Echos of Colonization! 

 

Introduction 

Hello my little sunshine. 🌞I haven’t posted for a while because I have more interesting things to occupy myself with, so my bad. 😔 Although you probably don’t spend your time reading a children’s blog so it’s all good. For this project “Echoes of Colonization” we were put into groups, mine consisting of some phenomenal Homo sapiens, Eloise, Evelyn, Elsa and myself. Prior to starting a keynote presentation that would be presented to grade 11s, as a class we discussed and researched indigenous people, colonization and things that related to that. Once we had a good amount of knowledge to get started, we decided what topics we would each talk about in our presentation. My group and I chose to talk about gender roles and health within the indigenous communities.

 

Two things we talked about in the presentation

Unlike the other groups, mine had one extra person, therefore instead of presenting about one topic we talked about two. Elsa and I focussed on the health aspect of the presentation, whereas Eloise and Evelyn focused on the gender roles. Even though we each had certain aspects we wrote about, everyone had researched a bit about each others’ topic to get a better understanding of the project as a whole.

Health 

The health topics I focused on were the following:

  • Indigenous health pre colonization 

I mentioned the diverse diet, positive healing practices, spiritual beliefs and strong community relationships. Strong mental and physical well being.

  • The Haida indigenous group

For this slide I explained in further detail how this specific group was affected by colonization. These details include:

 

  • the Smallpox outbreaks

Talking about how it affected Haida Gwaii, and the losses they faced.

  • British colonizing Haida Gwaii
  • The challenges Haida faced and how their lives were impacted.
  • Haida belonging to one of two social groups (raven and eagle)  

marriage customs maintained balance between these groups.

Gender roles 

While this was not my main research topic, I’ll mention the highlights.

Past

  • European colonization introduced patriarchal structures 
  • Increased gender based violence against women because of colonial policies 
  • Indigenous gender diversity and non-binary identities were suppressed or erased under colonial rule.

Present

  • gender roles still uneven 
  • protest for gender equality
  • more freedom to choose your sexuality and gender

 

How the presentation went

My group and I, like my classmates, had a chance to present to two groups. I’m really happy that we got this chance because to be honest the first time we presented the keynote didn’t go very well. This is mostly because we had spent so much time working on the actual presentation and notes no one had much time to practice presenting. Therefore, when we got to present again, my group as well as myself did much better. We knew what to work on and conveniently unlike the other presentation, knew the grade 11’s we were presenting to!

Now for some reason the photo is SIDEWAYS AND I DONT’ KNOW HOW FIX IT. So I’m sorry about that.😔

 

The photo below is the feedback the grade 11’s gave us!

 

 

Some things I could work on

I find whenever I present in front of people I start talking very fast since I get lots of anxiety performing in front of others. To improve my presentation I’ll work on a few key areas. I can start by taking deep breaths before speaking to stay calm and centered. During the presentation, I’ll use pauses to gather my thoughts and allow the audience to process the information. I’ll focus on speaking clearly and articulating each word to slow down my pace. Lastly I can seek input from others which will also boost my confidence and presentation skills. Practicing these techniques regularly will help me speak confidently and effectively during presentations.

How I answered the driving question🏎️

For this project the driving question was “what were the consequences of colonization.” There are many consequences of colonization, some examples being loss of land, resources or people introducing new diseases. My group and I demonstrated our knowledge of the project and of the driving question throughout the presentation. In our

presentation, my group and I scampered into these topics,🤓👆 showcasing our understanding of the project’s driving question. For instance, our discussion of smallpox highlighted one of the significant side effects of colonization. Through both the presentation and extensive note-taking, I demonstrated a thorough grasp of the impacts of colonization.”

 

reflection on my individual keynote

For my individual keynote I believe I successfully demonstrated my understanding of consequences of colonization. I do agree with the feed back I got though, which was to look at the audience a bit more. It’s something that I’m going to try and work on in the future.

 

Success criteria 

This was the success criteria for the Echos of Colonization project! I believe my group and I did a good job over all!

Conclusion

In conclusion, I learned a lot in this project even though its not something I was ever passionate to learn about, I found myself-enjoying it! I’m exited to see what project I’ll be learning about next,(which I will definitely be posting about so stay tuned!)🫶

Shout out to my group partners, check their blog post out to!

Elsa❄️⛄️:http://www.blog44.ca/elsaw/

Evelyn:http://www.blog44.ca/evelyns/

Eloise:http://www.blog44.ca/eloiseg/