The purpose of this study was to examine Anishinaabe identity development for school success. A group of six Elder’s, also known as Knowledge Keepers shared their life experiences that are integral to Mino Pimatisiwin – a good way of life for Anishinaabe people. The Elders that participated in this study are gifted with Indigenous knowledge in language, history, culture and a connection to the land/community. At a personal level and as an Anishinaabe person, this study was significant to me because my life foundation was embedded in an Anishinaabe worldview from birth. Dibaajimowin or storytelling was a big part of the learning process therefore; I utilized an Indigenous methodology of Dibaajimowin to share the stories of the Elders, which demonstrated a positive worldview, with meaningful exemplars despite the negative experience of attending residential school and government policies. The stories, which reflected cultural practices of the Anishinaabe Elders, provided lessons about the past and present, and insight into the future direction needed in education to support Aboriginal students. This study revealed the importance of the interconnected relationships of family, community and the environment, as key elements in developing cultural identity. The Elders also identified that balance is needed for Mino-Pimatisiwin known as a good life to live in the realm of two worlds (Anishinaabe and Western). This ideal needs to be extended into the classroom and school so the teachers can build upon the interconnected relationships through program planning and creating an engaging environment that validates an Aboriginal worldview

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This project investigates the experiences of a small group of social service practitioners as they consider the question of what it means to be Pakeha in Aotearoa New Zealand in 2004. Specifically this study considers the contribution of Māori cultural knowledges to Pakeha identity. It also explores whether therapeutic practices that participants have available, are relevant to their current claims of Pakeha identity. This study highlights the complexity of experience and multiple stories that inform constructions of identity. In approaching the topic I was aware that many important stories of people's lived experience are not often told. People are often silenced due to the difficulty of 'telling'. In this exploration, space was created for the telling of stories, which are often not easily told: stories of struggle and pain; stories of compassionate witnessing; stories of rule-breaking; stories of stepping into territory beyond binaries and stories of richness and delight. Knowledges have been produced that indicate the need for carefully crafted space for often very difficult identity conversations to occur and for voices to be heard. Further, the study has produced knowledges for scaffolding for respectful and honouring conversations . The stories of this project indicate that the conversations required, have their foundation through engagement with the value of fairness. Findings also indicate that forums, where mutual contribution to identity for both Māori and Pakeha can be acknowledged, are a critical to establishing ongoing honourable relationships between Pakeha and Māori New Zealanders. Throughout this project participants acknowledge and honour the rich contribution of Māori knowledges and language to their Pakeha identity.

The current moment of education in Canada is increasingly asking educators to take up the mandate and responsibility to integrate Indigenous perspectives into curricula and teaching practice. Many teachers who do so come from a historical context of settler colonialism that has largely ignored or tried to use education to assimilate Indigenous peoples. This project asks how teachers are (or are not) integrating Indigenous perspectives into the classroom curriculum. It asks if and how Eurocentric and colonial perspectives are being disrupted or reproduced in classroom dialogue, and how learning spaces can be guided by an ethics of relationality and co- existence between Indigenous and non-Indigenous ways of knowing. Finally, it seeks promising pedagogical practices through which curriculum can be a bridge for building a new relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in what is now Canada. This project is a critical ethnography of five high school English classrooms in which teachers were attempting to integrate Indigenous perspectives into the curriculum. Over the course of a semester classroom observations, interviews, and focus groups gathered the stories, experiences and perceptions of five high school English teachers, their students, and several Indigenous educators and community members. The stories and experiences gathered describe a decolonizing praxis, which pedagogically situates Indigenous and non-Indigenous worldviews in parallel and in relation, each co-existing in its own right without one dominating the other. The teacher and students who took up this decolonizing praxis centered an Indigenous lens in their reading of texts, and saw questions of ethics, responsibility, and reciprocity as key to changing the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. Despite this promising pedagogical approach, I identify knowledge of treaties and the significance of land to Indigenous peoples as a significant gap in knowledge for students (and some teachers), which allows many colonial misunderstandings to persist.

