Intended for both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal learners, this course will explore indigenous ways of knowing and how they can benefit all students. Topics include historical, social, and political issues in Aboriginal education; terminology; cultural, spiritual and philosophical themes in Aboriginal worldviews; and how Aboriginal worldviews can inform professional programs and practices, including but not limited to the field of education.
Jean-Paul Screenside Chat for Week Three [part 1]
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Aboriginal Worldviews and Education
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Jean-Paul RestouleAssociate Professor
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
Welcome to another screenside chat. I'm trying to address your questions from
the last two weeks. the most popular question is, will the
course stay open? people want access to the forms and to
the material to digest that a more leisurely pace.
And so yes, we are leaving it open so that you can do that.
You can access the material. there's a plan to archive the material as
well, so that you can come in and, and and review the resources later and do so
in a much more relaxed time. I know that people have been really busy
with the assignments and activities. And this is a way to go back and, and,
and look through the resources, view the lectures, in a way where there's a little
less pressure. So, we'll, we'll do that.
the other question is, will the course be offered again?
There are people who are saying that they have friends and family colleagues, that
they are recommending the course to. And they want to start with it fresh,
right from the beginning. so at this time we don't have a scheduled
reoffering of the course. But stay tuned.
And we have your e-mail, we'll certainly send a notice when a plan in place to
offer the course again. There's definitely a lot of demand for
it. So, we will be considering it very
carefully. so just stay tuned.
Now I want to get to one of the kind of more involved kind of questions that,
that's popped up in the forum, and that was the question about, when did
Europeans stop being aboriginal? At least, at least that's a paraphrasing
of one of the posts. And there have been a number of
variations on this theme. So, I'm going to attempt to answer that,
knowing that this is not this is, this is an opinion.
and you know, it might not be a popular one.
[LAUGH] . But I think there's all, a sentiment
that's out there that everyone is indigenous to somewhere.
And I think that this is true. That we, of course, we all, we all came
from somewhere. what is important to focus on is the way
that the community and the cultures developed a relationship with place
which, in form, their knowledge base and, in form, their identities.
and then in, in some places and locations, connection to place was
disrupted by various means. Whether it's by other powers coming in
and altering the landscape or pushing people out into new spaces or people
develop a relationship to place which is which is a, an alienating connection.
So, seeing land is, is something that can be a resource that can be taken.
It, it, there isn't a reciprocal relation where you give back.
when the, when these kinds of of, of events happen or these these kinds of
changes in our relationship with place happen that is when indigeneity is
compromised. So, to me, indigeneity is about
connection of a group to a place. And you know, various individuals within
that group may have kind of differing connections.
But certainly, if the, if the group identity is somewhat tied into connection
to specific places and responsibility to those places, that's what characterizes
indigenous people globally. I know the United Nations definition has
a component of victimization to it, which is problematic and was mentioned in our
terminology lecture. and I, I think that there is a conscious,
well clearly a conscious reason of including that component to the, the
definition, to distinguish, you know, certain peoples who had control over
their nation states. where the ethnic, ethnically there, there
is a majority within the nation state and it was to prevent I, I think inclusion of
those folks in discussion on, on the indigenous issues and the permanent
forum. so it's, it's an unfortunate kind of side
effect of that definition is that indigeneity is tied to victimization.
So, if we ever achieve self-determination, does that mean we
lose our indigenous identity? And I think a lot of us wouldn't think
so. I think that we see our own identity as
being part of that being people in relation to certain places and that,
that's formed a strong sense of who we are.
you know, we're looking within North America.
Eastern Woodlands cultures definitely are called that because of the knowledge base
and the relationship that develops in harmony with that land.
And it becomes such an important part of how people identify themselves internally
within the language, within the the ceremonies that are done, the kinds of
stories that are told, are very much interconnected and woven into that kind
of a landscape. And so does that mean that they cease to
be Nishnawbe or Haudenosaunee, if you take them out and put them into a
different place? No, but the, the cultural identity, the
larger group identity, is very much about those connections with places.
So, I think that's much more central to an understanding of what it means to be
indigenous. And so for, for European peoples tracing
back and we had some discussions in some of the forums about who are the
indigenous people preceding the nations that are there now.
And I think that's an important distinction is that, those are, those are
those are cultural identities very much tied to places.
the rituals and ceremonies were tied to relationship with land and cosmos in
those spaces. When those connections were disrupted and
new nation state identities were formed, I think that is when indigeneity was
compromised. And that's when a different kind of
identity formed in it's place. One that enabled the, the colonial and,
and imperial activities to then take place.
And this is not to say that imperialism and colonization are are unique to
Europe. Obviously, there are examples all around
the globe. And indigenous peoples in the Americas
too have histories of slavery of, of colonization of other peoples too.
So we are not immune. Everyone has, has been colonized or and
colonized at different stages in history, in different contexts.
So, that's another important thing to do too is, is look at that.
that we are, in each of us in our own individual identities, can sometimes take
the power that comes from being associated with colonizer and sometimes
take the, the, the relationship of being the colonized, in this situation.
Winona LaDuke talks about this in her lecture in Week 4.
And I, I think it's important to remember.
You know, being in, in North America, we are often in relationships where we are
colonizing others. I mean mining companies in Canada are
displacing indigenous peoples globally. And and I think most Canadians have some
sort of stake in those mining companies through the places that they work or
investments and so forth, and and government support of those corporate
activities. So, in that sense, we are all colonizers
by supporting those things implicitly or explicitly.
and at the same time for many of us who are, are, are allied with indigenous
people or are indigenous people ourselves, we're also in that colonized
relationship. So, it's, it's not as simple as
statically being one or the other. In different contexts and different
relationships, we take on different parts of that identity.
And so that's an important part to look at when we an-, answer that question.
so, to be European doesn't mean always colonizer.
And being indigenous doesn't always mean, colonized.
and that's, that's a thread that's been or a theme I, I should say, that's been
emerging from the various threads, is, is over association of one or two of those
categories with colonizing and colonized. I think it's important to see the ways in
which we, we can shift our identities contextually and there's also a process
in which that takes place to. So, looking at the dynamism instead of
seeing as a static categories. so I think that's that's enough for this
screen side chat. And there will be another one shortly.
Thank you.
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