This study investigates key components for effective Indigenous adult language learning and resulting health and wellness benefits following a Dene research paradigm with Grounded Theory applications. Eight colleagues in the Master’s of Indigenous Language Revitalization (MILR) program at the University of Victoria participated in open ended discussions on their experiences in learning their Indigenous languages as adults. These Indigenous adults reclaiming their ancestral languages report experiencing benefits related to health and overall well-being. Physical fitness and healthy weight loss, emotional healing and a greater sense of identity all surfaced for my colleagues while working towards or achieving fluency in their languages. The main methods of successful language learning used were the Master-Apprentice Program, Total Physical Response and Accelerated Second Language Acquisition. Tips for learning the languages are included. / Graduate / 2021-04-13

abstract: ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the role of tribal sovereignty and self-determination in research for Diné participants and elders from 1956-1986. The qualitative historical research study explored the following questions: How has past research been conducted on the Navajo Nation? What is the role of sovereignty and self-determination in research and research methodology for Diné peoples? And, how might Diné philosophy inform a research methodology that aligns with cultural protocols and practices? Six elders who participated in research from 1956-1986 participated in in-depth interviews about their experiences. Using Sa’ąh Naaghái Bik’eh Hozhǫ̨̨́ǫ́n and related Diné philosophy models, findings of this study inform an Indigenous elder knowledge protection model (i.e. Nihookáá’ Diné Nidoolkah Bindii’ą’) to support existing Diné tribal IRB protocols and policies and provides additional insight for tribal cultural protection organizations. Lastly, the researcher presents a Diné intersectional methodology for future research. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Social Justice and Human Rights 2020

I set out on this research concerned with human relations to the ecological world, and the role of law in these relationships. As one theory of nêhiyaw (Plains Cree) law and constitutionalism enables strong kinship relations between the nêhiyawak and non-human beings and things, I explore how nêhiyaw law can be revitalized to reconcile our land relationships. Wâhkôtowin, or the overarching principle that governs our relations, ensures that wellness and good living –miyo pimâtisiwin – is not only a human objective, but shared intersocietally with non-human relations and entities. This dissertation examines the constitutive role that four areas of Plains Cree livelihood – nêhiyaw âcimowina (narrative processes), nêhiyaw âskiy (Plains Cree territory and territoriality), nêhiyawewin (Plains Cree language) and nêhiyaw mamâhtâwiwina (Plains Cree ceremony) – play in ensuring such good living. Taking a ‘law as weaving’ approach’, these areas and institutions form a web to support kind relations to our environments and ecologies. Treaties provide an integral avenue to revitalize the uses of nêhiyaw law in our land relations. Canadian constitutionalism’s primary focus on human-to-human relations, without constitutional consideration of the agency of the ecological world, has had harmful effects on the wellness of non-human beings and things. When we apply the legal and constitutive principles within Plains Cree law and constitutionalism to Treaty 6, they obligate both the Crown and peoples within Canada in the same manner. / Graduate / 2021-07-27

Through a storytelling/yarning methodology (Bessarab & Ng'andu, 2010) and experience centered narrative research (Patterson, 2008), three Indigenous followers of Jesus and original inhabitants of the lands currently known as Canada, shared their stories of healing. The storytelling/ yarning method (Bessarab & Ng'andu, 2010) is rooted in Indigenous ways of knowing and fit seamlessly with the participants diverse Indigenous backgrounds and shared oral traditions. Through the experience centered research model, each participant engaged in meaning making of their personal narratives, reconstructed and presented their stories as their human lived experience, and finally, revealed their metamorphosis (Patterson, 2008) and contributions to Indigenous knowledges. The experience centered research framework utilized for knowledge gathering worked concertedly with the storytelling/yarning methodology as the healing stories presented here evolved not as stories of defeat, but of strength (Bessarab & Ng'andu, 2010). Some key teachings and themes arising from their stories include trauma, forgiveness, resilience, family, healing, and hope. This study aims to reveal Indigenous stories of healing and cease the perpetuation of harm to Indigenous peoples who have declared Jesus as their source of healing. Furthermore, this study aims to situate the knowledges gathered through these healing stories within the academic body of Indigenous knowledges. / Graduate

