NOTE: Issues range from 1996–2006. Contact information in earlier issues could be outdated. For current information, please contact the Alaska Native Knowledge Network, 907-474-1902.
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NANA Region Update by Robert Mulluk, Jr.:Recently Ruthie Sampson and I visited Elmer at Kiana and drew up a plan for the remainder of the year. Getting involved with this program has given me incentive to visit each returning principal before school is out and pass on some information about the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative and the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES). During the first week of April, Oscar Kawagley and Claudette Bradley-Kawagley visited Kotzebue. They made a presentation at the Kotzebue Middle/High school with an excellent turnout. They also had an opportunity to visit the Kotzebue Elementary Inupiaq Day where they watched students have an Inupiaq spelling bee and students learning how to retrieve seal or ugruk (bearded seal). Many other activities were happening, but with their tight schedule, we went to each classroom for only a few minutes. The Northwest Alaska Native Association (NANA) region has approximately four summer camps for students to learn cultural knowledge during the summer months. The upper Kobuk Inupiat have an Ilisagvik Camp which teaches students of the Upper Kobuk about the subsistence lifestyle and hunting and fishing techniques. The Kutvak camp at Selawik is named after a good friend and mentor. The camp teaches how lifestyles in that area are important and the first step in survival are learning their cultural background. Kiana also has a camp which does not have an official name but it is referred to as the Elders' Camp. I heard it was once called Elmer's Camp. The main camp in the region is Camp Sivu located on the Melvin Channel which is a tributary of the Kobuk River. This is a larger camp, has a bigger turnout and usually goes on for about a month. Students learn to set nets, cut fish, proper gun safety, preserving food, boat safety and many other interesting topics. The NANA region is already involved with educating students the importance of cultural pride and self-esteem. Knowing yourself and culture will give you a positive and high expectation of yourself. The Trained Hunter All the training you received Too young to even try Fear of the wilderness Haunt you to try your skills. Many trips you slept Maturity and interest open one eye Involvement and trust got both First caribou too proud to stop now. Knowledge of culture is of part Gunner at the age of seven Used all ammo but got more Uncle Joe's expertise to the bulls eye. Training is every season of the year Each animal has its killing season The real training comes when you're alone No one to tell you the way or how. You soon applied all you've got Moose, muskrats, caribou, lynx, and more The animal instinct is source of survival But the hunter must out smart. Now you journey with no fear Confidence is your trade mark Success is your hunting trips At last you are a trained hunter! -"Aqpik" Robert Mulluk, Jr. | |
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Native American Songs as Literature by Vivian Martindale:Classrooms don't have to be boring. Literature classes especially can be enhanced through the medium of song. In David Leedom Shaul's article "A Hopi Song-Poem in Context", he claims that the listener is similar to an audience during storytelling, in that the listener is also interacting with the music. The listener, as a participant, is not passive; the listener is hearing rhythms, words, patterns and much more. The listener does not have to understand the Native language in order to appreciate the song. Shaul calls attention to the genre called "song poems." These songs are in a category by themselves, separate from poetry and prose. "The text of song-poems in Hopi culture, like much poetry, seemingly create their own context by virtue of minimalist language" (Shaul 1992:230-31). Therefore it would be interesting to include the concept of song poems or poetry as music into a curriculum. Poet, songwriter and saxophonist, Joy Harjo, is one such example of an artist/poet whose work could be shared in a class on Native American literature. Other than being a poet, Harjo is in her own band called Poetic Justice. Harjo is from Oklahoma and is an enrolled member of the Creek Tribe. Her work combines music with poetry. According to Harjo, "The term poetic justice is a term of grace, expressing how justice can appear in the world despite forces of confusion and destruction. The band takes its name from this term because all of us have worked for justice in our lives, through any means possible and through music." Harjo's lyrics to her songs are a reflection of her poetry, "a blending of rock, blues and prophecy" (Princeton 2003). I include here an excerpt from Poetic Justices' song "My House is the Red Earth," words and music by Joy Harjo and John L. Williams: My house is the red earth. It could be the center of the world. I've heard New York, Tokyo or Paris called the center of the world, but I say it is magnificently humble. You could drive by and miss it. Radio waves can obscure it. Words cannot construct it for there are some sounds left to sacred wordless form. For instance, that fool crow picking through trash near the corral, understands the center of the world as greasy scraps of fat. Just ask him. He doesn't have to say that the earth has turned scarlet through fierce belief, after centuries of heartbreak and laughter (Poetic Justice 2003). Poetic Justice is just one example of how contemporary musicians use poetry to express issues facing Native Americans today. Song poems, in themselves, hold a unique element of language and culture. In a more traditional manner, songs from around Native America could be included, not just for listening enjoyment, but also could include students' input on the lyrics; afterward asking how the students thought the poet/artist expressed themselves and how they felt when listening to the songs. Traditional singers could be invited into the classroom to perform. But of course permission to perform the songs and dances must be given by the owners of the song so educators need to be aware that there is an aspect of ownership as well as some songs and dances are only to be performed at certain times of the year and by specific persons. Usually dancing and other forms of expression accompany songs. Students could be encouraged to close their eyes briefly and afterward record what they heard as a participant compared to what they saw as a participant. Also ask the students if they felt as if they were participants on some other level or were simply an observer or listener. In many of the contexts, songs may not have to be translated if they are performed in their Native languages. One can simply enjoy the language, how it sounds, how it feels to the soul. For further studies on Native American song poems a good source is by author and editor Brian Swann called Song of the Sky: Native American Songpoems. Although adding music and song in a literary context may seem like a revolutionary idea, Native Americans have been using songs to educate since time immemorial. According to an article on the Alaska Native Knowledge Network, "Singing and dancing were very important to the Athabascan people. People often made up songs about events, love songs, war songs or about relatives who had died for the death potlatch. The children at potlatches and community events observed the adults as a means to learn how to dance and sing. Children learned to sing very early as it was very important to the Athabascan way to carry on their teachings through oral languages" (ANKN 2003). And yes, even college students enjoy learning through the medium of music and song, especially when it opens up the world of literature from other cultures. Another resource for educators comes from Canyon Records called Traditional Voices, which includes recordings made in the 1950s and 60s. These rare songs were recorded by "historically important singers from all over United States and Canada." This collection offers a glimpse into the rich and varied tribal cultures of twenty different Native American tribes. Samples from the works include songs such as the Navajo "Yei-Be-Chai Chant," Northern Chey-enne "Sun Dance Song," and the Tohono O'odham, "Song Of The Green Rainbow." Through traditional songs and dances this recording would be an excellent tool to introduce students to Native American literary forms. Songs or song poems, whether traditional or contemporary, can be one instrument for educators to utilize in order to explore various Native cultures. Involving local singers and dancers is also important as well as any students who are willing to share their songs and dances with their classmates. Dance and songs are a means to understanding Native American cultures. To appreciate other cultures, it is good to immerse ourselves in each other's songs. References Alaska Native Knowledge Network. 2003. Athabascan Winter Studies: The Dene' Indigenous Peoples of Interior Alaska. Electronic document, http://www.ankn.uaf.edu/ANEunit/aneindex.html, accessed July 14, 2003. Harjo, Joy. 2003. Joy Harjo. Electronic document http://www.princeton.edu/~naap/harjo.html, accessed July 14, 2003. Harjo, Joy. 2003. KACTV Publishing/Muskogee. Mekko Productions, Electronic document, http://www.joyharjo.com/index.html, accessed July 14. Shaul, David Leedom. 1992. "A Hopi Song Poem in Context" In On the Translation of Native American Literatures. Brian Swann ed. Washington: Smithsonian Institution. Traditional Voices. Electronic document, http://www.canyonrecords.com/cr7053.htm, accessed July 14, 2003. Phoenix: Canyon Records. | |
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Native Education Advisory Council to the Commissioner by Bernice B. Tetpon:The Alaska State Board Action Plan on Native Student Learning includes a provision that the Department of Education & Early Development "establish a Native Education council to advise the commissioner." The Native Education Advisory Council's purpose is to focus on the improvement of the quality of instruction so it meets the needs of our Native students. Members include: Esther A. Ilutsik, Ciulistet Research Association; Moses Dirks, Unangan Educators Association; Sophie Shield, Association of the Native Educators of the Lower Kuskokwim; Lolly Carpluk, Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative; Andy Hope, Southeast Native Educators Association; Oscar Kawagley, Alaska First Nations Research Network; Frank Hill, Co-Director, AKRSI, Alaska Federation of Natives; Dorothy Larson, Consortium for Alaska Native Higher Education; Cecilia Martz, Retired Indigenous Professors Association; Teri Schneider, Native Educators of the Alutiiq Region; Martha Stackhouse, North Slope Iñupiaq Educators Association; Nita Rearden, Alaska Native Education Council; Sam Towarak, Bering Straits Region Native Educators and Carol Lee Gho, Association of Interior Native Educators. Bernice B. Tetpon, Rural/Native Education Liaison, is the contact person at the Department of Education & Early Development for the Council. The Council will be meeting via audio conference this year. Many topics that are discussed come from the initiatives developed by the Native Educator Associations and the Alaska Federation of Natives resolutions passed during the annual convention. Discussions surround the initiatives and resolutions and their impact on educational policies, regulation and funding with recommendations to the commissioner. During the first meeting, March 9, 2001, Oscar Kawagley was nominated to chair the Native Education Advisory Council to the Commissioner. Topics of discussion included: Guidelines for Nurturing Culturally-Healthy Youth Guidelines for Nurturing Culturally-Healthy Youth and designation of the Department of Education & Early Development's involvement with follow up activities to be determined at a later date. Guidelines for Strengthening Indigenous Languages Discussion centered on Senate Bill 103: An act relating to a curriculum for Native language education. Several districts are using the guidelines developed at the October 2001 Alaska Native Language Forum to develop the Native Language Advisory Committees. These are: home language survey, rationale of current program; description of delivery model and description of resources Cross-Cultural Education Specialist Endorsement It was recommended that new teachers could benefit from this course as part of their professional development and a salary increase as an incentive. Summer institutes as well as learning from the natural environment will be a part of the activities. Discussion-AFN Resolutions The council reviewed AFN Resolutions 00-11 through 00-16. Included was a discussion on the AFN Resolution 00-11 requiring that Alaska history be taught in the schools of Alaska and House Bill 171 which is an act relating to a curriculum for Alaska history with a Native studies component. Each Council member requested to review HB 171 to provide input. The April 2, 2001 meeting focused on unfinished business from the March 9 meeting. The results were that the council is recruiting Native Educators as Quality School consultants. The council will also recruit Native Educators to participate in the development of story problems on the Carnegie Algebra I Tutor addendum. The next audio conference is scheduled for May 25, 2001. | |
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Native Educator's Conference and BMEEC Merge for 2004:The annual Native Educator's Conference (NEC) and Bilingual-Multicultural Education and Equity Conference (BMEEC) will be held at the Anchorage Sheraton February 10-14, 2004. Registration information and a preliminary event schedule can be viewed at: www.ankn.uaf.edu/bmeec. NEC will be held concurrently with the BMEEC, with NEC workshops running as a special strand focusing on culturally-responsive strategies for education in Alaska. A strong set of panelists and workshop presenters from throughout Alaska will provide a stimulating look at what schools and communities are doing to implement the Alaska Standards for Culturally Responsive Schools. The first day of activities will consist of pre-conference work sessions where all are invited to join in. The morning session will focus on finalizing plans for the re-establishment of a statewide Alaska Native Education Association to assist with the efforts of the regional Native educator associations that have been formed over the past ten years. In addition to adopting a set of by-laws and electing officers, discussions will be held regarding potential projects for which the new ANEA can seek funding, including support for sponsoring regional cultural orientation programs. The afternoon session will address performance criteria for the establishment of a cross-cultural specialist endorsement that will be presented to the State Board of Education for approval to be implemented in a manner similar to the current reading and special education endorsements associated with a state teaching certificate. We encourage everyone to attend the work sessions and participate in shaping these initiatives. In the evening of February 10, we will host the annual Honoring Alaska's Indigenous Literature awards ceremony and reception at Josephine's on the top floor of the Sheraton. Everyone is invited to join in this event recognizing people from each region who have contributed to the rich literary traditions of Alaska Natives. | |
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Native Educators' Conference:Anchorage, Alaska Held in Anchorage, NEC will provide the opportunity for people engaged in education that impacts Native people to come together and learn from each other's work and to explore ways to strengthen the links between education and the cultural well-being of Indigenous people. Contact Lolly Carpluk at (907) 474-5086. Or email ftlmc@uaf.edu | |
