philbu's blog

Obama's commitment to Native Americans

2008-11-05T07:28:00.005+01:00

Remember what you promised Mr. President:

"Indigenous Peoples Knowledge Society: Transformations and Challenges"

2008-08-04T09:14:00.004+02:00

KCTOS-Conference:
Knowledge, Creativity and Transformations of Societies

Report of and Introduction to the Section:
"Indigenous Peoples Knowledge Society:
Transformations and Challenges"

Philipp Budka
Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Vienna
Vienna, Austria
E-Mai: ph.budka@philbu.net

Adam Fiser
Faculty of Information Studies, University of Toronto
Toronto, Canada
E-Mail: adam.fiser@gmail.com

This introductory text and a collection of papers, which were presented at the workshop in December 2007, will be accessible online in the 17th issue of TRANS: Internet Journal for Cultural Studies.

Of the more than 300 million Indigenous People recognized by the United Nations, a growing minority is actively shaping indigenous visions of a knowledge-based society (e.g. UNHCHR 2001, 1997). These visions are not simply indigenous responses to global mainstream debates over post-industrial development or techno-scientific culture, etc. More importantly, they articulate the actual deployment of new media and information communications technologies (ICTs) by indigenous communities to forward their own policies and practices. They frame how indigenous communities are mobilizing over the internet and on the web to communicate their lived experiences and extend their local networks to global audiences, including and most importantly, a global indigenous audience.

For academics in the field, Indigenous Peoples are opening up spaces of inquiry beyond the digital divide by actively co-creating online communities and transforming their cultural experience through ICTs. Questions about resources, knowledge, power, and access continue to be important, but they have become more complicated by issues of networking and social life, virtual reproduction, and information policy.

Knowledge production within the knowledge society is not only closely related to new forms of communication and technologies, it is also the basic principle of research and academic work. Research with Indigenous Peoples has been changing dramatically over the last forty years, particularly because more and more members of indigenous communities have become actively involved in shaping research policy and undertaking research projects. There is also a heightened sensitivity that research with Indigenous People and communities can be a conflict-ridden endeavour, as Linda Tuhiwai Smith (2005: 2), a Māori researcher, notes when she identifies research as “... a significant site of struggle between the interests and ways of knowing of the West and the interests and ways of resisting of the Other”. The Other in her example, and in our section, represents the position that Indigenous Peoples take as marginal forces within the mainstream currents of the global knowledge society.

In the history of contact between Europeans and Indigenous Peoples, knowledge and the production of knowledge rapidly became commodities to be exploited by the European colonizers. Only the recent global decolonization movement of Indigenous Peoples allowed for the creation of an indigenous research agenda. According to Smith (2005: 115-118) this global indigenous research agenda consists of four main “conditions and states of being through which indigenous communities are moving”: survival, recovery, development, and finally self-determination. The ultimate goal of the indigenous research agenda is self-determination, which not only becomes a political goal, but also a goal of social justice (Smith 2005: 116).

Smith (2005: 142-162) continues her inquiries into (social) research and knowledge production within the indigenous context by identifying several potential indigenous research projects, of which some nicely resonate with the papers and presentations discussed within our section:

Claiming: making claims about the rights and dues of Indigenous Peoples (Muhamad-Brandner, O’Connor, Guitérrez Vega)
Celebrating Survival: celebrate successfully retained cultural and spiritual values and authenticity of Indigenous Peoples (Greyling, Chester & Neelameghan)
Connecting: relate Indigenous People to other people and the environment (Lomosits & McCaslin, Menezs de Souza & Andreotti, O’Connor)
Representing: representation as political concept and as voice and expression of Indigenous Peoples (Chester & Neelameghan, Greyling)
Reframing: taking control over the ways indigenous issues are discussed and handled (Lomosits & McCaslin, Muhamad-Brandner, Guitérrez Vega)
Networking: building and disseminating knowledge through networks (Neelameghan & Chester, Menezes de Souza & Andreotti)
Sharing: sharing knowledge as a collective benefit and a form of resistance, which becomes a responsibility of research with Indigenous Peoples (O’Connor, Menezes de Souza & Andreotti)

Smith (2005) concludes that Indigenous Peoples have their own research needs and priorities, which can but need not agree with the interests of non-indigenous researchers.

Guided by the insightful structure of Smith’s indigenous research program, the papers collected in our conference section address a variety of new social, political, and cultural forms of indigeneity (The concept of “indigeneity” refers in this context to the global construction of indigenous identity, often facilitated through new ICTs (Forte 2006).) Each paper makes reference to one or more of four broadly thematic questions posed by the conference section chairs:

How can social sciences describe and explain local indigenous knowledge production in a potentially global knowledge system?
How do indigenous communities integrate new media practices and ICTs into processes of local media production and networking to participate in socio-cultural life, political movements, economic development, healthcare, education, and so forth?
How might indigenous communities’ uses of new media and ICTs reflect challenges for diversity, conflict, global ethics, pluralism, gender, youth and heritage?
What best practices have indigenous organizations developed around the inter-linkages of knowledge production, new media, ICTs, and local/global community networks?