Starting with my own travel experiences, and with the help of poets, Elizabeth Bishop, Jorie Graham, and Emily Dickinson, I create a theory of displacement, called Vertigo. Vertigo is not only a sense of falling, but a sense of detachment from reality that I felt traversing through different cultures, languages, and worlds for the first time. Vertigo is a liminal, transformative space that allows an individual to experience the created nature of their own worldview and culture. This is also a physical experience, as Bishop, Graham, and Dickinson give evidence to in their poetry, as the individual experiences a heightened sense of their physical bodies. This work acknowledges the privileged position of the traveler, and reveals that often the observations we make in this privileged position can be moves of colonization. Poetry is one way to both acknowledge these moves, and to also show what we can learn from these moments when we continue to question and explore. Additionally, poetry, as a medium of mindful reflection, allows for a language that is capable of handling the physical knowledge of the body; the mental mapping of the cultural and personal realities of the individual; and also the geographic and political landscapes that surround an individual or population, simultaneously. With this understanding, the theoretical framework for displacement, bodies, and place, which Bishop, Graham, and Dickinson give us, is the foundation for exploring how poetry can provide knowledge for more 'scientific' writing, such as, cultural geography or cognitive science. / Master of Arts

The current approach to African development is driven by Euro-Western material/physical approaches that fail to acknowledge the integral link between culture and development. For African development to truly speak to the realities and needs of African peoples, a reconceptualization of development is necessary, one which examines how Indigenous African knowledges can inform development. Using an anti-colonial, critical development and Indigenous discursive frameworks, this thesis examines how Akan, Gonja and Bogon proverbs, as Indigenous African knowledges, provide theoretical and practical knowledges for reconceptualising localized approaches to African development. Through interviews with local development practitioners and local Chiefs and the analysis of collected proverbs, the thesis reveals that proverbs, as linguistic, cultural and spiritual knowledges are deeply embedded in Ghanaian life and may function as excellent culturally relevant tools for a localized approach to African development.

