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 Contact information in earlier issues could be outdated.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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VOLUME 1, ISSUE 3 |
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Inupiaq Regional Report by Elmer Jackson:On April 29, Sue McHenry from the UAF Rural Student Services met with high school seniors who are planning to attend the university in the fall. Our plan was to also talk about American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES), but due to time constraints and her flight not arriving on schedule, we were unable to. I met with teachers Tom Cyrus and Ms. Kennedy and made plans to talk to students about AISES. We met with the students on May 3rd. I attended the Northwest Arctic Borough School District (NWABSD) bilingual/bicultural curriculum meeting on May 5 & 6. I gave an update on the Alaska RSI project. The curriculum committee reviewed the draft of the philosophy statement for the Inupiaq language and curriculum. The committee also worked on the assessment of Inupiaq language and culture instruction. I made plans to attend the village Project WILD facilitator training, that will be held in Palmer May 30-31. I feel that I will benefit from this facilitator training, especially obtaining information for village science. I've written to Dr. Paul Reichardt, Dean of the College of Natural Sciences, UAF to make plans for the Scientists-in-Residence Program to get started next fall when school begins. If there are other scientists or teachers who would like to be involved in the program, please contact me by writing or faxing a message to me at (907) 475-2180. There are probably many of you who have interesting and exciting lesson plans in the natural sciences. I would like to see a collection of plans that involves your students with hands-on activities that may occur during Inupiaq Days at the schools or at the cultural camps. Village science involves teachers and students to study and learn the Inupiat values. When we go fishing or hunting-anything that involves our environment, the students are studying science. Please include the Inupiat words in your plans. If we gather lesson plans that involve the natural sciences, teachers can share them with their students. Let me close with one goal: To collect lesson plans in the natural sciences for the purpose of sharing with teachers and students in all schools. Taikuu. | |
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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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Pribilof Stewardship Camp 1996 by Aquilina Bourdukofsky and Poppy Benson:The camps are the result of a challenge cost share agreement between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Pribilof School District, the cities of St. Paul and St. George, Tanaq Corporation, Tanadgusix Corporation, the traditional councils of St. Paul and St. George and the Nature Conservancy. A committee with representatives from these organizations provides direction and fundraising for the camps. The goal of the camp is to "bring together Western science and Aleut traditional knowledge and experience and to help young people understand, appreciate and practice stewardship." Camp activities are focused on seabirds, fur seals and the Aleut culture. On St. Paul Island, the Stewardship Program has expanded to include year-round activities including beach cleanups, baidar restoration, Aleut arts and crafts and elder and teen programs. For more information contact the Pribilof Stewardship program director, Aquilina Bourdukofsky at the Tanadgusix Corporation at (907) 546-2312 or for St. George Island, contact Georgia Kashavarof at the St. George Island Traditional Council (907) 859-2205. | |
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Southeast Regional Report by Andy Hope:Oscar Kawagley and I met with representatives of the Chatham and Sitka School Districts the week of May 6. We also met with community leaders in Sitka and Angoon. The Southeast Elders' Council will meet in Juneau on June 7. Council members are: Arnold Booth (Metlakatla), Chair; Charles Natkong (Hydaburg); Gil Truit (Sitka); Lydia George (Angoon); Joe Hotch (Klukwan) and Isabella Brady (Sitka). The elders' council will also serve as guest lecturers for a summer Teacher Academy multicultural course taking place in Juneau from June 3-7. The Southeast Native Educators group will organize in Juneau on June 5. This group will be modeled on similar Native teacher groups in Dillingham, Bethel and Fairbanks. | |
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Students' Fall and Winter Hunting and Gathering by Maurice McGinty:Students Fall & Spring Activities Every September for the past four years I've been bringing the high school boys from the Andrew K. Demoski School moose hunting. This past fall I brought the entire high school-boys and girls. It was a real nice trip and a learning experience on how to deal with thirty-six students going in three or four different directions. On our second day out a bull moose came out on the sand bar across from the camp; the older boys crossed over with the boat and shot it. They returned to camp and brought the rest of the younger boys over and showed them how to skin, butcher and hang the meat the way I've been showing them for the past three years. Later the girls went up on a small hill behind the camp and picked cranberries with Tammy, a teacher who helped me chaperone the girls. While the girls picked berries, the boys tried their luck fishing for sheefish; we did catch a couple. After we returned to Nulato the students held a potlatch for the community with the moose meat. They made fish ice cream with the sheefish and used the cranberries in the ice cream. I am extremely proud of these students and I can only hope their parents and guardians feel the same way. | |
