Much of the literature on First Nations education is written by Euro-
Canadians. However, in recent years, American Indian scholars have initiated
research on gifted and talented First Nations children. The purpose of this paper is
to present eminent Shuswap womens' perspectives of traditional ways gifted and
talented girls were identified and nurtured over their lifetime.
Seven eminent Shuswap Elder women from the Interior of British Columbia,
whose gifts and talents were identified and nurtured form the nucleus of the study.
Because Shuswap people traditionally have an oral culture very little was written of
the Shuswap peoples' experiences, therefore, interviewing was deemed the most
appropriate research technique. Through the Elder's own words, the experiences of
the identification and nurturance of their gifts and talents in the four phases of life
(childhood, adolescence, adult, Elder) are presented.
The Elders were selected to represent various time periods and several
different bands of the Shuswap Nation. All of them have been recognized for their
service to the people locally, provincially, or nationally.
The most outstanding feature which is revealed by this study is the extent
to which the Elders struggled to stay on the path paved for them throughout their
lives since their grandparents identified their gifts and talents. Their struggles may
be viewed the same way First Nation people continue their fight for their aboriginal
rights.
The need to continue the work of preserving, recording, perpetuating and
enhancing the Shuswap language, history and culture is shown here. Implications
for further qualitative research are numerous. From specific aspects of culture such as the Shuswap concept of giftedness and the traditional ways Shuswap people
identified and nurtured boys to more general comparisons of finding a national First
Nations concept of giftedness or trying to determine how band-operated school are
trying to identify and nurture their gifted and talented students, there are many
possibilities. What has emerged is strong individuals and cultural group healing,
adapting and surviving very well despite the dark ages.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/4676 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Jules, Diena Marie |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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