Week four response

Yesterday's class was really important to me. It was refreshing to be able to connect with my peers and hear about why they were there, what they wanted to learn, and what they already knew about Indigenous history, Pacific Northwest history, environmental issues, and overall their hopes and dreams for this class and beyond. One thing I really enjoyed about Antioch was the in depth seminars; I have not been able to find this yet at UW -- except for in this class. It was invigorating to see and hear what others have to bring to the table, so to speak -- everyone knew something different, and everyone had a unique passion that they wanted to talk about. Bringing it all together into one discussion really made me feel that community and community organization is the key to unlearning problematic behaviors and habits, and growing in a positive manner.

The Cedar readings were great this week as well. I am extremely passionate about knitting, spinning wool, and weaving, so it was really fascinating to learn about the many uses for cedar, and how women and men interacted with it differently. I thought it was especially interesting that men and women had their own kinds of baskets for different things. I assumed that different kinds of baskets/carriers/boxes would be used for different activities; Fish would be carried in a different kind of basket than a baby, for example. I did not know the in depth intricacies of the many uses for cedar, and I am very grateful to have read this book.

Week three reflection

In my opinion, the third week of the quarter is the one of the best weeks. You begin to have a handle on the concepts covered, and form opinions about the material. This week was probably my most successful week so far. Seeing how passionate Jewel James and Kurt Russo are about preservation of trees, forests, and Indigenous practices really hit me hard. Though I didn't doubt the horrific realities and destruction of culture that has affected First Peoples for so long, hearing it firsthand from Jewel was intense. It happened so recently in time -- the eagle feathers being banned, the arrests, fishing restrictions -- that it really put into perspective how desperately necessary it is to advocate for Indigenous rights.

Reading Indians of the Pacific Northwest has been a great experience this week as well.  I like that it is written in the first person, and I like that honest thoughts and thought processes are shown. It has been very intriguing to read about practices such as ways to prepare salmon, fishing techniques, and local myths/legends. I have read about these things before, but only in historical fiction and poetry.

week three reading notes

An Atlas of Indigenous Seattle
http://books.google.com/books?id=hr__fFaUFL0C&pg=pa209#v=onepage&q&f=false

• We won't see what we expect to see - totem poles, etc
• Landscape was/is varied, intellectual
• Waterman's work classified First Peoples as "primitive" etc, looked down on their naming conventions, culture
• Biggest problem with Puget Sound geography has been accessibility

Indians of the Pacific Northwest

in Kindle App

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week three reading notes

week three reading notes

week two response

This week, the topic of language was incredibly interesting to me. I knew that many languages have been wiped out, but I was not aware of the sheer volume of languages -- not just dialects -- that have gone missing. It is interesting to me that so many different nations, tribes, and communities had different languages. If there were similarities or differences, where did they lie? From previous classes, I know that many sounds, particularly palate-oriented sounds, cross language boundaries, but I'm not sure how those similarities came to be.

I feel that my background knowledge grew a lot with these readings to help me interpret what we are studying and will continue to study in class. For example, I was not aware that many nations and tribes had social hierarchies. That is something that history textbooks never cover (if they cover Indigenous history at all) and I experienced a bit of cognitive dissonance over the fact that I had never considered it before. Nevertheless, it has inspired me to do some reading on the topic outside of class to further grow my foundation of knowledge that will help me get the most out of this course.

week two reading notes

week two reading notes

week one response paper

In Native Science, Natural Laws of Interdependence, Gregory Cajete states, "The only constant is change". I feel that this is relevant to this class, the readings, and the relations present in our lives as a whole. From my worldview, Cajete means that nothing ever stops evolving, whether it be humans, plants, animals, nature, emotions, or perspective. This theme was apparent in the other readings this week, and also in my previous experiences with this subject matter.

I have approached the topics of native plants and First Peoples in other courses, and it has been intriguing to see the first glimpse of how they interact with such intrinsic interdependence. Upon hearing this quote, I pictured in my head a video I came across on the internet at one point. It shows a tree changing, from a tiny sprout to a huge, towering creature. Around it, the other flora grows, and dies, and grows, and dies. Sometimes a human or animal walks past, climbing or touching the tree. I feel that this is a great literal and metaphorical description for Cajete’s feelings towards change. The tree changes throughout its life; the scenery and life forms around it change as well. However, they all exist throughout the image. The tree, humans, animals, and other plant life all take on different forms of growth and destruction. Despite this, they are always there, always growing and changing.

week one reading notes

Personal notes:

Cedar book is in my Google books (personal account): https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=N3kyLJycxeMC&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en&pg=GBS.PP1

Indians of the Pacific Northwest is in my Kindle app

Pojar is physical book

Still need to buy Keeping It Living