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Native Language Institute Debuts at UAF Next Summer:The Alaska Native Language Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) has entered into a partnership with the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Tanana Chiefs Conference to broaden opportunities to provide training for Athabascan language teachers. Athabascan languages are recognized as some of the most endangered Native languages in Alaska; there are about 8,000 Athabascans with eleven distinct ancestral languages. The largest groups of speakers are the Koyukon and Gwich'in, each with about 300 people speaking the language. The smallest is Han with only nine. As a response to concerns about dying Native languages in Alaska, UAF initiated both a certificate and an associate's degree in Native language education in 1992. The purpose of the program is to increase the quality of Native language education in Alaskan schools. For students who are unable to commit to an extended course of study at UAF, the Alaska Native Language Center will provide training through the Athabascan Language Development Institute (ALDI) next summer. The two-week seminar, public lecture series and follow-up sessions will allow students to receive up to six college credits which can be applied toward the 30-credit certificate or the 60-credit associate's degree in Native Language Education. Qualified students may be eligible for full fellowships to the summer language institute which will cover tuition, housing and registration fees. Class size is limited and preference will be given to bilingual educators. However, anyone interested in teaching and preserving Alaska's Athabascan languages is encouraged to apply. The two-week institute and public lecture series aims to provide students with some of the basic skills needed to develop classroom materials and to teach Athabascan languages. It will also help students gain a working knowledge of language maintenance and revitalization issues so they can help their communities make informed choices about Native language education. Speakers at the institute will include Danny Ammon and Leanne Hinton. Ammon became a fluent speaker of Hupa (an Athabascan language of California) through the Native California Network's Master-Apprentice Language Learning Program and now works for the program. Hinton is professor of linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley and was instrumental in setting up the Master-Apprentice Program. They will talk about the Native California Network's programs and how they might be tailored to fit the specific needs of Alaska's Athabascan population. Applications for the institute will be available later this winter. For additional information contact Alaska Native Language Center ALDI Coordinator Patrick Marlow, (907) 474-7446, or Tanana Chiefs Conference Education Director Reva Shircel, (907) 452-8251. | |
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Native Languages in Alaska by Ruthie Sampson:Good Morning respected Elders, honored guests, educators and parents! Uummatitchauraqtuami nuna iøiqsraqtiqman nakuqsiøiqtuÿa. My heart was really beating fast earlier but I feel calmer after the earthquake. I worked in Anchorage in 1978 with Tupou Pulu and attended the BMEEC over the years for a total of 10 to 15 times. I was thinking that if you attend often enough, sooner or later they will ask you to be the keynote speaker-I think this was Mike's way of making sure I get here early. Actually, last night I set my alarm clock to 6:30 AM. I didn't want to be late. During the night, I woke up at 4:30 AM and went back to sleep. I woke up again and it was still 4:30 AM! I went back to sleep again and this time when I woke up it was 2:30 AM and then I realized I had been dreaming that I was waking up at 4:30 AM! It is an honor for me to be here today. I thank the BMEEC planning committee, Bernice Tetpon and also Mike Travis, for convincing me that I had something to say to you today. I am here representing the Iñupiaq language, meaning the people who live in Northwest Alaska and the North Slope. I am from Selawik, Alaska and I work in Kotzebue for the Northwest Arctic Borough School District. I am also here on behalf of our Elder, Minnie Qapviatchialuk Aliitchak Gray of Ambler, Alaska. She is not here due to a mild stroke she experienced this winter. Elder Minnie Gray of Ambler Minnie is representative of the first Iñupiaq language teachers who began to teach in the schools in 1972 when the bilingual programs were first implemented in Alaska schools. She was part of a wonderful group of enthusiastic, fun Iñupiaq language and culture teachers who took great pride and delight in learning to read and write in their native language. They actually sacrificed several summers while others were gathering food to attend workshops in Barrow, Nome and Kotzebue. They were fortunate to have people such as Martha Aiken, Edna McLean, Larry Kaplan, Hannah Loon and Tupou Pulu to teach them Iñupiaq literacy, grammar and to help them develop materials for classroom use. In those days, sufficient funds allowed all the staff to attend the BMEEC and what fun they had. They have recounted story after story about their cross-cultural experiences when they traveled to Anchorage. Some were afraid to answer the phone in their rooms. When they went to the restaurant, they would often order chicken-fried steak thinking it was chicken. When they went to the stores, one lady said she often grinned at the store dummies thinking it was someone standing. One time, a whole bunch of them were crossing the street and walking when the sign said walk. When it said "don't walk" guess what they did? They ran across the street! Even though they experienced all this, they were always so willing to try things out and paid close attention to learn as much as they could in the workshops they attended. Several years ago, we nominated Minnie Gray to be the bilingual educator of the year. This was her philosophy of education. She said it in Iñupiaq and we translated it into English (listen very carefully because in this, you can hear everything that needs to be included in a curriculum to teach about a language and culture): "Iñupiaq should be taught at an early age. I have seen that the younger students are, the more they learn. It is fun to teach these young children. As an Iñupiaq language instructor, I realized that children need motivation to learn. I motivated my students by offering them variety. They cannot learn by only writing, so I took them out for field trips and taught them about the things that grow. Same thing in the spring. When they got tired of writing, I took them outside and taught them the names of the many different birds that migrate north. This motivated them tremendously. I had projects for them such as skin sewing and other crafts, including making birch bark basket. I allowed them to play Iñupiaq games when they became restless. Sometimes, I even took them home and prepared an Iñupiaq dish for them to sample, such as cranberry pudding or some other dish. Other times, I taught them how to make Eskimo ice cream. I also boiled the head of mudshark, which has many bones and, as we ate it, I told them the individual names of the bones. This is an interesting project and the students think it is fun. For added variety, I told them Iñupiaq stories and legends. "Students should learn about life in school. They should learn practical skills such as skin sewing and cooking. Many students need these basic skills. They should know the names of our Native foods and know how to prepare them. It is practical to learn these skills because our environment is going to be the same in spite of the changes in our lifestyles. We will still need warm clothing and we will still need to gather food. Students should know about the weather because we cannot predict what the coming seasons' weather will be like. They should also know their regional geography. They should know their local subsistence areas, their trails and place names of creeks, rivers and other landmarks. They should be able to know where they are and be able to communicate exactly where they are as they travel out in the country for it is a matter of survival." So there you have it. Everything you need to write a Native language and culture curriculum. Minnie was one of this great group of Iñupiaq language and culture instructors who taught what they knew to the students and I give them all tribute today. Over the years, most of this core group retired and we have been struggling to replace them as fewer and fewer candidates who speak Iñupiaq fluently fill their positions. During the next three days, our BMEEC theme will be "Bilingual and Cross Cultural Education: Tools for Community Empowerment and Academic Success." That's a mouthful and has so much to say to us. We also have so much to say to each other because we come here with our collective knowledge and each and every one of you has something valuable to share with another person. As I thought of what to say to you today I had titled it "Living in a Modern World Without Losing Our Native Identity." I wanted to talk about how we as Natives need to continue to share our heritage and history to our students so that they can cope in this modern world and still have a good sense of who they are and feel that same comfort of being one with nature when they are out in the country. I believe, as Natives, that is one of our greatest treasures-something we should continue to nurture in our children and grandchildren. We must have a vision for our youth that they can share. What are we doing in this conference to expand this vision? What is Community Empowerment and Academic Success? Most of us would define academic success in terms of modern schooling, saying it is to be educated in school and home and go on to higher learning so that you can get a good job and have a successful and meaningful life. I'm sure you have your own definition. How can we make bilingual education and cross-cultural education tools for community empowerment and academic success? When we talk about bilingual education, we are talking about speaking two languages. As an Iñupiaq, I will talk about the Native language experience in Alaska. When the Guidelines for Strengthening Indigenous Languages were being developed, my concern was that someone needed to be responsible for providing a forum in which our people who had been punished for speaking Iñupiaq in school could come together and tell their story so that their experience could be validated and they could hear an apology from the school system and some avenue for forgiveness and healing would begin. The reason I brought this up is because it is a recurring story that I hear and in a way prevents grandparents and parents from participating effectively in the school system. When bilingual programs first began in the early 70s and as they continued in the 80s, some Elders expressed shock and surprise that the language was going to be taught in the school, because when they were young, they had been punished for speaking even one word in the school playground. As young children, they had a hard time seeing the difference between stealing, lying and speaking Iñupiaq because they got punished for doing any of those. Now years later, they were told it was okay and, today, there are people in their 70s who still feel hurt when they remember what happened and I think many people think no one wants to hear their story because it happened so long ago and we should forget it and go on with our lives. We must realize that this action taken against our parents and grandparents had ramifications that occurred over the 20th century and an attitude of shame and humiliation toward the teaching of the Native language was passed from parent to child unintentionally, unknowingly and innocently, like Harold Napolean described in his book Yuuyaraq: The Way of the Human Being. He wrote that the symptoms experienced by the survivors of the influenza epidemic are the same symptoms of survivors of post-traumatic stress disorder and that the present disease of the soul and the psyche is passed from parent to child unintentionally, unknowingly and innocently. Let us take time to reflect and understand what happened to bring us to where we are today: William Hensley In his 1981 speech at the BMEEC, Iñupiaq William Hensley said the following: "The policy of repressing the Native language in the school system has had the effect of repressing the ancient spirit of the people that enabled us to survive over many thousands of years. The values that have been beaten into our people were in direct contrast to the very values that enabled us to survive. In the place of common effort, individuality has been made sacred. In the place of cooperation, competition is fostered. In the place of sharing, acquisitiveness in our lives is pummeled into our minds through the media. It is no wonder that there are so-called Native problems." Eben Hopson Eben Hopson, at a bilingual conference, said the following which appeared in Cross Cultural Studies in Education: "Eighty-seven years ago, when we were persuaded to send our children to Western educational institutions, we began to lose control over the education of our youth. Many of our people believed that formal educational systems would help us acquire the scientific knowledge of the Western world. However, it was more than technological knowledge that the educators wished to impart. The educational policy was to attempt to assimilate us into the American mainstream at the expense of our culture. The schools were committed to teaching us to forget our language and Iñupiaq heritage. There are many of you parents who, like me, were physically punished if we spoke one Iñupiaq word. Many of us can still recall the sting of the wooden ruler across the palms of our hands and the shame of being forced to stand in the corner of the room, face to the wall, for half an hour if we were caught uttering one word of our Native language. This outrageous treatment and the exiling of our youth to school in foreign environments were to remain the common practices of the educational system. For eighty-seven years, the BIA tried to destroy our culture through the education of our children. Those who would destroy our culture did not succeed. However, it was not without cost. Many of our people have suffered. We all know the social ills we endure today. Recently, I heard a member of the school personnel say that many of our Iñupiaq children have poor self-concepts. Is it any wonder, when the school systems fail to provide the Iñupiaq student with experiences which would build positive self-concepts when the Iñupiaq language and culture are almost totally excluded?" Changes in the 80s and 90s Since these speeches were given in the 70s and 80s, much has changed. William Hensley was instrumental in developing the Iñupiaq Ilitqusiat Spirit Movement in Northwest Alaska, where the values were listed and parents were encouraged to speak Iñupiaq to their children. Immersion programs have been developed in Barrow, Bethel, Arctic Village, Kotzebue and other places around Alaska. We have powerful web sites such as the Alaska Native Curriculum and Teacher Development Project created by Paul Ongtooguk and his staff and the Alaska Native Knowledge Network, a byproduct of the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative, where we receive information from Sean Topkok under the direction of Ray Barnhardt, Oscar Kawagley and Frank Hill. Although we have made some progress since then, the effects of the punishment inflicted on our parents or grandparents for speaking Iñupiaq lingers today. I was born in 1954 and when I went to school this did not happen to us. My mother lived in camp much of her childhood years so she didn't speak much English when I was young. My father, on the other hand, had attended school until he was in