Kidnapped from the Embrace of Our World

• Main Authors: A Woods, E Harrison
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: British Columbia; Canada; First Nations
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1074.3243; http://ijep.icpres.org/2012/v6n2/woods%26harrison.pdf

Abstract Three questions are explored within the paper: What is the relationship between culture and discourse? How important are people to the survival of culture and language? How important are youth to the survival of culture and discourse? Language and culture are understood to be inseparable concepts with respect to the continuance of First Nations languages. The colonial legacy of the two concepts within the context of First Nations education is briefly explored. Separating the two terms with an "and" is considered to be significant. It is identified as part of a colonial attitude of "divide and conquer" that pervades governmental beliefs about First Nations people in Canada. Using various policy and legislative documents, the British Columbia school system is taken as an example of how government has an interest in maintaining the division of language culture with respect to First Nations people. The method used is one of traditional Gitxsan story telling where the reader is constantly reminded of the themes used in the story. The focus is to examine these policies in light of a governmental intent to continue the policies of cultural genocide.