In her paper, Catharina Muhamad-Brandner discusses a Māori decolonization and renaissance movement and the effects it has had on New Zealand’s online identity. Her paper resonates particularly with the second and third thematic questions pertaining to new media practices and socio-cultural politics. In it Muhamad-Brandner describes how new second-level internet domains that refer to the Māori peoples have been introduced and explains how these new media practices positively contribute to the continuing indigenization of Aotearoa/New Zealand’s cyberspace. She concludes that Aotearoa’s Indigenous Peoples have taken significant steps to reclaim and represent their traditional “territory” through the world wide web.

Greg Chester and A. Neelameghan compare in their paper the ways major indigenous stories and events are covered by local mainstream news media in the USA versus online. With an eye on the second and third thematic questions Chester and Neelameghan describe situations where indigenous populations that made up significant percentages of rural American communities were underrepresented by local non-indigenous news media outlets offline. By comparison they found that specialized news media on the internet provided more local information about events relevant to the indigenous populations of those communities. Responding to the fourth thematic question Chester and Neelameghan conclude that more open communication systems such as those found on the web are needed to raise awareness for indigenous issues among no-indigenous media producers and consumers.

In her paper, Betsie Greyling introduces a virtual library model for rural communities in South Africa. Responding to the first and second thematic questions, she describes a way to make indigenous knowledge both globally and locally accessible over the web. Drawing from her experience implementing the project through an action research project, Greyling describes how digital literacy skills were transferred to community members through project based learning to help them carry on with the preservation of their local indigenous knowledge and the creation of local media contents to keep their virtual library current. Greyling concludes that through this model the whole community is integrated in ongoing processes of creating and managing knowledge that can outlive the project development phase.

A. Neelameghan and Greg Chester discuss in their second paper another device for empowering indigenous communities through new media technologies. Responding to the second and third thematic questions they describe how mobile and wireless communication is increasingly used in rural India to produce and disseminate indigenous knowledge about local environmental conditions. They conclude that the knowledge networks produced through cell phone use can benefit indigenous communities locally, while augmenting local benefits by connecting local knowledge and action with governmental, non-governmental and international organizations.

Although not featured in the collection of papers Lynn Mario Menezes de Souza and Vanessa Andreotti introduced a literacy tool to the conference section that encourages learners to appreciate a pluralistic knowledge society, one inclusive of Indigenous Peoples. In response to the fourth thematic question Menezes de Souza and Andreotti concluded that educators must be challenged to reflect upon their ethnocentrism when dealing with indigenous and multi-cultural issues in the classroom.

In his paper, Kevin O’Connor describes how people can learn from places by connecting learning, knowledge production and dissemination to local places with the support of ICTs. In response to the first, second and fourth thematic questions he critically discusses three place-based education programs in Northern Canada, which aim to promote a holistic form of education that values place, nature, and the indigenous knowledge about them. O’Connor concludes that ICTs have the potential to support educators and students to develop new perspectives on cultural events and objects, to get students together, and to share knowledge about environmental and place-based issues.

In response to the third and fourth thematic questions Helga Lomosits and Wanda McCaslin introduce in their paper a program on indigenous diplomacy and young international professionals that bridges the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous students concerned with justice and legal issues within the global knowledge society. Lomosits and McCaslin conclude that through the program young indigenous peoples have the chance to exchange ideas, learn about other cultures and regions and reframe their identities and experiences as young indigenous persons.

Finally, in response to the second and third thematic questions Pablo Gutiérrez Vega deals with the issue of “cartographic gaps”, the differences between indigenous and non-indigenous ways of tracing and mapping land. Guittérrez Vega argues that ICTs, such as geographical information systems (GIS) have the potential to support Indigenous Peoples in their self-demarcation of indigenous territories. Yet, drawing from his activist fieldwork in Venezuela, Vega concludes that forms of ICT enabled indigenous self-demarcation face real challenges concerning local community members’ access to and control over the technologies and resulting data.

Questions about what happens to Indigenous Peoples within a global knowledge society – however one wants to define this societal construct – or about how non-indigenous people experience action and solidarity with Indigenous People remain open for debate, as Adam Fiser and Veronica Alfaro remarked in the final discussion of this conference section. They reminded us that it is important not to forget that only few members of indigenous communities actually have access and the means to control new media technologies independently of the dominant mainstream societies in their regions. Yet what seems clear and exciting is that the knowledge society, with all its new ICTs and ways to locally produce and globally disseminate knowledge, provides new and positive opportunities for Indigenous Peoples to continue resisting the dominant currents of mainstream global society.