the eighth grade. He had heard stories of how people were punished for speaking Iñupiaq and knew the importance of speaking English. When I was very young, my mother's cousin and I were playing and speaking Iñupiaq with a high tone English accent saying something like this: Uvuÿa aquvillagutin. We thought we spoke English when we raised our voices and played "teacher." Well, my father pulled me over and said in Iñupiaq, "Daughter, you must try your best to learn to speak English." From that moment on, I did my best to speak English to him, but I spoke Iñupiatun to my mother and grandmother. Only recently have I started speaking in full Iñupiaq sentences to my father. I know he told me this because he wanted me to succeed in school. My father's generation did not have the luxury of welfare or government assistance, so their goal was for us to learn as much as we could so we could have good jobs that provided food and shelter for us. I dare say that at some point in the 60s, it seemed like the goal for many young women was to move to a city and work somewhere with a typewriter. Just come home once a year and see how everybody's doing. That happened with some people, but they found that they missed home, missed Iñupiaq food and all that goes on in a village. Last year, we had invited an Elder from Kiana by the name of Tommy Sheldon to speak to the school staff about the history of Kiana. He spoke about how the schools were segregated when he was a child. Only the children of white people or half breeds attended school until they set up a school for Native children. He spoke about how he was punished for speaking Iñupiaq at school. The most common form of punishment for people who tell their story was to stand in the corner or next to the black board with your nose matched to a dot on the board. This was punishment for being Iñupiaq and speaking your own language. A beautiful language that had been used to communicate and verbalize concepts from a world view that existed for many years and helped the Iñupiat to survive in the Arctic. Later he said that if they spoke Iñupiaq, then they were not allowed to attend the school party. If you didn't go to the school party, you didn't get to eat cookies and juice. That's when I thought, "We lost some of our language to cookies and juice." Today, the grandchildren do not speak the language because of this cookie and this juice. When I spoke to my father, he recounted that boys who were older than him would refrain from speaking Iñupiaq just to attend a school party where beans were served. So we lost some of our language for a bowl of beans. I also spoke to my friend Bertha Sheldon of Shungnak. She said that when they spoke Iñupiaq, they would stand in a corner. They would also have to hold books from an outstretched hand and would be barred from attending the school party at the end of the month if they didn't. If they couldn't go to the party, they would go to the window and watch the fun the students were having inside. She particularly remembers when apples were hung from the ceiling with string and the students raced to see who would finish eating an apple first without using their hands. It looked like so much fun and the apples looked so delicious. Mmm, they thought, this time I will not speak an Iñupiaq word. Later, they couldn't even look inside the window anymore because the curtains were drawn across the window. Then I spoke to a former Iñupiaq teacher named Amelia Aaluk Gray of Kobuk. She said that if they spoke Iñupiaq in the school grounds, someone would tell on them and they would receive a black mark by their name on a piece of paper. If they got so many marks, then they could not go to the school to play games on Fridays (an equivalent to game night.) She said the teachers only wanted them to learn English so that they could learn what was taught in school. She was not bitter about what happened because by this time, she had learned to forgive them and tried to understand what had happened. Okay, so we've heard those stories before. They happened many years ago. Right now is the time to move on. Well, after Tommy spoke, a woman younger than me remembered how she had to hold books with an outstretched hand. She remembers the shame and humiliation and says that today, as a parent, it makes it difficult for her to speak Iñupiaq to her children although she speaks Iñupiaq to her spouse, siblings and parents. Another woman shared with me that when she moved from the village to Kotzebue, where more people spoke English, whenever she started to speak Iñupiaq, her sister would whisper and scold her not to speak Iñupiaq. Especially since she spoke a slightly different dialect from the one spoken in Kotzebue. That is when I realized that this problem has to be dealt with. I am not a therapist and I have no quick solutions. Because a public apology was not made soon enough, the attitude about the language silently crept from generation to generation during the 50s, 60s and 70s. Now there is a new young generation who wonder why their parents did not speak Iñupiaq to them. Forgiveness and Healing If we are to make parents and grandparents feel welcome in the school, we must invite them into the school and publicly apologize for what happened to them or their parents in the past. We must hear their story and validate it. We must not ignore it or it will continue to fester and more bitterness will grow until we have nothing left. We still have hope that more of the language can be shared and spoken in all its beauty for it is a language of the heart. The balance of this article will appear in the next issue of Sharing Our Pathways. | |
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Native Languages in Alaska, Part II by Ruthie Sampson:Language of the Heart I read a wonderful article by Marilyn Wilhelm about heart language and how the ancient languages spoke from the heart as God created us. I began to think of our Iñupiaq language. I thought of the word meaning "to think": Isuma- or isruma-. Isu or isru- is the end of something. -ma is "my" and I think then the literal meaning is "my end". This could mean that everything about us reaches our mind, which is like our end. It is our source of thought. Then I thought of the word for eye which is iri. To exist is it-. When you add -ri, it's a post-base that could mean something like "the means, the cause of", so everything we see, we behold and in our mind, it exists when we see it. Nakuag·I means "to like" or "to love". Nakuu- is "good" and when you nakuag·i- something, you think that person or thing is good. It's like saying, "I think good of you." Isn't that wonderful? See what beautiful languages we are struggling to save? Not only our we trying to save our languages, but also our history. I have been so fortunate to have translated many narrations from our Elders. There are so many wonderful concepts and world views that they knew and that are being lost as each precious one dies, slowly, one by one. I remember one particular story that I like to share about an Elder named Susie Stocking from Kobuk. She recounted how they used to gather willow bark to make into net twine and how they would walk barefoot among the thorns in the heat of early summer, among mosquitoes and gather the bark. They would pile it so high around their necks that you couldn't see the person anymore. Then when they brought it down to the birch canoe, they had to keep the bark covered and moist the whole way through. All through the process, they had to keep the bark moist or else it would become brittle, dry and break off into little pieces. The remarkable statement that I remember from her narration is that she said in all the hard work they did, they just simply viewed their lives as being normal-they didn't know that they were working so hard. Stories like these must be documented and handed down from generation to generation because that is our rightful heritage. . . . in all the hard work they did, they just simply viewed their lives as being normal-they didn't know that they were working so hard. It is not too late. If we are to empower our communities, we must validate the pain that our Elders experienced and help them walk through that process into healing and forgiveness and a new resolve to speak the language and pass on the knowledge. God made us with forgiving hearts and we can help each other heal. So, that is one plan to get our parents to participate in the programs. What about the schools and the education system? What can they do? The AFN report on "The Status of Alaska Natives: A Call for Action" wrote on education: "In the words of the most thorough study to date of the federal and state school systems operated in Alaska from 1867 to 1970: policy makers over the years have vacillated between attempted assimilation of the Native population into white society and protection of their cultural identity. Our history tells us this (from www.alaskool.org): In 1886 the policy was that in all schools conducted by missionary organizations, it is required that all instructions shall be given in the English language. In 1887, it said that the instruction of the Indians in the vernacular is not only of no use to them, but is detrimental to the cause of their education and civilization, and no school will be permitted on the reservation in which the English language is not exclusively taught. "It is also believed that teaching an Indian youth in his own barbarous dialect is a positive detriment to him." In 1990, an article appeared in Education Week, that stated that federal officials were assessing the potential impact of a new law that encouraged the use of Native American languages in schools run by the BIA and in public schools enrolling Indians or other Native groups. Spokesman for the Interior and Education department had said that the statement of federal policy contained in a bill approved by the congress without public hearings and signed into law by President Bush might well result in an invigoration of Native language instruction. But they also said that the intent of the new Native American Languages Act could prove costly and difficult to realize because of the vast number of Native languages and the paucity of Native speakers who have been trained as teachers. The article quoted John W. Tippeconnic III, who headed the Education Department's office of Indian Education as saying, "On the one hand, it promotes the languages, which is positive, but it does create burdens for the schools." The article further said that the law includes no penalties for noncompliance. But some officials had suggested then that it could provide legal ammunition for parents seeking Native language instruction, particularly in BIA schools and public schools with high concentrations of Native American students. The measure declares that the policy of the United States (this is in 1990!) is "to preserve, protect and promote the rights and freedom of Native Americans to use, practice and develop Native American languages." This act became public law 101-477 on October 30, 1990. The law states that the status of the cultures and languages of Native Americans is unique and the United States has the responsibility to act together with Native Americans to ensure the survival of these unique cultures and languages. I remember being so excited when I read this bill. I thought there was going to be funding like Title VII that went with it. When I brought it to the attention of an administrator in Kotzebue, he looked at me and said, "Ruth, all this does is reverse the policy of 1887 which stated that Indian languages will not be taught." He thought it was long over due, or maybe too late. In addition, there was no extra funding attached. All it basically did was say, "Oh, by the way, it's okay to teach a Native language in the school now." The law states that the status of the cultures and languages of Native Americans is unique and the United States has the responsibility to act together with Native Americans to ensure the survival of these unique cultures and languages. In any event, in 1991, Senator Murkowski introduced the Alaska Native Languages Preservation and Enhancement Act. It was meant to preserve and enhance the ability of Alaska Natives to speak and understand their Native languages. Today, under the Administration for Native Americans, there is limited funding for people to apply for grants to administer language programs, but they have to be applied for by the Native corporations or IRA offices, though they can do a joint project with the school. The problem is that there is very limited funding in this and it is competitive nationwide amongst Indian tribes. Several years ago, they started out with something like one to two millions dollars available on a competitive basis among all the Indian tribes in the nation. We applaud Senator Murkowski and his staff for this legislation. In July 2000, Senator Lincoln worked with the Alaska legislators to pass SB 103 "Native Language Education Act." This requires Native language curriculum advisory boards for each school in the district in which a majority of the students are Alaska Natives. If the board recommends the establishment of a Native language education curriculum for a school, the regular school board will initiate and conduct a Native language education curriculum within grades K-12 in that school. We thank Senator Lincoln for her hard work to have this bill passed, but there is no additional funding attached. In the meantime, What has happened with the state bilingual regulations? All this time, the whole intent of the bilingual education is to improve the English language of the student, always talking about exiting them out of the program as soon as possible. Now the regulations say you can have a two-way immersion program but 50% of your students who come in have to speak the Native language. So only if the parents teach them and they enter the school that way can you get an immersion program funded. Otherwise, if they come to school speaking English, even if it is village English, then they just have the English programs available as an option. So we need to get our programs identified as Native language programs by the village advisory board, but there is no special funding attached and if the school board decided not to have it, then that's it again. As Native people who believe in bilingual education, we must work together for funds to be allocated for the "Native language education act" to be implemented. So how does all this relate to our students who must live in this modern world and not lose their Native identity? If we believe our theme that bilingual education and cross-cultural education are tools for community empowerment and academic success let us remember the following recommendations. The 1990 AFN report on the "Status of Alaska Natives: A Call for Action" wrote on education: . Children are the most important segment of any community, for each community's future lies in its children. To assure that future, the children must be given, through education, the skills that will enable them to succeed in life and the understanding that will continue the community's values. For Alaska Native children, this means that they must receive an integrated education that encompasses two sets of skills and two sets of values. . The first set of skills is that it is necessary for the children to succeed in traditional Native life ways. The second set of skills is that it is necessary for the children to succeed in Western society. The children's education must also integrate Native and Western values so that they are empowered in both cultures. The skills and values are inseparable, for mastery of one cannot be obtained without mastery of the other. . This ideal of an integrated education has not been achieved, or even accepted, in the past. Alaska Native children enter an education system developed by Western culture. In past years the system had eradication of Native culture as one of its objectives. Even