Okwire’shon:’a, or trees of the forest, guide the methodology and epistemology of my doctoral research. The Rotinonhsonni creation history tells us that all life is made from the clay of the earth (Mother Earth or First Woman), and therefore everything in Creation shares an origin in and a connection to the earth. Thus, Rotinonhsonni thoughtways understand trees to be part of an interconnected network of land-based knowledge that spans from time immemorial to the present. As extensions of First Woman, trees are literally my relations, my ancestors. While onkwehonwe (original peoples) have long been able to tap into the knowledge of the land (and many still do), colonialism has significantly disrupted our landed and place-based relationships and consequently our ability to read the land. This, in turn, disrupts the ability of onkwehonwe to live within the principles of Kayanerekowa. My dissertation explores, through juxtapositions of Rotinonhsonni oral histories, contemporary Indigenous literature, and a series of trees, the possibility of (re)learning to read and communicate with the land. Using a trans-Indigenous methodology, my project examines three branches of land-centered philosophy within Indigenous literature: enacting creation stories; spirit agency; and internalized ecological holism. By reading different Indigenous texts across from Rotinonhsonni epic teachings, my trans-Indigenous methodology affirms Indigenous alliances with the environment and with each other, their long-standing presence on and stewardship of the land, and the value and validity of knowledge that is ancestral, adaptive, and alive. I argue that by carrying forward land-centered knowledge contemporary Indigenous literature stimulates an awareness of the land and nonhuman societies as cognizant and in communication with us. Renewing relations and modes of relationality to the land in this way re-energizes Kayanerekowa, and has the potential to strengthen Indigenous efforts for self-determination, knowledge resurgence, land reclamation, and nation-to-nation alliances. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This project demonstrates a cyclical process of reading between a small selection of contemporary Indigenous literatures, Indigenous oral histories and cosmologies, and a series of trees indigenous to Turtle Island. Tree-readings are attempted through three methods: aesthetic (metaphoric) interpretation; analysis through Indigenous oral histories; and, listening to the thoughts of the trees themselves. Each tree’s teachings are then bundled together as a framework for reading a work of Indigenous narrative art that demonstrates similar principles and emphases. The overall aim of this work is to model how landed processes of coming to know develop an awareness of the land and all nonhuman societies as alive, thinking, and possessing agency. In a Rotinonhsonni (Six Nations) context, this renewal of landed consciousness strengthens the principles of righteousness, reason, and power, which sustain the Kayanerekowa (Great Law of Peace).

No decorrer das últimas décadas, muitos grupos indígenas vêm progressivamente intensificando e ampliando a gama de relações com os mais variados setores da sociedade nacional. Nesse contexto, assumem a tarefa de elaborar discursos em que devem se apresentar, enquanto grupos diferenciados, para o \"outro\'\'. Na construção desse diálogo, as experiências de escolarização, especialmente na sua vertende \"diferenciada\", constituem um rico espectro de produção discursiva que esta dissertação pretende enfocar. É, de fato, no âmbito dessas experiências de ensino formal, que muitos grupos indígenas estão refletindo e recriando através da escrita em línguas indígenas e em língua portuguesa suas formas de produzir e transmitir experiências históricas. Tendo como enfoque o processo de escolarização e letramento em andamento em vários contextos indígenas no país, a presente dissertação tem como objetivo analisar dez materiais didáticos cuja proposta é a escrita de narrativas sobre reflexões e experiências históricas e sobre conhecimentos entendidos como \"tradicionais\" elaboradas no ambito de cinco experiências de escolarização (Acre, Amazonas, Espírito Santo Xingu, Mato Grosso e Minas Gerais). Busca-se averiguar através da análise dos materiais didáticos, como professores e lideranças indígenas vinculados a essas cinco experiências estão utilizando a linguagem escrita para construir representações de si mesmos, nas quais procuram articular seus saberes tradicionais e as concepções ocidentais de conhecimento e transmissão de experiências históricas. / During the last decades, many indigenous groups have progressively intensified and increased the span of relations with various sectors of national society. In this context, they have assumed the task of elaborating discourses in which they present themselves to the other as differentiated groups. In constructing this dialogue, experiences in schooling, specially of the differentiated kind, constitute a rich spectrum of discursive production, which this thesis seeks to focus upon. In fact, it is within these experiences of formal education that many indigenous groups are reflecting and recreating through the use of writing in the native and Portuguese languages their forms of producing and transmitting historical experiences. Focusing on the process of schooling and literacy in progress in various indigenous contexts throughout the country, this thesis seeks to analyze ten examples of educational material, produced in five different school programs (Acre, Amazonas, Espírito Santo, Xingu, Mato Grosso and Minas Gerais), that have as an objective the written production of narratives concerning historical experiences and reflections and that which is understood to be traditional knowledge. The objective of this research is to understand, by means of the analysis of this educational material, how indigenous leaders and teachers connected to these five school programs are using the written language to produce representations of themselves, in which they seek to articulate their traditional knowledge and occidental conceptions of knowledge and transmission of historical experiences.

