Acknowledgement of Country
I wish to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land, the Whadjuk people. I respect their continuing culture, connection to boodja (land) and community, and their contribution to the life of this city and this region (WAAMH, 2017). For Whadjuk people, the south-west of Western Australia is ngulla boodja (our country). I am student at the Curtin University Bentley Campus and I enjoy the privilege of studying in Whadjuk/Nyungar Boodjar (country) on the site where the Derbal Yerrigan (Swan River) and the Djarlgarra (Canning River) meet (Bonney, 2017). I value this place of shared learning and passing on of knowledge. As a pre-service teacher I aim to be a positive role model and instil respect and acceptance
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Yunkaporta has formed a pedagogical framework that allows teachers to include Indigenous perspectives, by using Indigenous learning techniques. The research for this methodology was conducted by and for Indigenous people, drawing upon knowledge and protocol from Indigenous communities, Elders, ancestors, language, land and spirit (Yunkaporta, 2009). During this week I was also introduced to the concept of Indigenous Terms of Reference. These are a set of protocols, principles and processes that ensure Indigenous viewpoints are considered, acknowledged and respected (Oxenham, 1999). I was very interested by Yunkaporta’s (2009) discussion around the Indigenous concept of balance. He states that balance is simply an Indigenous “way” and that he believes in balance between the two worlds, Indigenous and non-Indigenous. Therefore, as teachers, we should find the overlap between the best ways of learning for Indigenous students and the mainstream methods of learning. I uphold the importance of balance in my teaching philosophy. I believe that balance between different teaching theories, methods and styles is key to fulfilling the needs of all students. Incorporating Yunkaporta’s Eight ways of Learning into my teaching practice will assist me to achieve AITSL standards 1.4 and 2.4, as Indigenous children will be better supported through the integration of their culture in the …show more content…
These ideologies have been passed on for thousands of years, through oral storytelling. As a result Indigenous people have the longest continuing knowledge system of any human group existing on the planet today (Forrest, n.d). Many Indigenous people believe that they are autochthonous, meaning they have always inhabited the land (Harrison & Sellwood, 2016, p 24). Prior to studying this topic, I had some knowledge and experience in this area; however, I have since become aware of my misconceptions about Indigenous culture. For example, I have adopted the Westernised “Dreamtime” terminology. Utilising this term is inadequate as it categorises Indigenous world views, beliefs, truths and realities as mythology because the word ‘dream’ manifests thoughts of legends and fiction. (Forrest, n.d). From my readings this week, I have since learnt that the word Nyitting is the correct Nyungar word for the Indigenous concept of Creation (Forrest, n.d). I highly value authentic teaching and learning experiences in my teaching philosophy and I aim to incorporate genuine activities and resources in my classroom, such as utilising the Creative Spirits or Splash ABC
Winona Wheeler’s essay, “Cree Intellectual Traditions in History” analyzes the oral history of First Nations Elders. She specifically questions the identities of the Elders telling their story and how they have attained the stories that they are telling. Wheeler’s thesis is that the Elders are not mere storages of knowledge, they are humans. And as the days go on, few of them remain which makes it even more relevant to take in what they have and pass it on to the newer generations.
Dreamings or Dream Time creates access to the ancestral world. Based on research, the Aboriginal lifestyle can be divided into the human or what I think of as the real world, from the sacred world and the physical world. The human world, in which I will just call their “reality,” is the world that consists of the people, their culture in the generic form, and basically their daily lives. The sacred world is where Dreamings take place. It is the ancestral world where the world was created, where ancestors are roaming and creating. This world in not situated only in the past but also in the present (more will be said of this later). Finally, there is the Physical world which connects the previous two realms. The physical world is the landscape, it is nature, it is land formations it is the tangible materializations of the world. During their Dreamings or Dream Time, aboriginals witness and learn the creation stories that formed the physical world. The Myths of these stories goes often something like this: The sky gods where sleeping but then they arose and created the landscape by transforming into different characters along the way. Once the Sky Gods were done with formations they took the shape of different features of the land like rocks or mountains (Eliade 1973:45). The Dream Time then is a time to transcend from their reality to another worldly realm. This is in order to discover the stories of their ancestors and their totems. Here is where they learn the stories of their realities. What is interesting to analyze at this point, which has been done by Alan Rumsey (Rumsey 1994), is acknowledging that “Dreamtime is a sense of dreaming in that it is not taken place in the everyday life of reality. It is in the sense a different ...
Duane Champagne in Social Change and Cultural Continuity Among Native Nations explains that there has never been one definitive world view that comprises any one Native American culture, as there is no such thing as one “Native community” (2007:10). However, there are certain commonalities in the ways of seeing and experiencing the world that many Native communities and their religions seem to share.
We may hear of a concept from another culture and try to make sense of it within our own culture, which evidently creates misunderstandings. We must understand how our language and culture is how we organize the world and attempt to overcome that and see the world organized from another cultures point of view and by doing so this will start the process of understanding Native American thought and thus place their philosophy beside westerns. To stress the importance of language, another example is used by Anne Waters when she states “hearing is being” meaning that our language has trained us to only hear certain sounds, or in other words, what we hear is determined by our language and culture. This stresses their influence on our lives. As mentioned above, Native Americans believe in non-propositional knowledge (such as dreams) and we have just mentioned the need to recognize assumptions and avoid them. Therefore it is extremely relevant what …. Said when stating how obscured it is that Native Americans beliefs are superstitions and
Across the Aboriginal territory, you’ll find traditional paintings made by the them and which speak of their understanding of the world and of its creation, The Dreamtime. According to the Aboriginal people and their Dreaming stories, their old ancestors emerged from the earth as supernatural beings, creating every part of nature such as all the existing animals, trees, rocks, rivers, plants, that we know today. In present time, a common belief exists among the Aborigines that the sacred spirit of the ancestors still remains alive in some natural elements and places. Henceforth, the Dreamtime is a period, still existing, with its purpose to connect the past and the present, the people and the land.