References

Forte, Maximilian C. (2006): Amerindian@Caribbean: Internet indigeneity in the electronic generation of Carib and Taino identities. In Landzelius, Kyra (Ed.), Native on the Net: Indigenous and Diasporic Peoples in the Virtual Age (pp. 132-151). London and New York: Routledge.

Smith, Linda Tuhiwai (2005): Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. London & New York: Zed Books. Eight Impression.

UNHCHR (2001): United Nations Guide for Indigenous Peoples. Geneva: United Nations. Online: http://www.unhchr.ch/html/racism/00-indigenousguide.html

UNHCHR (1997): Fact Sheet No. 9 (Rev.1), The Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Geneva: United Nations.

Report on the CRASSH Workshop “Subversion, Conversion, Development"

2008-07-14T09:51:00.004+02:00

Report
CRASSH Workshop “Subversion, Conversion, Development:
Public Interests in Technologies”
Cambridge, 24-26 April

prepared by Philipp Budka
(University of Vienna)

From the workshop’s abstract:
As part of the “New forms of knowledge for the 21st Century” research agenda at Cambridge University, the workshop will explore why designers and developers of new technologies should be interested in producing objects that users can modify, redeploy or redevelop. This exploration demands an examination of presuppositions that underpin the knowledge practices associated with the various productions of information communication technologies (ICT). A central question is that of diversity: diversity of use, of purpose, and of value(s). Does diversity matter, in the production and use of ICT, and if so, why?

The report on the workshop can be accessed as PDF document:
budka_CRASSHreport.pdf

Links:
http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/71/
http://vectors.usc.edu/thoughtmesh/publish/12.php

Austrian Studies in Social Anthropology - Sonderband zu Medien und Film

2008-06-24T16:29:00.009+02:00

Ein Sonderband zu Medien und Film für das Online-Journal Austrian Studies in Social Anthropology, der aus einem Workshop bei den 3. Tagen der Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie am Institut für Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie der Universität Wien resultiert, ist fertig gestellt und kann online bezogen werden.

Aus der Einleitung:

"In den letzten Jahren unterzog sich die Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie einem großen Wandel, der auch eine Reihe neuer Themen und Forschungsfelder mit sich brachte. Zu diesen neueren Forschungsrichtungen zählen auch die Anthropologie der Medien und die Anthropologie des Films. Um einen Einblick in die vielfältigen Thematiken dieser beiden Forschungsfelder der Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie zu geben, fand im Rahmen der 3. Tage der Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie 2007 erstmals ein eigener Workshop mit dem Titel „Medien und Film“ statt. In zehn interessanten Beiträgen stellten die ReferentInnen aktuelle Forschungsfelder der Anthropologie der Medien und des Films vor. Eine Auswahl möchten wir in dieser Sondernummer der ASSA vorstellen."

Aus dem Inhaltsverzeichnis:

Artikel 2-7: Workshop "Medien und Film", Claudia Trupp und Philipp Budka (Hg.)
Artikel 2:
Claudia Trupp und Philipp Budka: Einleitung
Artikel 3:
Martha-Cecilia Dietrich Ortega: Indigene Repräsentation im „neuen“ venezolanischen Fernsehen
Artikel 4:
Georg Schön: Soziale Bewegungen und (Gegen-)Öffentlichkeiten in Mexiko
Artikel 5:
Sabine Karrer: Bittersüße Schokolade – Die Geschichte eines Widerstandes?
Artikel 6:
Philipp Budka: How “real life” issues affect the social life of online networked communities
Artikel 7:
Katrin Julia Brezansky: ANANCY´S WEB. Über Cyberspaces und Cyberscapes im Kontext einer universellen Rastafari-Philosophie

Canadian government apologies to residential schools' survivors

2008-06-12T22:52:00.001+02:00

Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologies to Aboriginal students and survivors of residential schools:

"Mr. Speaker, I stand before you today to offer an apology to former students of Indian residential schools. The treatment of children in Indian residential schools is a sad chapter in our history.
In the 1870's, the federal government, partly in order to meet its obligation to educate aboriginal children, began to play a role in the development and administration of these schools.
Two primary objectives of the residential schools system were to remove and isolate children from the influence of their homes, families, traditions and cultures, and to assimilate them into the dominant culture.
(...)"

from CBC News.

Video from Harper's Office:

More Info at: http://media.knet.ca/node/4212

Community Informatics (CI) in Vienna

2008-06-03T10:44:00.005+02:00

Michael Gurstein held a lecture yesterday about "what is community informatics and why does it matter?" at the Austrian Computer Society in Vienna.

Gurstein states that one of the important aspects of CI is to bring researchers, practitioners, and policy makers together to work within a processual structure.

CI aims to solve real live problems of communities by integrating information and communication technologies (ICT) in different community processes. Thus, the community becomes the “user” of ICT and not the individual. This bottom-up approach should ideally lead to the empowerment of the community through ICT.

