Today was one of my favourite days so far this semester! Noelle Pepin came in to speak with us about the research she’s doing through her Master’s project on combining Indigenous practices and science through loom beading and binary coding. She is “bringing the digital back to the physical through culture.” Through her project she claims that, “participants will be using the digital and material aspects of culture to join the conversation of reconciliation.” (Via Noelle Pepin’s Twitter). I felt this was impactful for our class, as we enter the world of curriculums and lots of opinions, because incorporating Indigenous culture and having appreciation is key to true reconciliation.
The activity we participated in was creating a word using binary code and different colour beads. Noelle prompted us to choose a word that brought us “joy,” so I chose the word Oakville. Oakville, to me, is the place where I spent the majority of my childhood growing up. It is where I settled so many roots, but is also a place I chose to leave in order to see more of the world and find new experiences. While I miss it a lot (especially my family), I know that I am better for having those experiences. I chose the colours blue and white, where blue represents the lake that borders Oakville (Lake Ontario). I hope my future students also learn to appreciate the land we live on and the place they set their roots. It’s important to add that we should know those who lived here before us, and those who cultivated the land so we can live the way we do. If we had time we also got to make one more and I chose the word “books” for my love of reading. This is something I want to instil in my future students as well – because hey, reading can be fun!!
While this was really fun and exciting to do, it was also unsettling in a sense. I think traditional Indigenous beading is so incredible and beautiful, but as a non-Indigenous person I often worry that I may be disrespecting or overstepping by engaging in Indigenous practices that are not traditional to me. I also see such a benefit in incorporating Indigenous culture into schools, so I think this is something that I need to overcome and know that there are things that are sacred to Indigenous culture, but there is also harm in avoidance. This activity really put that into perspective for me, though it may not have been the original goal of the exercise that Noelle intended.
It was also just a way to see that coding is essentially another language, and introducing that language to students can be so beneficial. Activities like this make binary code seem less intimidating and less foreign, and it can be a great way to first grasp those concepts. My next steps are doing some research into more activities that can introduce concepts in a softer way so that no students develop quick anxiety towards any subjects!
Source: https://twitter.com/beaded_tweets/status/1019104959004995584