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Summer Camps in the NANA Region by Rachel Craig:In the late 1960s and early 1970s, there was a concerted effort in Alaska to affect land claims from the federal government. At the same time, our leadership was trying to upgrade the quality of life by making available government public housing for its citizens as well as water and sewer, electricity, telephones and television. Soon they found out that these improvements required payments and so available jobs became important in the lives of our citizens. Somehow, in all this "busyness", a negative social malaise was developing in our society which the leadership was too busy to notice until it was upon us. For the first time in our history, we began to attend funerals quite regularly of young people who had committed suicide. Suicides had never been a part of our cultural history and we really didn't know how to react to them except with mixed emotions of horror, embarrassment and disbelief. Those of us who were fortunate enough to hear the elders tell stories understood that a long life was a gift from the Creator for living according to the advice of the elders. Somewhere along the way there were barriers preventing our children from hearing the stories told to us by our elders. Some of these reasons were educational policies by the federal government others were results of that policy-where the parents didn't know enough of the cultural stories to pass them on to the next generation, or the parents one-sided knowledge as a result of their education trying very hard to succeed in the Western cultural world that they read and heard about. Whatever the real reason, we were rudely and shockingly awakened to our responsibilities to bring some kind of balance to our lives. The subsequent community meetings that ensued saw the listing of our cultural values that our elders say we should never forget. The list included knowledge of language, sharing, respect for others, cooperation, respect for elders, love for children, hard work, knowledge of family tree, avoid conflict, respect for nature, spirituality, humor, family roles, hunter success, domestic skills, humility and responsibility to tribe. In other meetings, our elders said we should include thankfulness, honesty and treat everyone the same. These cultural values help us to get along with our neighbors anywhere in the world, not to mention being blessed to live a long life. After some group discussion, there were some tasks that we decided to take on to give a better cultural balance to our educational experience. First, we traveled to all of the villages to see if elders agree that the cultural values that we came up with were as their forefathers had taught them. The challenge of the village meeting was to see if the community would create an elders' council that the community could come to for consultation on any subject they wished to discuss with the elders. This elders' council advice would be the basis upon which decisions would be made affecting our community life. Other decisions that were made were that we would have five "Inupiaq Days" in all of the village schools on those months when no major community activity was planned. This meant that in September, October, January, February and April the village grandmothers and grandfathers would be the instructors of the day in the regular school classrooms on the traditional Inupiaq culture. We found that this exercise instilled pride in the students when their own grandmothers and grandfathers were instructing the class, that there was less vandalism in the village, less truancy in school and the grade point averages shot upward. In bigger schools like Kotzebue, three Inupiaq Days are planned to service the whole school in that month-grades K-2, 3-6 and 7-12. The Inupiaq Days are planned and geared to the education level of the students and both certified instructors and students learn what to them is "new material." Because of the school policies, most of the instruction is academic and this brings us to the role of the summer camps in our children's lives. Manillaq Association had a summer camp project that some of our youth attended. After the community meetings, the regional elders (made up of the presidents of the village elders' councils) advised us with the assistance of the NANA Corporation that the northern part of the Kobuk River Delta would be an excellent place for a camp since it was not encumbered with Native allotments, that the site was high enough to escape inundation from spring flooding and that berry picking, fishing and hunting were accessible. There was enough flat construction area to put in a central cooking/dining/meeting building, and to erect some log cabins for the camp staff and tents for camping children. This was in the days of the oil boom and the legislature of the State of Alaska was very receptive and helpful to us. The Alaska Humanities Forum funded our proposals until they felt that we were not adding anything new and that they could not keep funding the camp indefinitely. Since the public sources dried up, we have been holding fund raisers (sock hops, biathlons, etc.) and the NANA Corporation and the Northwest Arctic Borough have subsidized the operations. All of our staff of elder instructors are volunteers, receiving per diem and travel to and from the camp. The other volunteers are paid by their employers while they assist at the camp, and some are parents who just want to help in the worthwhile project. The only paid employees we have at the camp are the cooks. Orientation of the staff before the beginning of the camping session is very helpful to help set the stage for the overall objectives of the camp experience for the children. The camp director has a daily meeting with the staff every evening to plan for the next day. A camp nurse or tribal doctor is essential for any eventuality leading to the well-being of the children. The first day at camp the campers get a big dose of orientation for the week and expectations of the staff for their behavior and hoped for accomplishments. Working at camp with many children is a lot of work but there is a lot of satisfaction when the hoped-for objectives are met. In addition to Camp Sivunnlugvik (a place for planning), the Upper Kobuk people have also established a summer camp which they call Ilisagvik (a place for learning). They are planning a dedication ceremony of the new camp soon, at which time the facility will be turned over to them. The Kotzebue Elders' Council is also sponsoring