I thought this article by Timothy Aqukkasuk Argetsinger in Alaska Dispatch was great - "Uqaġupta naalaġniuruksraurusi: When we talk, you listen." It's about the recent issue regarding legal action taken against parents for truant students.
While I think there is risk to then excuse some of the parental action (or inaction) regarding ensuring kids are at school, where they might actually be just negligent, he has great points that are almost never addressed. Specifically, he cites examples in which indigenous culture is worked with Western education for success, rather than a power struggle.
In any case, I can only imagine what he proposes is radical and maybe a little scary to some, but what he's really talking about is getting back to how things were done for millenia. I encourage you to read the WHOLE article before judging!
Showing posts with label inuit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label inuit. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
On Canadian government seal-eating
From ADN's Alaska Politics:
Canada's gov. general eats slaughtered seal's raw heart in show of support to the country's seal hunters.
I have never eaten RAW seal, but seal stew=delicious! Seal oil, even more so!
This is kind of a funny answer to some friends' questions about why Native people and environmentalists don't work more closely together on seemingly similar interests. A "for instance":
A group I (traditional) danced with was asked by an environmental group to dance at a big conference. As we walked into the event, we walked by huge posters of seals, caribou, etc... and our deer skin drums and fur-lined headdresses became a bit more conspicous. Our dance leader: "Hmm... wonder what they're going to think about our (seal skin) moccasins..?.."
I'm not familiar with Canada's seal hunting struggle, but I'm sure it's not too dissimilar from our own subsistence struggles. To be honest, I've had seal meat, or even seal oil, much more rarely as I grow older. It is, understandably, much harder to get here in Anchorage, but even in Southeast Alaska it is being hunted less and less. I can imagine this might also be true around the rest of Alaska. It is one of those practices that I wonder, when I am an old woman, will it still be around?
Canada's gov. general eats slaughtered seal's raw heart in show of support to the country's seal hunters.
Governor General Michaelle Jean, the representative of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II as Canada's head of state, gutted the seal and swallowed a slice of the mammal's organ late Monday after an EU vote earlier this month to impose a ban on seal products on grounds that the seal hunt is cruel.
I have never eaten RAW seal, but seal stew=delicious! Seal oil, even more so!
This is kind of a funny answer to some friends' questions about why Native people and environmentalists don't work more closely together on seemingly similar interests. A "for instance":
A group I (traditional) danced with was asked by an environmental group to dance at a big conference. As we walked into the event, we walked by huge posters of seals, caribou, etc... and our deer skin drums and fur-lined headdresses became a bit more conspicous. Our dance leader: "Hmm... wonder what they're going to think about our (seal skin) moccasins..?.."
I'm not familiar with Canada's seal hunting struggle, but I'm sure it's not too dissimilar from our own subsistence struggles. To be honest, I've had seal meat, or even seal oil, much more rarely as I grow older. It is, understandably, much harder to get here in Anchorage, but even in Southeast Alaska it is being hunted less and less. I can imagine this might also be true around the rest of Alaska. It is one of those practices that I wonder, when I am an old woman, will it still be around?
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