scholarly journals Honouring Inuit Women’s Educational and Employment Experiences through Indigenous Storywork Methodology

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Tina Wasilik

The legacy of the Arctic Residential School system is still present in Nunavut education today. Inuit in Nunavut continue to receive a westernized education that does not fully encompass traditional Inuit learning principles. However, a group of Inuit women, enrolled in a Northern College Early Childhood Education (ECE) Diploma Program from 2015-2017, uniquely blended a child-centred educational approach with traditional Inuit learning methods. Through the Inuit women’s practicum placements completed at a preschool, they developed self-confidence and a skill set that led to their employment and self-reliance.  The Oxford dictionary defines self-reliance as “the ability to do or decide things by yourself, rather than depending on other people for help” (Oxford University Press 2021). This definition does not fully capture the essence of self-reliance from Inuit women’s perspectives. Their self-reliance is greatly tied to a combination of domestic work, wage work, and land-related work that forms a unique framework to capture the specificity of northern women’s self-reliance. My research study will explore the personal experiences of these Inuit women graduates. The study intends to inform institutional decision-making, determine how to best support the Inuit women’s educational access and success, contribute to the scholarly work in the field of education and advance future Inuit training and employment initiatives.   My research questions are: What does self-reliance look like from an Inuit woman’s point of view? How did participating in the 2015-2017 ECE Diploma Program influence the Inuit women’s lives? Indigenous Storywork is grounded in Indigenous Research Framework (Lavallée 2009) which allows for connections between people, their ancestors, and the natural world. Indigenous Storywork guides my study theoretically and methodologically. I will use Storywork to engage in holistic meaning-making that involves the heart (emotions), mind (intellect), body (physical actions), and spirit (spirituality) (Archibald et al. 2019).  Storywork is essentially a three-part framework: story-making, storytelling, and connecting with specific cultures and peoples experiences through stories (Archibald et al. 2019). This framework honours distinctive traditional Inuit knowledge and these Inuit women’s holistic identity regarding their relationships with themselves, family, community, land, environment, and the wider society. Indigenous Storywork methodology creates space for my participants to share dreams, visions, spiritual encounters, and lived experience stories through interviews. My research honours the Storywork of Inuit women through their culturally responsive and unique educational opportunities.   

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-69
Author(s):  
Natalia Zhavoronkova ◽  
Vyacheslav Agafonov

The article is devoted to the study of modern theoretical and legal problems of ensuring biological security in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation. The published Draft of Federal law No. 850485-7“On biological security of the Russian Federation”provides an opportunity to take a closer look at the problem of legal provision of biological security in relation to the most vulnerable ecosystems, and, first of all, the Arctic. The article considers the most important features and potential risks of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation of critical importance from the point of view of biological hazards, the features (specificity) of biological safety problems from the point of view of organizational-legal features and, in particular, from the perspective of environmental law. It is proved that, given the special situation of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation, in addition to the base Federal law“About biological safety” required a specific law on biological and ecological safety of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation, which should be generated on a slightly different model than the draft Federal law «On biological safety”, to wear the most specific, applied nature.


Author(s):  
Mikhail Bubynin ◽  
Mikhail Bubynin ◽  
Valery Abramov ◽  
Valery Abramov ◽  
Gennady Zabolotnikov ◽  
...  

The paper considers the priorities of the state policy of the Russian Federation in the Arctic, from the point of view of the development of scientific research, identified by the main strategic documents of national policy and security in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation. Measures for implementation of priorities in the development of scientific research in the Arctic can be divided into three main sections: 1. Scientific projects and expeditions in the Arctic; 2. International activities; 3. Coordination and implementation of integrated research in the Arctic. Note that currently the Ministry of education and science of the Russian Federation develops the Analytical Coordination Program “Comprehensive research of the Arctic and Antarctic”, in cooperation with the federal state bodies and Governance of the Subjects of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation. The mechanism of the Program will ensure coordination between state bodies for integrated scientific researches in the Arctic in the interests of economic and scientific development of the region, and the creation of the scientific, technical and technological reserve in order to ensure of national security in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Casey Shea Pollon

Type as Image: Eliciting Emotions is a project of VCDE233 Typography II (Constanza Pacher) and VCDI223 Design and Pre-Press Production (Jess Dupuis), both courses in the Design Studies Diploma Program at MacEwan University. Students were asked to capture the essence of the book Indian Horse, by Richard Wagamese, and translate it into a three-poster series using typography as the main element. Under the premise that the visual form is dictated by the content, students were encouraged to analyze plot, characters, point of view, imagery, tone, themes and symbolism to extract key words, sentences and passages as the basis for their designs. Students were asked to challenge literal interpretations by exploring the use of expressive typography and text and image relationships.


2012 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen J. Cowley

To view language as a cultural tool challenges much of what claims to be linguistic science while opening up a new people-centred linguistics. On this view, how we speak, think and act depends on, not just brains (or minds), but also cultural traditions. Yet, Everett is conservative: like others trained in distributional analysis, he reifies ‘words’. Though rejecting inner languages and grammatical universals, he ascribes mental reality to a lexicon. Reliant as he is on transcriptions, he takes the cognitivist view that brains represent word-forms. By contrast, in radical embodied cognitive theory, bodily dynamics themselves act as cues to meaning. Linguistic exostructures resemble tools that constrain how people concert acting-perceiving bodies. The result is unending renewal of verbal structures: like artefacts and institutions, they function to sustain a species-specific cultural ecology. As Ross (2007) argues, ecological extensions make human cognition hypersocial. When we link verbal patterns with lived experience, we communicate and cognise by fitting action/perception to cultural practices that anchor human meaning making.