a seal hunting camp which will be set up at Riley Wreck (Kanjilik, its traditional place name.) I imagine this will be for the older young people including some young married people who never had a chance to learn to hunt seal because their parents were too busy working when they were raising their children. In addition to seal hunting, the camp site abounds with whitefish, berries and greens. We hope that they will use pulling dogs to fetch water and haul firewood in their boats. This is an excellent way to keep costs down and learn self-sufficiency. These sites were chosen by the elders because they felt that the young people could learn Inupiaq values by living in the traditional way. The elders give the youth an opportunity to learn how to become self-sufficient while practicing how to be a good neighbor: keeping busy working and listening to the elders, always getting ready for tomorrow, for next week, for next month, for next season, for next year. This is how we think the summer camps can be beneficial for the lives of our families. Rachel Craig P. O. Box 1110 Kotzebue, AK 99752 Best Wishes Rachel! Rachel Craig will be retiring in July and moving with her husband to the state of Washington. However, all is not lost, Rachel plans to stay involved in Native issues pertaining to Alaska. As Rachel says, "Airfares from Seattle to Anchorage are friendlier than from Kotzebue to Anchorage anyway." We'll miss you Rachel and best wishes on your retirement! | |
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Upcoming Summer Camps in the Interior:"Spirit Days" in an Anchorage park, June 13-15. Elders & Cultural Camp in old Minto, July 1-10. Academy of Elders/Native Teachers Camp at old Minto, July 27-August 7. Tanacross Spirit/Survival Camp, July 22-25 at Mansfield. 4-H Youth Cultural Camps will be held in the Tanana Chiefs Region. TCC/IRHA rural communities may contact TCC 4-H department for inquiries on camps for 1996 or 1997. Earthquest II, June 18-27 at Central for rural students throughout Alaska in grades 10-12. | |
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Village Science: Two Reciprocal Approaches by Alan Dick:The two vantage points are: ä Start with a science concept from: * physical science * chemistry (matter and it's properties) * physics (Newton's three laws & different forms of energy) * earth science * life science Identify the concepts you want to teach and see how they relate to village activities or events. As you go through daily activities, hold the concepts in your mind and see how they apply. Example: The concept of "surface area" identified in the cooling fins on a chain saw, the importance in snowshoe design, the reason for donut holes, the reason leaves fall from trees in autumn, the reason rabbits have big ears, etc. ä Start with a village activity or event and look for the science concepts involved. Example: Look for all the science involved in a dog sled: low friction runners, leverage of the bridle and handlebars, high friction surface for the musher to ride on, shock cord smoothing the forces on the dogs, grain and structure of the wood, etc. In viewing the local activity or events, the body of knowledge as well as process can either be: traditional, modern village and/or western. It might include: ä The activities of a season ä Aspect of life and survival: * travel * food gathering * building homes and shelters * entertainment * health concerns ä Technology, either traditional or adaptive. The curriculum developer can start with the base they are most familiar with-either the formal scientific or the village perspective. It is amazing how the list grows over time. Ideas mature and come together. Technology might be changing at a wild pace, but the same physical and spiritual laws and principles our great-grandparents worked with and against will influence our grandchildren in the same manner. There is comfort in that. We need to know those principles and work with them. | |
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Western Alaska Natural Science Camp by Lorrie Beck:The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service received a $20,000 grant in 1992 to fund the first camp. As partners, the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, Association of Village Council Presidents, Calista Corporation, Kuskokwim Campus, University of Alaska Fairbanks and the National Audubon Society contributed monies and in-kind services (materials, labor, equipment and facilities) to match this grant. In 1993, the Kuskokwim Campus and the University of Alaska Fairbanks received a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) which provided $45,000 annually through the summer of 1995. This enabled us to expand the camp and provide opportunities for thirty students to attend one of two sessions during July. The staff of the camp has evolved over the years to include a camp director, camp cook, and five staff teaching assistants. During each camp session, numerous guest speakers from the cooperating agencies visit the camp and make presentations. Elders and tradition bearers visit the camp sessions and make presentations on their knowledge of traditional Yup'ik natural resource management techniques and values. Camp brochures and application packages are sent to schools in the Lower Kuskokwim, Lower Yukon, Yupiit, Kuspuk, Kashunamiut and St. Mary's school districts. Students thirteen to sixteen years of age are eligible to apply. Applicants are rated on the letters of recommendations required from a science/math teacher and village elder/leader plus their level of interest as exhibited on the application form. A numerical rating system is used when evaluating applications, however, we select students based on diverse village representation as well as high scores. In past years, we have received over 100 applications for the thirty positions, so competition is keen. Through our cooperative agreement, we have developed a good working relationship and have continually been successful in recruiting students for the camp. To date, over 100 students from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta have attended one of the two ten-day sessions we offer during July. Guest speakers provide agency specific presentations, which outline skills and education students will need to obtain careers within that agency. Hands-on activities are also conducted that reinforce the skills needed for various jobs. For example, students examine rocks, pan for gold and study geologic maps during Calista's "Geology Day". We have had Alaska Native people serve on the science camp planning committee since the camp's inception. They've represented AVCP (fisheries, biologist/natural resources biologists), Calista Corporation (geologist), Kuskokwim Campus, UAF Resource Apprentice Program for Students (RAPS-student mentors) and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (Native Contact Representative/Refuge Information Technicians). | |