Doctor of Philosophy / This thesis analyses the concept of indigenous peoples’ right to self–determination within the international human rights system and explores viable avenues for the fulfilment of indigenous claims to self–determination through the design, implementation and evaluation of development policies. The thesis argues that development policy plays a crucial role in determining the level of enjoyment of self–determination for indigenous peoples. Development policy can offer an avenue to bypass nation states’ political unwillingness to recognize and promote indigenous peoples’ right to self–determination, when adequate principles and criteria are embedded in the whole policy process. The theoretical foundations of the thesis are drawn from two different areas of scholarship: indigenous human rights discourse and development economics. The indigenous human rights discourse provides the articulation of the debate concerning the concept of indigenous self–determination, whereas development economics is the field within which Amartya Sen’s capability approach is adopted as a theoretical framework of thought to explore the interface between indigenous rights and development policy. Foundational concepts of the capability approach will be adopted to construct a normative system and a practical methodological approach to interpret and implement indigenous peoples’ right to self–determination. In brief, the thesis brings together two bodies of knowledge and amalgamates foundational theoretical underpinnings of both to construct a normative and practical framework. At the normative level, the thesis offers a conceptual apparatus that allows us to identify an indigenous capability rights–based normative framework that encapsulates the essence of the principle of indigenous self–determination. At the practical level, the normative framework enables a methodological approach to indigenous development policies that serves as a vehicle for the fulfilment of indigenous aspirations for self–determination. This thesis analyses Australia’s health policy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as an example to explore the application of the proposed normative and practical framework. The assessment of Australia’s health policy for Indigenous Australians against the proposed normative framework and methodological approach to development policy, allows us to identify a significant vacuum: the omission of Aboriginal traditional medicine in national health policy frameworks and, as a result, the devaluing and relative demise of Aboriginal traditional healing practices and traditional healers.

Doctor of Philosophy / This thesis analyses the concept of indigenous peoples’ right to self–determination within the international human rights system and explores viable avenues for the fulfilment of indigenous claims to self–determination through the design, implementation and evaluation of development policies. The thesis argues that development policy plays a crucial role in determining the level of enjoyment of self–determination for indigenous peoples. Development policy can offer an avenue to bypass nation states’ political unwillingness to recognize and promote indigenous peoples’ right to self–determination, when adequate principles and criteria are embedded in the whole policy process. The theoretical foundations of the thesis are drawn from two different areas of scholarship: indigenous human rights discourse and development economics. The indigenous human rights discourse provides the articulation of the debate concerning the concept of indigenous self–determination, whereas development economics is the field within which Amartya Sen’s capability approach is adopted as a theoretical framework of thought to explore the interface between indigenous rights and development policy. Foundational concepts of the capability approach will be adopted to construct a normative system and a practical methodological approach to interpret and implement indigenous peoples’ right to self–determination. In brief, the thesis brings together two bodies of knowledge and amalgamates foundational theoretical underpinnings of both to construct a normative and practical framework. At the normative level, the thesis offers a conceptual apparatus that allows us to identify an indigenous capability rights–based normative framework that encapsulates the essence of the principle of indigenous self–determination. At the practical level, the normative framework enables a methodological approach to indigenous development policies that serves as a vehicle for the fulfilment of indigenous aspirations for self–determination. This thesis analyses Australia’s health policy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as an example to explore the application of the proposed normative and practical framework. The assessment of Australia’s health policy for Indigenous Australians against the proposed normative framework and methodological approach to development policy, allows us to identify a significant vacuum: the omission of Aboriginal traditional medicine in national health policy frameworks and, as a result, the devaluing and relative demise of Aboriginal traditional healing practices and traditional healers.

