Study of Aboriginal arts in central/northern Australia with a focus on environmental symbolism to provide a case study for Anthropology of the Environment students.
My expertise on Aboriginal arts has grown tremendously as a result of this trip. Contrasting with my initial generic knowledge when facing such artwork, I am now able to identify regional styles and place all artifacts on the map, which implies linking them to specific creation stories, landscapes and cultural identities. Therefore, I have acquired a more nuanced and complex understanding of these unique societies. Additionally, I have learned to be extremely flexible when facing the unexpected.
I envision a series of activities that will ignite my students’ ability to observe and analyze. Using Aboriginal items as a template for additional ethnographic investigations, I intend to select artifacts from an array of cultural backgrounds and incite my students to apply the inductive method in order to reconstruct the world-view behind these material objects (i.e., gender roles, belief system, social status and the like), as finding strategies to engage students has always been my priority.
Doing fieldwork in a desert and scarcely populated region requires a sense of adaptation to successfully face the unexpected. For instance, I initially planned to spend time in the Amata community. Unfortunately, heavy rain made the unsealed road impassable. As a response to this ordeal that could have derailed my mission, I came up with an alternative that proved to be more satisfactory than anticipated and focused instead on the community of Utopia that stands out for its artistic creativity.
Not only will my experiences among Aborigines provide a first-hand case study for teaching ethnography but my students will also have to relate to these communities on a personal level, as a way to develop empathy towards an ethnic minority and gain empiric knowledge. The pairing of my students with Aboriginal peers for the construction of a website will address this aim while providing a setting for skill-driven hands-on activities (photography, editing, computer technology, research, etc.).
Inspired by my experience among Aborigines, I am currently crafting a cross-disciplinary unit on indigenous knowledge that will be incorporated into our school’s Theory of Knowledge curriculum. My contribution will address an anthropological overview of these societies while several colleagues (English, History, Physics, Math, Visual Arts, Music) will be in charge of specific cultural aspects, including engaged Aboriginal literature, the physics of boomerang, the mathematics of kinship, etc.
My goal is to engage students to be creative and process knowledge in a way that will materialize into a specific outcome. In this case, they will have to conceive and maintain an online database about Aboriginal arts and the many social issues related to this aesthetics. Being co-authors of a website used beyond the school community (i.e., art museum, back to Aboriginal communities) should make students proud of achieving a near-professional project.
The issue of indigenous rights is the one that strikes me the most, given the many abuses (massacres, forced labor, encroachment on ancestral lands, ‘stolen generation’) experienced by Aborigines since the early stage of colonization. I would like to raise my students’ awareness on this very urgent issue, as there is a paradox between globalization’s official discourses advocating cultural diversity appreciation while its actual end product challenges the very existence of most First Nations.
This journey throughout the Outback has changed me at different levels. From a personal standpoint I feel rejuvenated after completing this ethnographic project that I've always wanted to undertake. Hiking in the desert and meeting indigenous people who embody otherness is a transformational experience. As a result, I am more enthusiastic than ever to share my newly acquired knowledge with the students and, from an educational perspective, such mindset should pave the way to stimulating classes.
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