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Youth Survivor's Camp by Kimberly Carlo, Native Village of Fort Yukon:We try to hold an annual youth conference and have been successful in this for the past three years. Last summer we were working with the Council of Athabascan Tribal Governments (CATG) for a fish-counting project. The youth were employed by the project; they also built a fish wheel! All youth are welcome to go to the camp and most do. Youth under the age of eight have to be accompanied by a parent, but eight years and up are welcome to stay at the camp as long as they want. For summer projects, they check the fish net and wheel and cut and dry the fish. They also learn how to live out in the woods and off the land. We plan to have several projects this summer and employ one youth to be a youth mentor to teach their peers and younger youth how to survive in the woods. | |
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Yup'ik/Cup'ik Regional Report by Barbara Liu:In working with the project the past several months, I have stressed the need to provide Yup'ik/Cup'ik elders ample time and place to share their knowledge. Needless to say, our state's Native elders are the last living scholars of this knowledge Alaska RSI endeavors to capture. The past few months I've attended state and regional meetings and listened to plans and opportunities in education geared for our children. There are two general thoughts voiced at regional meetings by elders that I challenge all of us to address. The first translated statement is from a male representative from Kwigillingok who said, "You there, in a position to make decisions, are empty of elders knowledge; so am I and we have very few elders left who are full of that knowledge." At another meeting, the following translated statement was eloquently voiced by an elderly Kwethluk woman in her eighties, "It seems you're late in including elders in the school. You should have started including elders a long time ago." These statements amplify what our Athabaskan region coordinator reported in our last newsletter (Sharing our Pathways, vol. 1 issue 2, April 1996) calling it an emergency to utilize our resources while we can. Is it not time to place respectable elders in the forefront and pay them the respect that they deserve? Recently one bilingual director for a school district put it very well regarding indigenous knowledge: "We have to treat elders knowledge equivalent to Ph.Ds." If and when we act on this now- budgeting time for elderly men and women in the school setting-I believe our dying native languages have a chance for survival. Alaska Native language research from the 1970s indicates language loss continues as a serious threat and now it's too late to revive the Eyak language. First the land and now the language, but I believe we can fight the battle and win with the language. Elders must have a place in the system especially with the Yup'ik, Inupiaq and Athabaskan language immersion schools on the rise. Some of the key people that can make it work effectively are grandparents and parents who speak the language. Additionally, the Alaska RSI project must address education reform prioritizing the use of Alaska Native languages in regional elders' meetings. Clearly, as we continue to allow the English language to dominate everything, we will never connect and grow with our elders "doctorate" knowledge. Finally, the first Yup'ik immersion classes began in Bethel this past school year since the planning stages began nearly nine years ago. It started out with a couple of concerned teachers and parents who felt Bethel's bilingual program should improve. Loddie Jones, who now teaches one of the immersion classes, and myself were on a Yup'ik/Cup'ik-only talk show at the KYUK radio station. It was truly heartwarming as calls flooded supporting our endeavor. With the help of a young anthropologist doing research and presenting data to people who make decisions and many more parents who came out in support, Yup'ik immersion is now in motion. Workshops on it sure energized the state's bilingual conference in Anchorage this past winter. One conference participant I know put it this way, "That was the best workshop I went to in a long time." Well, in closing I want to say quyana to all those who make a difference with or without language immersion, especially to grandparents and parents for their patience and all the support you give outside the school setting. Wishing everyone a safe and constructive summer. "It seems you're late in including elders in the school. You should have started including elders a long time ago." | |
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VOLUME 1, ISSUE 4 |
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10th Annual ANEC Statewide Conference:The Tenth Annual Alaska Native Education Council (ANEC) Statewide Conference will be held at the Egan Convention Center on October 14 and 15, 1996. The conference theme is "Community Involvement Equals Quality Education." Conference participants may use AFN Convention special rates for travel and accommodations. Most participants attend the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention that follows this education conference. ANEC conference activities include review of AFN resolutions that pertain to education of Alaska Natives, forums to hear and voice educational issues with Alaska Department of Education, Board of Education, Commissioner of Education, Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative and school superintendents. Other activities include election of ANEC executive board members, presentation of awards for Native educators, elders, parents, students and education programs. For more information about this education conference, contact Charles T. Kashatok at (907) 543-4853 or Luanne Pelagio at (907) 272-3399. | |
