My Artifact Assignment
To further my understanding of First Nations, Metis and Inuit culture in comparison to the dominant white culture I chose an artifact that would allow me to investigate deeper the contrasts between the two in a setting that I am very familiar with, physical activity and sport. For the artifact I decided that I would chose a hockey stick as it was long played by the First Nations, Metis and Inuit people before rule alterations were made and it became a mainstream sport.
When delving into the sport of hockey it becomes clearly evident that First Nations, Metis and Inuit players are highly underrepresented in the highest levels of the sport as a majority of the professional players are white North Americans or from Northern European countries. When looking into hockey meaning within First Nations, Metis and Inuit communities it is shown that hockey is a sport where they can insert their own meaning into it along with their interests and as a result create an expression of their culture (Robidoux, 2015). Because this culture is not seen as the dominant culture in our society and differs from the norm it is deemed "less" and not represented at the highest levels of the game. This same phenomena can be seen in the lacrosse example from my childhood. The First Nations teams that we play incorporate their own identities and meanings into the game of lacrosse and because this differs from the "dominant" Eurocentric meanings of the game, we see it as less and separate it from the European version so that players are forced to transition to the dominant form of the game or be excluded from playing all together
This transition to the dominant form of hockey or risk of exclusion is directly paralleled to the education system in Canada. As formerly discussed by Fingarsen (2010) the education system forces it's ways on First Nation, Metis and Inuit students much like hockey does. If these students cannot transition to the formalized education system and learn what is deemed "important" they fall behind and begin to struggle in the school system. As an educational system we must begin to teach to diverse students as well as in diverse ways so that all students can be successful in the system and find meaningful learning that they can grow from and find applicable in their own everyday life.
When delving into the sport of hockey it becomes clearly evident that First Nations, Metis and Inuit players are highly underrepresented in the highest levels of the sport as a majority of the professional players are white North Americans or from Northern European countries. When looking into hockey meaning within First Nations, Metis and Inuit communities it is shown that hockey is a sport where they can insert their own meaning into it along with their interests and as a result create an expression of their culture (Robidoux, 2015). Because this culture is not seen as the dominant culture in our society and differs from the norm it is deemed "less" and not represented at the highest levels of the game. This same phenomena can be seen in the lacrosse example from my childhood. The First Nations teams that we play incorporate their own identities and meanings into the game of lacrosse and because this differs from the "dominant" Eurocentric meanings of the game, we see it as less and separate it from the European version so that players are forced to transition to the dominant form of the game or be excluded from playing all together
 |
| http://image.shutterstock.com/z/stock-vector-vector-crossed-hockey-sticks-and-puck-icon-set-185003762.jpg |
References
Fingarsen, F. (2010). Why do you force your ways? ELL Tip of the Week, 92-93.
Robidoux, M. A. (2015).
Stickhandling through the margins: First Nations hockey in Canada. Sociology
of Sport Journal 32(4), 474-477.
Comments
Post a Comment