Learning models in the Umeek narratives : identifying an educational framework through storywork with First Nations elders ...

• Main Author: Atleo, Marlene R.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2009
• Subjects: First Nations
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0055580; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0055580

This study uses First Nations storywork to investigate indigenous learning. If cultural strategies were persistent and fundamental to the survival of a people, it would seem that understanding Nuu-chah-nulth learning orientations would provide emancipatory insight for First Nations learning in contemporary educational settings. Understanding what was and what is allows an envisioning of what could be. Therefore narratives about Umeek, the "community provider", the archetypal "go-getter", were read as a conceptual framework in which to identify learning orientations of Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations. The investigation had three foci. First, a protocol for First Nations cultural work was formulated and elaborated. This protocol was used as an overarching framework for the gathering of the stories, the interview process and the narrative analysis. Second, ethnographic and oral versions of Umeek narratives were gathered. Third, these narratives were read Nuu-chah-nulth elders cultural beliefs about learning for ...