In contrary to the concept of the “digital divide”, CI is about “effective use of ICT” and not about access to ICT. Within the context of CI, ICT is to enable people to e.g. decentralize institutions or distribute local knowledge. A good example of such a decentralized institution is the Keewaytinook Internet High School (KIHS) of the KO Tribal Council in Northwestern Ontario, which enables First Nations’ students to stay in their remote communities while attending school.

Jana Herwig wrote a nice report in German about Gurstein’s lecture and the follow-up discussion for her blog.

Michael Gurstein in Vienna

2008-06-02T07:35:00.004+02:00

One of the founders of community informatics, Michael Gurstein, visits Vienna to introduce this new disciplin to an audience at the Austrian Computer Society. The event is co-organized by the Graduate Students' Centre of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Vienna.

frome the Wikipedia:

Community informatics (CI) refers to an emerging set of principles and practices concerned with the use of information and communication technology (ICT) for the personal, social, cultural or economic development of and within communities. CI as an academic discipline (and as a practice) is often located within Information Systems presented however, in conjunction with community development and other social academic and practice areas. It can be considered as a cross or interdisciplinary approach utilising ICTs for different forms of community action.
(...)

for more information see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_informatics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Gurstein
http://www.ciresearch.net
http://ci-journal.net
http://www.communityinformatics.net

Steve Cisler passed away

2008-05-27T08:53:00.005+02:00

Steve Cisler, internet activist and librarian passed away this month. He was a very active guy, co-editing and co-writing, e.g., one of the first publications about indigenous groups and the internet in 1998 (Cultural Survival, 21.4). Unfortunately, I met him only once at the Incommunicado Conference in Amsterdam in 2005. (Steve also wrote a nice report on this event.)

Some of his friends and colleagues collected and posted their thoughts and memories about Steve:

Steve Cisler - first Internet librarian
Steve Cisler is gone
Steve Cisler RIP
Steve Cisler Passes

Pelican Falls First Nation High School

2008-02-20T11:45:00.000+01:00

Auf dem Gebiet der Lac Seul First Nation befindet sich die Pelican Falls First Nation High School, die ausschließlich für Schüler aus den indigenen Gemeinschaften der Nishnawbe Aski errichtet wurde. Administrativ und organisatorisch ist die Schule somit dem Northern Nishnawbe Education Council unterstellt.

Neben Fächern wie Englisch oder Mathematik werden auch Kurse angeboten, die speziell für die First Nation SchülerInnen entwickelt wurden, wie Sprachunterrricht zum Erlernen der indigenen Sprachen (Ojibwe, Ojicree und Cree) oder Werkzeugunterricht zum Erstellen von traditionellen Werkzeugen und Produkten, wie Kanus oder Tierfallen. So soll indigene Kultur und Wissen auch im institutionellen Rahmen einer Schule weitergeben werden.

Neben der Schule gibt es in Pelican Falls auch Unterkünfte in denen die Kinder in kleinen Gruppen untergebracht sind. Jedes dieser Häuser wird von speziell geschulten SozialarbeiterInnen betreut, die den Schülern helfen sollen sich in der ungewohnten Umgebung zurecht zu finden und wohl zu fühlen.

Wichtige Bestandteile dieser Unterkünfte sind Computerarbeitsplätze, die vor allem genutzt werden um mit Freunden und Familie in den Heimatgemeinschaften in Kontakt zu bleiben. Das von K-Net angebotene Homepage-Hostingservice MyKnet.org spielt dabei eine ganz entscheidende Rolle.

Lac Seul First Nation

2008-02-18T18:04:00.002+01:00

Lac Seul First Nation (Obishikokaang) liegt etwa 40 km nordwestlich von Sioux Lookout und besteht aus den drei Gemeinschaften/Siedlungen Frenchman's Head, Kejick Bay und Whitefish Bay. Lac Seul ist das älteste Reservat im Sioux Lookout District und gehört der Independent First Nations Alliance an.

Während im Sommer Kejick Bay ausschließlich über den See - den Lac Seul - mit Booten zu erreichen ist, wird im Winter der zugefrorene See als Straße verwendet. Auch die kleinste Gemeinschaft - Whitefish Bay - ist im Winter wesentlich einfacher und schneller zu erreichen.

Bis 1929 bildeten Kejick Bay und Whitefish Bay eine gemeinsame Siedlung am Festland. Durch die Überflutung großer Teile des Festlands durch "Ontario Hydro", einen regionalen Stromerzeuger, wurde Kejick Bay zu einer Insel und viele Familien verließen die Siedlung und das Reservat. Heute leben etwa zwei Drittel der Mitglieder der Lac Seul First Nation nicht mehr im Reservat sondern beispielsweise in den Städten Red Lake und Sioux Lookout.

In Kejick Bay befindet sich im Gebäude der ehemaligen Band Office das sogenannte "Access Center", das Mitgliedern der Gemeinde Computer und Internet zur Verfügung stellt, etwa um mit Freunden und Verwandten in anderen Gemeinschaften und Regionen in Kontakt zu bleiben. Die Räumlichkeiten werden aber ebenso für Workshops und Schulungen verwendet.

