Searching for Precedents for Having Native Elders as Fully Enfranchised Members of MA Thesis Committee

[Riley, Charles]

Hi Heather,

This is the closest precedent I could find:

http://www.indigenousportal.com/Language/PhD-thesis-written-in-Mi-kmaq-breaks-ground.html

The article says that Metallic sought out a Mikmaq elder to serve on the committee, and that Eleanor Johnson, now a professor at Cape Breton, agreed to serve as chair.  I can't tell clearly from the article whether Johnson is an elder as well as professor, or whether among the members of his committee there may be another person serving who is an elder, but this gives you something to start with.

Charles Riley


________________________________________
From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU] On Behalf Of Heather Souter [hsouter at GMAIL.COM]
Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 8:24 PM
To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Subject: [ILAT] Searching for Precedents for Having Native Elders as Fully Enfranchised Members of MA Thesis Committee

Taanshi, hello!

I am earching for precedents for having an Native Elder(s) as fully enfranchised Members of a MA thesis committee.  My thesis incorporates video documentation, storytelling, oral history, linguistic analysis of a Native language done through a reflexive and collaborative process with the fluent speakers involved.  As the knowledge and direction of one Elder in particular is essential for me to be able to do the project, I would like to ask her to be on my thesis commitee.  However, I need to make a case for this and the dean our graduate school (University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada) has asked me to do some research.  She is very supportive but I need to supply her with hard facts so she can go to the president of the university with my request and hopefully set some new policy.

Kihchi-maarsii por toñ aad!   Thanks for your help!

Eekoshi pitamaa. That is it for now.
Heather Souter
MA Candidate, Michif Language and Linguistics
University of Lethbridge
Alberta
Canada