Indigenous podcast

In her Indigenous Studies course, Marissa learned that there are Indigenous peoples all around the world, but some are not fully considered Indigenous. She found it interesting to learn about Indigenous cultures, particularly their spiritual aspects and ways of knowing and believing. Marissa also discussed the four R's: respect, responsibility, relationship, and reciprocity, and how they relate to everyone's life in different ways. She highlighted the issues faced by Indigenous peoples, such as lack of recognition, medical care, education, and discrimination. Marissa had questions on how to apply her knowledge in her speech therapy program and make the school more inclusive. Taking this course has developed her understanding of Indigenous perspectives and will help her advocate for Indigenous peoples and make a positive change. Hi, my name is Marissa and today I'm going to be talking about my Indigenous Studies 201 course at the University of Calgary. The most interesting thing I learned in this course would be the idea that there are Indigenous peoples on all areas of the world, but some are not fully considered Indigenous. They are not considered Indigenous because the colonizers that came to Africa exploited the resources and the people, but then they ended up leaving. They experienced exploitation and colonization, but not settler colonization. Indigenous peoples are ones who still experience colonialism to this day. They also experienced a loss of territory. The people in Africa still have their original territory and the settlers are gone. In most social classes I have had, there was only talk about Indigenous peoples in Canada. We were given no information about other peoples and other places around the world. So when I was reading the textbook, it was very interesting to learn about some of the other Indigenous peoples around the world. Learning about Indigenous culture is very interesting in their spiritual aspects and ways of knowing and believing. I like to read about their beliefs in manifestation and dreams having meanings. They believe that if something came to you in a dream or that if you believe something will happen, it will, whether it is a good thing for the entirety of the group or not. People now in Western culture use manifestation in all different ways. So it still shocks me how some people still feel we are so different from them and feel the need to other them when we use their practices. Greek mythology has always interested me and all the Greek gods and goddesses. So I really love learning about their cultures, their cultures' beliefs. The beliefs of certain gods or spirits and what they rule or control and how they came to be is something that we touched on in this course and in all the readings, but it's something I would love to learn more about. So the four R's, respect, responsibility, relationship, and reciprocity, they all relate to everyone's life in different ways. In my life, respect is something that everyone deserves. If someone disrespects me or does not give me or the people I love respect, then I believe they do not deserve my respect. I think that respect should be given to someone unless they prove that they need to show they deserve it. This is different professionally and academically. The respect you give to others may not always be reciprocated, but you don't have a choice but to be polite and respectful back. Responsibility is the same for these three areas, personally, academically, and professionally. You have a responsibility to fulfill certain things and without doing these things it can lead to chaos. This is the same in the indigenous peoples. If one does not do their tasks, it can harm the rest of the group. Relationships in your professional life as well as academically can really help you get above others and get more opportunities. In western society, having these relationships is one of the only ways to be at the top of society. You can, of course, get up high without them, but it is much more challenging and a longer journey. In indigenous culture, relationships are one of the most important things to have a good running society. There is no separation for professional and for personal relationships. In western society, personal relationships are also super important, although if you do not have them, there is no downfall like in the indigenous peoples' culture. For reciprocity in the academic side of things is almost like our exchange of knowledge. In the university, we pay to further our knowledge. I will say that it is not an even exchange, but it is an exchange nonetheless. Same goes for professional career. Most people in western society only work to get paid. For personal life, making exchanges that benefit both parties are common, but in some scenarios, they are more in favor of one party rather than the other. An example of this would be when someone is in a relationship that only benefits one person, it can damage someone. I have personal experience with this, but we don't need to get into that. Some people feel like they must stay with someone who is not treating them right because they have nowhere else to go or no one who will understand. In indigenous culture, I am not sure exactly how relationships work like this, but I can imagine that there is more support for the people wanting to leave a relationship. This is because they all consider family super important and most people in the group support one another. They all rely on each other. In western society, you have many risks in leaving someone, so I cannot say for certain if indigenous culture is the same or not, but I believe that there would be more equal give and take in relationships compared to in western society. Some issues