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1996 Native Summit:Rural Student Services announces plans for another historic summit of Alaska Natives at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Summit Goal: To revisit the 1994 recommendations and develop a plan for implementation. Reason: To gather statewide input that will result in positive changes by Alaska Natives in postsecondary education. Who will participate: ALL interested individuals including people associated with tribal administration, postsecondary education, scholarship foundations, rural education, Alaska Native programs and alumni. Recommendations from the 1994 RSS Native Summit * Mentorship program for Alaska Native students, staff and faculty * All students take one course on Alaska Native cultures as part of the core curriculum * Mandatory interview process and orientation for educators upon hire * No cuts to College of Rural Alaska, rural campuses or distance delivery programs * Incentives for faculty and programs to work effectively with Native students * Develop a dissertation support fund on Alaska Native or related issues * Institute an Alaska Native experts guide of both traditional and contemporary citations * Establish UAF as a statewide center for Alaska Native research and studies * Utilize small residence halls as transitional houses for students who desire a Native environment and support * Accountability of programs for secondary schools preparing students to be more academically prepared for college level courses Telephone (907) 474-7871 FAX: (907) 474-6619 E-mail: fnjkd@aurora.alaska.edu UAF Native Summit Nov. 14-15, 1996 Rural students I nitiating S uccess in E ducation "A plan for the 21st century" Dr. Shirley Holloway, Commissioner of Education for the State of Alaska, has agreed to attend and participate in the Native Summit. She will lead a discussion on "Accountability for Public Education." This discussion is based on recommendations that were a result of the 1994 Native Summit at UAF. Rural Student Services is in the preliminary planning stages of the event. The agenda will include audioconferencing to the five rural campuses as well as other rural communities. It is hoped that the rural voice will become a major focus of this event. Two UAF departments have agreed to focus course work around the event. Alaska Native Studies and Rural Development will take an active role in the planning and follow-up of the Native Summit. Any questions or requests for information can be directed to JoAnn Ducharme, Director of Rural Student Services, UAF, (907) 474-7871. Welcome back teachers and students-Best wishes for a successful 1996-97 school year! | |
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46th Annual Arctic Science Conference:American Association for the Advancement of Science, Arctic Division "Shaping an Unpredictable Future: Science and Communities" September 19-21, 1996 o Westin Alyeska Prince Hotel o Girdwood, Alaska For more information contact Jack Kruse, Conference chair or Mary Killorin, Conference coordinator: Inst. of Social and Economic Research University of Alaska Anchorage 3211 Providence Drive Anchorage, Alaska 99508 phone: (907) 786-7724 fax: (907) 786-7739 e-mail: auaaas@acad2.alaska.edu http://www.uaa.alaska.edu/iser/aaas.htm | |
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AISES Corner:American Indian Science and Engineering Society School is starting for 1996-97 and AISES secondary and elementary chapters will be starting in the schools of North Slope Borough, Northwest Arctic, Bering Straits and Nome Public Schools. School districts in Interior Alaska will begin planning the introduction of new AISES chapters. Students will plan Village Science Application projects to enter in district and regional science fairs. AISES in Alaska has a busy calendar: The AISES Chapter Liaison teachers will meet in Kotzebue, September 6-8, 1996. The teachers will represent the North Slope Borough, Northwest Arctic, Bering Straits and Nome Public Schools school districts. They will meet with two Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative (Alaska RSI) directors, the Alaska RSI/AISES coordinator, the Inupiaq regional coordinator and three Village Science Application coordinators. AISES Chapter activities, Village Science Application projects and science fair criteria at state and national levels will be topics for discussion. Plans for the Arctic Regional Science Fair will be finalized. Alaska RSI is sponsoring an Arctic Regional Science Fair sometime during the end of November or the beginning of December 1996. Students (K-12) in North Slope Borough, Northwest Arctic, Bering Straits and Nome Public Schools will be invited to enter and participate in all activities. The best projects from the fair will be entered in the AISES National Fair in Albuquerque, New Mexico April 3-5, 1997. UAF/AISES students are preparing to raise funds for travel money to attend the AISES National Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, November 14-17, 1996. Some Alaska RSI staff and village teachers are planning to attend the AISES National Conference, also. AISES Region I includes AISES college and university chapters in Montana, Idaho, Washington, Wyoming, Oregon, Canada and Alaska. The UAF Chapter of AISES is planning to host the Region I conference on the UAF Campus in conjunction with the Festival of Native Arts, March 6-8, 1997. If you need more information or would like to be included in any of the events listed above, contact Claudette Bradley-Kawagley, Associate Professor, University of Alaska Fairbanks, P.O. Box 756720, Fairbanks, Alaska 99775. | |