Australia apologies to Indigenous Peoples

2008-02-13T21:06:00.008+01:00

From the New York Times:

"Prime Minister Kevin Rudd opened a new chapter in Australia’s tortured relations with its indigenous peoples on Wednesday with a comprehensive and moving apology for past wrongs and a call for bipartisan action to improve the lives of Australia’s Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders.

“The Parliament is today here assembled to deal with this unfinished business of the nation, to remove a great stain from the nation’s soul, and in a true spirit of reconciliation to open a new chapter in the history of this great land, Australia,” Mr. Rudd told Parliament.
(...)"

From the National Indigenous Times:

"They jumped, whooped and hollered on the lawns of Parliament in Canberra following the apology to the Stolen Generations read by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd this morning.

The long overdue apology was the one of the first issues of business for the 42nd Parliament of Australia.

The declaration itself read concisely and made its message clear, yet as the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's voice wore on with more personal anecdotes, the mood of the 5,000 strong crowd turned from one of quiet celebration to one of outright sorrow.

Tears were hard to hold back as members of the Stolen Generations that weren’t inside Parliament House openly wept during the speech that will be remembered for many years to come.
(...)"

Rudd's speech on ABC.
The full apology in The Sidney Morning Herald.

Der kälteste Ort in Kanada?

2008-02-10T22:53:00.001+01:00

In Winnipeg, der Hauptstadt der Provinz Manitoba, liegt angeblich der kälteste Ort Kanadas. Und das liegt vor allem am Wind, der aus der kalten Prärie kommend, genau an der Ecke Main Street und Portage Avenue am stärksten zu spüren sein soll. Für die Einheimischen ist also der Wind Chill, der gemeinsam mit der eigentlichen Aussentemperatur die gefühlte Temperatur ausmacht, von großer Wichtigkeit. Gemütliche -28 Grad Celsius werden so schnell zu eher ungemütlichen -35 bis -40 Grad Celsius.

Ob diese Ecke in Winnipeg wirklich der kälteste Ort im ohnehin schon ziemlich kühlen Kanada ist, darf bezweifelt werden. Es ist aber auf jeden Fall kein Ort an dem man sich im Winter länger als unbedingt notwendig aufhalten möchte.

K-Net in Sioux Lookout

2008-02-07T23:16:00.000+01:00

Nach fast 30-stündiger Zugfahrt endlich in Sioux Lookout angekommen, statte ich natürlich K-Net, dem Internet Service und Netzwerk Provider des Keewaytinook Okimakanak Tribal Councils, einen meiner ersten Besuche ab. Die Organisationen hat nun das gesamte Gebäude in der King Street übernommen und auch sein Team mit neuen MitarbeiterInnen verstärkt.

In Sioux Lookout sind im Winter einige Geschäfte und Restaurants nicht geöffnet, da diese entweder nicht für die eisigen Temperaturen ausgerüstet sind oder sich auf den Sommertourismus spezialsiert haben. So ist etwa das Kino, oder das Restaurant Knobby's geschlossen. So geht es im Winter in der Stadt etwas ruhiger zu als im Sommer, auch wenn es genügend kulturelle Veranstaltungen oder Möglichkeiten gibt sich etwa sportlich zu betätigen.

Zurück in Kanada

2008-02-04T15:28:00.001+01:00

Meine Forschung führt mich wieder zurück nach Kanada und noch dazu im Winter - was kann es schöneres geben?

Bevor ich mich per Zug in den Nordwesten Ontarios - die Nishnawbe-Aski - aufmache, verbringe ich ein paar Tage in Toronto, treffe Freunde und betreibe Literaturrecherchen in der Robarts Library der Universität von Toronto.

Leider ist es nicht allzu kalt, so zwischen -3 und +3 Grad Celsius, und der Schnee in der Großstadt Toronto verwandelt sich so relativ rasch in braunen Gatsch und rießige Wasserlacken, die oft nur sehr schwierig zu umgehen sind.

Nach meinen obligatorischen Besuchen kulinarischer Natur in China Town und in einem englischen Pub - Rindfleisch-Nudel-Suppe bzw. Fish and Chips - spazierte ich in der Stadt umher, besuchte die Casa Loma, das Winterfestival vor dem Rathaus und die Queen Street, auf der auch im Winter kräftig eingekauft wird.

Section/Workshop: Indigenous Peoples Knowledge Society

2007-11-27T10:22:00.000+01:00

The section "Indigenous Peoples Knowledge Society" of the KCTOS conference will take place at the 7th of December at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology of the University of Vienna.

