Understanding Aboriginal Learning Ideology Through Storywork with Elders

Five Nuu-chah-nulth Elders engaged in the examination of a Nuu-chah-nulth story for what they considered learning. A network of eight learning archetypes inhabited the story to demonstrate a range of learning strategies. The Elders identified features central to a cultural learning project, which included prenatal care and grandparent teaching, spiritual bathing, partnerships, ritual sites, and ancestor names. Learning strategies were understood as embedded and embodied in the form of characters displaying the archetypes. The storywork process used by the Elders, systematized as phenomenological orienteering and operationalized as metaphorical mapping, was found to be a useful methodology

Oral Tradition - A Literacy for Lifelong Learning: Native American Approaches to Justice and Wellness Education.

Native American oral tradition provides a literacy for lifelong learning that promotes perspective transformations. This approach is particularly suited to justice and wellness education because participants engage multiple ways of being and knowing: sensory, philosophical, serious, humorous, etc. Oral traditions can be understood in the context of transformative learning that has implications for adult education

Can You Hear us Now? Voices from the Margin: Using Indigenous Methodologies in Geographic Research

Indigenous methodologies are an alternative way of thinking about research processes. Although these methodologies vary according to the ways in which different Indigenous communities express their own unique knowledge systems, they do have common traits. This article argues that research on Indigenous issues should be carried out in a manner which is respectful and ethically sound from an Indigenous perspective. This naturally challenges Western research paradigms, yet it also affords opportunities to contribute to the body of knowledge about Indigenous peoples. It is further argued that providing a mechanism for Indigenous peoples to participate in and direct these research agendas ensures that their communal needs are met, and that geographers then learn how to build ethical research relationships with them. Indigenous methodologies do not privilege Indigenous researchers because of their Indigeneity, since there are many ‘insider’ views, and these are thus suitable for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers. However, there is a difference between research done within an Indigenous context using Western methodologies and research done using Indig- enous methodologies which integrates Indigenous voices. This paper will discuss those differences while presenting a historical context of research on Indigenous peoples, providing further insights into what Indigenous methodologies entail, and proposing ways in which the academy can create space for this discourse

Embracing plurality through oral language

The transmission and dissemination of knowledge in Aboriginal societies for the most part occurs orally in an Aboriginal language or in Aboriginal English. However, whilst support is given to speaking skills in Indigenous communities, in our education system less emphasis is given to developing equivalent oral communicative competence in Standard Australian English (SAE). Instead the focus is given to the ongoing assessment of reading and writing skills and grammatical knowledge – this is in direct contrast to the existing language experience of Aboriginal students. Therefore, for Aboriginal students to participate in mainstream society, we suggest that there is a need to nurture oral language skills in SAE and provide learners with the experience to develop their code-switching ability to maintain continuity with their first language or dialect. Drawing on previous research that we and others have undertaken at several schools, this paper highlights the need for three fundamental changes to take place within language education: (1) school policies to change and explicitly accept and support Aboriginal English in code-switching situations; (2) familiarity among school staff about the major differences between Aboriginal English and SAE; and (3) tasks that focus on developing and practising the ‘when, why and how’ of code-switching

The effects of social role attitudes on the planning behavior of First Nations mothers

A common perception by non-natives is that First Nations people do not plan. Conversely, this study takes the position that planning is a universal human ability embedded in social relations and investigates how First Nations families plan. The pattern of planning and social role expectations of the First Nations mother were investigated in the Family Resource Management Framework (Deacon & Firebaugh, 1989) for which the authors claim cross cultural utility. Using the framework, the "Maternal Social Role Attitude and Planning Model", was developed to guide the study in a bicultural context. Guided by this model, the relationships between the personal value of and commitment to (salience) social expectations of First Nations mothers in four life roles, the sociodemographic attributes of mothers and families, and their planning behaviors were explored. Forty First Nations mothers with school aged children responded to the survey through First Nations organizations and affiliations. The three-part questionnaire included demographic measures, the Planning Behavior Scale and the Life Role Salience Scale. Scale management, validation, and performance with this population were discussed. Three dimensions of planning were identified (morphostatic planning, morphogenic planning, and adherence to rules). Social role attitudes in order of salience were: parental role, home care role, occupational role, and marital role. Salience of occupational role attitudes and income were the most important predictors of planning generally. Lower levels of educational status specifically predicted planning by adherence to rules. A multiple regression test of the model revealed characteristics of the family and maternal systems and maternal social role attitudes that contributed significantly to explaining three dimensions of planning behavior in First Nations families. Adherence to rules and morphostatic planning were explained by the maternal social attitude, occupational role salience, and income. Morphogenic planning was explained by, income, living in a smaller community, and the maternal social attitude, occupational role salience. The maternal social role attitude, occupational role salience, was shown to make an important positive contribution to the planning of First Nations mothers. The performance of the model as an analytical tool has provided some knowledge about the planning behavior of First Nations mothers.Land and Food Systems, Faculty ofGraduat

Learning models in the Umeek narratives : identifying an educational framework through storywork with First Nations elders

This study uses First Nations storywork to investigate indigenous learning. If cultural strategies were persistent and fundamental to the survival of a people, it would seem that understanding Nuu-chah-nulth learning orientations would provide emancipatory insight for First Nations learning in contemporary educational settings. Understanding what was and what is allows an envisioning of what could be. Therefore narratives about Umeek, the "community provider", the archetypal "go-getter", were read as a conceptual framework in which to identify learning orientations of Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations. The investigation had three foci. First, a protocol for First Nations cultural work was formulated and elaborated. This protocol was used as an overarching framework for the gathering of the stories, the interview process and the narrative analysis. Second, ethnographic and oral versions of Umeek narratives were gathered. Third, these narratives were read Nuu-chah-nulth elders cultural beliefs about learning for past and present success in a Nuu-chah-nulth life career (i.e. providing/achieving). Narrative deconstruction and metaphorical mapping served to identify and describe aspects of learning salient in the teachings of Umeek narratives. A full complex of learning archetypes emerged balancing innovation and conservation in an economy of change. Eight archetypal learning models were identified: the innovative transformational learner, the collaborative transformational learner, the directed lineage learner, the developmental learner, the cooperative learner, the resistant observational learner, the collaborative resistant learner, and the opportunistic observational learner. Themes which emerged central to Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations learning ideology and knowledge construction were: grandparents provided the foundation of learning, oosumch (ritual bathing) provided motivational management, partnerships permitted collaboration, ancestor names provided orientation and sacred sites provided frames for experiences. Nuu-chah-nulth learning theory was articulated in a storywork framework that provided insight into Nim-chah-nulth pedagogy: hence, it needs to be understood in the context of Nim-chah-nulth education. First Nations educational theory and learning models that are operating in communities need to be understood in the context of current education. Western schooling may not satisfy Nuuchah- nulth learning needs for transformation and strategic knowledge. Storywork is important in de-colonizing First Nations sensibilities in the process of self-determination in education, counseling, life career development, and healing.Education, Faculty ofEducational Studies (EDST), Department ofGraduat