Aboriginal women breaking the silence: beating the big drum

Abstract

This research examines the narratives of eight First Nations female educators in terms of their experiences as students and/or as members of a faculty, to ascertain how Euro-Western educational practices contributed to, or interfered with, their learning process and their cultural beliefs. I add my own voiceprint to the 'First Voiceprints' of these First Nations women whose munificence in their narratives connects me to them. Each of their environmental and cultural experiences shapes and becomes part of the collective consciousness. By narrating these experiences, the First Nations women act as change agents toward the dismantling of the Euro-Western colonialist hierarchy. As my thesis journeys around the Sacred Circle—East, South, West and North—I conclude that the First Nations women's educational experiences are negatively impacted as a result of the biases and hierarchical positioning in the Euro-Western academy. It is also evident that the cultural misrepresentation and harmful stereotypical beliefs about First Nations People that permeate Euro-Western society are major contributing factors in these women being marginalized and oppressed. This thesis acknowledges how vital it is for First Nations women to continue to narrate their experiences. It is crucial that the storytelling, written and oral, be used as a vehicle towards correcting historical untruths, towards demolishing the systemic belief that the First Nations population is a vanishing race and towards restoring self-determination to all Aboriginal Peoples.