Gidayaamin Aboriginal Women's Certificate Program

New courses have been designed specifically for the Aboriginal women’s certificate program and reflect key elements identified through the community needs assessment. These key elements include encouraging the balance between two worldviews: traditional and academic, and the application of cultural traditions to modern contexts with a specific focus on the immediate needs of Aboriginal women in the community.

Course Descriptions

ABST 1F90 Introduction to Aboriginal Studies

Native cultures in contemporary North America. Diverse and common features of different nations; effects of geography, politics, history and language use.
Lectures/Seminar, 3 hours per week

ABST 1P50 Aboriginal Spirituality I

Comparative survey of Aboriginal spiritual traditions and the influence on contemporary lifestyle and thought of peoples residing in Canada and the United States.
Lectures/Seminar, 3 hours per week

ABST 1P51 Aboriginal Spirituality II

Study of the smilarities and differences in Iroquois and Anishinabe spiritual tradition and belief systems.
Lecture/Seminar, 3 hours per week

ABST 1F94 Traditional Aboriginal Families, Communities and Schools

This course will discuss the traditional Aboriginal family, the uniqueness of their communities and schools from pre-contact to the contemporary. Topics will include commonalities among educational practices, dynamics of family change and development, traditional family planning and parenting as well as individual, family, and community relationships and roles.
Lectures/Seminar, 3 hours per week

ABST 2F14 Decolonizing Aboriginal Women's Identities through Education

This course encourages the development of strong cultural identities by focusing on Aboriginal women's identities from social, educational, epistemic, cultural and political perspectives.
Lectures/Seminar, 3 hours per week

ABST 2P17 Reclaiming Aboriginal Women's Literary Traditions and Educational Aspirations

This course explores Aboriginal women's literature and the stories embedded within the literature as they apply to Aboriginal women's histories. There will be an emphasis on decolonizing women's educational experiences and traditions, reclaiming their educative space, and strategies of resistance through writing.
Lectures/Seminar, 3 hours per week

ABST 1P22 Technology in Aboriginal Communities and Schools

This course will enable the students to gain the technology skills needed to be sucessful in the university and other educational institutions (K to 12 schools) as we move into an age of increasing demand in the information technology industry. This course will include skills, concepts and capabilities of computeras and the internet. Topics include representation of information, Mircosoft applications, Internet searching and library database instruction.
Lectures/Lab, 4 hours per week.