More detailed information can be found in the workshop's program:
fiser_budka_program.pdf

Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples approved by UN General Assembly

2007-09-13T20:27:00.002+02:00

The UN General Assembly passed a declaration on the human rights of the world’s indigenous people. Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States rejected the document, stating it went too far in giving indigenous peoples ownership of their traditional lands and veto rights over national legislation and local management of resources. The declaration, which had been debated for 30 years, is nonbinding. Voting in favor were 143 nations, and 11 countries abstained.

(derived from the New York Times)

Official reaction of the Assembly of First Nations in Canada:

AFN Press Release ...

AFN National Chief Applauds Today's Passage of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples - Recognizing 30 Years of Work in the Making

OTTAWA, Sept. 13 - The National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations called today an important day for Indigenous people around the world, including First Nations in Canada.

"While the Declaration is not perfect, it is a step toward setting minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of Indigenous people everywhere. It's a day to celebrate.

"This recognition was a long time coming," National Chief Phil Fontaine said. "The Declaration recognizes our collective histories, traditions, cultures, languages, and spirituality. It is an important international instrument that supports the activities and efforts of Indigenous peoples to have their rights fully recognized, respected and implemented by state governments."

However, the National Chief said he is gravely concerned that the Government of Canada chose to vote against the UN Declaration and, in effect, opposes fundamental human rights protections for Indigenous peoples. Canada lobbied hard to convince other countries to not support the Declaration. It is the first time Canada voted against an international human rights instrument. Despite Canada's efforts, many countries decided to vote in favour of the United Nations Declaration.

"The Assembly of First Nations and other representatives of Indigenous peoples in Canada offered to work with the government to address the concerns it had and to come to a solution, but that offer was refused," National Chief Phil Fontaine said. "Canada prides itself as a protector of human rights. It is a member of the UN Human Rights Council, yet it is disappointing today to see this government vote against recognizing the basic rights of Canada's First Peoples. This is a stain on the country's international reputation."

First Nations Chiefs and First Nations representatives invested an enormous amount of work into the Declaration over the last 30 years.

The Assembly of First Nations is the national organization representing First Nations citizens in Canada.

(from K-News)

Background information about the Declaration can be found on the website of IWGIA (International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs): http://www.iwgia.org/sw248.asp and in the Spring 2007 issue of Cultural Survival Voices.

Workshop: Indigenous Peoples Knowledge Society

2007-08-10T01:21:00.001+02:00

KCTOS Conference: Knowledge, Creativity, and Transformation of Societies
Vienna, Austria, 6 to 9 December 2007

Conference Section/Workshop: Indigenous Peoples Knowledge Society: Transformations and Challenges / Indigene in der Wissensgesellschaft: Transformationen und Herausforderungen
http://www.inst.at/kctos/sektionen_a-f/fiser_budka.htm

Of the more than 300 Million Indigenous Peoples recognized by the United Nations, a growing minority is actively shaping indigenous visions of a knowledge-based society. These visions are not simply indigenous responses to global mainstream debates over post-industrial development or techno-scientific culture, etc. More importantly, they articulate the actual deployment of new media and information communications technologies (ICTs) by indigenous communities to forward their own policies and practices. They frame how indigenous communities are mobilizing over the internet and on the Web to communicate their lived experiences and extend their local networks to global audiences, including and especially, a global indigenous audience.

For academics in the field, online indigenous communities are opening up spaces of inquiry beyond the digital divide by actively co-creating virtual communities and transforming their cultural experience through ICTs (i.e., real life in cyberspace). Questions about resources, knowledge/power and access continue to be important, but they have become more complicated by issues of networking and social life, virtual reproduction, and information policy. These new social, political, and cultural forms of indigeneity will be discussed within this section.

Papers within this section address one or more themes reflected in the following research questions:

• How can/should social sciences describe and explain local indigenous knowledge production in a potentially global knowledge system? What are the socio-cultural and political inter-linkages between local and global?
• How do indigenous communities integrate new media practices and ICTs into processes of local media production and networking to participate in socio-cultural life, political movements, economic development, healthcare, education, and so forth?
• How might indigenous communities’ uses of new media and ICTs reflect challenges for diversity, conflict, global ethics, pluralism, gender, youth and heritage?
• What best practices have indigenous organizations developed around the inter-linkages of knowledge production, new media, ICTs, and local/global community networks (that could inform practitioners and scholars)?

International Day of the World's Indigenous People - August 9

2007-08-09T23:44:00.002+02:00

By resolution 49/214 of 23 December 1994, the General Assembly decided to celebrate the International Day of the World's Indigenous People on 9 August every year during the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People. In 2004 the Assembly proclaimed a Second International Decade by resolution 59/174. The goal of this Decade is to further strengthen international cooperation for the solution of problems faced by indigenous people in such areas as culture, education, health, human rights, the environment, and social and economic development.

In April 2000, the Commission on Human Rights adopted a resolution to establish the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues which was endorsed by the Economic and Social Council in resolution 2000/22 of 28 July 2000. The mandate of the Permanent Forum is to discuss indigenous issues related to culture, economic and social development, education, the environment, health and human rights.