and concepts of the course. One issue would be that saying indigenous peoples have a say in certain matters, then going against them and not letting their words be heard. This is one of the many concepts that resonated with me in this course. With environmental issues, especially when they affect the territory of indigenous peoples, they need to be fully consulted and listened to. When they are not, it goes against all of the reconciliation that the government is trying to portray they are doing. I believe that there is not enough recognition for the rights of indigenous peoples. There is not enough medical care and support with money from the government to allow the peoples to be equal in today's society. They are also undereducated, which makes it harder for the peoples to get good paying jobs. Without more money from the government, they sit at a much lower starting point than other people. The funds that are given to indigenous peoples are not enough for what they have endured in the past. The medical side of things leaves less access to service and support. The idea of therapy healing is very important after hundreds of years of trauma. These peoples need healing therapy to lessen the effects of intergenerational trauma. They face lots of disadvantages that someone who is not considered indigenous does not have to face. This goes along with the idea that the trauma they endured is not being helped when all the government does is apologize. What indigenous peoples want is to be understood for the hardships that they endured for many years and to not let these be forgotten or not spoken about. There were huge events like the residential schools and the 60s coup which really damaged the peoples in many ways. The 60s coup separated indigenous children from their homes. This then created the issue of when the individuals left these houses and tried to return to the reserves, some of them were told they were not the same and not welcomed back to the reserves. They were also told that they were not indigenous enough for not growing up with the cultures that the other peoples had. This excluded some people from their own culture which deprived them of connecting with their families and ancestors. There is still a lot of discrimination against indigenous peoples. For example, in the lectures my professor had said that one indigenous man had went to get medical help for his diabetes. The nurses had ignored his pain and blamed it on him being drunk, which is very stereotypical. Later in the night, he passed away in the waiting room because he did not receive the attention he needed based on a stereotype and a huge amount of discrimination. These issues should not be happening in today's society where everyone claims they are open and would never discriminate and are welcoming to everyone no matter where they come from or what their past is. Yet, on a survey that was mentioned in class by another student, I'm not totally sure where she got the article from, but she said that over 60% of people discriminated against indigenous peoples, whether they were consciously aware of it or not. In today's world, this should not be happening. Everyone should be treated as equals no matter what. I think it is ridiculous that some people feel as though they are above all to treat people differently for no real reason. In my opinion, these people need to be severely humbled. For me, I had a few questions that arose from this course. A question would be how I can use what I have learned and what I will learn to my program in speech therapy, as well as how I can use this knowledge in university and in my studies. Are there ways to apply what I have learned in this course to make the school more inclusive? How can I apply this knowledge to the world? These questions are a few of the ones that I would like to find answers to. They probably are not straightforward answers to any of them because things like this are answered in many ways. There is no one exact answer, which makes these questions even more challenging to answer. It is all based on opinion and experience. This course has developed my understanding of Indigenous perspective in many ways. It will be helpful for me to be more aware and knowledgeable about political issues. I will also be able to understand certain political issues and conflicts better by having more than just the Western view. It will help me to have more knowledge about things that are happening and if, giving my opinion, I will not be speaking with no truth. It will help me to have the chance to spread more information about Indigenous peoples and help to correct people if they have misinformation. It can also give me opportunities to learn and experience more than someone who has not taken this course. I can take this information and try to help advocate for the Indigenous peoples and try to make a bigger change. It will also allow for me to use this information of how much rich knowledge the Indigenous peoples have and show how it can better the whole of society. The peoples know what the right and wrong time to pick crops is, as well as when you need to find ways to sustain the resources you are limited to. This would put all of Western society at a much better place with the environment. For my profession, it will help me to have more knowledge on Indigenous lifestyle and language, but other than that, what I have learned will not help me in my profession of speech therapy. In my everyday life, after taking this course, I now pass by the reserve on Stony Trail and I think about how life we know now comes from violence. I think about how this all used to be the land of the peoples. It also makes me think back to when I was in grade two. My teacher had set up this big teepee in