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Alaska RSI Contacts:Amy Van Hatten Athabascan Regional Coordinator University of Alaska Fairbanks Alaska RSI/ANKN PO Box 756730 Fairbanks, Alaska 99775-6730 (907) 474-5086 e-mail: fyav@aurora.alaska.edu Andy Hope Southeast Regional Coordinator University of Alaska Southeast School of Business/PR 11120 Glacier Highway Juneau, Alaska 99801 (907) 465-6362 e-mail: fnah@aurora.alaska.edu Elmer Jackson Inupiaq Regional Coordinator PO Box 134 Kiana, Alaska 99749 e-mail: fnej@aurora.alaska.edu Moses Dirks Aleutians Regional Coordinator Alaska Federation of Natives 1577 * Street, Suite 201 Anchorage, Alaska 99501 (907) 274-3611 e-mail: fhmd@aurora.alaska.edu Barbara Liu Yup'ik Regional Coordinator Box 2262 Bethel, Alaska 99559 (907) 543-3457 e-mail: fnbl@aurora.alaska.edu | |
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Aleut Regional Report by Moses L. Dirks:The activities that I was involved on within the last two months were time consuming, but interesting. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game, with facilitators Colleen Matt and Robin Dublin, conducted an Alaska Project WILD Rural Facilitators Training on May 30-June 2. Elmer Jackson, Inupiaq Regional Coordinator and Amy Van Hatten, Athabascan Regional Coordinator and I were invited to attend this training of facilitators for teachers in rural schools. We were invited as cultural advisors, and were asked to provide information about our regions. Valuable input was provided in the training, especially by the respective regional coordinators. The facilitators' main objective for this training was to design Alaska Project WILD workshop formats to suit the unique conditions of Alaska cultures and village schools. The other objective included techniques for integrating local traditional knowledge with the teaching of Western wildlife biology concepts. We were also fortunate to have one elder, Mark Jacobs, Jr. from Southeast Alaska, attending the workshop. He provided valuable information on Southeast Alaska. Mr. Jacobs was not only well versed in the history of Alaska Natives, he also proved to be knowledgeable in the area of Native subsistence and the implementation of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA). June 15-22 I attended the World Indigenous Peoples Conference: Education in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Alaska RSI staff gave a presentation on the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative. I attended various workshops provided at the conference. July was an exceptionally busy month for me. It started off with contacting Aleut village entities in the Aleut Region to schedule and sponsor elders for the 2nd Annual Elders Conference to be held this year at Unalaska in conjunction with the Celebration and Rededication of the Holy Ascension Orthodox Cathedral. The proposed meeting dates are September 12-17. Elders from the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands are expected to attend this event. During the meetings, elders will have the opportunity to voice their concerns about regional, social or educational issues. The first annual meeting of the regional elders under the Alaska RSI will be conducted during this time. Also, during July, I started looking for a sea mammal science kit that I started some time ago when I was still at Alaska Pacific University (APU). Apparently it was being used by the Alaska Science Center at APU. The sea mammal science kit was designed in hopes of integrating local knowledge together with Western science. The science center coordinator at APU mentioned to me that since they will be closing the center, if I wished to have the kit to work with, I could do that. This kit is not complete, so I will be periodically working on it to incorporate additional ideas. If anyone would like to assist in the development of the kit on integrating indigenous science knowledge, please contact me at any time. Lastly, I would be more than happy to hear from any of you if you have any questions or concerns surrounding the Aleut region, Alaska RSI project. My telephone number is (907) 274-3611 or fax (907) 276-7989 from 8-4:40 p.m. | |
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Annenberg Rural Challenge Award by Dorothy M. Larson:The Annenberg Foundation has funded over a dozen projects under the Rural Challenge with efforts to focus on implementing change in rural education. The Alaska Rural Challenge project will be funded over a four-year period which will coincide with the last four years of the Alaska RSI project that is funded for a five-year period. The first year for the Alaska RSI ends in November 1996. Drs. Oscar Kawagley and Ray Barnhardt of UAF and Dorothy M. Larson of AFN serve as co-directors of both projects. The Alaska RSI project focuses on science, math and technology while the Alaska Rural Challenge project will focus on the social studies and humanities aspects of educational change. The two projects will provide a holistic approach and strategy in reform efforts that are culturally appropriate and aligned. The projects are designed and implemented similarly in each of the cultural regions where they will work on the five initiatives-Oral Tradition as Education, Language/Cultural Immersion Camps, Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and the Subsistence Economy, Living in Place, Reclaiming Tribal Histories as well as statewide initiatives which will focus on the Alaska Native Knowledge Network and Curriculum Unit. Kawagley, Barnhardt and Larson are very pleased to make this announcement and will provide a more in-depth description of the initiatives to be implemented in conjunction with the Alaska RSI project. | |