The current approach to African development is driven by Euro-Western material/physical approaches that fail to acknowledge the integral link between culture and development. For African development to truly speak to the realities and needs of African peoples, a reconceptualization of development is necessary, one which examines how Indigenous African knowledges can inform development. Using an anti-colonial, critical development and Indigenous discursive frameworks, this thesis examines how Akan, Gonja and Bogon proverbs, as Indigenous African knowledges, provide theoretical and practical knowledges for reconceptualising localized approaches to African development. Through interviews with local development practitioners and local Chiefs and the analysis of collected proverbs, the thesis reveals that proverbs, as linguistic, cultural and spiritual knowledges are deeply embedded in Ghanaian life and may function as excellent culturally relevant tools for a localized approach to African development.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / A tutoria à uma das atividades docentes que acompanha, media e orienta o aluno na EducaÃÃo a DistÃncia (EaD) semipresencial. Este estudo busca, de modo geral, avaliar a atuaÃÃo do tutor a distÃncia. Especificamente, visa conhecer os saberes que sÃo necessÃrios na formaÃÃo docente para uma atuaÃÃo eficaz; analisar a aplicaÃÃo desses saberes e avaliÃ-los na atuaÃÃo do tutor a distÃncia nos cursos de graduaÃÃo em EaD semipresenciais da Universidade Federal do Cearà (UFC). Realizou-se, para esses propÃsitos, uma revisÃo de literatura contextualizando a EducaÃÃo em trÃs dimensÃes: EducaÃÃo Superior e EducaÃÃo a DistÃncia; formaÃÃo docente: tutoria e elementos formadores com a discussÃo dos saberes nas dimensÃes atitudinais, conceituais e procedimentais conforme as perspectivas pedagÃgica, didÃtica e tecnolÃgica; e a AvaliaÃÃo Educacional, no que diz respeito à avaliaÃÃo do ensino-aprendizagem e à avaliaÃÃo formativa. A natureza da investigaÃÃo caracterizou o estudo como exploratÃrio, transversal e quantitativo, realizado no Instituto Universidade Virtual. A amostra foi aplicada em 175 tutores e 1.957 alunos matriculados em 7 cursos de graduaÃÃo oferecidos no semestre letivo 2011.1, na modalidade EaD semipresencial. Os dados foram obtidos atravÃs de uma escala de avaliaÃÃo do tipo likert com 16 itens e analisados atravÃs do software SPSS versÃo 15.0. O instrumento aplicado apresentou precisÃo de sensibilidade alta e erro padrÃo da medida inferior a 10% da amplitude da escala. A validade de conteÃdo atravÃs da anÃlise fatorial indicou que a escala à unifatorial. A distribuiÃÃo do escore total na escala de avaliaÃÃo foi transformado para a escala de notas [0;10]; apresentou, na amostra, mÃdia 7,7, mediana 8,4 e coeficiente de variaÃÃo 28,2, com a mÃdia populacional variando no intervalo [7,6;7,8] para uma confianÃa de 95%. A distribuiÃÃo das notas à nÃo-normal, conforme teste de normalidade de Kolmorogov-Smirnov, com as notas se concentrando em valores superiores à mÃdia (mediana 8,4). Na anÃlise de regressÃo linear mÃltipla dos saberes, os coeficientes padronizados indicaram que a dimensÃo conceitual apresentou maior peso na composiÃÃo da nota de avaliaÃÃo. A dimensÃo atitudinal ficou em segundo lugar e a dimensÃo procedimental apresentou menor peso. Essa dimensÃo merece ser objeto de estudo e ser investigada com maior profundidade, pois trata do saber didÃtico, do saber-fazer na atuaÃÃo do tutor a distÃncia. A anÃlise dos resultados indicou que os alunos avaliaram a atuaÃÃo dos tutores classificando-a nos nÃveis de regular a bom. / Tutoring is one of the educational act ivities that accompanies, mediates and guides the student at the semipresential Distance Education (D.Ed.). This study intends, in general, to evaluate the performance of the tutor. Specifically, this study intends to know the necessary knowledges in teaching formation for an effective performance; to analyze the application of those knowledges and evaluate them in the performance of the tutor of semipresential courses of D.Ed. in Universidade Federal do Cearà (UFC). Thus, it was accomplished a literature revew about Education in three dimensions: Higher Education and D. Ed.; teaching formation: tutoring and formation with a discussion of the knowledges in its attitudinal, conceptual and procedural dimensions, under pedagogical, didact and technological perspectives; and Educational Assessment concerning to learning evaluation and formative evaluation. The nature of this investigation characterized the study as an exploratory, traverse and quantitative one, achieved in Instituto Universidade Virtual. The sample was applied in 175 tutors and 1.957 students enrolled in 7 undergraduate courses at the first semester of 2011, in the modality of D. Ed. The data were obtained through a likert scale with 16 items and analyzed by the software SPSS version 15.0. The applied scale presented a precision of high sensibility and standard error lower than 10% of the amplitude of the scale. The content validity was accomplished through factorial analysis that indicated that the scale is unifatorial. The distribution of total scale scores was converted into a scale of grades [0;10]; it presented, in the sample, average 7,7, median 8,4 and coefficient of variation 28,2, with the population average varying in the interval [7,6;7,8] for a confidence interval of 95%. The distribution of the grades is nonstandard, according to test of normality of Kolmorogov-Smirnov, with the concentration of the grades in values above the average (median 8,4). In the linear regression analysis of the knowledges, the standard coefficients indicated that the conceptual dimension was stronger in the composition of the grade. The attitudinal dimension came in second place and the procedural presented was weaker. Therefore, this dimension deserves to be more studied and investigated, because is related to didact knowledge, to doing knowledge in the performance of the tutor in D. Ed. The analysis of the results indicated that the students evaluated the performance of the tutors classifying it in levels from regular to good.

The purpose of this study is to engage in a discussion that is currently marginalized in academic spaces, about the notions of energy and impacts of it on students' learning process and accomplishment in the educational space. While teachers' low expectations and negation on racialized students, and hostilities from other peers has been studied, not much attention has been paid to how those teachers' and peers' energy such as hostility has impacted on students' learning process and accomplishment. In this thesis, I employ Japanese Indigenous ways of knowing to explore this theme. However, my discussion about the impact of energy on student learning process is not limited to the Japanese context only; I have expanded the discussion to the Eurocentric educational system as well. My thesis aims to contribute to the instructional and pedagogical implication for classroom teachers.

The purpose of this study is to engage in a discussion that is currently marginalized in academic spaces, about the notions of energy and impacts of it on students' learning process and accomplishment in the educational space. While teachers' low expectations and negation on racialized students, and hostilities from other peers has been studied, not much attention has been paid to how those teachers' and peers' energy such as hostility has impacted on students' learning process and accomplishment. In this thesis, I employ Japanese Indigenous ways of knowing to explore this theme. However, my discussion about the impact of energy on student learning process is not limited to the Japanese context only; I have expanded the discussion to the Eurocentric educational system as well. My thesis aims to contribute to the instructional and pedagogical implication for classroom teachers.