Seeking “Mamatowisowin” to Create an Engaging Social Policy Class for Aboriginal Students
This article recounts the author’s personal and professional journey of developing a social policy social work course at the First Nations University of Canada. With no social policy text designed for and about Aboriginal peoples, and very few articles written on social policy issues in Aboriginal c...
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Language: | English |
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First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada
2007
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.7202/1069371ar http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1069371ar |
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:10.7202/1069371ar 2023-05-15T16:16:35+02:00 Seeking “Mamatowisowin” to Create an Engaging Social Policy Class for Aboriginal Students Faith, Erika 2007-01-01 https://doi.org/10.7202/1069371ar http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1069371ar en eng First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada Érudit doi:10.7202/1069371ar http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1069371ar other First Peoples Child & Family Review: An Interdisciplinary Journal Honouring the Voices, Perspectives, and Knowledges of First Peoples / Revue des enfants et des familles des Premiers peuples: Un journal interdisciplinaire honorant les voix, les perspectives et les connaissances des Premiers peuples edu socio Text https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_18cf/ 2007 fttriple https://doi.org/10.7202/1069371ar 2023-01-22T16:32:30Z This article recounts the author’s personal and professional journey of developing a social policy social work course at the First Nations University of Canada. With no social policy text designed for and about Aboriginal peoples, and very few articles written on social policy issues in Aboriginal communities, the author was challenged to create content, pedagogy, and assignment structures that reflected the cultures of her students who come primarily from the plains and woodlands reserve communities of Saskatchewan. By consulting with Elders, colleagues, and students, as well as by paying attention to her own internal sense of stress or delight, she progressively modified the class over three years, releasing all that was‘dry and detached’ while building on all that was fun, relevant and exciting. Along the way, the author was introduced to the néhiyawéwin (Cree) word mamatowisowin, which refers to a state of spiritual attunement and divine inspiration. I realized that, perhaps more than head knowledge, it was mamatowisowin that she most needed in order to create a class that optimally served her students and the university’s vision of a ‘bicultural education’ that is equally grounded in both European and Indigenous knowledge systems. Text First Nations Unknown Canada First Peoples Child & Family Review 3 4 22 29 |
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edu socio Faith, Erika Seeking “Mamatowisowin” to Create an Engaging Social Policy Class for Aboriginal Students |
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edu socio |
description |
This article recounts the author’s personal and professional journey of developing a social policy social work course at the First Nations University of Canada. With no social policy text designed for and about Aboriginal peoples, and very few articles written on social policy issues in Aboriginal communities, the author was challenged to create content, pedagogy, and assignment structures that reflected the cultures of her students who come primarily from the plains and woodlands reserve communities of Saskatchewan. By consulting with Elders, colleagues, and students, as well as by paying attention to her own internal sense of stress or delight, she progressively modified the class over three years, releasing all that was‘dry and detached’ while building on all that was fun, relevant and exciting. Along the way, the author was introduced to the néhiyawéwin (Cree) word mamatowisowin, which refers to a state of spiritual attunement and divine inspiration. I realized that, perhaps more than head knowledge, it was mamatowisowin that she most needed in order to create a class that optimally served her students and the university’s vision of a ‘bicultural education’ that is equally grounded in both European and Indigenous knowledge systems. |
format |
Text |
author |
Faith, Erika |
author_facet |
Faith, Erika |
author_sort |
Faith, Erika |
title |
Seeking “Mamatowisowin” to Create an Engaging Social Policy Class for Aboriginal Students |
title_short |
Seeking “Mamatowisowin” to Create an Engaging Social Policy Class for Aboriginal Students |
title_full |
Seeking “Mamatowisowin” to Create an Engaging Social Policy Class for Aboriginal Students |
title_fullStr |
Seeking “Mamatowisowin” to Create an Engaging Social Policy Class for Aboriginal Students |
title_full_unstemmed |
Seeking “Mamatowisowin” to Create an Engaging Social Policy Class for Aboriginal Students |
title_sort |
seeking “mamatowisowin” to create an engaging social policy class for aboriginal students |
publisher |
First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada |
publishDate |
2007 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.7202/1069371ar http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1069371ar |
geographic |
Canada |
geographic_facet |
Canada |
genre |
First Nations |
genre_facet |
First Nations |
op_source |
First Peoples Child & Family Review: An Interdisciplinary Journal Honouring the Voices, Perspectives, and Knowledges of First Peoples / Revue des enfants et des familles des Premiers peuples: Un journal interdisciplinaire honorant les voix, les perspectives et les connaissances des Premiers peuples |
op_relation |
doi:10.7202/1069371ar http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1069371ar |
op_rights |
other |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7202/1069371ar |
container_title |
First Peoples Child & Family Review |
container_volume |
3 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
22 |
op_container_end_page |
29 |
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1766002440256094208 |