Perspectives of the Anishinaabe Ojibwe Elders on Life-Long Learning

• Author / Creator

  Valerie Fisher

• The overall aim of this qualitative study was to explore the process of lifelong learning. The purpose was to understand how the perspectives might be used to effectively support Aboriginal adult learners in their self-directed learning. Care was taken to ensure that this research held the deepest respect for Indigenous ontological, epistemological, methodological and axiological approaches. Protocols set by the University of Alberta, Research Ethics Board, and Anishinaabe knowledge seeking practices was carefully followed. Purposive and snowballing sampling techniques were used to select four First Nations communities and 15 Anishinaabe Elders who reside near central Canada. The interview guide served as a helpful method for evoking stories related to the lifelong learning experiences of the research participants. Grounded theory methods of focused coding, word-by-word, and line-by-line analysis of the data brought forth the five emergent themes of observational learning, experiential learning, disrupted bicultural learning, transformational bicultural learning, and contemporary bicultural learning. Second visits with each of the research participants afforded the opportunity for them to verify the final interpretational analysis of their lifelong learning experiences. Observational and experiential learning was an ongoing teaching and learning process. Children were privileged to observe what the Anishinaabe teachings and Anishinaabemowin (language) was all about through their daily interactions with those around them. Part of those observations had to do with the way in which the spiritual foundations embedded in the seven grandfather teachings of wisdom, love, respect, bravery, honesty, humility, and truth were carried out. As children matured, they learned how to carry out the land-based activities that would ensure continued survival of their families and neighbors. It was about the process of doing.The Anishinaabeg had experienced disrupted bicultural learning during colonization because of the challenges they faced of having to learn two different cultures: European-based and traditional Indigenous. With Aboriginal education being a long-standing historical issue of failed attempts, the government and church officials created Indian residential schools for the purpose of forcing First Nations people to abandon their Indigenous knowledge and languages. Children were housed in residences far from home during the school year. Anishinaabancesug (Ojibwe children) were not privileged to partake in the ongoing traditional Indigenous education phase of their development. Because of the abuse that they had gone through in European-based schools, their education was compromised there as well. With everything that the Elders went through during their childhoods, they still experienced a transformational bicultural learning process in the later years. To understand what their experiences were, and problems encountered, the stories were sifted through Knowles (1980, 1990) six andragogical assumptions of (a) learner’s need to know, (b) learner’s self-concept, (c) prior experience of the learner, (d) readiness to learn, (e) orientation to learning, and (f) motivation. The findings show that the research participants went on to post-secondary studies and secured long-term careers in a number of fields while keeping their cultural identities, values, traditions, practices and Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe language) alive despite the cultural genocide practices that they had faced. Supporting the contemporary bicultural learning of Aboriginal adult learners is tantamount to increasing post-secondary graduation rates, and participation in the employment sector. The recommendation was to help create psychologically healthy and supportive European-style learning environments that are kinder, gentler, accepting, and inclusive. Another suggestion was to draw on the wisdom of Anishinaabe Elders as resource persons, and then have them teach traditional knowledge in ceremonial teaching lodges in outdoor nature environments. Crafting the final research paper followed the completion of data analysis and verified interpretations of the Elders. The four criteria of credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability helped ensure trustworthiness or goodness of this qualitative research study. Delimitations narrowed the focus of the study to four First Nations communities and the stories of 15 Anishinaabe Elders. Limitations of the research design include, the tendency of scoffers to view qualitative research as subjective and biased, limited number of respondents, financial constraints, geographical distance, interpretational problems in data analysis processes, and possible inaccurate representational conceptualizations in the writing. Keywords: Life-long learning, adult education, and self-directed learning.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Anishinaabe
  • Ojibwe
  • Elders
  • lifelong learning
  • adult education
  • self-directed learning

• Graduation date

  Spring 2019

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Philosophy

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-y4hy-hb31

• License

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