after this misguided goal was abandoned, the system still proved unable to meet its own fundamental objective: education of Native children in the skills and values necessary to succeed in Western society. Those are the words conveyed by past Elder Chester Seveck, who advised us to take the good parts of the Iñupiaq culture and the good parts of the Western culture and blend them together for an integrated education. So how does bilingual education help us toward community empowerment? What is community empowerment? Let us take a moment now and visualize an empowered community with students learning to cope and succeed in the 21st century. To me, an empowered community in the villages of Alaska means a community where children are well taken care of and they get enough sleep, enough food and their clothes are clean. They eat well and go to school on time and are hardly ever absent. Their parents take time to plan activities for them and train them to develop habits that result in good character traits. For example, they take them on long hikes on the tundra so that they can learn the value of hard work. They take them fishing so they can learn patience. They feed them wholesome foods, including Native foods so that they can be healthy and strong and realize what good health is. They speak their Native language to them and tell them stories and their people's history. If they don't know this, they take them to someone who can. They limit watching TV and playing electronic games. They monitor how the computer is used by the children. They provide time for them to do their homework and teach them to pray. They cook food and have the children bring some food to a needy person or an Elder. When they hunt and gather, they also have the children bring the food to share with others. They make sure that they know who their relatives are. Although they enjoy snow machining, skiing and other outdoor sports; they also make sure that their children can build an outdoor fire and survive if they had to live off the land in an emergency. In all of this, they speak respectfully to others, especially Elders. They show that helping Elders is necessary and important. If they have the opportunity, they allow their children to learn about the world outside and travel with them. They speak respectfully of teachers and other people in the community who work to help everyone else. An empowered community is where the children graduate from high school and go on for more training or school and still feel comfortable to come back to the village and work in jobs that pay well so that they can enjoy all the outdoor activities that our back doors in Alaska can provide. An empowered community has school systems that work to accommodate the needs of their students, including the provision of the child's language and culture being integrated into the curriculum. That is my idea of how the lives of our children could be improved in an empowered community. Let us begin to visualize this empowered community and share the vision with our children. And in the words of John Pingayak of Chevak: "Our ancestral ways are always best for our future. Never forget them and learn them well . . . " Thank you. Ruthie Tatqaviñ Ramoth-Sampson is the Bilingual Education Coordinator for the Northwest Arctic Borough School District. She is the daughter of Ralph and Emma Ramoth from the village of Selawik. She is married to Luke Sampson and has four children and five grandchildren. | |
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Native Leaders/Master Teachers by Bernice B. Tetpon:We are pleased to have these dynamic Native educators with the Teacher Leadership Development Project. The Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative in collaboration with the Department of Education & Early Development made it possible to provide full-time salaries for these additions to the staff. The group met August 27-29 in Juneau to develop action plans for their respective regions with the major focus on implementing the Alaska Standards for Culturally-Responsive Schools and related cultural guidelines. We are happy to have the following lead/master teachers working with us: Alutiiq/Unangan region: Olga Pesterikoff and Teri Schneider (tschneider@kodiak.k12.ak.us) Athabascan region: Linda Green (linda@mail.ankn.uaf.edu) Iñupiaq region: B.Yaayuk Alvanna-Stimple (yalvanna@netscape.net) Yup'ik region: Esther Ilutsik (fneai@uaf.edu) Southeast region: Angela Lunda (lundag@gci.net) We will be providing more information on what each region is doing through the Teacher Leadership Development Project in future editions of Sharing Our Pathways. | |
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Native Science by Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley:Jonathan David instructs students in the art of canoe building at the Cross-Cultural Orientation Camp at Old Minto this summer. * Within our Native mythology and stories are the sciences and within the Native sciences are the mythology and stories. * Native Science is concerned with asking the right questions to learn from nature and the spiritual worlds. * Native science is centered on studying natural phenomena requiring long and patient observation-a matter of survival. * The Native empirical knowledge of habitats and niches is conducive to intuition which may originate from the subconscious, natural or spiritual worlds. The way of knowing is qualitative and is conservation-based to ensure sustainability. * Native ways of knowing are holistic or holographic that recognizes relationships in place and influences to processes in the ecological system. * A belief in everything having a spirit establishes a sense of spirituality which is inseparable from everyday life. This spirituality is embedded in respect which gives honor and dignity to all things. "We are biologists in our own way." * Native science deals with all aspects of life: health (healing plants), psychology, weather prediction, earth science, shamanism, animal behavior according to seasons, stars and constellations, reincarnation, natural permutations, rituals and ceremonies to maintain balance and many areas of life. * The Native scientist checks on past history and events to see and understand the present situation. Ideas on assessing educational change process in Native language acquisition and learning of Native cultural and modern lifeways: * Is the study based on natural phenomena? * Is the inquiry logical and meaningful? * Is the historical (mythology & stories) data available? * How was the conclusion arrived at? * Does the data gathering process include holistic thought? * Does the process use the five senses and elements of intuition? The canoe begins to take shape under the careful direction of Jonathan David. PHOTO BY OSCAR KAWAGLEY PHOTO BY OSCAR KAWAGLEY | |
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Native Teachers' Associations Pave New Pathways in Education:In this issue of Sharing Our Pathways, we are focusing on the various Native teacher associations that have formed in Alaska. We feel it is important for Native teachers, parents, community members and other various organizations to know that the following Native teacher associations exist, what their experiences have been and what their accomplishments and current activities are. Teachers Sharon Attla and Ruth Folger wring out a wet moose skin at the Academy of Elders 1997 Dinyee Camp. For more information on the camp, see the AINE article. Indigenous people around the world are "coming out" with their own perspectives of schooling and working on pedagogy and culture-based curriculum so that it is a positive schooling experience for the children from the different Indigenous groups. Alaska Native teachers are in the forefront with their colleagues across the nation and internationally. There are currently five formally-organized associations in Alaska and several more in the developmental stage. In this issue are reports from the Alaska Native Education Council, a statewide organization, and the Alaska Native Education Student Association, a University of Alaska Fairbanks student group. | |
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Native Ways of Knowing and the Frameworks by Peggy Cowan:The State of Alaska's Department of Education has developed voluntary academic standards in ten content areas. These standards describe what all Alaska students should know, be able to do and be committed to at the end of their school experience in Alaska. Many districts are basing their school improvement work on these standards. The Department of Education has developed Framework documents, kits, CDROMs and a Web page to assist school districts in designing programs that enable students to meet these standards. Through the inspiration of the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative and the hard work of its staff, the Department of Education has added a section on indigenous curriculum organizers to the Frameworks' products. Purpose of the Indigenous Section Indigenous ways of knowing are based upon customs, beliefs, behaviors and world views that are different from the learning systems established by Western educational institutions. This new section provides a framework to help districts design compatible indigenous and non-indigenous learning systems that allow for and support multiple world views. This section of the framework provides district curriculum committees with tools to: * increase the awareness of curriculum committees of the similarities and differences between indigenous and Western world views and how these affect beliefs about knowledge and schooling, * provide suggested design processes and models of indigenous curriculum categories for the consideration of district curriculum committees, * link indigenous curriculum categories to state standards and assessment schemes and * encourage curriculum that is relevant to locales and students' lives and futures. Assumptions The work of the indigenous Framework section is built on a number of assumptions about curriculum in Alaska: * Many curriculum categories exist that are sympathetic with Native Alaskan ways of understanding the world that can be used to organize school curriculum. * The indigenous curriculum categories complement and overlap organizers established by Western educational institutions. * The curriculum categories will vary by Alaska Native group, region and sub region and they could be chosen by local schools or school districts when they do curriculum design and revisions. * The indigenous concepts are embedded in the language so that many of the categories for district bilingual programs could be applied to a broader curriculum context. Samples Ten sample curriculum organizers in the Framework reference kits and notebooks are included as models for local curriculum committees to consider. In general, these examples share the deep cultural knowledge-an instructional process that develops higher level thinking in students, and a sequence that invokes spiritual and cosmological values. | |
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Navigating Across the Tundra with Fred George by Claudette Engblom-Bradley:Trained by his father since he was a young boy, Fred George has become a highly skilled navigator of the tundra with 60 years of experience. Currently an Elder of 68 years, he lived with his wife Mary in Akiachak until she passed away in November of 2000. Fred and Mary have eight children and many grandchildren. Nearly everyday Fred leaves to attend to his subsistence responsibilities and returns home with lots of fish and sometimes caribou or ptarmigan. His subsistence activities feed not just his family, but his extended family and sometimes friends. The following is an interpretation of how Fred George manages to navigate 90 miles across the tundra at night. It is based on the many discussions shared by Fred George and other Elders, Yup'ik teachers and UAF faculty together with the author's experiences on the tundra and investigations of star behavior. On November 10 at 10 P.M. Fred George begins his first trip of the season across the tundra. At that moment Tunturyuk (Big Dipper) hovers 30 degrees above the northern horizon, like a giant spoon sitting on a table. Scientists have identified the seven stars in the Big Dipper (from right to left) as alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon, zeta and eta star. The Gamma Star sits directly over due north on the horizon in Akiachak on November 10 at 10 P.M. This position of the dipper is a reference position for Fred George. Before leaving Akiachak Fred carefully checks his snowmachine for gas and working parts. He loads his machine with hunting equipment, dresses warmly and starts his snowmachine shortly before 10 P.M. He heads out of the village using snowmachine trails heading north. About five miles away from the village at 10 P.M. Fred stops his snowmachine to check the time on his watch and the position of Tunturyuk (Big Dipper). Fred George checks the position of the third star, Gamma, in the Tunturyuk with a sequence of hand measurements. He uses his right "hand span" with the tip of his thumb at Gamma Star and his pinky pointing down to the horizon. Fred keeps the tip of the pinky in stable position while closing his fingers and rotating his hand downward using "four-finger measurement." He keeps the index finger in stable position and rotates his hand downward using "three-finger measurement" which puts the ring finger at the horizon. The tip of his ring finger locates true north on the horizon. Fred chooses one of two routes, which lead to his fish camps. If the weather has little or no snow falling or strong winds blowing, he will choose to travel to the northwest fish camp by heading in the direction under the Dipper handle on November 10 at 10 P.M. This direction turns out to be just less than 30 degrees west of north. If the weather is moderate with some snowfall, clouds and wind (but not completely overcast), Fred will choose his second route and travel due north for two hours and turn northeast under the dipper handle, towards his other fish camp on the Yukon River. By 12 midnight the Dipper has moved to the right and the Dipper handle is over true north on the horizon. His watch tells the direction he needs to turn, which is 30 degrees west of due north. If the weather is very bad, Fred waits until the storm is over. The Elders do not travel in stormy weather. If a storm comes when they are out on the tundra, they build a snow cave to wait out the storm. This is one reason why weather prediction skills are so important to develop starting at the young age of eight years old. Young boys are told to observe the weather at sunrise and sunset every day. A skilled Elder can predict the weather for the next 12 months. Fred George demonstrating his navigation by the stars. The tundra has a countless number of lakes between the Kuskokwim and the Yukon Rivers. Every lake has been given a Yup'ik name. The lake names are family names given to the lake for the family's historic use of the lake for fishing and camping. The northeast winds make waves in every lake. The waves freeze in position. The October snow falls over the frozen waves and becomes hard snow; making snow waves rolling in the southwest direction over the lakes. Fred George travels on his snowmachine at 15-20 miles per hour and uses the snow waves to find his direction. He feels the waves kinesthetically with the movement of his snowmachine traveling over the waves. If the snowmachine changes its direction Fred can feel a change in the rhythmic motion. He has learned to maintain the rhythmic motion to retain his course. Fred relies heavily on the snow waves when the sky becomes overcast or the weather is somewhat stormy. However, if the weather is too stormy, he stops, and waits for the storm to pass. When he exits a lake and travels on tundra, Fred must use the frozen grass and wind-blown trees as compasses. The prevailing northeast