Learning in Nuosu Communities: Yangjuan Village

Tami Blumenfield

Professor Harrell

Presented to Anthropology 470:

Minority Peoples of China

University of Washington

March 3, 2009

Looking more closely at the Four Forms of Learning: Intersections in Yangjuan

• ‘Traditional’ village-based learning• Religious education• School education• Research, philanthropy, and migration

Liangshan and the Nuosu凉山与凉山彝族

Nuosu Quick Facts:• 2,000,000 population• Of 7.5m Yi 彝• Tibeto-Burman language

Baiwu Township, Yanyuan County, Liangshan Prefecture

Yangjuan, Pianshui, Gangou, Zhuchang Villages

Sichuan Province

Yangjuan & Pianshui

Four villages (divided into production brigades); 208 households total

‘Traditional’ village-based learning

• