For our weekly look at practical decolonization in the Aboriginal world, we turn to a nice article in The Tyee, a regional online magazine here in British Columbia fosucing on the vision of Graham Hingangaroa Smith. He is a Maori academic educator who is visiting BC and throwing up some nice challenges to the community here with respect to academic success. And he knows what he’s talking about. Maori education, in Maori schools has saved the Maori language, and created a huge shift in the identity of a whole new generation of Maori. When I was in New Zealand in …
Buried in a long missive from Joy Harjo’s blog: “REPORT from my contact in Durango, Colorado: Her sister who’s had heart trouble grew herself a new pathway to her heart. Her doctor has never seen anything like it. We know it’s possible. We can grow ourself a peaceful nation. Heart by heart. “
Here in Canada, November 11 is the day we remember soldiers who died fighting in the wars in which Canada has fought. Increasingly over the years, Aboriginal veterans are getting their due. Back in the twentieth century, Indians who went to war for Canada lost their rights when they returned. This meant that they were no longer considered Indians, could no longer live in their communities or receive treaty and other benefits. This was called “enfranchisment” and was a sore point in Canada-First Nations relations for decades. Despite that, Aboriginal veterans are proud of their service and the sacrifice that …
On the Open Space list, we’ve been discussing the merits of planning vs. muddling through. My two cents: I actually think that muddling through is not a correction to the conventional wisdom that stretegy and planning is the way to go. Muddling through has always been the way. The evidence is actually overwhelming. Show me something in the world, a finished process, project, thing or event, that was not the result of muddling through. Strategy is figuring out which way to muddle. Good strategists are great muddlers. They seem to muddle in the direction of the resources or of the …