, and changed the size of the font. If you want to find the original text in the document notes are in order of appearance, however, because these are my reading notes they are different from the original text and so you should refer to the original text and not these notes if you are using quotes for a paper or whatever.

Reartikulacija

DE-COLONIALITY

Marina Gržinić: DE-LINKING EPISTEMOLOGY FROM CAPITAL AND

PLURI-VERSALITY – A CONVERSATION WITH WALTER MIGNOLO,

part 1

2009-11-20

Modernity is not a historical period, but it is a rhetoric grounded on the idea of salvation by the agents telling the story and placing themselves at the last moment of a global historical development and carrying the flag and the torch toward the bright future of humanity. The rhetoric of modernity has been, since its inception, the rhetoric of salvation: by conversion (Spanish and Portuguese mendicant orders), by civilizing missions (British and French agents); by development and modernization (US experts in economy and politics guiding the Third World towards the same standards as the First ); and salvation through market democracy and consumerism.

The colonial matrix of power (CMP) is described in four interrelated domains in which the struggle for control, accommodation,resistance,re-existence,etc.takes place:

the control of economy (labor, land, natural resources);
the cont rol of authority (government , army);
the control of gender and sexuality (control of family life and reproduction of the species based on the Christian/bourgeois family) and
the control of knowledge and subjectivity (epistemology, aesthesis).

We further assume the colonial matrix of power was formed in the sixteenth century, within t he process of Spanish and Portuguese control over the New World and later America. That is, the colonial matrix of power is not a cookie cutter that conquistadores and missionaries used to mold the New World with, but a complex structure, constantly in the making.

-de-linking from the CMP to create a pluri-versality begins with epistemology

-abandoning t he dream of a “new abstract universal,”

-not hegemony of knowledge, hegemony of connections between knowledges

-Maturana - multi-verse instead of universe

-Zapatistas- “a world in which many worlds will co-exist.”

Part 2

Pluri-versality requires – as said above – connectors, connectors among projects (see the question about who are t he revolutionary subjects today, below) moving, advancing, unfolding in the same direction (departing from the colonial matrix of power), but f ollowing singular paths emerging from local histories. Consequently, pluri-versality as a universal project is not another new abstract universal that claims the ultimate truth above all the previous abstract universals. Connectors are necessary to avoid fragmentation.

-describes the way that "food predators" control local economies

Part 3

Imagining that Western political economy and political theory (in their right or left versions) will be helpful in imagining and creating the future of , say, Bolivia or Iraq is, in my view, an Eurocentric illusion.

Evo Morales’ distinction between “buen vivir” and “vivir mejor queotros” (to live well rather than to live better than the other)

Emancipation vs liberation:

emancipation: the dreams and experiences of the European bourgeoisie
liberation: the struggles of the damnés (Fanon), t he racialized and colonized people of the ex-Third World

-shared experience of the "colonial wound"

Evo Morales: We do not need experts telling us what to do, we need people to work with.

Aimé Césaire - What “the very distinguished,very humanistic, very Christian bourgeois of the twentieth century [...] cannot forgive Hitler for is not the crime in itself , the crime against man, it is not the humiliation of man as such, it is the crime against the white man, the humiliation of the white man, and the fact that he applied to Europe colonialist procedures which until then had been reserved exclusively for the Arabs of Algeria, the ‘coolies’ of India, and the ‘n******’ of Africa.”

The best question in the interview - M. G.: You are prof essor in one of those imperial academic structures in the USA that systematically reproduces and sustains rational western epistemology as a colonizing system. How do you de-link your work from such an institution? Moreover, is it not true that the American corporative educational system (that basis its work on efficiency, competition and fake struggles) wants from their professors to (re)produce instead of a critical discourse, a theater of it, that is an assurance to the system that nothing will really change?

taking advantage of decolonizing spaces in universities
activism outside of universities
collaboration with de-colonial institutions
success - being in the institution doesn’t mean that you go literally with the institutional goals

There is no ideal place to struggle.