Understanding Cultural Elements with STEAM tools
Science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) are all easy to see in the iglu if you know where to look. When we consider the building and design of the iglu, it is not just one of the most famous and recognizable symbols of Inuit heritage and culture.There is also an art to it. So much so, the iglu is portrayed in many different pieces and genres of art. There is also ingenuity in the STEM aspects of the iglu.
Long before educators started to think about how to incorporate STEAM elements into K-12 curriculum, Indigenous peoples have passed on knowledge from one generation to the next, without the concept of school curriculum. Before schools existed, life itself demanded learning, teaching and discipline. This is true for Indigenous people in Canada and perhaps any group of people around the world.
So, on the one hand, there are many traditional aspects of cultures all around the world that we can admire just on their own. Traditional and current-day cultural elements do not need to be validated by anything, including STEAM concepts.
Because without these cultural elements, like the structures we live in, the clothes we wear and the food we eat, we simply would not exist. And our mere existence as Indigenous people is a testament to the power of being Indigenous, and the power of the traditional knowledge we still have today despite colonial and assimilation efforts.
But on the other hand, it is still fascinating to take a cultural element and look at it through STEAM lenses. When explored through the lens of science and technology, one can learn a lot about the type of snow required for the iglu. When explored through the lens of engineering and math, one can learn about what it means when a building is structurally safe. When applying digital skills, one can learn how to present a dome structure digitally.
Although we do not rely on the iglu the way we did in previous generations, there are many other elements from our heritage that we as Inuit still rely on as part of our daily culture. We have the amauti, kamiit, various hunting and harvesting practices, country food, the ulu and more. As for our ceremonial activities, we have throat singing, drum dancing and pisiit. All these things can be explored with a focus on one or more of the STEAM tools or with digital skills.
It is also fascinating to explore other Indigenous cultures from around the world. We have the Haka dance from the Māori culture. We have the didgeridoo from Aboriginal Australians, joiksinging from the Sámi in Northern Europe, Tai Chi from ancient China, and so much more.
I remember seeing photos of the Haka dance from New Zealand and the didgeridoo from Australia long before I ever saw a video of either one, much like folks in those parts of the world might have seen photos or drawings of iglus. Then, the internet and cellphones arrived, demanding digital skills from us all. Thanks to the internet, I, along with many others, have heard the didgeridoo played and seen the Haka dance performed, even though we have never travelled to the places where they originated.
Perhaps for some readers, the dancers and musicians travelled to perform for. Or perhaps many had seen these things on television already. But in the era of the internet, smartphones and social media, the exploration of other cultures opened up considerably. This illustrates the power of having digital skills, access and know-how. It is a power that is undeniable, like the power of traditional knowledge.
How beautiful it is that we can merge these two powers together! Now, even a little old lady like me can experience goose bumps from watching someone dance or play an instrument on the other side of the planet.
As a consumer of things different from me, I had to do a quick internet search to see who the people are online who are sharing our Inuit culture. I did find a few who were familiar to me and several who were not familiar to me, probably due to my (older) age and my relatively limited consumption of social media. To name just a few, we have Becky Han, Anaana’sTent, and Shina Novalinga. I know for certain there are others I am failing to mention here, but that is my failure completely because I am certainly on the lower end of the spectrum with respect to digital literacy.
With examples like these, it is easy to see how Indigenous people do not lose their indigeneity when they use computers, video editing skills and social media to share their culture for the world to see.
Other aspects of culture include celebrations, beliefs and values. It is always interesting to learn about how different Indigenous cultures around the world perform their celebrations. What do they celebrate? How many other cultures celebrate the return of the sun? In Nunavut, we have Inuit Societal Values and Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit. What values and traditional knowledge do other Indigenous cultures have? It could be a good exercise for children to see different cultures expressing their respective values and traditional knowledge about what it means to live a good life. A world where global connections can be done digitally, these types of questions can be fun, affordable and certainly possible to explore. From my own life and travel experiences, the importance of family and connection is a common theme throughout all the different groups of people that I have come across.
Any discussion of culture certainly needs to touch upon the importance of language. I will only speak briefly about language here because the Root & Stem Issue #7 already has great articles covering this topic (April 2023, Language and Literacy: Digital Dialogues).
First, I am so happy to see all the efforts that go towards preserving Inuktitut and other Indigenous languages around the world. I am especially happy to see digital resources such as Pirurvik’s online syllabics converter (kiputtijjut.pirurvik.ca), Inuktitut-English dictionary (tusaalanga.ca) and online courses available at multiple levels. Digital resources like the ones offered by Pirurvik go a long way towards providing opportunities for anyone to learn Inuktitut. For Inuktitut first-language speakers, it is also encouraging to see the increasing number of children’s, songs, television shows and other resources, such as this website, that provides books for different grade levels: inuktut-ilinniaqta.com.
