Looking Back on My Research Proposal

Looking back on my research proposal really showed me the benefit to laying out my ideas for my paper. Even though my thesis and research question remained relatively similar, it was interesting to look back on what sources I was planning on using. I ended up using most of my sources but not all as I found my sources were so useful I did not need to incorporate as many as I had anticipated. It proved very useful for me to outline my paragraphs because as I began writing my paper I just inserted the information into these categories which sorted out my ideas very efficiently. Although I ended up changing some of the general ideas I had for my paragraphs these initial thoughts allowed for me to expand my ideas deeper than I first wrote. Writing this outline proved helpful as I found my anxiety to be less severe at the end of the course and I had to begin writing my paper as I already had a good base line.

My Research Proposal

Research Question:

What are the social and cultural implications residential schools had and continue to have on indigenous children? (Focus between 1900-1950)

Arguments:

Residential schools were used as a form of assimilation of Indigenous children but instead only further isolated them from their culture, identity and ultimately colonial Canadian society.

(Argument may alter as I continue my research)

Paper Layout:

Introduction

Paragraph 1:

Introduce my topic of residential schools, stating my argument and providing the main themes of this argument.

The government’s intentions and “the Indian problem”
How these schools operated and their oppressive conditions
Long term impacts

Paragraph 2-3:

Background information on Indigenous culture

In these paragraphs I will emphasize Indigenous culture and lifestyle to accurately show the implications these schools had and how they differed so drastically from what these children were used to. The majority of my sources contain background information on the Indigenous communities relationship with the government as well as their culture and lifestyle before these schools. I will combine this knowledge to provide readers with a basic understanding of the social and political environment in which these schools took place.

Paragraph 3-7:

What are residential schools and how and why were they formed?

I will use these paragraphs to provide background information on why these schools were formed, the intent of the government and “the Indian problem”. I will use the articles “But What is the Object of Educating These Children, If it Costs Their Lives to Educate them?” and “Canada’s History Wars: Indigenous Genocide and Public Memory in the United States, Australia and Canada” to provide this background information on the government’s intentions and how these intentions translated into indigenous education.

Paragraph 8-12:

How did the schools operate?

In these paragraphs I will use both personal experiences as well as scholarly articles to explain the conditions of these residential schools. The article “Two Young Ladies in Connection with a Certain School” will provide a point of view from two teachers at a residential school in Saskatchewan to gain a perspective from someone other than a student. I will use the article “Schooled for Inequality: The Education of British Columbia Aboriginal Children” to provide information on the teachers, school funding and classrooms to provide an over sense of day to day life in a residential school. I will use the primary source, “The Story of a National Crime” to provide context from a medical point of view of the residential schools from a Chief medical Officer who saw the conditions first hand. I will also use this book to show how the government treated this information and what that meant for Indigenous children attending these researched residentials schools at the time. I will use the primary document, “Indian Affairs Annual Report, 1923 ” to compare to “The story of a National Crime” to show the contrast between what a government official saw and what the government was willing to share with the public.

Paragraph 13-16:

Long and short term implications on students

For these paragraphs I will emphasize how these schools not only impacted children’s lives while they were attending the school, but how these schools caused trauma that impacted their lives long term. I will use the article, “Indian Residential Schools in Canada: Persistent impacts on Aboriginal Students” to apply support based on psychological studies on the impacts parental loss, institutional care, assimilation and discrimination these children faced. I will also use the article, “Impact of Residential Schooling and of Child Abuse on Substance use problem in Indigenous People” for support as this article interviews Indigenous individuals who attended residential school and discusses their experiences and how these experiences translated into alcohol/drug abuse and problems in adulthood. I will also use the personal stories in the article, “2005 Presidential Address The Emotional Archive: The Formation of Social Memory of the Residential School Experience in British Columbia” to further explain the extent of abuse and trauma experienced in these schools.

Conclusion

In this conclusion I will discuss how colonialism is an ongoing process that continues to affect First Nations peoples disrupting their culture and lifestyle. I will relate this to how those who attended residential schools suffer from the impacts of these schools even though the schools are now closed.

Statement of Process:

As a history major I enjoy learning about different cultures and their histories, through my education I have discovered that I am very interested in Indigenous studies. I have taken many classes on the history, culture and lifestyle of Indigenous groups in Canada and I continue to be drawn back with every class I take, with a particular interest in colonialism. I chose this topic based on my interests in both Indigenous history as well as my interest in education. I am working towards becoming an elementary teacher and I believe to be successful in my future career learning about both Indigenous history and history of education will benefit me. I chose residential schools because they are a topic that I believe that many people learn about in high school but do not ever really understand how impactful and devastating these schools really were for not only those who attended, but the whole community. I know this was true for me, and I want to continue to increase my knowledge on Indigenous studies because this was a significant part of Canada’s history and I believe it is important to understand the facts and gain my own perspective on the subject and this project will allow me to continue to do so.
I chose my sources the way I have in attempt to cover all point of views of these schools from students, teachers as well as the government. I think this is important to analyze information from all these people, understand their biases as well as understand the context in which these schools took place. I have attempted to find many personal stories on these schools as I find these crucial to argue the immense impact these schools left in Indigenous lives. This will allow me to compare and contrast different stories from different communities highlighting experiences from different schools. I have also searched to find official documents from the government to represent their position on these schools through the public record and how this differs from what all the other information is showing. This will allow me gain knowledge on the political atmosphere at the time and the intentions of the government as well as how colonialism operates within these schools.
As previously mentioned, I have taken classes that cover the topic of residential schools so I already have a base layer of knowledge about these schools and their impacts. With that said, I am interested in diving deeper into this topic to be able to form my own argument on these schools and their implications. In my research so far, I have found similar information to what I have learned, but I am exciting to read more of my primary sources to gain a first person perspective on residential schools from teachers and the government officials, which I have not read a lot of. I have preconceived notions about the abuse that took place and I have an overall negative view of these schools due to what I know about their conditions.
With the research I have done, my point of view of the past has opened my eyes to how important the government’s actions really are. It has shocked me how much one official can change the outcome of history drastically just by something as simple as shifting information in a report. This research has made me want to dig deeper into the government and its actions and has made me want to question the information they chose to put forward to the public. Some unanswered questions I have are: were all students treated the same way? Do all students have negative views of these schools? Were some schools worse than others? Did some children get to stay home with their families?
If I were to do something differently with this topic I would attempt to write a paper based only off of first hand experiences and compare it to how the government perceived these schools to the public through primary sources. This would be difficult because much of research is understanding the context in which the sources came from, and without scholarly articles one might not fully understand this.