winds cause the long blades of grass to lean over in the southwest direction; snow freezes the grass leaning in the southwest direction. The few trees are generally in isolated spots. The heavy winds cause the trees to also lean in the southwest direction and to grow most of their branches and leaves on the southwest side of the tree, leaving the northeast side of the tree barren, which creates a natural compass. Fred also recognizes landmarks. Landmarks are rivulets, streams and small structures or tiny log houses. During my first trip out on the tundra, Fred identified a partially fallen 10' by 10' log cabin used in the old days by Yup'ik hunters. Such landmarks appear occasionally along his pathway to fish camp. Mary George, Fred's wife, said that the location of landmarks are essential to navigating across the tundra. They reinforce the navigators understanding of his position on his journey. By now its midnight and Tunturyuk has moved to the left, i.e., counterclockwise 30 degrees. The end of the Dipper handle is directly over true north. The Dipper appears to be turning upward towards east. After riding the tundra for two hours, Fred stops his snowmachine to check his watch and the Tunturyuk. Fred places his watch in front of his chest with the 12 in the north direction and the 6 in the south direction. Fred checks his snowmachine which is heading 5 minutes (11 on his watch) to the left of north (12 on his watch), i.e. 30 degrees west of north. With the 12 heading toward the dipper handle hovering over true north his snowmachine must head in the direction of 11 on his watch, or 5 minutes to the left 12, which is 30 degrees west of north. He checks the landmarks recognizing the frozen streams and distant mountains. The strongest winds come from the northeast direction. On the first day of snow the wind blows the grass in one direction. Generally the grass is blown to the southwest. The weight of the snow holds the grass in the direction of the wind and the cold temperatures freeze the grass. Frozen grass becomes a natural compass on the tundra. Fred can use the grass to determine his direction. Another two hours has passed and it's time for Fred to check his watch and the Big Dipper. The Dipper handle has moved upward and east. It appears parallel to a north direction. Fred will hold his hands up so that one is in the north direction and the other is in the direction of the dipper handle. By 4:00 A.M. Fred has reached his fish camp. He needs to build a fire, eat, set up his tent and go to sleep. On clear or even partially cloudy nights Fred navigates with the Tunturyuk in the late evening and Venus, the morning star, in the morning. In February and March Fred navigates with Venus, the evening star in the evening and in the morning. Fred generally remains home in Akiachak during the coldest month, January. On his return home in the morning Venus is east and on his left when he faces south. Facing south he places his watch in front of his chest, so that 9 marks the east direction, 12 marks the south and 3 marks the west. Fred knows that Akiachak would be 5 minutes (30 degrees) east of south, i.e., in the direction of 11 on his watch. Heading 5 minutes to east of south, Fred feels the motion of his snowmachine over the snow waves. He maintains the motion to keep in the direction of Akiachak. The snow waves are perpendicular to the southwest direction. Since his snowmachine is traveling southeast. The left side of the front end rises up first, tilting the snowmachine down on the right side. As the snowmachine goes over the top, the tilt reverses. This motion simulates a boat rocking in the ocean. Elders say young people are not spending time and listening to Elders as they did in the past to learn their cultural ways and stories. Yet they drive snowmachines out on the tundra and many get lost, run out of gas and cannot find their way home. Fred's knowledge of the stars and the tundra environment would give them a chance to survive. Preserving Fred's knowledge of navigating across the tundra is important to the self-esteem and cultural identity of Yup'ik people. A study of Fred's ways of navigating across the tundra uncovers the wisdom, courage and ingenuity of his Yup'ik ancestors. For the rest of our society, Fred's knowledge will enhance any person's library of way-finding or orienteering, plus his knowledge of the stars helps us understand how they move in relation to time. We can use the stars to find our way and tell what time it is. Bradley, C. E., (2002). "Traveling with Fred George: The Changing Ways of Yup'ik Star Navigation in Akiachak, Western Alaska," I. Krupnik & D. Jolly (Eds.), In The Earth is Faster Present: Indigenous Observations of Arctic Environmental Change, Fairbanks, AK: Arctic Research Consortium of the United States in cooperation with the Arctic Studies Center, Smithsonian Institution. Fred George . . . uses the snow waves to find his direction. He feels the waves kinesthetically with the movement of his snowmachine traveling over the waves. If the snowmachine changes its direction Fred can feel a change in the rhythmic motion. | |
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New Course for Educators:The Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative worked with the Alaska Staff Development Network (ASDN) to develop a new, multimedia, state-of-the-art distance education course for educators entitled "Creating Culturally Responsive Schools." ASDN has received national recognition for its distance learning programs for educators. This three-credit course, which meets Alaska Department of Education multicultural education recertification requirements, is offered statewide through Alaska Pacific University. GCI School Access Program is providing technical assistance and support with Internet course activities. Ronalda Cadiente, highly respected Tlingit educator, is the course instructor. Implementing the new Alaska cultural standards in schools, classrooms and communities provides the major focus for the course. Participants can begin the course at any time. It will take approximately 50 hours to complete all course activities. More than 80 educators have enrolled in this brand new course during the past two weeks. Tuition and fees are $275. Course video and print materials cost $85. To enroll or request further information, please contact: Alaska Staff Development Network 2204 Douglas Hwy, Suite 100 Douglas, Alaska 99824 Phone: 907-364-3809 Fax: 907-364-3805 E-mail: asdn@ptialaska.net | |
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New Graduate Program Emphasizes Indigenous Knowledge by Ray Barnhardt and Oscar Kawagley:The new M.A. program will provide a means to expand our knowledge base in areas that have received only limited attention in the past, as well as to document and pass that knowledge on to future generations in a culturally sensitive way. The intent of the program is to incorporate and contribute to newly emerging bodies of scholarship that have much to offer in addressing critical needs of the state. It will be available to students throughout Alaska by distance education in combination with intensive seminars and summer courses on campus. Graduates of the program will be expected to bring greater depth and breadth of cultural understanding to many of the complex social issues and fields of endeavor that shape Alaska today, especially those involving cross-cultural considerations and utilizing indigenous knowledge systems (e.g., education, ecological studies, natural resources, health care, community development, social services, justice, Native studies, etc.) Students will be required to demonstrate their ability to work effectively with indigenous people in their studies and to complete a final cultural documentation project in collaboration with knowledgeable Elders. New courses have been developed in the following areas, to be offered throughout the state each year by distance education, along with other courses that will be available to meet degree requirements: CCS 601, Documenting Indigenous Knowledge The course will provide students with a thorough grounding in the research methodologies and issues associated with documenting and conveying the depth and breadth of indigenous knowledge systems and their epistemological structures. Included will be a survey of oral and literate data-gathering techniques, a review of various modes of analysis and presentation, and practical experience in a real-life setting. CCS 602, Cultural and Intellectual Property Rights The course will examine issues associated with recognizing and respecting the cultural and intellectual property rights associated with the documentation, publication and display of knowledge, practices, beliefs and artifacts associated with particular cultural traditions. Appropriate research principles, ethical guidelines and legal protections will be reviewed for their application to cross-cultural studies. CCS 608, Indigenous Knowledge Systems The course will provide students with a comparative survey and analysis of the epistemological properties, world views and modes of transmission associated with various indigenous knowledge systems, with an emphasis on those practiced in Alaska. CCS 612, Traditional Ecological Knowledge The course will examine the acquisition and utilization of knowledge associated with the long-term inhabitation of particular ecological systems and the adaptations that arise from the accumulation of such knowledge. Attention will be given to the contemporary significance of traditional ecological knowledge as a complement to academic disciplinary fields of study. Admissions requirements 1. Applicants should have at least two years of experience related to the area of applied study. 2. Applicants should have a bachelor's degree in an approved area of study as determined by the faculty's admissions committee. The committee may recommend provisional admittance subject to completion of specified requirements. 3. Admission will be contingent upon: a. A minimum GPA of 3.00 in previous undergraduate work - or - Acceptable scores on the Graduate Record Examination general test. b. Submission of graduate application, transcripts of previous work, three letters of reference and a three-page statement of intent. c. A satisfactory review conducted by an admissions committee composed of faculty from the Center for Cross-Cultural Studies and Department of Alaska Native Studies (may include a personal interview by the committee.) For further information about the M.A. in Cross-Cultural Studies, contact the Center for Cross-Cultural Studies (907-474-1902), the Department of Alaska Native Studies (907-474-7181) or go to the CXCS web site at http://www.uaf.edu/cxcs. | |
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New Guidelines for Culturally- Responsive School Boards:A new set of guidelines has been developed addressing the role of school boards in providing a culturally-responsive education for the students under their care. The guidelines are organized around various leadership roles related to the management of formal educational systems, including those of board members, administrators, communities, professional educators and statewide policymakers. Native educators from throughout the state contributed to the development of these guidelines through a series of workshops and meetings associated with the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative. The guidance offered is intended to encourage schools to strive to be reflections of their communities by incorporating and building upon the rich cultural traditions and knowledge of the people indigenous to the area. It is hoped that these guidelines will encourage school boards to more fully engage communities in the social, emotional, intellectual and spiritual development of Alaska's youth. Using these guidelines will expand the knowledge base and range of insights and expertise available to help communities nurture healthy, confident, responsible and well-rounded young adults through a more decentralized and culturally-responsive educational system. Along with these guidelines are a set of general recommendations aimed at stipulating the kind of initiatives that need to be taken to achieve the goal of more culturally-responsive schools. State and federal agencies, universities, professional associations, school districts and Native communities are encouraged to review their policies, programs and practices and adopt these guidelines and recommendations to strengthen their cultural responsiveness. In so doing, the educational development of students throughout Alaska will be enriched and the future well-being of the communities being served will be enhanced. Following is a summary of the eight areas of responsibility around which the Guidelines for Culturally-Responsive School Boards are organized. The details for each area will be published in booklet form and are currently available on the ANKN web site at www.ankn.uaf.edu. Guidelines for Culturally-Responsive School Boards School district board members are responsible for providing guidance and oversight to insure that district policies and practices nurture the cultural well-being of the students and reflect the long-term interests of the communities being served. Local school/community committees provide the foundation on which the social, emotional, intellectual and spiritual well-being of future generations rests. Culturally-responsive school district administrators provide support for school board members and district staff in integrating cultural considerations in all aspects of the educational system. Culturally-responsive school boards must rely on the communities they serve to provide a healthy and supportive environment that reinforces the values and behaviors its members wish to instill in their future generations. Educators are responsible for providing a supportive learning environment that reinforces the cultural well-being of the students in their care in a manner consistent with school board policy. Schools must be fully engaged with the life of the communities they serve so as to provide consistency of expectations with those of a culturally-responsive school board. It is hoped that these guidelines will encourage school boards to more fully engage communities in the social, emotional, intellectual and spiritual development of Alaska's youth. State policymakers and educational agencies should provide a supportive policy, program and funding environment that promotes local standards and initiatives in the application of culturally-responsive educational practices. All citizens must assume greater responsibility for nurturing the diverse traditions by which each child grows to become a culturally-healthy human being and selecting school board members who are willing to exercise that responsibility. General Recommendations The following recommendations have been put forward to support the effective implementation of the Guidelines for Culturally-Responsive School Boards: The First Alaskans Institute should assist in the formation of an Alaska Native school board association with the capacity to provide training and assistance for school board members to assume greater responsibility in shaping the agenda and direction for their district and fostering more culturally-responsive educational systems to serve the needs of Alaska. The Alaska Association of School Boards should incorporate the above guidelines into its school board training program and provide a supportive environment for their implementation by its members. The Alaska Association of School Boards should continue to develop its assets-building program, "Helping Kids Succeed, Alaskan Style", including linking the program to the Guidelines for Nurturing Culturally-Healthy Youth. The Department of Education and Early Development should incorporate the Alaska Standards for Culturally-Responsive Schools and associated guidelines into its school accreditation review criteria. The Department of Education and Early Development should provide incentives for school districts to incorporate cultural orientation programs into the annual district inservice schedule, including the provision for new teachers to spend several days in a cultural immersion camp. Urban school boards should reflect the cultural makeup of the community they serve and encourage candidates representing major cultural groups to seek election to the board. Working groups appointed by the board and administration should also include a balanced representation of major cultural viewpoints. School districts should sponsor opportunities for students to participate regularly in cultural immersion camps with parents, Elders and teachers sharing subsistence activities during each season of the year. As regional tribal colleges are established, they should provide a support structure for the implementation of these guidelines in each of their respective cultural regions. School boards should seek to reestablish the traditional education role of uncles, aunts, Elders and other members of the families and communities and explore ways to incorporate those roles, along with those of the parents, into the educational process. . . . . The guidelines outlined here should be incorporated in university educational leadership courses and made an integral part of all professional preparation and cultural orientation programs. An annotated bibliography of resource materials that address issues associated with these guidelines will be maintained on the Alaska Native Knowledge Network web site (www.ankn.uaf.edu). Further information on issues related to the implementation of these guidelines, as well as copies of the complete guidelines may be obtained from the Alaska Native Knowledge Network, University of Alaska Fairbanks, PO Box 756730, Fairbanks, AK 99775-6730, 907-474-5086, http://www.ankn.uaf.edu. | |
