First Nations Women's Stories of Learning

LEARNING TO BE PROUD: FIRST NATIONS WOMEN'S STORIES OF LEARNING, TEACHING, ART AND CULTURE by LORRIE MILLER B.Ed., University of Regina, 1990 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF EDUCATION Department of Curriculum Studies We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard The University of British Columbia August, 1995 © Lorrie Miller, 1995 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of (LfiAUC&JkmL U(-UdjCJ^ The University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada Da,. Jiff X s 1115 DE-6 (2/88) ABSTRACT Six First Nations women artists tell their stories about learning their art and culture. Previous research has paid little attention to the learning experiences of First Nation women artists. Ethnographic research methods were used in this qualitative study. Field research included video and audio recorded intensive open-ended interviews with three Coastal Salish women from Sechelt, British Columbia, and three Cree women from Pukatawagan, Manitoba, as they tell how essential learning and teaching, art and culture are to them, their children and their communities. This study shows that there is a need for curricular reform and teacher education reform so that the school experiences for First Nations students will reflect and be sensitive to their histories, traditions and overall cultural identities. From testimonies presented in this thesis, it is evident that effective teaching of relevant cultural art content that results in meaningful learning leads to increased self knowledge, confidence and pride. iii CONTENTS Abstract . .' ii Table of Contents iii Acknowledgments viii Dedication ix' CHAPTER ONE LEARNING TO BE PROUD: FIRST NATIONS WOMEN'S STORIES OF LEARNING, TEACHING, ART & CULTURE Statement of the Problem Introduction 1 Background 1 Status of First Nations Women 2 First Nation Women Artists 5 Euro-Canadian, Euro-American Women Artists 8 Personal Ground Situating Myself 10 Research Questions 15 Clarification of Terms 16 Significance of the Study 18 CHAPTER TWO Review of Literature Introduction 19 Native Education 20 Status of First Nations' Women 25 First Nations' Women Artists 2 7 iv Art, Craft, & Artifact 35 Multicultural Education in Canada 37 Video Documentation of Oral Histories 39 Women's Voices, Written and Heard 42 CHAPTER THREE Design of the Study ^ Introduction to the Research 46 Theoretical Foundations 46 Overview of the Research Description of the Research 50 Gaining Access, or "How I Got There" 5 0 Sechelt 51 Pukatawagan 53 Population and Setting 54 Sechelt, British Columbia 54 Pukatawagan, Manitoba 56 Role of Researcher 58 Data Collection 60 Tr iangulation 63 External Validity 64 Reliability 64 Inductive Data Analysis 65 Summary 66 CHAPTER FOUR Findings 67 V Sechelt, British Columbia 67 Dionne Paul 67 Art 68 Learning 68 Teaching 69 Pride, art & culture, learning, teaching.... 70 Jenny Paull 73 Learning: schooling 7 3 Continued learning 75 Teaching: Passing on knowledge 76 Fran Nahanee 78 Art & culture, learning, teaching 7 8 Learning 79 Teaching: Motivating youth 79 Schooling 80 Teaching, learning, pride, art & culture.... 82 Pukatawagan, Manitoba 83 Melanie Molin 83 Art & culture: Art-making 83 Learning 84 Teaching 85 Methods of teaching 86 Pride 87 Community-based resources 87 Rose McCallum 88 vi Learning: Recollections of art, culture and family 88 Schooling 90 Learning and teaching: Community resources.91 Teaching: Passing on skills 92 Teaching and learning: A demonstration 92 Irene Linklater 94 Learning: At home 94 Learning from Elders 95 Schooling 95 Teaching and sharing knowledge 96 Art: School art 98 Art of the Ithiniw 98 Teaching: Parents teaching children 99 Teaching for the future 100 CHAPTER FIVE Discussion of Analysis 102 Major Themes 103 Learning 103 Teaching 105 Art & Culture 106 Intersections 107 Learning / Teaching 107 Learning / Art & Culture 109 Teaching / Art & Culture 110 vi Compound Intersection: Pride Ill Summary and Implications 116 Summary 116 Implications 117 Epilogue Personal Reflections 120 Writing and Research 120 Future Research 121 A Final Word 123 Model of Participants' Learning and Teaching Experiences 125 REFERENCES 126 APPENDIX 138 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Rita Irwin, for her guidance, support and belief in me, even during my bleakest moments. I would like to thank my committee members, Dr. Graeme Chalmers and Dr. Jean Barman, for their interest in this study, and their timely and helpful editorial suggestions. I would like to acknowledge