Blueberry & Walleye

2007-07-22T02:19:00.002+02:00

Beerensammeln und Fischen sind zwei der beliebtesten Freizeitunternehmungen im sommerlichen Kanada und natürlich auch in Sioux Lookout. Beide Aktivitäten haben einiges gemeinsam und konzentrieren sich im nordwestlichen Ontario vor allem auf die Blaubeere (hier können mehrere Arten unterschieden werden: u.a. die kanadische Blaubeere Vaccinium myrtilloides) und den Walleye (Stizostedion vitreum vitreum) der von den Kanadiern auch Pickerel genannt wird:

man muss sehr früh aufstehen, um beim Pflücken der Hitze zu entgehen bzw. beim Fischen auch wirklich Walleyes anzutreffen;
sowohl das Pflücken als auch das Fischen wird zumeist in Gruppen begonnen, die sich dann allerdings auflösen und jeder auf eigene Faust sein Glück versucht;
es gibt unzählige Geschichten rund um das Pflücken und Fischen, die gewöhnlich auf dem Weg zu oder vom Wald oder See zum Besten gegeben werden;
die Menge der gesammelten Beeren bzw. die Größe der gefangenen Fische wird von den Pflücker- und Fischerkollegen kritisch beäugt, kommentiert und bewertet;
sowohl Walleyes als auch Blaubeeren können auf unzählige Arten zubereitet werden:
die Fische werden gebraten, gedämpft, gebacken, gegrillt, in Suppen gekocht;
die Beeren werden pur gegessen, in Kuchen, Palatschinken und Muffins gesteckt oder als Marmelade und Chutney verkocht. Um Fische und Beeren zu lagern werden diese gerne getrocknet oder eingefroren;
Fischen und Beerenpflücken wird mit gebotenem Ernst und Professionalität betrieben und an bestimmten Anlässen zelebriert, wie etwa das Blueberry Festival in Sioux Lookout, die One Man Lake Walleye Classics oder das Walleye Masters in Dryden beweisen.

Besuch in Mishkeegogamang

2007-07-08T00:48:00.000+02:00

Mishkeegogamang ist eine politisch unabhängige First Nation, die etwa 250 km nordwestlich von Sioux Lookout am Highway 599 liegt. Rund 800 Menschen leben in den Siedlungen Bottle Hill, Poplar Heights, Sandy Road und Ten Houses. Während die erstgenannten Gemeinschaften zusammen den Kern des Reservats bilden, liegt Ten Houses etwa 20 km weiter südlich.

Mish ist gerade dabei, die vom Keewaytinook Okimakanak (KO) Chief Council und K-Net zur Verfügung gestellten Videokonferenz-Systeme auch außerhalb des Telemedicine/Telehealth Programms für nicht medizinische Zwecke zu testen und zu promoten. So sollen weitere Systeme angeschafft werden, um die Menschen im Reservat mit diversen sozialen und staatlichen Organisationen und Einrichtungen in Ontario und in ganz Kanada zu vernetzen.

Während des Sommers wird in Mish eine Fußball-Liga veranstaltet, an der neben vier Männermannschaften auch eine Damenmannschaft, die "Lady Hawks" teilnehmen. Fußball scheint also auch im Mutterland des Eishockeys immer populärer zu werden – zumindest einmal im Sommer...

Canada Day in Sioux Lookout

2007-07-03T00:05:00.000+02:00

Canada Day wird - zumindest im englischsprachigen Kanada - gerne mit einem Feuerwerk gefeiert. Der Nationalfeiertag soll an die Etablierung Kanadas als selbstständiges Land bzw. Union am 1. Juli anno 1867 erinnern.

Ich verbrachte diesen, diesmal leider regnerischen, Feiertag mit einem Ausflug im Kanu und einem Wohltätigkeitsfischessen am öffentlichen Strand von Sioux Lookout. Abends bestaunte ich dann das Feuerwerk, das für die zahlreichen Zuschauer in der Nähe des Strandes gezündet wurde.

Montreal und CRACIN Workshop

2007-06-24T23:40:00.001+02:00

Montreal, eine multikulturelle und bilinguale Stadt, die ihren Namen dem Berg (Mont Royal) im Herzen der Stadt zu verdanken hat, ist vielleicht die europäischste aller nordamerikanischen Metropolen. Cafés, Pubs mit Gastgärten, Mode- und Schmuckgeschäfte sowie südeuropäische Restaurants und Bars sorgen für den unvergleichlichen Charme für den die zweitgrößte französischsprachige Stadt der westlichen Hemisphäre nach Paris, nicht nur in Kanada, berühmt ist.

Ich hatte nun das Vergnügen in dieser einzigartigen Stadt an dem fünften und gleichzeitig auch letzten Workshop der Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking (CRACIN) teilzunehmen, der an der Concordia University veranstaltet wurde. Das Projekt CRACIN bringt seit 2003 Community Partner und Regierungsvertreter mit Wissenschaftlern und Forschern zusammen, um gemeinsam die Fortschritte und Ergebnisse ausgewählter kanadischer Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologie Initiativen zu untersuchen. K-Net ist etwa einer dieser Community Partner.