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Athabascan Regional Report by Amy Van Hatten:This summer I attended the Denakkanaaga Elders conference, the Cross-Cultural Teacher Orientation Program and the Academy of Elders (the latter two were held at Old Minto.) All of these events were motivational for me as far as my duties as a regional coordinator responsible for data collection, ideas for developing a roster of traditional ways of knowing and documenting self-regulating processes on which indigenous people have relied on for many generations. Elders share their way of life with prestige, depth and resonance. They speak with courtesy and respect to the land, animals and of objects which make up the respected areas they still live in. Some of their insights are from memory and some from still being able to enjoy the richness of staying in a fish camp. Many speak with reverence of the everyday activities in their local environment during different seasons, with hopes of passing on that indigenous knowledge to the younger generation and their educators. At the same time mentioning that they are not trying to impose their will over non-indigenous people, but they see and understand why our Native children are confused about their own identity, interest in school, sense of belonging, sense of community or other relationships to their homelands. During the two camps, it was with much satisfaction on my part to watch numerous rural Native teachers, elders, university staff, school administrators, guests from foreign countries and other consortium members light up with excitement as they demonstrated their new skills in making something with their own hands. Many of the Native educators couldn't wait to return to their village to teach what they had learned. At the camp site many skills were accomplished and learned through the gathering of birch bark, spruce roots, willow and willow bark, medicinal plants, cutting and smoking fish, learning Native songs, dancing, Native spirituality, respect for the land and all that it offers to us in order to survive, storytelling, how to use a sweat lodge for healing, how to regain physical stamina during long trips and what foods to take for a lasting energy level, how to read and predict the weather, the many uses of birch trees ( last count was up to thirty-two items), how to camp in the wilderness, how to conserve heat in the tent by using spruce branches on the floor, how to make a "cache", safe ways to store food, discovering new methods of teaching math while knitting geometric designs or flower patterns on yarn socks, how to utilize the entire moose, how to make varied sizes of birch bark baskets and how to make a fish net shuttle along with another instrumental piece to making a real fishnet and using manufactured twine or hand woven willow bark spun into twine for the net. The list is endless. It's like when you've gone through a growth process and can't wait to share all you have experienced first hand. Through the teacher's and students' elation, it became mine too, and it was like I was discovering these Native ways of knowing for the first time while some were learning it all over again, but with a feeling of doing it better the next time. Together as indigenous people and educators who learned the western ways of learning and doing things, our hopes are to develop our own educational aids and integrate the western ways of learning with Native ways while letting the Native ways be. Many others speak of indigenous activities in the past tense instead of the present tense. Personally I relate that perception to their not having any personal experience of immersing themselves in the natural environment. As the old saying goes, "It's never too late to learn." | |
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Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Spirit as a Foundation for Education by Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley:Modern science studies that which is visible using many technological devises to refine their observations. Theories are constructed, used, modified or discarded as new information and findings warrant. The task of modern science has been to simplify Nature, learn of its underlying logic and then use that logic to control Nature (Briggs, 1992:14). Indigenous societies study that which is invisible to temper the development of technology and guide its association with Nature. The Yupiaq society deals with trying to understand the irregularities of Nature which is underlain with patterns of order. Many unseen forces are in action in the elements of the universe. To begin to understand these phenomena, Yupiaq science education must begin with the five elements-earth, air, fire, water and spirit. The sacred gifts of each must be understood, as well as the human activities which contribute to the despiritualization and reduction of these life-giving gifts. In order to be holistic, the activities must include Yupiaq language and culture, language arts, mathematics, social studies, arts and crafts and sciences. All must be interrelated as all of earth is interrelated. For example, in dealing with the element air, the teacher could select the sacred gift of weather. And what an unpredictable choice! Like many Yupiaq myths, weather is so very dynamic, ever changing, and, like the myth, very mystical. The wind has irregularities of constantly varying velocity, humidity, temperature and direction due to topography and other factors. There are nonlinear dimensions to clouds, irregularities of cloud formations, anomalous cloud luminosity and different forms of precipitation at different levels. There are patterns, however tenuous, such as the path of a jet stream or fronts to be studied. The Native students' visual acuity and memory for detail could be used to advantage. There is very little in this universe which is linear, in a grid or in a two-dimensional square or three dimensional cube. The weather's dynamic is that the part of its part is part of a part which is a part of another part and so on. The local Native elders could explain how they were able to predict weather based upon subtle messages given to them by the sun twenty-four hours before it happened. This involves the language of feelings of the inner world coupled with the language of reason. Being inclined to the spiritual, the Native was able to understand and accept the unpredictable permutations of weather. The Native people had learned certain general predictable patterns of weather connected to the seasons and moons. Yet, the Native student could get acquainted with some more predominate tools of the meteorologist such as the thermometer, barometer, anemometer, hydrometer, satellite pictures and other tools to give the elders' knowledge depth, detail and a broader view. Introducing students to the notion of irregularities and anomalies of form and force (chaos and fractals) necessarily introduces them to holism. The key idea is for the students to understand the interconnectedness of all things in