2021 ◽  
pp. 136843102110021
Author(s):  
Esperança Bielsa

This article argues for a non-reductive approach to translation as a basic social process that shapes both the world that sociologists study and the sociological endeavour itself. It starts by referring to accounts from the sociology of translation and translation studies, which have problematized simplistic views of processes of cultural globalization. From this point of view, translation can offer an approach to contemporary interconnectedness that escapes from both methodological nationalism and what can be designated as the monolingual vision, providing substantive perspectives on the proliferation of contact zones or borderlands in a diversity of domains. The article centrally argues for a sociological perspective that examines not just the circulation of meaning but translation as a process of linguistic transformation that is necessarily embodied in words. Only if this more material aspect of translation is attended to can the nature of translation as an ordinary social process be fully grasped and its intervention in meaning-making activities explored. This has far-ranging implications for any reflexive account of the production of sociological works and interpretations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 7373
Author(s):  
Timo Nevalainen ◽  
Jaana Seikkula-Leino ◽  
Maria Salomaa

In the past decades, there has been a growing interest in entrepreneurship education, and many higher education institutions have developed specific programs and courses to support entrepreneurial competencies. However, there have been significant changes in how universities train competences related to business skills and entrepreneurship in practice. Whereas entrepreneurship courses used to focus on the different forms of businesses and drafting business plans, the overall perception of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial competences has shifted this toward a more holistic educational approach to develop students’ entrepreneurial competencies. In this comparative quantitative case study, we investigate the university students’ perception of the development of their entrepreneurial competencies in the case of Proakatemia (Tampere University of Applied Sciences). The aim was to examine how the entrepreneurial competencies are reflected and strengthened in their thinking and everyday functions through the concept of team learning. The survey involved, altogether, 64 students, of which 21 studied in Proakatemia. The results of this study indicate that the team learning concept of Proakatemia facilitates learning entrepreneurial competencies. Therefore, these results provide insights for universities aiming to develop their curricula, programs and pedagogy, thus promoting sustainable societal development. However, we recommend further studies, e.g., from a qualitative point of view, to assess the effective of the concept in other learning environments.


Author(s):  
Nikita Tananaev ◽  
Roman Teisserenc ◽  
Matvey Debolskiy

Permafrost hydrology is an emerging discipline, attracting increasing attention as the Arctic region is undergoing rapid change. However, the research domain of this discipline had never been explicitly formulated. Both 'permafrost' and 'hydrology' yield differing meanings across languages and scientific domains, hence 'permafrost hydrology' serves as an example of linguistic relativity. The differing views of permafrost as either an ecosystem class or a geographical region, and hydrology as a discipline concerned with either landscapes or generic water bodies, maintain a language-specific touch in the definition of permafrost hydrology. From this point of view, the English and Russian usage of this term is explained. A universal process-based definition is further proposed, developed on a specific process assemblage, including (i) water table dynamics caused by migration of an upper aquitard through freeze–thaw processes; (ii) water migration in soil matrix, driven by phase transitions in the active layer; (iii) transient water storage in solid state in the subsurface compartment. This definition is shown to fill the niche in existing vocabulary, and other definitions from northern hydrology field are revisited.


2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-282
Author(s):  
Jane Millar

This article examines the past and potential contributions of Pliny the Elder’s Natural History (NH) on the subject of Roman perceptions and experiences of environmental change. It asks in particular how classicists, archaeologists, and environmental historians can responsibly use the NH as a source on ancient climate. First, it briefly reviews relevant topics in the paleoclimatology of the Roman world, a rapidly advancing discipline enabling the identification of ancient climate changes with increasing precision and confidence (I). The article then turns to the reliability of Pliny as an authority on ancient climate by examining his accuracy, objectivity, and use of source material in literary and historical context, including his rhetorical goals, which have gone understudied until quite recently (II). A close reading of passages on environmental and climate change follows, highlighting areas in which Pliny’s observations are at odds with his source material. The examples discussed demonstrate the importance of phenology (III) and meteorology (IV) in Pliny’s encyclopedic account of the natural world, one characterized by anthropocentrism, pragmatism, and an emphasis on local knowledge. The evidence for ancient climate change is plentiful but not conclusive on the details and timing, and further studies will continue to refine local records. Rather than presenting a synthetic reconstruction based on Pliny’s observations, I argue that his encyclopedia offers an untapped resource on ancient climate and weather, not only by providing evidence of climate change, but also by recommending increased attention to seasonality, agricultural communities, and the lived experience of agricultural labor in order to better understand the effects of climate change on ancient populations.


Author(s):  
Igor Kochev ◽  
Wim Heijman

From an economic point of view, melting ice is making the Arctic ocean increasingly important for a number of countries – Arctic states as well as non-Arctic states. Also, the EU has clear interests in the area. This chapter provides a brief description of those interests and its implications on the EU's relationship with the Arctic partners. This note takes seven aspects of the EU-relations with the Arctic states into consideration (i.e., the institutional framework, the EU Arctic interests and policies, shipping, fishing, marine mammals, offshore oil and gas operations, and the EU's Arctic partners).


Author(s):  
Rachel Tribe ◽  
Angelina Jalonen

This chapter reviews the socio-political environment and legal factors that provide the context and influence the lived experience of many refugees and asylum seekers. These factors are considered in relation to flight, arrival, and settlement in a new country. How these contextual factors may impact upon refugees and asylum seekers, their sense of identity, and mental health will be reviewed. The chapter reflects upon the possible challenges faced by many refugees and asylum seekers, as well as arguing that the strengths, resilience, and coping strategies that many asylum seekers and refugees exhibit need to be adequately considered by clinicians, if a meaningful service is to be provided. The importance of clinicians being culturally curious and listening to service users’ meaning-making is vital. An overview of some other issues that clinicians may need to consider is provided. The chapter contains a number of case studies to illustrate the related issues.


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