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New Guidelines for Indigenous Languages and Child-Rearing:Two new sets of guidelines have been developed addressing the strengthening of indigenous languages and the nurturing of culturally-healthy youth. One of the purposes of these guidelines is to offer assistance to people who are involved in indigenous language and child-rearing initiatives in their communities. The guidelines are organized around the role of various participants, including Elders, parents, classroom teachers, communities and young people. Native educators from throughout the state contributed to the development of these guidelines through a series of workshops and meetings associated with the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative. The guidance offered by the guidelines is intended to encourage everyone to make more effective use of the heritage language and traditional parenting practices in the everyday life of the community and school. It is hoped that these guidelines will facilitate the coming together of the many cultural traditions and languages that coexist in Alaska in constructive, respectful and mutually beneficial ways. Along with these guidelines are general recommendations aimed at stipulating the steps that need to be taken to achieve the goals for which the guidelines are intended. State and federal agencies, universities, school districts, families and Native communities are all encouraged to review their policies, programs and practices and to adopt these guidelines and recommendations wherever appropriate. In so doing, the educational experiences of students throughout Alaska will be enriched and the future well-being of the communities being served will be enhanced. Following is a summary of the areas of responsibility around which the Guidelines for Strengthening Indigenous Languages and the Guidelines for Nurturing Culturally-Healthy Youth are organized. The details for each area will be published in a booklet form and are currently available on the ANKN web site at www.ankn.uaf.edu. Guidelines for Strengthening Indigenous Languages Respected Native Elders are the essential resources through whom the heritage language of a community and the meaning it is intended to convey can be learned. Parents are the first teachers of their children and provide the foundation on which the language learning of future generations rests. Indigenous language learners must take an active role in learning their heritage language and assume responsibility for the use of that language as contributing members of the family and community in which they live. Native communities and organizations must provide a healthy and supportive environment that reinforces the learning and use of the heritage language on an everyday basis. Educators are responsible for providing a supportive learning environment that reinforces the wishes of the parents and community for the language learning of the students in their care. Schools must be fully engaged with the life of the communities they serve so as to provide consistency of expectations in all aspects of students lives. Education agencies should provide a supportive policy, program and funding environment that encourages local initiative in the revitalization of the indigenous languages. Linguists should assist local communities in the development of appropriate resource materials and teaching practices that nurture the use and perpetuation of the heritage language in each respective cultural community. The producers of mass media should assume responsibility for providing culturally-balanced materials and programming that reinforce the use of heritage languages. Guidelines for Nurturing Culturally-Healthy Youth Respected Native Elders are the essential role models who can share the knowledge and expertise on traditional child-rearing and parenting that is needed to nurture the cultural well-being of today's youth. Parents are the first teachers of their children and provide the foundation on which the social, emotional, intellectual and spiritual well-being of future generations rests. Culturally-healthy youth take an active interest in learning their heritage and assume responsibility for their role as contributing members of the family and community in which they live. Communities must provide a healthy and supportive environment that reinforces the values and behaviors its members wish to instill in their future generations. Educators are responsible for providing a supportive learning environment that reinforces the cultural well-being of the students in their care. Schools must be fully engaged with the life of the communities they serve so as to provide consistency of expectations in all aspects of students lives. Child-care providers should draw upon Elders and other local experts to utilize traditional child-rearing and parenting practices that nurture the values and behaviors appropriate to the respective cultural community. Youth services and juvenile justice agencies should provide a supportive policy, program and funding environment that encourages local initiative in the application of traditional child-rearing and parenting practices. Researchers should work with local communities to help document traditional child-rearing and parenting practices and explore their applicability to the upbringing of today's youth. All citizens must assume greater responsibility for nurturing the diverse traditions by which each child grows to become a culturally-healthy human being. Further information on issues related to the implementation of these guidelines, as well as copies of the complete guidelines may be obtained from the Alaska Native Knowledge Network, UAF, PO Box 756730, Fairbanks, AK 99775-6730, http://www.ankn.uaf.edu. Guidelines for Nurturing Culturally-Healthy Youth and Guidelines for Strengthening Indigenous Languages will be available in the near future from the Alaska Native Knowledge Network. Meanwhile the guidelines can be viewed on the ANKN web site at http://www.ankn.uaf.edu. | |
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New Location for ANKN Website!:http://www.ankn.uaf.edu The move will provide greater flexibility on our pages and, hopefully, speed up your access to the site. Don't worry, we will leave a marker on our former page that will lead you to the new site. Please don't forget to create a new bookmark! | |
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New Pathways to Excellence by Florence B. Kuzuguk:Students who succeed in practicing the arts of their culture are those who have a role model from a member of their family, an outstanding citizen of the community or an inspirational teacher. Just as you make up a part of your family, school and community, they are a part of you. Your ability to become a better part of your family, school and community is limited to your motivation to succeed. With a little encouragement, skills, talents and knowledge can become treasured possessions. As a member of the community, people develop culture that is shared by the students. From the hunting skills passed on from generation to generation, students are taught how to live off the land. The skills students learn are important to the community because they preserve the culture as well as make the community stronger. By learning the skills from the elders of the community, students develop their own individual ways of doing things. Our cultural beliefs became a very important part of the community and these beliefs go on through the community's history. The key to passing along our culture is in the family. Without our culture people would have a hard time functioning in the community. We live in a community that has a culture of its own. And its own unique way of doing things. Our culture is a source of pride for many families and communities. Every family's cultural heritage is valued. Whether a student decides to give up or not is his/her choice. And many things affect that choice. Communities are made up of families and neighbors who help each other out. Once a student has been honored for any achievement, the community does many things to show how proud they are of that student. Once one student achieves excellence, more students are eager to participate. Until children are 16 years old, they are forced by the law to go to school. But the next two years of school are optional. And when a student stays in that last two years of school, it indicates that the family and the community have made the student what they are. What drives students to get up every morning to get to school is their family's encouragement and their own desire to learn. When children do badly in school, the family encourages them to do better. When the community sees a family who doesn't care, the community can guide that family and do its best to help the family out. The opportunity to achieve excellence is also provided by the school. What you are to become is thought of long before you grow up. Many students in the Native study classes offered throughout their preschool to senior years became great sewers and carvers and are able to speak their language and learn more about their cultural traditions. When you graduate the next thing you want to do is go to a good college or become involved in some program. After that you want to go into a line of work that you enjoy. You make this happen by first graduating from school. The knowledge and skills you gain transfer to the larger part of the world. In time you will be able to take all that you have learned about where you come from and use it when you are on your own. Within the family you grow and develop and discover the kind of person that you are and that you need and want to be. Students who know family togetherness, community involvement, school participation and their cultural tradition are the ones who will excel in whatever they want to. To find the new pathways to excellence you have to want to look. Don't expect anyone to look for the pathway for you. You make who you are and who you want to be. Find yourself, and when you look back, you will have achieved excellence. You will also have found new pathways to look forward to. Students who know family togetherness, community involvement, school participation and their cultural tradition are the ones who will excel in whatever they want to. To find the new pathways to excellence you have to want to look. Don't expect anyone to look for the pathway for you. | |
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New Sharing Our Pathways Editor by Malinda Chase:My father is from Anvik—an Athabascan community located on the lower-middle Yukon. My mother, who came to Alaska as a nurse and worked first in Tanana, is originally from California. I have a wonderful eight-year-old daughter, Denali, who has family ties to South Naknek in Bristol Bay. My formal education and cultural foundation is varied, being raised between urban and rural Alaska in a bicultural home of Native and non-Native parents. Given this I have reflected a great deal on what is a meaningful and relevant education. In three generations—my grandmother’s, my father’s and my own—our individual education represents the variations in Alaska Native education that have profoundly affected our identities, family cohesiveness and collective reality as Native people. From a very young age, following the death of her mother, my grandmother was raised and schooled in Anvik’s Episcopal Mission. My father was the first generation from Anvik to be sent to boarding school, followed by a poor experience with BIA’s vocational education. Later he excelled professionally through his own initiative and love of learning, which was cultivated during his long hours of reading while on the trapline. I, on the other hand, attended urban schools, a small rural village school, an alternative high school and eventually Wellesley College (a private women’s college) and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Each of these generational experiences highlight major variations in federal and state education policies that continues to affect our individual lives and relations in addition to the maintenance, perpetuation and celebration of our culture and communities. I have previously worked a number of years for University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Interior-Aleutian Campus under the College or Rural Alaska coordinating distance education, support and outreach to students and communities; so place-based and postsecondary education have been a primary focus in my work. I also am interested in Native language use and revitalization, as I am trying to learn Deg Xinag, the Athabascan language of the Anvik-Shageluk area. More recently I have been involved in a comprehensive community-planning project in four rural communities. As a part of planning, these communities are emphasizing the need to address local education as it relates to long-term population and development issues. Education, whether institutional or cultural, positive or negative, is a transforming experience and therefore impacts and affects our identity and spirit. The Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative’s intent is to systematically integrate indigenous and Western knowledge as a foundation for learning in the context of rural and Native Alaska. In essence, it is intended to make changes in a system to provide an educational experience that is validating, meaningful and relevant. Sharing Our Pathways provides an avenue to share ideas, stories, lessons and approaches that affirm our reality, challenge our intellect and imagination, connect us to our place in the world and magnify our strength and resiliency. Sharing Our Pathways provides an avenue to share ideas, stories, lessons and approaches that affirm our reality, challenge our intellect and imagination, connect us to our place in the world and magnify our strength and resiliency. In this issue, among the articles you will find Beth Leonard’s keynote speech to the 2004 Bilingual Multicultural Education Equity Conference that demonstrates the depth of knowledge and relationships embedded in our Native languages. “Humility”, by Sean Topkok, stresses the importance of being actively involved in our own cultural education, striving to learn lessons from Elders on behalf of our children—as their parents and first teachers—and for our communities and individual sense of self. And as we say farewell to Senator Georgianna Lincoln during her last legislative session, she urges us to stay informed and involved in critical decisions affecting rural and Alaska Native education. As editor of Sharing Our Pathways, I look forward to and welcome your insights, submissions and articles. | |