her classroom and I remember thinking it was the coolest thing ever. Everyone in my class wanted to be in it and to be able to do their work in it. Looking back at these memories, I understand why at such a young age we did not know what truly has happened between these two societies. I think that they should have continued the respectfulness towards the culture as I was taught in grade two. If we continue that type of respect, it will go very far in trying to remove the discrimination and disadvantages that the Indigenous peoples face. I would be very interested to know if Indigenous peoples would be okay with others learning about their culture and traditions and being able to experience them firsthand. I feel if we can get more people to experience these, then a huge majority of people will have more respect towards the Indigenous peoples. All of this said, it helps me to be more mindful of others and their worldviews. It has also helped me to view the world as more interconnected, like the Indigenous holistic worldview. Everything is important and has a place in the world, as well as everything is interconnected. You need every piece to have things run the way they should. This is shown when the Indigenous peoples give back to Mother Nature after taking crops. Everything is a give-and-take relationship. Things need to be balanced and equal. One example of this is when Indigenous peoples harvested the sweetgrass or any other crop. They crop it at the root rather than taking out the entire crop, which most, I think, certain farmers probably just take out the whole crop. This helps to make sure you still have the crop when it grows again and not to run the risk of it never growing again or growing as good as the first one did. In Western culture, some people believe that they are more important than others and believe they do nothing good for the whole of society. Some people who have this mentality believe that they are above others and are untouchable. This can lead to things like war and conflict. It also damages relationships and respect that people may have for one another. This course has also helped me to truly see and know that everyone has different experiences and will see things in different ways. In Indigenous culture, everyone's experience is personal. They, of course, have a general story that most people know. The story may vary from person to person based on what they see and feel growing up. This is the same for Western society. There are different viewpoints on life. Some people think that their view is better than others. This creates even more dysfunction and more divide in society. The Indigenous peoples seem to have more respect for each other and do not disgrace the ranks that they have in society. Most cultures value respect. But when you compare Indigenous culture to Western culture, it really seems that Indigenous culture has more respect for people rather than the Western culture. I, of course, do not have evidence to prove this statement, but from experienced Western culture, I do not believe that there is enough respect for everyone. For example, some individuals in Western culture treat homeless people as less than they throw things at them, say terrible things to them, etc. Some people have respect for everyone, but other people like that will show that will show their so-called power over others. This goes against the Indigenous peoples' holistic worldview. They would see people as disposable and that they don't matter. This, again, makes the gap between the top percentage of people to the rest of society more prominent. It also provides an easier way for people to discriminate against each other and give some individuals the idea that they are allowed to treat others badly because of who they are. In Indigenous culture, this would not happen. I think overall, Western society needs to learn from the Indigenous peoples' perspectives. So, this course has developed my understanding of Indigenous ways of knowing and being. It has helped me a great deal because before coming into this course, I had a very limited knowledge of Indigenous peoples and the issues surrounding them. It has given me more knowledge of past events, which helps to give me a better understanding of why things happen the way they do. It gave me greater understanding on how they view the world and why some sources say that we need Indigenous knowledge in Western society. It has given me insight on how much knowledge Indigenous peoples really have. They believe knowledge is experiential. So, being on the land is the only way to truly have knowledge. Saying this, the Indigenous peoples have been on the land for thousands of years. They know everything there is to know. In Western society, we have nowhere near as much knowledge of the land as the Indigenous peoples do. So, in any political or social disputes over the land, Indigenous peoples' word should be carefully considered, especially with any land issues. So, Western people do not make a huge mistake in relation to the environment. They need the Indigenous peoples' knowledge. When knowledge is holistic for Indigenous culture, it should really be applied to all societies. Everything is connected. Internal and external worlds are all intertwined and should be treated so. In other cultures, the spiritual world and the on-earth world are separate and do not relate or tie together. They are meant to be separate because many people believe, in Western culture at least, that the spiritual world is full of scary and unknown things. The settler and Indigenous relationships, I hope, will improve and that we can finally have the recognition for the Indigenous peoples that they deserve. So, that's it for my podcast. Thank you for listening.