Sky Woman Research Paper

This collecting of folkloric data opened Barbeau’s eyes to the need to salvage the cultures of Native and French Canadians alike. « Fortement inspiré par l’ethnologie de la

These oral stories, or histories, provides historical actors with an opportunity to depict their own stories in their own words, where usual written records often discount the great unwashed. For Indigenous peoples, individuality is critical to shared histories. Politicians, activists, and business leaders may materialize frequently in official documents and the media, usually manipulating it for their purposes, but the rest of us very seldom do. In The Back of The Turtle, Kings portrays a identical similar setting; a world full of media coverage that is manipulated by large companies, such as Dominion; “‘A spill?’ ‘No’ said Winter. “But evidently there has been some seepage. Possibly from one of our ponds.’ ‘Didn’t we fund an environmental

Hannah Roberts conveys her idea of the inevitability of change and the changes individuals go through as they age. Her ideas on having to change and mature as people get older are powerfully expressed throughout “Sky High”. Roberts explores the idea that change is inevitable, and happens as time goes by. The imagery in “It’s an older, more age warped washing line I reach up to now” creates an image of her childhood washing line aged over the years. The washing line can also symbolise Roberts’ youth deteriorating as she transitions into adulthood.

The documentary begins with a recounting of issues faced by indigenous people in Northern British Columbia stating that the economic growth is strong, however the division of wealth sharing is still not in place, forcing smaller communities to live below the poverty line, with an unemployment rate as high as 92% in some first nation reserves. The issue of the murdered and missing women and girls is a sad result of systemic and socioeconomic issues that have

Canada can be considered one of the most desirable First World Nations to live in however what many people are not aware of is the Third World nation that lives within our borders. Fist Nations people within the Canadian North live in the most extreme poverty often with inadequate access to water due to either a lack or deteriorating infrastructure. The statistics about First Nations water issues are startling and this leads to implications of their quality of life, a disappearing culture and pure lack of serious government intervention. This can be attributed to many things such as Canada’s Aboriginal versus non-Aboriginal and centralists versus decentralists fault lines. If I have learned anything in my life time, it is that people deserve the right to life and that means meeting them at their most basic needs such as providing opportunity in water resources.

In the article Colonialism and First Nations Women in Canada by Winona Stevenson, the author explains the struggle First Nations women had keeping their culture alive. Upon arriving in America the Europeans suffocated the natives with their rationalisation of female subjugation. Reluctant to give up their traditions and honour the native-American women put up a fight, but their efforts would not be strong enough to triumph over the European missionaries. Stevenson chronologically explains their contact with the ‘colonial agencies'.

Stargirl was another fantastic book Jerry Spinelli. He added interesting characters, such as, Leo the quiet and shy one, Stargirl unique and fun one, Dori Dilson Stargirl only friend, Archie the wise and elderly one, Kevin Leo’s friend that likes the stoplight, and Hillari Kimble the popular bratty one. This book takes place in MICA, Arizona. Now, in paragraph one I will discuss the plot of Stargirl. Next, I will talk about the theme in Stargirl. Finally, I will evaluate Jerry Spinelli`s job on the novel Stargirl.

“Water is important to people who do not have it, and the same is true to control,” (Didion). The article, “Holy Water” by Joan Didion draws parallelism to the controlling or lack of control of water by metaphorically comparing water to life. Analyzing the possibility of how people are taking water for granted, especially where rainfall is extremely sparse, Didion touches on how supply and demand of a natural resource is solely dependent on its availability and whether or not it is immediately needed. Didion’s use of tone, appealing to emotions, gathering the audience to develop a trust, and providing a direct insight into her purpose allows the reader to recognize the importance water has within the planet.

She argues that women face many institutional and societal barriers. In this regard, I will give examples of the institutional and structural barriers such as “The Indian Act” which have significantly affected Indigenous women in Canada in many ways including social, economic and political. While comparing feminists and Indigenous feminists, I think that Native women are different in several ways including social, cultural, historical, political and economic; therefore, Indigenous feminism is a way of practicing the values that they have been taught and inherited from their

Storytelling continues to be an integral part of Native American culture, providing us with an understanding of what was important to the Native Americans. Through their stories, Native Americans expressed an understanding of the environment, and the relationship that existed between themselves and their environment. These stories also provide us with a look at Native American legends, history, and a collection of knowledge critical to their survival. Native American stories are deeply rooted in their relationship with Mother Earth. Their many years connected with land, life, water and sky has created many stories explaining these important bonds with Mother Earth. From ancient times the Native Americans have looked to their

On July 28th 2010, through Resolution 64/292, the United Nations General Assembly explicitly recognized the human right to water and sanitation. They acknowledged that clean drinking water and sanitation are essential to the realization of all human rights. The UN stated that water should be, “safe, sufficient, acceptable [taste, colour, odor], physically accessible, and affordable” (Knight and Hartl, 2003). Water is one of the most important elements to human life. In Canada we are host to about twenty percent of the world’s fresh water (Boyd, 2003). It has a square kilometer measurement large enough to cover both California and Nevada (Matsui, 2012, p. 1). While most Canadians who live in urban areas are free to enjoy safe drinking water, some First Nations communities living on reserves do not (White, Murphy, Spence, 2012). For instance, as of July 2010, 116 First Nation communities in Canada were under a drinking water advisory (Health Canada, 2010), with many of these communities living under advisories for prolonged periods of time. This issue is of vital importance to discuss and evaluate because clean, safe drinking water is a mandated human right. In Canada we have failed to ensure that water on reserves meets that standards set out by the UN.

No analysis of violence against Indigenous women can be made without first looking at colonization as the antipasto of the conflict (Cooper & Salomons 2010). “It is thus paramount to understand the context of colonisation in Canada in order to begin to understand the structural problems and barriers that lead to serious numbers of missing and murder Indigenous women in Canada.” (Cooper & Salomons 2010, 31). When the Europeans first came to “turtle Island” they were “highly dependent” on the assistance of Indigenous women (Cooper & Salomons 2010). However when the Euro-North American governments were forming, the issue of ownership of land became significant. “As the settler society

In Canada, there has been an on going concern in the matter of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Although many First nations individuals have many barriers placed upon them by society, the government and many other institutions. Indigenous women face many of these barriers very harshly. Aboriginal women are vulnerable to many different forms of abuse because of not only being female but also due to issues such as poverty. First nations citizens have been faced with extreme difficulties throughout every aspect of their lives. These difficulties ultimately include the discrimination they face daily from police services, lack of resources in order to assist their need, etc. There have been many problems which have lead up to the social problem of missing and murdered Indigenous women which include the historical upbringing of our First nations population, and unfortunately through recent factors as well. Theories like the feminist theory assist in the debunking of this problem and give us a brief insight into the situation. To this day, the very serious issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women is a key issue, which has been left with many cases unsolved. This in part clearly demonstrates the lack of efforts put in place by Canadian police in order to combat this problem. A case, which raised serious problems in North America, is the case of Lisa, a young Metis woman who at the age of fifteen disappeared walking home from a shopping trip, to which she was never found.

Barker, J. (2008). Gender, Sovereignty, Rights: Native Women's Activism against Social Inequality and Violence in Canada. American Quarterly, 60(2), 8. Retrieved fro m http://search.Proquest.com.Ez proxy.library.yorku.ca/docview/61688929?Acc ountid=15182.

Second Slide: The ways in which Indigenous Women tried to resist, but were ultimately victims of colonization, and how heteropatriarchy has affected them.