scholarly journals ONE SETTLER STUDENT’S STORY ON INCORPORATING INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGES IN ENGINEERING CURRICULA

Author(s):  
Victoria Thomsen ◽  
Jill Seniuk Cicek ◽  
Afua Mante ◽  
Shawn Bailey ◽  
Farhoud Delijani

The University of Manitoba Price Faculty of Engineering is actively working on initiatives to increaseIndigenous representation and ideology in engineering education. The initiatives aim to create ethical and equitable space for Indigenous Peoples, so their knowledges and perspectives are visible and valued in the Price Faculty of Engineering community. An Elder-in- Resident presented to an engineering ethics class the realities Indigenous communities face and how to work with Indigenous Peoples at the intersection of engineering projects such as oil and gas, hydroelectricity, andcommunity infrastructure. This study uses the threedimensional space narrative methodology and boundarycrossing theory to realize the impact on students’ learning.  The student’s perspective negotiated and represented in this study acts as an artifact of boundary crossing and provides insight into the exchange of cross-cultural knowledge. Findings reveal a distinction between relationship and knowledge, where knowledge exchange is dependent on the relationship between people. Key factors contributing to a relationship include identifying each other’s historical backgrounds; situational contexts, and values, which require active listening; genuine curiosity; empathy; and time. The research presented in this paper is part of a more extensive case study exploring the impact onstudents’ learning when integrating Indigenous knowledges and perspectives into engineering education and is approved by the University of Manitoba’s Research Ethics Board.

Author(s):  
Afua Adobea Mante ◽  
Jillian Seniuk Cicek ◽  
Marcia Friesen ◽  
Leonnie Kavanagh

Indigenous Peoples in Canada have practiced sustainability for centuries. Their knowledges, perspectives and design principles are applicable on both a local and global scale especially in our quest to find sustainable approaches to food security, energy independence, and climate change impacts. However, the opportunities for Indigenous Peoples to fully participate and formally offer knowledge and guidance on sustainable development in engineering education have been limited. Engineering training in Canada requires students to develop competency in the area of assessing the impact of engineering on society and the environment. Within this competency is the ability to understand and apply the concepts of sustainability to engineering activities. Engaging with Indigenous Peoples to understand their perspectives on engineering and society provides a platform to critically assess existing engineering curricula, expand the concept of sustainability, and come closer to a common place of understanding. Understanding the impact of incorporating Indigenous perspectives in the curricula on students’ learning and understandings will help inform the further incorporation of Indigenous perspectives in engineering education. This paper presents the research methodology and instruments for a case study designed to explore students’ learning in one engineering course that integrates an Indigenous Elder’s perspectives on how to effectively communicate, engage, and obtain local knowledge on engineering projects with Indigenous communities in Manitoba. Findings will be used to inform engineering curriculum design that are enhanced by Indigenous knowledges and perspectives.


Author(s):  
George Kilada ◽  
Victoria Thomsen ◽  
Jillian Seniuk Cicek ◽  
Afua Adobe Mante ◽  
Randy Herrmann

A qualitative narrative study was designed to examine the impact on students’ learning when an Elder came to speak to students in a Technology, Society and the Future course in the Price Faculty of Engineering at the University of Manitoba. This study accounts for one student’s story as heard through an open-ended narrative interview facilitated by a team of researchers, and restoried into a problem-solution narrative structure. The preliminary findings highlight the impact of the Elder’s teachings on the student, the importance of Indigenous People’s Knowledges and perspectives in engineering education, and the importance of making space for students to reflect on these learnings.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (8) ◽  
pp. e002442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Browne ◽  
Mark Lock ◽  
Troy Walker ◽  
Mikaela Egan ◽  
Kathryn Backholer

