The article for this weeks reading, “Learning from Place: A Return to Traditional Mushkegowuk Ways of Knowing”, is a study of the Mushkegowuk ways of knowing and interactions between the youth and elders int he community. Much of this article is trying to facilitate communication between the youth and the elders to find more depth in what the land and their river mean in the Mushkegowuk culture and community.
Reinhabitation and decolonization are motifs that are reoccurring in this work. One example is the reintroducing of youth to traditional ways of knowing. With the interviews the youth had with the elders. The sharing of traditions, values, and ways of knowing gave the youth opportunities to learn and develop a better sense of community with their elders and others.
Another example would be the 10-day river trip the youth and the elders took together. This trip was for renaming and reclaiming the land and to have the youth make connections to the land and the river. This was in the interest of decolonization, to take back their culture and their traditions. The value of the land has a big impact on the traditions and the culture of the community.
The idea that culture and tradition depend on place is interesting when reflecting on my own traditions and family values. I have lived in the same house for my entire life, so for me this house is a big part of the history and traditions of my family. Taking this idea into account there is much of this idea that can be applied to the classroom. Connecting a practice or tradition to a place causes a deeper connection with that practice or tradition.
Being a budding secondary biology teacher there is already a connection to land and place within the subject with learning about environment and animals in their ecosystems, etc. Bringing in the connection to place could be making connections to student’s homes and places they love to go. The interest would be to preserve those places by caring about the environment or preserving nature and valuing the natural state of the environment.
Bringing in a connection to land into the classroom could increase the student’s connection to their own places, but how does a teacher foster the deepening of those connections to place or tradition in the classroom?
References
Restoule, J. P., Gruner, S., & Metatawabin, E. (2013). Learning from Place: A Return to Traditional Mushkegowuk Ways of Knowing. Canadian Journal of Education, 36(2), 68-86.
Featured Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash.
Jessica is a student at University of Regina. Her passion for helping others and advocacy for the prevention of bullying in schools has lead her to a career in education. She is a dog lover, photographer, and a food lover.
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