Als Außenstehender fand ich die unterschiedlichen Formen der Zusammenarbeit zwischen den Partnern, die nicht notwendiger Weise immer die gleichen Ziele verfolgen, als besonders beeindruckend.

Essen in Torontos China Town

2007-06-07T19:27:00.002+02:00

China Town in Toronto erstreckt sich vor allem entlang der Dundas Street West zwischen Spadina Avenue und University Avenue. Ein chinesisches Geschäft neben dem anderen: chinesische Musik, chinesische Kleidung, chinesische Kräuter und chinesische Medizin. Und nicht zu vergessen: chinesisches Essen.

Auf der Such nach eben diesem, kehrte ich auf der Spadina Avenue in ein Lokal ein, das sich der Dim Sum Küche rühmt. Nachdem ich auf meinen Platz geleitet wurde, bekam ich einen Zettel in die Hand gedrückt auf dem der Gast sein Essen auswählen und die gewünschte Menge angeben soll. Ich entschied mich für gedämpfte Rindfleischbällchen, gefüllte Teigtaschen mit Shrimps sowie eine andere Version der Teigtäschchen mit Gemüse und Schweinefleich. Da ich eigentlich nur eine Kleinigkeit essen wollte, entschloß ich mich jeweils nur zwei dieser gedämpften Köstlichkeiten zu bestellen.

Nachdem ich vom vorzüglichen Tee getrunken und das Restaurant und seine Gäste etwas ausführlicher betrachtet hatte, erschien eine Kellnerin und brachte zwei Körbchen auch Holz, die sie mir geöffnet vorsetzte. In beiden befanden sich jeweils drei gedämpfte Fleischbällchen von der Größe eines Marillenknödels. Während ich mich noch über die scheinbare Ähnlichkeit der drei bestellten Gerichte wunderte, brachten mir zwei andere eilfertige Kellner noch vier weitere Körbchen mit insgesamt zwölf Teigtäschchen. Mein knapper Kommentar, dass ich das niemals aufessen könne, wurde höflich überhört und nur ein neben mir sitzender Gast meinte, dass ich offensichtlich einen sehr großen Hunger haben müsse. Anstatt der, so wie ich glaubte, sechs Dim Sum Spezialitäten musste ich also mit achtzehn kulinarischen Leckerbissen kämpfen. Nachdem ich zehn gegessen hatte, gab ich den Kampf auf und ließ mir die übrigen einpacken, um diese dann am Abend kalt zu verzehren. Schmeckte übrigens vorzüglich und machte mir durchaus Appetit auf weitere Besuche in den chinesischen Lokalen Torontos.

EASA conference

2006-10-09T15:25:00.000+02:00

From 18th to 21st of September the University of Bristol (UK) hosted the 9th Biannual Conference of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA). The topic of this years conference was "Europe and the World", which attracted more than 900 social- and cultural anthropologists from all around Europe and the World ;-)

The EASA Media Anthropology Network organised a workshop, which aimed to contribute to the understanding of media practices. Experienced and young scholars gave papers on theoretical as well as very practical topics, ranging from the meaning of "media practices" to the internet as media practice in West Africa. More information about the workshop and its participants as well as some full-text papers can be found at the event webpage of the Media Anthropology Network's website.

Media Anthropology Workshop at the EASA Conference in Bristol

KORI

2006-07-30T08:24:00.001+02:00

Das Keewaytinook Okimakanak (Northern Chiefs) Council gründete 2004 ein Forschungsinstitut, um die Bedürfnisse der indigenen Gemeinschaften wissenschaftlich fundiert und unabhängig von externen Forschungseinrichtungen erheben zu können. Schwerpunkt in den Untersuchungen und Studien von KORI (KO Research Institute), das seinen Sitz in Thunder Bay hat, ist die kulturell und sozial adäquate Verwendung und Entwicklung von Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien innerhalb der unterschiedlichen Programme und Initiativen von KO:

Telehealth (Gesundheitsvorsorge und -Betreuung mittels Internet)
Bildung (mittels E-Learning)
Vernetzung indigener Gemeinschaften mittels Breitbandinternet und Satellitenverbindung

KORI-Mitarbeiter inspizieren die Errichtung einer Komponente eines WLAN-Netzwerkes auf einem Haus in Thunder Bay

KORI bietet auf seiner Website diverse Unterlagen, Dokumente und Informationen, die von Mitarbeitern des Instituts gesammelt und ständig erweitert werden. So findet sich unter diesen Ressourcen etwa auch eine vorläufige Version eines Leitfadens für sozialwissenschaftliche Forschung innerhalb und mit den indigenen Gemeinschaften der Region.