IntroductionIndigenous Peoples worldwide endure unacceptable health disparities with undernutrition and food insecurity often coexisting with obesity and chronic diseases. Policy-level actions are required to eliminate malnutrition in all its forms. However, there has been no systematic synthesis of the evidence of effectiveness of food and nutrition policies for Indigenous Peoples around the world. This review fills that gap.MethodsEight databases were searched for peer-reviewed literature, published between 2000 and 2019. Relevant websites were searched for grey literature. Articles were included if they were original studies, published in English and included data from Indigenous Peoples from Western colonised countries, evaluated a food or nutrition policy (or intervention), and provided quantitative impact/outcome data. Study screening, data extraction and quality assessment were undertaken independently by two authors, at least one of whom was Indigenous. A narrative synthesis was undertaken with studies grouped according to the NOURISHING food policy framework.ResultsWe identified 78 studies from Canada, Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand and the USA. Most studies evaluated targeted interventions, focused on rural or remote Indigenous communities. The most effective interventions combined educational strategies with policies targeting food price, composition and/or availability, particularly in retail and school environments. Interventions to reduce exposure to unhealthy food advertising was the only area of the NOURISHING framework not represented in the literature. Few studies examined the impact of universal food policies on Indigenous Peoples’ diets, health or well-being.ConclusionBoth targeted and universal policy action can be effective for Indigenous Peoples. Actions that modify the structures and systems governing food supply through improved availability, access and affordability of healthy foods should be prioritised. More high-quality evidence on the impact of universal food and nutrition policy actions for Indigenous Peoples is required, particularly in urban areas and in the area of food marketing.


2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (19) ◽  
pp. 228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramón Martínez Coria ◽  
Jesús Armando Haro Encinas

El planteamiento enfoca la situación que enfrentan los pueblos indígenas de México en relación con los procesos de despojo territorial y desplazamiento forzado de poblaciones por los intereses privados, así como el impacto de estos procesos en la supervivencia de sus comunidades y la continuidad de sus patrimonios bioculturales. Buscamos hacer un recuento de los avances y limitaciones de nuestra legislación en el reconocimiento de sus derechos colectivos territoriales específicos, de acuerdo con los estándares internacionales signados por el Estado mexicano, así como su contraste con la aprobación de reformas neoliberales que atentan contra sus territorios y formas culturales, describiendo la emergencia de movimientos de lucha por la justiciabilidad de sus derechos políticos colectivos y de resistencia contra la corrupción generalizada de funcionarios y la privatización de tierras y recursos naturales. TERRITORIAL RIGHTS AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN MEXICO: A STRUGGLE FOR SOVEREIGNTY AND NATIONHOOD This article focuses on the situation faced by indigenous peoples in Mexico with regard to processes of territorial dispossession and forced displacement of populations in response to private interests, as well as the impact these processes have on the survival of indigenous communities and the continuity of their biocultural heritage. This article aims to report on the advances and limitations of Mexican law in recognizing specific collective territorial rights following the international standards signed by the Mexican State. These rights are also contrasted with the approved neoliberal reforms, which are an attempt against indigenous territories and cultural forms. It describes the emergence of movements that struggle for the justiciability of their collective political rights and the resistance to generalized corruption among public officials and the privatization of land and natural resources.


Author(s):  
Margret Carstens

Abstract This article analyses the impact of covid-19 on the rights of indigenous peoples, particularly in Brazil. It deals with the current situation of the Brazilian indigenous peoples, the impacts of the pandemic, the rights created on the adoption of protective sanitary measures for indigenous people and land rights in Brazil. Does the Brazilian government comply with international law, with constitutional rights of indigenous peoples in the current covid-19 crisis, particularly with the Brazilian Supreme Court decision on the adoption of protective sanitary measures for indigenous people? With a focus on the 2020 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, this paper will identify and examine the gaps in protection of the indigenous peoples rights by reason of the impact of the covid-19 crisis. This paper argues that the crisis is misused as an occasion for land invasions, deforestation, forest fires and the denial of basic indigenous rights. Especially in Brazil, a transformative change, an emergency support for indigenous peoples, and a still stand agreement on logging and extractive industries operating next to indigenous communities are needed. Brazilian ngo statements give guidelines as to how to manage the threats of the present pandemic on indigenous peoples of Brazil. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the United Nations and the International Labour Organisation all offer further relevant suggestions as to how to address the serious impacts in the response to and the aftermath of this crisis.


Author(s):  
Majed Jarrar ◽  
Hanan Anis

Engineering schools are integrating entrepreneurship within their curriculum in order to equip their students with the capacity to adapt quickly to technological innovation. The University of Ottawa has developed an entrepreneurship course that is open to all engineering students, and aims to provide them with a hands-on approach to starting and growing a technology start-up. This paper is centred on assessing the students who took this course. The results of the survey analyze the impact entrepreneurship has had on their engineering skillset. This skillset reflects the graduate attributes that the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB) expects engineering students to develop. We will observe whether this impact has changed since the inception of this course in 2012 and throughout 5 course cycles. Using the survey results as well as the direct observation during those semesters, we present our analysis on how these outcomes can be replicated in other environments.