the universe. Of utmost importance in using the five elements of life to teach science is assuring that the students understand that the sacred gifts of each is a gift to the life-giving forces of the living earth (or Mother Earth). The teacher must be careful to explain what those gifts are absolutely necessary for life on earth to continue. All these five elements' gifts make possible for creation on earth to continue. The Yupiaq honored and respected these gifts in the rituals and ceremonies. Take for example, the Nakaciuq or the "Blessing of the Bladders." The Yupiaq people believed that when the seal or some other sea mammal gave itself to the hunter, that the spirit of the seal entered its bladder upon giving up its life. This required that the people take care to remove the bladder, inflate it to dry and save it for the winter Bladder Festival to honor the sacred gift of the element, spirit. In this way the Yupiaq people honored and showed respect for the gift of the element earth for giving birth to animals upon which they depended for survival as a people. During the festival, the bladders were reinflated with life-giving air and hung on poles for the duration of the activities. In the qasgiq were placed two three-to-four foot stout poles in front of the place of honor for the elders. The honors seating was located at the rear of the community house. On the flattened upper end were placed two earthen lamps with wicks which were *then filled with seal oil. The wicks were lighted and the lamps kept burning during the entire festival. One or two people were given the responsibility of keeping the lamps going. The gift of the element fire was used to light and give some warmth to the community house. To purify the air and the participants in the house, wild parsnips were burned. Another gift of the element earth, the parsnip plant was used to create purifying smoke with the transforming gift of the element fire. Fire, with the gift of air, transformed the seal oil to heat and light. At the conclusion of the Bladder Festival, the bladders were taken down, deflated, and carried to the ocean or river where an opening in the ice had been made. With collective mindfulness of all the Yupiaq participants that the spirits of the animals were happy and satisfied with the care and careful execution of the required rituals and ceremonies, and that they would return and give themselves to the hunters, the bladders were returned to the sacred gift of the element water, the womb of creation. A multi-disciplinary and -sensory study of the elements can be undertaken for the entire school year. The students would begin to understand that the experience of knowing and making the place a friend takes time. The students can be helped to fine tune their endosmotic sense-makers through carefully planned and executed lessons of observation that incorporate their Yupiaq language of feeling with the language of reason. The ultimate gift is that of the element spirit. This gift is, through the Yupiaq language, mythology, rituals and ceremonies, the students are taught the "correct lifeway, a lifeway appropriate to place" (Mills, 1990:159). The modern schools are not teaching students how to live a life that feels right. Rather, the schools are giving a lot of information to the students without also showing them how they can transfer the information into useful knowledge for making a living. Another step is to individually and collectively as a people see how the usable knowledge could be transformed into wisdom to make a life. The students now look at an innovative teacher who refuses to use existing curricula, syllabi, lessons plans, media presentations, photocopied materials and so on, as not really teaching. They expect to be given a lot of information and to be entertained. The many machines, modern tools and the vaunted computers are not enough to teach a lifeway that feels right. It is more important that we use the Yupiaq values and culture well interspersed with imagination or intuition from within and the element spirit to make the new lifeway that feels right. During the years which this activity is being done, the participants will explore, plan and implement ways to make the Alaska Native mythology as a teaching tool for the sciences as well as the humanities. Within the humanities (mythology) are the sciences and within the sciences are the humanities. Kindergarten through third grade could possibly talk about the five elements generally. This is what earth does: it provides homes for people, animals and plants. Air is what you breathe. Fourth through the sixth grades can begin to talk about certain gifts that each element gives to earth to make it good and beautiful. They can begin to talk about the water cycle and begin to see how it is affected by the sun, water, land, air, plants and people. The junior high grades can begin to talk not only of the gifts, but how the activities of the human being affects the life supporting gifts of the five elements. The high school students can begin to discuss and research the five elements' gifts and how people and pollution reduce the life supporting role of the gifts. They can expand their knowledge of the Yupiaq peoples' perceptions and behaviors to the natural and spiritual worlds to keep them sustainable. The teachers and teachers-to-be must be taught that the world is nonlinear and that, as a result, science will never understand everything about the universe. They must also realize and appreciate that in modern scientific and technological endeavors, mathematics, science and technology are interrelated as are all other disciplines. It behooves that science education and teaching in general become aligned to the common philosophical thread, or the "distant memory," as it is called by N. Scott Momaday, of the ecological perspective. All peoples of the earth began from this vista, and therefore such a perspective makes it more probable and possible for attaining a new consciousness for a sustainable life. References: Briggs, J. (1992). Fractals the patterns of chaos. New York: Simon & Schuster. Mills, S. (1990). In praise of nature. Washington, D. C. and Covelo, CA.: Island Press. | |
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