|
Wandering Spirit Survival School: |
|
Chapter One: Introduction
Grandfather, Great Spirit - We give thanks for this new day. Grandfather, this is a new beginning, another chance, Grandfather. We give thanks we can all be here together, Grandfather. To have this Feast, that we would all become one here, Grandfather, That we would remember that this food, it comes from Mother Earth, And she is very kind to give it to us, Grandfather. Meegwetch for the young ones that are here today, Grandfather, Because it is for them that we are doing this, Grandfather - The school - That they may all grow in these ways, That they may become spiritually strong, Grandfather, And walk that Red Road that our Elders talked to us about, So much, Grandfather. I give thanks for all of these things, Grandfather. Meegwetch, meegwetch, meegwetch, meegwetch.
<<<<>>>>
This thesis offers a history of Wandering Spirit Survival School (WSSS) in the voices of those who were directly involved with the school. It articulates Pauline Shirt's vision of Native Way as a model for emancipatory education which takes its root in the community. She is the Cree woman who Fasted (1) for Guidance to help her people and was counseled by the Good Grandfathers to found a school. Many others, including her partner Vern Harper, gathered to establish a Parent Council and the strong contingent of volunteer support which turned her dream of a safe learning environment for urban Native children into a reality. Pauline's Four Seasons Curriculum is presented as both a distinct pedagogy and as the story-within-the-story of a tiny school community to recover the good walk through Native Way.
This story begins with the desperate act of a desperate group, in the 1974 Native People's Caravan to Ottawa, but it gathers historical focus through stories of the Cree Peace Chief Big Bear and his War Chief Wandering Spirit. During the late 1800s, these men gained renown as the leaders of the last non-treaty band in Canada at that time (Dempsey 1984; Carter 1997). WSSS was named for the Cree War Chief hanged for murder and treason after the uprising at Frog Lake in 1885. As a warrior, his life was devoted to protecting his nation, and Wandering Spirit urged his people to practice their cultural ways with his last breath through his death song. An analysis of the history of Native education in Canada the foundation for a multi-faceted, collective narrative of the WSSS story. The partnership between various Churches and the Crown in the acquisition of Canada's gigantic land base is explored as a critical influence on the Indian Act policies affecting education. It is followed by an exploration of the existing literature on WSSS that presents glimpses of the school in action. The narrative history is developed through the voices of the school's founder, teacher-volunteers, a parent and students of WSSS. What this paper develops is the collective memory of a community who adopted Pauline Shirt's vision as their own project.
The design of this study-through-reflection is also guided by the author's decade of apprenticeship to First Nations traditions under the guidance of Pauline Shirt. Through a unique collaboration which facilitates the welding of critical ethnography with traditional First Nations research, this project consciously broadens the definition of ethnography. What results is an ever-evolving, cross-cultural, collaborative, methodology-in-process. This approach to ethnographic research led to strong modifications of the standard model for dialogue fostered by dominant culture institutions, (2) and a conscious assertion of Native voice.
<<<<>>>>
As an academic text rooted in ethnographic and archival research, a thesis is a self-conscious project, focused on its own structure and purpose while presenting another's story. In order to foster the balance necessary to its cross-cultural context and its subjective matter, I have presented this text in segments which are characteristic of the teachable moments in traditional Aboriginal education (Kelly LC 1997). (3) As Brody (1981), Basso (1987, 1988) and Cruickshank (1990a, 1981) have observed, the teachings often manifest as kernels of conversation with an Elder which are surrounded by the student's patient observation and silent meditation.
The precedent for this format of presentation is also set, to some degree, by explorations of the meaning in Australian songlines (Chatwin 1987) or Mayan myth (Tedlock 1993), (4) and by the contemporary call for fresh approaches in both the research and the recording of ethnographic interactions (Clifford & Marcus 1986; Smith 1987; Gluck and Patai 1991, Lather 1992, 1993). (5) I also introduce the elements of an Aboriginal model for public address into the text. For instance, when an interview is quoted, respecting the protocol for turn-taking in speech events that prohibits interruption before the speaker relinquishes her turn (Phillips 1983), I follow the topic through large and lightly edited segments of the speech event.
(1) The practice of Fasting is also called a Spirit Quest. It normally involves four days and four nights of isolation on the land without food or water. The Mide and other groups use a Fasting Lodge, but some go without a shelter and some Fast on a platform on a tree. Traditionally, Fasts are supervised by a Medicine person though an experienced Faster can go solo. In some cases, for the very experienced, the Fast extends to seven days (Berg and Shirt TC 1997; TC 1998).
(2) Issues of language can be sticky. Despite the continuing dominance of the Enlightenment ideology in the established global hierarchy of nations, the mobility of world population over the past century has led to the influence of various ethnic and cultural groups on the practice of those nations. Therefore, following the practice of Chet Bowers (1993, 1995), I refer to a dominant culture ideology rather than a distinctly western one.
(3) Please note that personal letter correspondence is referred to as 'LC'.
|
|
What follows is the prayer offered on the NFB documentary film about this school: 'Wandering Spirit Survival School' (Holdway et al. 1978).
|
|
Web Design & text © 2007 Sharon Berg. All rights reserved. The work offered on this site belongs to the author alone. It cannot be excerpted, reprinted or used in any media without the written permission of Sharon Berg. |