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Newhalen Cultural Heritage and Video-editing Class by Michael Roberts:On September 14, a group of U.S. Park Service archaeologists Dale Vinson, Becky Saleeby and Martha Olympic Crow and an archaeologist and a former LPSD student of mine at Igiugig, arrived to carry out four weeks of archaeological fieldwork. It was not an excavation but an examination of an existing disturbance caused in an ancient site by road building. Mapping, radio carbon dating, soil samples, stratigraphy and surveying for other local sites were among some of the activities. The senior class of Newhalen School provided the work force and were taught techniques that lead to the designation of the site on a listed state registry. In the application process, the students were able to officially name and number the site. A concerted effort by the village and the students is leading to preservation of this site. As the students did the work, they also video-recorded the process using a digital camcorder provided by the grant money. When the weather no longer permitted fieldwork, we turned to video editing. The archaeological portion of the video was constructed first. Students learned how to capture digital video to computers and edit using a digital camcorder and Firewire (IEEE 1394). All of the special effects in the video were created using computers. The narrative for this portion was almost completely written by the students. It describes the process they took part in. The narration matches video clips which they chose as appropriate from hours upon hours of videotape. The completed video was then returned to videotape (VHS, SVHS, 8mm and DV) from the computer. They also learned how to burn CDs of the movie for use on Macintosh and Wintel PCs. In the second portion of the video, there was significant emphasis from the Newhalen Tribal Council on oral histories provided by village Elders. In the late fall, Elders from surrounding villages were flown in for a potlatch and roundtable story-telling. This was all recorded on video. On many of the oral histories, the students acted out or added portions of the stories which were superimposed again using various computer editing techniques to enhance the story. In stories told in Yup'ik, translation was provided by Father David and Gladys Askoak. "The third part of the video was a collection of stills from the Iliamna Lake area." The third part of the video was a collection of stills from the Iliamna Lake area. The village of Igiugig was of great help in allowing the use of a fine collection. John Branson of the U.S. Park Service was also of great help. Part of the video was actually a captured slideshow presentation by John. After the credits on this movie, the students inserted a bloopers section that is revealing. It shows amongst other things, the recording of some of the narratives on the movie. It also shows the amount of fun we had completing the project. Finally, the video was duplicated for sale. The Newhalen Cultural Heritage Project, A Culture In Motion, can be purchased through the Newhalen Tribal Council for $15.00 per copy. Contact Joanne Wassillie, Village Administrator, Newhalen Tribal Council, P.O. Box 207, Newhalen, AK 99606. Phone: (907) 571-1410, fax: (907) 571-1537. The proceeds will go into a fund to continue the partnerships, school curriculum and most importantly, collection, documentation and preservation of cultural materials and archaeological sites. I don't think you can watch the video without realizing the educational cross-curricular value the project contained. The elements of relevance, choice and creativity made it more meaningful than the traditional classroom. The school/community partnership involved in this project greatly enhanced the existing relations with the village and the classroom, school and Lake and Peninsula School District. It has provided cooperation and a better channel of communication. I have never been involved in a project that has been more fulfilling. | |
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News From ARSI Co-Directors by Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley:ARSI co-director, Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley, has been very busy this fall and spring doing many speaking engagements having to do with the Native world views, Native languages, and changes needed to make mathematics and science relevant to Native students. This systemic change knows no color line and, thus, is inclusive of all students from all walks of life. He gave a talk to the Northwest Health Corporation at Nome, Alaska on "Decolonizing the Mind; Learning from the Past." December 15, 1995 saw the conclusion of an interactive television course of "Native Ways of Knowing" which was aired statewide. There were many positive statements made on its timeliness and content. He is teaching the course by teleconference this spring semester. He and his wife, Dr. Claudette Bradley-Kawagley, made a presentation on teaching mathematics and science using the five elements: earth, air, fire, water and spirit during the annual Bilingual/Multicultural Education Equity Conference in Anchorage, Alaska. A spruce branch was used in the object lesson. He and Dr. Ray Barnhardt made a presentation on the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative at the same conference. Both sessions were well attended. Angayuqaq gave a lecture recently to the UAF Department of Philosophy and Humanities on the Yupiaq world view. It was well received and many questions were asked regarding the different way of knowing. It was also his privilege to be a keynote speaker during the annual Lower Kuskokwim School District's bilingual teachers' conference in Bethel, Alaska. He was the evening storyteller during the awards potluck sponsored by the conference. Both of these sessions were done in Yupiaq. Dorothy Larson The past few months have been extremely busy. We have a full compliment of staff, our regional coordinators positions have all been filled. Joining Barbara Liu, Andy Hope, Amy Van Hatten and Elmer Jackson is Moses Dirks as the Aleut Regional Coordinator. Recently Dr. Oscar Kawagley and I met with the board of directors for the Annenberg Rural Challenge Foundation to provide background on the ARSI project. We presented concepts and ideas of how we could mesh the ARSI and the Annenberg Rural Challenge (ARC) work to bring about systemic reform in a more holistic fashion in rural schools. Nationally, fourteen projects and organizations were invited to participate in the meeting with the ARC Board in Olive Branch, Mississippi. It was held in a very rural setting. While we were there an ice storm kept us captive for several days! It was more isolated than being in one of the villages where we are prepared for the elements. Otherwise, it was a positive experience to meet with others who are working in rural schools across the nation on many different projects. We look forward to the development and presentation of a proposal to the Annenberg Rural Challenge, which will not only provide a holistic approach in rural education, it will involve more of our village community members in schools. The Annenberg Rural Challenge can facilitate and round out the ARSI efforts beyond the math/science/technology focus in the integration and blending of indigenous knowledge and life ways to make education more relevant. We will keep you posted on this development. Our staff is busy in planning for the upcoming ARSI Alaska Native/Rural Education Consortium meeting in April. It will be exciting to return to Chena Hot Springs where this project was brought from the idea stage to recommendations for the basis of what we are now involved in-the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative. The National Science Foundation provided the funding for the earlier colloquia and continues to be involved with our efforts in making positive changes in the education arena. On April 15, the National Native Science Advisory Council, a newly formed group under the auspices of the ARSI, will meet. This council will serve as a vehicle for facilitating the exchange of ideas on Native science education issues between the ARSI and other Native American people and NSF. In this effort, we will be focusing attention on indigenous perspectives in the generation and utilization of scientific knowledge and to initiate a national Native science education agenda that shifts the cultural focus in schools from teaching about culture to teaching in the culture. Our aim is to reorient schools to use the local cultural base as the foundation for teaching all subject matter (including the Western-derived curriculum) moving from the local to a global perspective. Since this has implications for many other areas of life in Native communities, we see this group as an important link between and across the local, state and national arenas. The council is made up of members from different parts of the United States and half from the Alaska Native community. We will have an opportunity to meet members of the council in Chena Hot Springs. The memorandums of agreement are in place and we are fully into the work of implementing the initiatives of our ARSI project in each region. A number of regional meetings, elders' council meetings and meetings with various staff and partners have been taking place in the last several months. You will be hearing from the regional coordinators and other project staff in their reports. Co-directors have been making site visits during the regional events which have demonstrated that there are many things going on in rural Alaska schools. We received expressions of interest from school districts, Native leaders and community members about the project. Through the good work of our staff and their availability, outreach work and the Sharing Our Pathways newsletter, we hope that we can provide meaningful information that will ultimately result in improving rural and Native education. Please use the Alaska Native Knowledge Network World Wide Web data. It is updated on an ongoing basis. This kind of information will be very helpful to teachers, community resource people, administrators, parents and, most importantly, to students. The data gathering and documentation is a key component of the ARSI. Technology can be one of the important tools for rural schools. In conclusion, I would like to ask you all to contact anyone of the co-directors for more information or if you have questions or comments. | |
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Nikaitchuat Ilisagviat: An Iñupiaq Immersion School by Igxubuq Dianne Schaeffer:Tarruq Pete Schaeffer served on the regional school board for about four years and found out that it would be very difficult to have the school he and his wife envisioned installed in the current school system. Abnik Polly Schaeffer worked for eight years at the elementary school as an Iñupiaq teacher; she taught seven classes a day with 25 minutes for each class. The students had fun, but they never retained anything because of the short amount of time given to each class. Tarruq and Abnik had a vision of a school-of students being taught in Iñupiaq and learning the cycles of the Iñupiaq year. In the spring of 1998, Tarruq and Abnik Schaeffer sat down with interested community members and said that they were opening up a school in the fall. We didn't have a building, curriculum or staff. We formed committees and each committee had a chairperson. I was on the enrollment committee and we came up with the enrollment process for Nikaitchuat. There was also the finance committee and a couple others. Sandra Erlich Kowalski was hired for the summer to find out what we needed in order to open up as a school. On September 10, 1998, Nikaitchuat opened with 20 students, three teachers and one director. We had very little furniture and the school supplies hadn't arrived yet. Tarruq Schaeffer gave $100 to Abnik and Aana Taiyaaq to buy school supplies like pencils and paper. We had the determination and will to teach our children what we feel is important: the Iñupiaq language. Nikaitchuat Ixisabviat is formed under the umbrella of the tribal government, the Native Village of Kotzebue also known as Kotzebue IRA. We have an agreement with NANA to give us some money and lease the building to us for one dollar a month. We get a grant from Maniilaq and from the Department of Education (we are in the second year of a three-year curriculum development grant) and we also get the Johnson O'Malley money from Kotzebue IRA and parents pay a monthly tuition for their child to attend our school. Ivik Kunuyaq Henry along with Igluguq and Agnik Schaeffer pour uqsruq (seal oil) into containers for their parents. Nikaitchuat Ilisagviat 2001-2002 visit the NANA Museum of the Arctic. Parent involvement and education are a vital part of school functioning. Parents help out by volunteering during and after school hours in tasks as varied as reading to children, serving snacks, cleaning, curriculum development and support, providing transportation to the Senior Center, learning and teaching cultural activities and the list goes on. It is not uncommon to see grandparents, aunts, uncles and siblings enter the school to volunteer as well. We ask parents to put in at least four hours of volunteer time a month. There are a few parents that put in eight hours or more a week. We have a bimonthly parent meeting where the parents catch up on what their child is learning. We have a potluck once a month where all parents and relatives are invited to attend. Nikaitchuat Ixisabviat is in its fourth school year. We have five older students (two are in second grade, two in first grade, four kindergartners and ten pre-kindergartners for a total of 19 students. We have four teachers, one director and one curriculum development specialist. This year, the first graders have been working on their writing skills along with learning more math. Instead of taking a nap, they do school work, like writing and reading in Iñupiaq. Abnik Polly Schaeffer has been busy teaching them the different subjects. Aana Taiyaaq Ida Biesemeier has been helping Abnik with the first graders, along with teaching the younger students the basics. Isan Diana Sours and Suuyuk Lena Hanna are kept busy with the younger students (the three and four year olds), teaching them the basics of how to get along and to respect other students. The two biggest things that are reinforced daily is Kamaksrixutin and Naalabnixutin-to be respectful and to listen! They also learn the colors in Iñupiaq, numbers and their Iñupiaq names. Each student is called by their Iñupiaq name; some teachers don't know the children's English name. The students are learning how to write their name. We have staff to develop the curriculum for the first graders. Kavlaq Andrea Gregg is the curriculum development specialist. She has been working on developing a curriculum based on the seasons of the year, building upon what Nikaitchuat has done the past three years. We are still looking for an assistant for Kavlaq, who will help in coming up with new and exciting curriculum for our older students. We make lessons planned by the week and this week's topic is niksiksuq (fishing); this week's color is tufuaqtaaq (purple); the Iñupiaq value being reinforced this week is respect for nature and the shape of the week is aqvaluqtaaq (circle). My name is Igxubuq Dianne Schaeffer and my title is Director. This is my second year as director-before that, I was on the Parent Governance Committee and a parent of one of the students. I've been working along with the Parent Governance Committee on how Nikaitchuat can expand next year. We would like to continue to grow with the oldest students, hopefully into the fifth grade. We are looking for a new building as we are at full capacity in the building we are in now. There is a possibility of obtaining a building with our tribal government, the Kotzebue IRA. We continue to grow and hope to share what we have learned with other communities. If you are here during the school year, we invite you to our school; we are located behind the Pizza House in Kotzebue. Come on over and check us out! Qikiqtaq Walker, Aana Taiyaaq Biesemeier, Qignak Atoruk and Urralik Gregg pick asriaviich (blueberries) this last fall on one of our many field trips. | |