Second, I am also happy to see children learning a new language together: the digital language, including symbols that people all around the world can recognize. Even I know that every email address needs the @ symbol. I doubt I ever used the # symbol as much as the average person, but I certainly understand how to read it when I come across it. Other symbols include the save icon, various mouse cursors, the mini magnifying glass and the little printer icon.
Barely 30 years have gone by since the internet first started to become mainstream. Now it is very much a part of the global culture. Even my mother-in-law is a great-grandmother in her eighties, and she uses WhatsApp on her smartphone. The digital language has symbols that help people in the global community interact with each other even when they do not share the same mother tongue. In fact, it is possible to have a simple conversation with just emojis and memes if you are communicating with someone who does not speak the same language as you do.
My parents ran a translation business, Puulik Translations, so we had computers in our home since the mid-1980s. But remember the specific moment in themid-1990s when I saw my ataata on the computer and asked him what he was doing, as I did not recognize the window on the computer monitor. He said, “I am looking at this thing called the Internet.” (Back then, the internet was capitalized.)
Traditionally, an Inuk man had to know how to build an iglu to survive and perhaps have a family. Now, an Inuk man needs to know how to use a smartphone and the internet to have a normal life. Just as there is ingenuity in the iglu, there is also ingenuity in the digital world. The more we can embrace both our mother culture as well as the global digital culture, the more options we have in life. Whether it is in education, careers, banking, choosing your seat on a commercial flight, reading about different topics, exploring different parts of the world remotely, learning new ways to express oneself, etc.
When people combine cultural skills with digital skills, beautiful things happen. Indigenous languages are more easily preserved and accessed by wider audiences. Digital images of traditional and present-day items are created. Arts and crafts are sold through online marketplaces. The sharing of cultural knowledge is done globally. Connections with people very different from you on the other side of the planet can be maintained in a timely and affordable manner.
All of this is especially comforting for me as an Inuk whenever I am living or travelling outside of Nunavut. For instance, I travel a lot to Ottawa and other places in the world. But I still have access to my Inuit relatives and friends, many of whom are in Nunavut. And even if I happen to be staying somewhere where there is no Inuktitut for me to practice on, I can access Inuktitut learning materials online as long as I have access to the internet or a few saved files on one of my devices.
When travelling around the world to different places, I certainly have enjoyed seeing different geographies, languages, architecture, food, manners of interaction with strangers and sometimes slight differences in fashion. But I have also enjoyed two things that I did not expect to see as much.
First, the similarities across different cultures. Consider summer clothing,for example. Teenagers in Pond Inlet, Vancouver, Key West, Vienna, Paris, Amsterdam, and Havana wear t-shirts, jeans and sneakers. What I can see of friends and the photos they share from their lives in Asia, Australia, and South America: it is the same. I also see similarities in different places when teenagers add a subculture layer, such as goth or punk.
Second, it is interesting to note when different geographical places around the world have similar cultural activities due to similar geographies. When I think of boating and fishing culture, I often think of the rubber boots that you see in any Nunavut community, as well as on the shores of Newfoundland, in Lugano, Switzerland, in Havana, Cuba, and on the coast of British Columbia. In all these different places with the same modern clothing, it is the traditional clothing that is different and therefore,most beautiful. In the alpine regions of Austria and surrounding countries, there is lederhosen. In Japan, there is the kimono. In Scotland, there is the kilt. In India, there is the sari. Some of these are used only for special occasions, some of them are used regularly, and some have variations for ceremonial purposes.
Basket weaving is another tangible element of culture where we can see both differences and similarities. We have ivigak, traditional grass baskets woven and sewn by Inuit in Sanikiluaq. We also have grass baskets woven in other northern and coastal regions by Unangans and Y’upik. In other parts of the world where there are abundant grass plants in coastal regions, we have grass baskets woven by many different groups of Indigenous people, including but not limited to Japan, Africa, and multiple places along the west coast of North America.
When learning about your own culture and heritage, sometimes it helps to learn about other cultures around the world at the same time. Especially if it brings you to a deeper understanding. For example, when I first learned about vigil basket weaving only a few years ago, it helped me to learn why ivigak is more common in Sanikiluaq than it is inIqaluit. It is because the grasses that grow in Sanikiluaq are longer and more reliably available, just as they are in other parts of the world where similar baskets are made. However, on Apex Beach in Iqaluit, as well as other parts of Nunavut, there are grasses you can pick for weaving. The next time you are in a coastal region where there are grasses growing in sandy soil, perhaps you can take a look to see if there are traditions in that area involving grass basket weaving.