Orientador: Wilmar da Rocha D'Angelis / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-14T23:06:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Neves_Ivania_D.pdf: 4388984 bytes, checksum: 8e8c4c7bc040b605ab6122fd653a9f15 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Resumo: Esta tese está dividida em duas partes complementares. Na primeira parte, o trabalho está voltado para as representações produzidas sobre os índios. Analiso como desde as primeiras representações ocidentais sobre os índios brasileiros, as cartas e as primeiras imagens, o sistema colonial inventou discursivamente um índio genérico, selvagem, antropófago que anda nu e que não produz conhecimento. Na segunda parte, a partir de um trabalho de campo que envolveu cinco grupos Tupi: Tembé, Suruí-Aikewára, Asuriní do Xingu, Mbyá-Guarani de Porto Alegre e de São Miguel das Missões, tomo como materialidades as representações produzidas pelos povos indígenas. Analiso dois grupos de narrativas orais destas sociedades e mostro que entre elas se desenha uma memória discursiva Tupi, marcada por regularidades e dispersões. A análise das narrativas propostas aqui faz uma abordagem discursiva das línguas indígenas. A fundamentação teórica desta tese se fundamenta nos princípios da análise do discurso, mas, por sua natureza interdisciplinar, transita pelos estudos de antropologia, de história cultural e da teoria literária. / Abstract: The invention of the indigenous subject and the Tupi oral narratives. This thesis is divided in two complementary parts. In the first, the work is focused on the representations produced about indigenous subjects. I analyze how, since the first western representations of indigenous people in Brazil, the letters and first images, the colonial system has discursively invented a general indigenous subject, wild, anthropophagous that walks naked; someone who does not produce knowledge. In the second part, based on a field work that involved five groups of the Tupi branch: Tembé, Suruí-Aikewára, Asuriní in Xingu, Mbyá-Guarani at Porto Alegre and São Miguel das Missões, I assume as historical materiality the representations produced by the indigenous people. I analyse two sets of oral narratives of these societies and show that among them there is a sketch of a Tupi discursive memory to be traced, marked with regularities and dispersions. The analysis of narratives makes a discursive approach of indigenous languages. The theoretical basis of this thesis are the principles of discourse analysis, but, by its interdisciplinary nature it transposes to anthropological studies, cultural history and literary theory. / Doutorado / Doutor em Linguística

No decorrer das últimas décadas, muitos grupos indígenas vêm progressivamente intensificando e ampliando a gama de relações com os mais variados setores da sociedade nacional. Nesse contexto, assumem a tarefa de elaborar discursos em que devem se apresentar, enquanto grupos diferenciados, para o \"outro\'\'. Na construção desse diálogo, as experiências de escolarização, especialmente na sua vertende \"diferenciada\", constituem um rico espectro de produção discursiva que esta dissertação pretende enfocar. É, de fato, no âmbito dessas experiências de ensino formal, que muitos grupos indígenas estão refletindo e recriando através da escrita em línguas indígenas e em língua portuguesa suas formas de produzir e transmitir experiências históricas. Tendo como enfoque o processo de escolarização e letramento em andamento em vários contextos indígenas no país, a presente dissertação tem como objetivo analisar dez materiais didáticos cuja proposta é a escrita de narrativas sobre reflexões e experiências históricas e sobre conhecimentos entendidos como \"tradicionais\" elaboradas no ambito de cinco experiências de escolarização (Acre, Amazonas, Espírito Santo Xingu, Mato Grosso e Minas Gerais). Busca-se averiguar através da análise dos materiais didáticos, como professores e lideranças indígenas vinculados a essas cinco experiências estão utilizando a linguagem escrita para construir representações de si mesmos, nas quais procuram articular seus saberes tradicionais e as concepções ocidentais de conhecimento e transmissão de experiências históricas. / During the last decades, many indigenous groups have progressively intensified and increased the span of relations with various sectors of national society. In this context, they have assumed the task of elaborating discourses in which they present themselves to the other as differentiated groups. In constructing this dialogue, experiences in schooling, specially of the differentiated kind, constitute a rich spectrum of discursive production, which this thesis seeks to focus upon. In fact, it is within these experiences of formal education that many indigenous groups are reflecting and recreating through the use of writing in the native and Portuguese languages their forms of producing and transmitting historical experiences. Focusing on the process of schooling and literacy in progress in various indigenous contexts throughout the country, this thesis seeks to analyze ten examples of educational material, produced in five different school programs (Acre, Amazonas, Espírito Santo, Xingu, Mato Grosso and Minas Gerais), that have as an objective the written production of narratives concerning historical experiences and reflections and that which is understood to be traditional knowledge. The objective of this research is to understand, by means of the analysis of this educational material, how indigenous leaders and teachers connected to these five school programs are using the written language to produce representations of themselves, in which they seek to articulate their traditional knowledge and occidental conceptions of knowledge and transmission of historical experiences.