2012 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Ahern ◽  
T. O'Connor ◽  
G. McRuairc ◽  
M. McNamara ◽  
D. O'Donnell

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (26) ◽  
pp. 111-120
Author(s):  
Kelvin Celesistinus ◽  
Siti Radiaton Adawiyah Zakaria

Given that the way of life of indigenous peoples is usually associated with low living standards, the government has an important role to play in ensuring that the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous communities is narrowed. Unfortunately, as the program to improve the quality of life of indigenous communities has been widely implemented across the country, tension has begun to escalate among the indigenous community on the real motive of the program. Government policy objectives to assimilate indigenous communities into mainstream society leave little scope for indigenous groups to pursue their own life projects. Several studies have reported that the development of the government within traditional indigenous lands has caused conflict between the developer and the indigenous community. This situation has caused the indigenous people to bear the consequences of losing their traditional land, which is very important to reflect their identity. The aim of this paper is therefore to examine the current issues related to the land development initiative on the way of life of indigenous peoples in Malaysia. Documents search from published and unpublished material is used for this paper and a guide with a set of settings five years prior. The findings of this paper show that the development of the government in indigenous traditional lands has disrupted the traditional way of life, leading to multiple adverse effects on the community and the environment. In other words, the core of the indigenous people's struggle to this date is therefore concentrated in their involvement in making decisions in any development proposed to enhance their quality of life. Apart from that, the perspective of land development between the government and the indigenous peoples is quite different from one another. In conclusion, it is important to elicit knowledge and opinion from both indigenous peoples and government agencies to ensure the impact of land development activities can be minimized and implemented appropriately.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather A. Howard-Bobiwash ◽  
Jennie R. Joe ◽  
Susan Lobo

Throughout the Americas, most Indigenous people move through urban areas and make their homes in cities. Yet, the specific issues and concerns facing Indigenous people in cities, and the positive protective factors their vibrant urban communities generate are often overlooked and poorly understood. This has been particularly so under COVID-19 pandemic conditions. In the spring of 2020, the United Nations High Commissioner Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples called for information on the impacts of COVID-19 for Indigenous peoples. We took that opportunity to provide a response focused on urban Indigenous communities in the United States and Canada. Here, we expand on that response and Indigenous and human rights lens to review policies and practices impacting the experience of COVID-19 for urban Indigenous communities. Our analysis integrates a discussion of historical and ongoing settler colonialism, and the strengths of Indigenous community-building, as these shape the urban Indigenous experience with COVID-19. Mindful of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, we highlight the perspectives of Indigenous organizations which are the lifeline of urban Indigenous communities, focusing on challenges that miscounting poses to data collection and information sharing, and the exacerbation of intersectional discrimination and human rights infringements specific to the urban context. We include Indigenous critiques of the implications of structural oppressions exposed by COVID-19, and the resulting recommendations which have emerged from Indigenous urban adaptations to lockdown isolation, the provision of safety, and delivery of services grounded in Indigenous initiatives and traditional practices.


Author(s):  
Sharon Farnel ◽  
Denise Koufogiannakis ◽  
Sheila Laroque ◽  
Ian Bigelow ◽  
Anne Carr-Wiggin ◽  
...  

Appropriate subject access and descriptive practices within library and information science are social justice issues. Standards that are well established and commonly used in academic libraries in Canada and elsewhere, including Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) and Library of Congress Classification (LCC), continue to perpetuate colonial biases toward Indigenous peoples. In the fall of 2016, the University of Alberta Libraries (UAL) established a Decolonizing Description Working Group (DDWG) to investigate, define, and propose a plan of action for how descriptive metadata practices could more accurately, appropriately, and respectfully represent Indigenous peoples and contexts. The DDWG is currently beginning the implementation of recommendations approved by UAL’s strategic leadership team. In this paper we describe the genesis of the DDWG within the broader context of the libraries’ and the university’s responses to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action; outline the group’s activities and recommendations; and describe initial steps toward the implementation of those recommendations, with a focus on engaging local Indigenous communities. We reflect on the potential impact of revised descriptive practices in removing many of the barriers that Indigenous communities and individuals face in finding and accessing library materials relevant to their cultures and histories.


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