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.At the powwow, one is immersed in a crowd ofIndians, hears the drumbeats and the distinctive Plains singing, and seesthe brilliant Grass Dance costumes.For three days, one feels totallyIndian through and through.(Kehoe 1981, 329)INTERNET WEB SITESThe richest present-day source of information about efforts to recapture,maintain, and develop Native American culture is the Internet.For example,entering the words American Indian languages into the search engine Googlegenerates 40 million web sources.Entering American Indian Art identifies26 million web sites, and American Indian ceremonies elicits 1.2 million.Entering American Indian religions reveals 23 million sources.To discover the wealth of information available on just one of the languagesites, searchers can open the page titled Native Languages of the Americasand find the following: (a) an alphabetical list and description of more than1,000 American Indian tribes, (b) a chart of tribal names in both their original228 Modern Times 1950 2007languages and their current versions, (c) an explanation of relationships amonglanguages, and (d) vocabulary lists from various tribes.A similar site, labeledNative American Languages, lists a host of web links under the headings(a) language publications, (b) language statistics, (c) Indian language issuesand institutions, (d) discussion sites, (e) maps and charts, and (f) Indian lan-guage endangerment and revitalization.STUDY CENTERSAt an accelerating pace, institutions have been founded in recent decades todisseminate information about North-American Indians and their ways of life.Many such endeavors that are sponsored by universities and museums includeresearch efforts aimed at discovering the history of Indian and Inuit bands andinvestigating current Native-North-American issues.The web page for theGuide to Native American Studies Programs lists more than 500 programs athigher education institutions in Canada and the United States.Study centers Internet web sites typically provide information about thegroups aims and activities.For example, the web page of the Alaska NativeLanguage Center, founded in 1972 by state legislation, describes the programof documenting and cultivating the state s 20 Native languages.The organiza-tion is portrayed asthe major center in the United States for the study of Eskimo andNorthern Athabascan languages [and] publishes its research in story col-lections, dictionaries, grammars, and research papers.The center housesan archival collection of more than 10,000 items, virtually everythingwritten in or about Alaska Native languages, including copies of most ofthe earliest linguistic documentation, along with significant collectionsabout related languages outside Alaska.Staff members provide materialsfor bilingual teachers and other language workers throughout the state,assist social scientists and others who work with Native languages, andprovide consulting and training services to teachers, school districts,and state agencies involved in bilingual education.(ANLC Mission 2007)A highly specialized research facility is the First Nations Research Sitesponsored jointly by the First Nations Child & Family Caring Society of Can-ada and the Centre of Excellence for Child Welfare, located in Winnipeg,Manitoba.Three of the site s goals are:" To assist in building and strengthening research capacity among FirstNations individuals, agencies, and organizations engaged in child wel-fare research, policy and/or practice;" To build a pool of resources and networks from, within, and amongacademic and private First Nations researchers;Political Triumphs 229" To promote the development of techniques for evaluating the pro-grams and services delivered to First Nations children, families, andcommunities (FNRS Activities 2007).Among the scores of colleges and universities that offer Native-Americanstudies, a typical program leading to a college degree is the bachelor of sciencespecialization in American Indian affairs at Arizona State University, designedto furnish students   a broad knowledge of American Indian nations and peo-ples, with particular emphasis on Southwestern American Indian nations[including].knowledge pertaining to American Indian culture, history, law,literature, language, art and government.  Students choose their classes fromamong more than 30 Indian-studies courses, such as (a) Native American reli-gious traditions, (b) American Indian languages and cultures, (c) crime inIndian country, (d) continuity and change in kinship systems, (e) women andliterature, (f) Indian sovereignty and the courts, and (g) Native American artof the Southwest (American Indian studies 2007).Arizona State also includes an administrative unit that focuses on schoolingfor Indians the Center for Indian Education, established in 1959 as an inter-disciplinary research and service organization to investigate American Indianand Alaska Native policies   that contribute to the quality of scholarship andeffective practices in education, professional training, and tribal capacity-building.  Since 1961, the center has published the Journal of American IndianEducation (CIE mission 2007).Some university programs emphasize research skills.An example is theSimon Fraser University (British Columbia) set of courses leading to a Certifi-cate in First Nations Studies Research.Students   explore the history and pre-history, culture, language, and contemporary situation of Canadian nativepeoples, and [they] acquire basic research skills in Native issues.Particularemphasis is on the study of Native people in the interior of British Columbia.The certificate is especially suitable for Native individuals who wish to gainproficiency in studying Native issues and to acquire social research skills to usein their communities and nations  (Certificate in First Nations 2007) [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]