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Native Studies 20G
Kelvin High School
2001-2002 Half-credit course
Instructor: Niigonwedom (Mr. Sinclair)
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Picture taken from: www.usask.ca/native_studies/
Boozhoo! Tansi! Aniin! Hello! Bonjour!
Welcome to Native Studies 20G. In this ˝1/2 credit course, you will have an opportunity to study and experience Canada’s first peoples beyond what is normally taught in the regular Social Studies program. This course, by no means exhaustive, will provide you with a year long discussion group and forum in order to begin to allow you to make informed and educated choices regarding Aboriginal spirituality, culture, tradition, politics, and the future. Therefore, it is important to note that this class will be touching at some time on all of these issues during our discussions,
This course is not meant to provide you with cultural training, nor is it an attempt to force ideas and teachings upon anyone else. It is merely an attempt to humbly examine a people who have often been ignored and misrepresented in the curriculum by Western scholars and academics, and analyze the issues and life experienced by these people from a balanced point of view.
Why? Why Native Studies and not other ethnic studies?
Native Studies is an important and necessary part of the curriculum because it is truly a course individual to North America’s only indigenous group. Other ethnic studies are important, as their stories are important to Canada’s history as well. Native Studies, however, is the an examination of what the people and land on Turtle Island was like before it was colonized and renamed ‘Canada’. It is an attempt to understand their experience, and a look at their history from their voices and from their experience.
Native Studies also is a long look at the history of a decimation of a people and an 500 year old attempt to exterminate them by a colonizing force. It is a chance to examine what they have done historically to resist and overcome this force, and what are their options for the future. It is a chance to take a hard look at those options which are important to survival, and an opportunity to ask: Where do Aboriginal people go from here?
How?
This course will be taken almost exclusively at noon hour every WEDNESDAY.
Sometimes we will attend outings beyond noon hour in the mornings and the evenings. Every student, however, must fulfill 55 credit hours to receive the ˝half-credit. I will be keeping track of these credit hours as they are fulfilled. There are no grades in this course, only a pass or a fail.
This course will not have a lot of written work, nor will it have a lot of written homework and assignments. The material is covered during the many discussions and outings we partake in. Therefore, attendance is integral to making this course work. There are only three assignments and here they are:
1) The Critical Dialogue
Every week you are asked to keep a log. In this log, which can take any form – duotang, binder, journal, scribbler, or whatever you would like – you are to write once a week on a topic relating to the course. These topics can range from each political issue we encounter each week to something you have read in the newspaper to a discussion you had with your mother. The only requirement is that it be related to the course, and that it be an attempt by you to examine issues facing Aboriginal people with a critical frame of mind.
This log is your chance to ask questions, find answers, analyze and critique the issues you are facing. You may find it helpful, therefore to talk to people, do research, and read to get you started. Each week you must have completed one entry, and you may do more if you wish. They will be handed in four times and each time I will help direct you to finding answers, more information, and people to talk to. This is the critical dialogue for this class, for it is private and personal for you, and you can go wherever you would like in your entries. We’ll talk about this more every week. These topics you talk about will also help you formulate your final project.
2) The Final Project
Your final project is something that will be presented or shown during May 21, 2001 - National Aboriginal Day at Kelvin High School. It can take a multitude of forms, and can be whatever you would like it to be. It could be a research topic, an analyzation of a socio-economic or political issue, an artistic piece, or a 30 minute presentation. It is whatever you would like, and it will be based on the your entries in the Critical Dialogue. We will discuss these projects later, as May comes closer. These projects will give you chance to focus on a specific topic related to Aboriginal people and your chance to examine it in a critical and creative way.
3) The Final Paper
In this, your final paper for the course, you will tackle a question and investigate it through writing and do some research. This research can be with your parents, your elders, your teachers, your friends, textbooks, essays, radio programs, stories, or anything else that can help you. This paper must have a thesis statement, an introductory paragraph, a body, and a conclusion. This paper must be 1250 (five pages) long. And, it is due June 5, 2001 at 3:30 p.m.
The question is:
After millions of years of living and 500 years of European contact, what is the future of Aboriginal people on Turtle Island and how can this future be as strong as possible?
We will discuss this question more in class.
