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Arctic sojourn : a teacher's reflections

The research describes the experience of a southern white teacher who lived and worked in a remote community in Canada's Far North.<p>
The impact of physical relocation and culture shock are discussed, as well as problems encountered when conflicting views of education and life goals meet in a cross-cultural setting. The thesis explores some of the difficulties facing mainstream teachers of Indigenous students when issues of past colonialism and present injustices come into play.<p>
Inuit community literacies (visual, kinesic and oral traditions) are explored and contrasted with traditional definitions of literacy, which center on the paramount importance of the printed word. Power issues are discussed, including the role played by literacy education in maintaining control in the hands of the dominant culture.<p>
The research is qualitative and phenomenological in nature. The teaching experience is viewed through a critical lens, and attempts to better understand the writer's southern white middle-class background as it relates to differing worldviews. The author recounts the process of re-examining assumptions of her own culture, and describes her personal and professional journey of coming to grips with its impact on her teaching.<p>

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:USASK/oai:usask.ca:etd-01172008-104055
Date14 April 2008
CreatorsHarder, Dorothy Margit
ContributorsWason-Ellam, Linda
PublisherUniversity of Saskatchewan
Source SetsUniversity of Saskatchewan Library
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
Sourcehttp://library.usask.ca/theses/available/etd-01172008-104055/
Rightsunrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Saskatchewan or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report.

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