the participants Melanie Molin, Rose McCallum, Irene Linklater, Fran Nahanee, Jenny Paull and Dionne Paul. I would like thank them for their hospitality, teaching and invaluable contributions. ix DEDICATION Although my roots only go three generation deep, my sons' are ancient. Akask and Wolfgang, thank-you for the inspiration and motivation you have given me to pursue this study. To their Cree ancestors and my eclectic forest of forebears who have passed on their wisdom, arts and culture to their children. Ekosi 1 CHAPTER ONE LEARNING TO BE PROUD: FIRST NATIONS WOMEN'S STORIES OF LEARNING, TEACHING, ART AND CULTURE Statement of the Problem Introduction The purpose of this study is to document educational influences on First Nations1 women artists. Learning experiences may have come from schooling, home, community, or other environments. Through documenting and analyzing the stories of six women, I will shed light on the role of the school and the role of the home and or community in the development of Native women artists. Background Prior to European contact and enforced governmental education policy, First Nations peoples had established community based education systems. "The social group as a whole was the school of every growing mind...The practical and the religious, the manual and the intellectual, the individual and the social flowed as one complex integrated function within the Indian group," (Mandelbaum in Gresko (1986, p.89). Historically, government policy for Indian education strongly emphasised assimilation by replacing "Native languages, religions, history and cultural traditions, values 1 First Nations, Native and Indian are terms used within the body of this thesis in reference to the peoples who first inhabited Canada. I choose to use the term First Nations but will use the terms of other researchers, and participants when referring to their work, or words. 2 and worldviews with those of the European settler nations [in order to] modify the values of the Indian nations through their children..." (Longboat, 1987, p.23). Traditional ritual days were renamed as Christian feast days. The schooling of native students was left in the hands of religious denominations, and as a result, education was often a missionary byproduct. Religious teachings often predominanted. Traditional activities, viewed as being heathenish and sinful (La Voilette, 1973), were denied, and Native languages were forbidden in the schools. The aim of the mission schools was to "civilize" Indian children in gradual preparation for Canadian citizenship. To be civilized was to be Christianized (Barman, 1986). Status of First Nations Women First Nations societies and the roles of First Nations women have been drastically altered since the time of European contact. The influence of capitalism, associated with the onset of the fur trade, contributed to the breakdown of many egalitarian, matriarchal civilizations (Bourgeault, 1989; Allen, 1986). Government policy along with church-run schools made the cultural disintegration multi-dimensional. This deculturalization was a conscious effort, not merely a byproduct of residential school curricula (Barman, 1986; Wilson, 1986). 3 In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Indian communal societies of the sub-Arctic, Northern Plains, Northern woodlands, as well as the Atlantic, were radically altered by the fur trade. As capitalist values were imposed on communal societies, egalitarian relations between Indian women and men were slowly destroyed creating in their place divisions of class, race and gender that had not previously existed (Bourgeault, 1989). The roles and status of First Nations women were transformed as their societies were also transformed through dominating formal policies. "They were first subordinated to the interests of European men, then to the interests of capital" (Bourgeault, 1989, p.98). First Nations women were exploited as sexual commodities established through trade relationships between the European fur traders and First Nations tribes. These relationships between First Nations women and European men paralleled the relationship between First Nations and European society as a whole. Many of these women were acquired though trade and capture (Bourgeault, 1989). "In either case, their labour within the mixed family units became a valuable commodity to be exploited" (p.102). They had valuable skills that the European women did not have to do support work for the fur posts. The acquisition of skills

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