Aboriginal spirituality originally derives from the stories of the dreaming. The dreaming is the knowledge and a sense of belonging that the Aboriginals had of the beginning of life and the relationship to the land and sea (Australian Museum, 2011). The dreaming stories are passed on from one generation to the next orally. These stories teach the following generations how to behave towards the land and other people. The dreaming stories give them a sense of duty to protect the land and appreciate it because the dreamtime stories indicate that the spirits have not died but are still alive in different forms as animals or humans, therefore the ancestor’s power is still felt through the landforms (Clark, 1963), (Australian Governement, 2008)
Indigenous people are able to keep their culture and heritage alive by passing on knowledge, arts, rituals and performances from one generation to another. Many traditional beliefs include:
Pages one to sixty- nine in Indian From The Inside: Native American Philosophy and Cultural Renewal by Dennis McPherson and J. Douglas Rabb, provides the beginning of an in-depth analysis of Native American cultural philosophy. It also states the ways in which western perspective has played a role in our understanding of Native American culture and similarities between Western culture and Native American culture. The section of reading can be divided into three lenses. The first section focus is on the theoretical understanding of self in respect to the space around us. The second section provides a historical background into the relationship between Native Americans and British colonial power. The last section focus is on the affiliation of otherworldliness that exist between
These Indigenous people realized that the only way to heal the poverty, dysfunction, addiction, and violence that has plagued them since the ‘assimilation’ efforts was to turn back to their traditional spiritual practices and teach them to the young people (Robbins). Often, the return to Native traditions has meant taking on environmental concerns, opposing development activities, and becoming politically active to protect the nature that is so closely tied to indigenous spiritual practices. This is what makes indigenous spirituality different and hard to define and protect, it is closely tied to the land and environment, which is very different from religion (Fisher). The United Nations defines the situation perfectly in “The State of the World’s Indigenous People: Chapter 2”: “…spirituality defines the relationships of indigenous peoples with their environment as custodians of the land; it helps construct social relationships, gives meaning, purpose and hope to life.” (Kipuri,
Indigenous people have identified themselves with country; they believe that they and the land are “one”, and that it is lived in and lived with. Indigenous people personify country as if it were a person, as something that connects itself to the land, people and earth, being able to give and receive life (Bird Rose, D. 1996). Country is sacred and interconnected within the indigenous community,
Australia’s Indigenous people are thought to have reached the continent between 60 000 and 80 000 years ago. Over the thousands of years since then, a complex customary legal system have developed, strongly linked to the notion of kinship and based on oral tradition. The indigenous people were not seen as have a political culture or system for law. They were denied the access to basic human right e.g., the right to land ownership. Their cultural values of indigenous people became lost. They lost their traditional lifestyle and became disconnected socially. This means that they were unable to pass down their heritage and also were disconnected from the new occupants of the land.
My goal as a teacher is to provide children with a rich environment where they feel safe to explore, initiate learning, and feel free to express their feelings. My personal philosophy is to respect all children and their families’ cultures, ethnicities, race, and beliefs. I treat each child fairly to ensure that all children feel equally special, have families, communities, and educators work as one.
According to the United Nations, there is staggering number of more than 370 million indigenous people spread across 70 countries worldwide, making up more than 5,000 distinct tribes. Speaking many different languages and practicing traditions as diverse as their lands, each and every Indigenous group is unique, with cultures based on varying histories, environments, and beliefs. These people have retained social, cultural and political systems, distinct from those of the modern society we live in today. Considering the diversity of indigenous peoples, no one can quite come to an agreement on what is meant by “Indigenous Peoples”, neither is there a universally accepted definition for it. Indigenous peoples have much in common with other minority
Indigenous Knowledge (IK) can be broadly defined as the knowledge and skills that an indigenous (local) community accumulates over generations of living in a particular environment. IK is unique to given cultures, localities and societies and is acquired through daily experience. It is embedded in community practices, institutions, relationships and rituals. Because IK is based on, and is deeply embedded in local experience and historic reality, it is therefore unique to that specific culture; it also plays an important role in defining the identity of the community. Similarly, since IK has developed over the centuries of experimentation on how to adapt to local conditions. That is Indigenous ways of knowing informs their ways of being. Accordingly IK is integrated and driven from multiple sources; traditional teachings, empirical observations and revelations handed down generations. Under IK, language, gestures and cultural codes are in harmony. Similarly, language, symbols and family structure are interrelated. For example, First Nation had a
As a future educator, I have many goals. My first goal would be to never overpower my students. Being a teacher should not be a job, it should be a passion. I will focus my classroom around the student’s needs, rather than my own. The classroom will revolve around the students. I will be their guiding hand through education. Another goal of mine is to have the students interact in a positive way. Social interaction is very important. As students combine with peers they share knowledge and learn how to solve problems. In the real-world, this what will happen. Whenever I can, I li...