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Noatak Science by Deborah Webber-Werle:Junior and senior high school students were awed by aurora photographs taken from the space shuttle Challenger. "Many high school students don't know about the research being done at the Geophysical Institute," said Ms. Bertram. "This information is so new that it isn't even in their textbooks yet." "I think the students learned that science is happening today," said Stan Van Amberg, junior high and senior high school science teacher. "It was great that the science was from their own element. These kids see Northern Lights all the time." Mr. Van Amberg also thought the students were impressed by the information about the Sprites and Jets, a new form of colored lightning that shoots upward from some thunderstorms. This phenomena was recently discovered by researchers at the Geophysical Institute. The Scientist-in-Residence program promotes student interest in science by bringing working scientists into the classroom. | |
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North Slope Iñupiat : | |
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North Slope Regional Activities:Alaska RSI/Annenberg Coordinator The Ilisagvik College is coordinating closely with the North Slope Borough School District (NSBSD) in the implementation of the 1996 activities centering on "village science". The college stresses the need to incorporate science concepts which are meaningful to the region, especially those that are related to the environmental sciences. This fall, the Ilisagvik College staff and the NSBSD staff plan on traveling to several sites to help organize the North Slope Science and Engineering Clubs. The Ipalook Elementary School is excited about the development of their K-5 science and engineering club and we look forward to assisting them in their efforts. In the discussion of the American Indian Science and Engineering chapters (AISES), the North Slope region expressed concern about the term "American Indian" since the Inupiat do not consider themselves to be "American Indian" and felt that the term is exclusive of Inupiat and other ethnic groups. At the meeting held on the sixth of September, it was decided that the Inupiat region AISES clubs would choose their own local names but will be affiliated with the national AISES organization. On the North Slope, we are looking for volunteers in the science and engineering community to "adopt a school" and be willing to be a role model, to encourage science and engineering careers, and to assist teachers in their science programs. We also look forward to the development of an Inupiat Science Exploritorium to celebrate our students' science projects in the region. One of the plans is to showcase science projects in the 50th Anniversary of the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory, an event being sponsored by the Barrow Arctic Science Consortium and scheduled for August 1997. Arva Carlson and Tim Buckley are co-teaching a high school course on Arctic Science and the college has been assisting their efforts through membership in the Arctic Science Consortium of the United States. We encourage North Slope high school science teachers to incorporate the Inupiaq perspective in the sciences and draw attention to the Inuit Circumpolar Science Initiatives and local science research policies that call for indigenous participation in research projects. As the Ilisagvik College expands its science education program, we look forward to offering additional courses in the sciences designed to reflect the blending of knowledge systems. For example, a course is being developed and proposed for the spring of 1997 on the topic of Bowhead whales through a cooperative partnership with the North Slope Borough (NSB) Wildlife Department. The Ilisagvik College also anticipates an Inupiaq research focus in the development of educational programs in the North Slope Cultural Center scheduled to open in 1998. We are assisting Alan Dick in the development of the publication North Slope Village Science and Chip McMillan in the development of a "northernized" Science Nuggets book. Also under production is the NSB Wildlife Department's curriculum project on Fishes of the North Slope. We support curriculum development projects that are focused on conceptual Inupiaq knowledge, in other words, projects that delve into Inupiaq perspectives and not just "at the tip of the iceberg." PHOTO BY LOLLY CARPLUK | |
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Now Available! : | |
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Now Available!:Iñuksuk: Northern Koyukon, Gwich'in and Lower Tanana 1800-1901 by Adeline Peter Raboff The history of the Northern Koyukon, Western Gwich'in and Lower Tanana people. 196 pages, $10.00 Guidelines for Strengthening Indigenous Languages This booklet offers suggestions for Elders, parents, children and educators to use in strengthing their heritage language with support from the Native community, schools, linguists and education agencies. 28 pages, free. For more information on obtaining copies of these publications, call Dixie Dayo at 907-474-5086 or e-mail dixie.dayo@uaf.edu. | |
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Nurturing Native Languages by Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley:Griffin's observations ring true to me because my Yupiaq language is nature-mediated, and thus it is wholesome and healing. It contains the creatures, plants and elements of nature that have named and defined themselves to my ancestors and are naming and defining themselves to me. My ancestors made my language from nature. When I speak Yupiaq, I am thrust into the thought world of my ancestors. We know ourselves to be made from this earth. We know this earth is made from our bodies. For we see ourselves. And we are nature. We are nature seeing nature. We are nature with a concept of nature. Nature weeping. Nature speaking of nature to nature. -Susan Griffin, Woman and Nature Let me cite two examples of the elements of nature naming and defining themselves. The first is anuqa-the wind. It is telling its name and telling me what it is. It is the moving air which is needed for life. The other is lagiq-the Canadian goose. It's call is "lak, lak, lak" giving its name to us and by its behavior telling us its habitat and its niche in the ecological system. "We are nature with a concept of nature." Truly! We, as Native people, have seen our languages become impoverished in the last several centuries. Many of us now speak our Native languages at the fourth and fifth grade levels (if such a grading system existed for us). We look at the wounds in our minds and we see that the wounds also exist in nature itself. "We know ourselves to be made from this earth" and it makes us weep when we see the destruction and pollution around us. We realize that the relationship between ourselves and our places is a "unity of process" (Joan Halifax). We know that there cannot be a separation between the two. As we lose our Native languages, more and more of us begin to take part in the misuse and abuse of nature. We use English predominately in our everyday lives today. We don't realize that English is a language contrived by the clever rational mind of the human being. The letters were derived by the human mind. The words are a product of a mindset that is given to individualism and materialism in a techno-mechanistic world. For us to think that we can reconstruct a new world by using English and its ways will not work. We need to return to a language that is given to health and healing. To try to make a paradigmatic shift by using the consciousness that constructed this modern world is bound for failure. Albert Einstein stated something to the effect that "you cannot make change in a system using the same consciousness used to construct it." This should be very clear to us as a Native people. In my Yupiaq ancestral world egalitarianism was practiced. In this form of governance no creature, plant or element becomes more important than another. All are equal. In the great state of Alaska, I can incontrovertibly state that racism is alive and seems to be gaining strength. This is a circumstance which is unconscionable and reflects a very destructive and alienated stance in the larger society. How is it that we "stabilize indigenous languages"? I think that we must once again speak the Native languages in the home a majority of the time. If we expect only the school to do it, it will surely fail. The school must become a reflection of a Native speaking family, home and community. During the waking hours of the day, the children must hear the Native language being spoken-in the home and in school. The one-to-one and family conversation in the local language must be the standard of the day. The community, family, parents and especially the children must begin to know place. How is this to be done? By the Elders, parents and community members speaking to one another in their own language and from the Yupiaq perspective. To know self, one must learn of place. How does one learn of place? You begin by telling quliraat, the mythology, stories of distant time, which are powerful teaching tools still applicable to the present. You learn of the times when our ancestors were truly shape-shifters. It was easy to change from one form to another, and one was in control of self. Values and traditions are taught by these stories which are so ancient that we call them myths. From these you can tease out problem-solving tools and discern characteristics that make for a healthy and stable person living in a healthy and sustainable place. Told by an Elder whose inflections, facial and body language add to the words, these myths teach not only discipline for the members but more importantly self-discipline. We must re-inculcate self-discipline in our people as a matter of survival. The qalumcit must be told, as they are the stories of us as a Native peoples. They tell us how we got to be at this place, our movements, problems encountered and resolved, years of plenty and scarcity and how to read the signs foretelling events, how we made sense of time and space, how trade and exchange of goods and services was accomplished and how genetic diversity in the community was maintained. The rituals and ceremonies must be relearned and practiced. The loss of these have developed schisms in our lives. We have become fractured people. These rituals represent revival, regeneration and revitalization of our Native people. The yuyaryarat-the art and skills of singing, dancing and drumming-brings one to a spiritual level. Our word, yuyaq, means to emerge into a higher plain, a higher consciousness through concentration on the movements when singing and drumming. We must also seek to relearn the Native names of places. It is incomplete knowledge for us to know the distance between two places in miles. It is also important to be able to "guesstimate" the time it will take to go from point A to point B and to know the history and place names between the two points. Then it becomes whole and useful knowledge. I just recently returned from Hilo, Hawaii where I was a participant in a planning meeting for revitalizing the Hawaiian language and culture. One interesting side trip was a visit to a Native Hawaiian charter school a few minutes from Hilo. I learned that the local Native people had begun landscaping unkempt property and refurbishing dilapidated buildings. This was initiated even before grant funds were made available for the project. This is true determination and motivation to reconstruct education which is meaningful and effective for the Native people. When my hosts and I arrived, we were met by the students at the entrance to their school. They sang in their own language and several students made welcoming remarks again in their own language. When protocol called for my response, I responded in my Yupiaq language. To see and hear the protocol that had been practiced for millennia by their people made my heart feel good. This happening after hundreds of years of barrage to change their language and culture gave me hope that we, too, can save our Alaska Native languages. It was refreshing and energizing of spirit to look at the landscape and see the work that had been done. The best part was a plot of land where only the original flora of Hawaii had been planted-a very ambitious endeavor which required research and feedback from the few Elders still with them to determine which plants are native to the land. One building had photovoltaic panels on its roof to power some of their computers and filter pumps for their fish hatchery tanks. At another location, young men were preparing food in the traditional manner of heating rocks with the ingredients placed in baskets on top and covered over with banana leaves and canvas. The food was eaten prior to the graduation exercises. If you find yourself in a situation where there is a minimal number of myths, stories, rituals and ceremonies available, then I would suggest that you find sources that are well written and your Elders deem to be true. Translate these into your own language with the help of Elders and knowledgeable community members that may be familiar with the technical language contained in that treatise. When satisfied with the final translation, read it to the group for approval. Then it would behoove us to read it to the youngsters who will become the historians of the community-the future keepers and practitioners of sacred knowledge. To bring the above back into practice is to know who you are and where you are. This would contribute broadly to the important notion that it is alright to be Native, to speak the Native language and to use Native tools and implements in play and work. After all, our technology was made by our ancestors to edify our Native worldviews. Please, what ever you do, do NOT give to the youngsters the idea that modern technology has an answer for everything. It does not. Use it merely as a tool and use it minimally and judiciously. Remind the students that technological tools are intensive in the use of natural resources and energy. To accept technology blindly is to negate the painful works to revitalize our Native languages and cultures. I wish you all the wisdom of the Ellam Yua, the Great Mystery in your continuing efforts. "We are nature." Quyana References Russell, Peter. The White Hole In Time: Our future evolution and the meaning of the now. Harper: San Francisco. 1992. Halifax, Joan. The Fruitful Darkness: Reconnecting with the body of the earth. Harper: San Francisco. 1993. Griffin, Susan. Woman and Nature. Harper Collins Publishers. San Francisco. 1978. Richard Littlebear speech delivered to the Fourth Annual Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium. Flagstaff, Arizona, May 1997. The rituals and ceremonies must be relearned and practiced. The loss of these have developed schisms in our lives. | |
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