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nutsamaat uy’skwuluwun: Coast Salish pedagogy in higher education

This study explores Coast Salish s’ulxwe:n (Elders)-in-residence and Coast Salish xwulmuxw (First Nation) Professors’ application of xwulmuxw (First Nation) pedagogy specifically from southeast Vancouver Island, Coast Salish speaking people in higher education using nutsamaat uy’skwuluwun meaning to work together as one, with a good heart and good mind to obtain a goal. This study used interviews to gather narratives of eight Elders and three professors who use Coast Salish pedagogy in higher education. Participants are members of the Snuneymuxw, Quw'utsun, Penelakut, Lyackson, Tsawout, Tsartlip, and Songhees First Nations of southeast Vancouver Island First Nations and one participant from Katzie First Nation on the lower mainland of British Columbia. The implication of this research is significant because Coast Salish pedagogy has very little research by an authentic Coast Salish researcher and is not fully documented. My analysis of the interviews offers insight on ways the participants apply Coast Salish pedagogy in higher education. I found many themes that the participants use while teaching Coast Salish pedagogy in higher education. The three main common themes were 1) respect, 2) uy’skwuluwun and 3) nutsamaat uy’skwuluwun. Respect was a term that was central to the many teachings and themes shared by the participants. Second, uy’skwuluwun was also a term woven through many of the Coast Salish teachings, meaning to have a strong heart and mind. Lastly, the term nutsamaat uy’skwuluwun was a common theme that kept arising among many of the participants, meaning to we work together as one, with a good heart to obtain a goal. It is a term, that weaves throughout all the common themes and pertains to the educator, students and non-Indigenous peoples that learn and work with Indigenous peoples in higher education. The analysis offers insight on what would the present Coast Salish Elders-in-residence and xwulmuxw professors like future Coast Salish Elders-in-residence and Coast Salish professors to continue to teach in higher education. Some of the main topics the participants would like future Elders and professors to instruct on are; protocol, spirituality, language, experiential learning, and for the university to hire more Elders-in-residence and Coast Salish professors. The analysis offers insight on why it is important to teach Coast Salish pedagogy in higher education. Participants shared that they thought it was important to teach Coast Salish pedagogy in higher education because Indigenous and non-Indigenous people need to understand Coast Salish ways of doing, understand the history and impacts of colonization, and the local languages of the area. By doing so, Coast Salish Elders and professors create space to further instruct Coast Salish pedagogy for all students, and work together as one with a good heart and good mind to obtain a goal, that is to create a better society for all mustimmuxw, in higher education regarding First Nations history, culture and language of the local area. / Graduate

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/13845
Date01 April 2022
CreatorsJones, Collette F.
ContributorsRestoule, Jean-Paul, Hurren, Wanda
Source SetsUniversity of Victoria
LanguageEnglish, English
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
Formatapplication/pdf
RightsAvailable to the World Wide Web

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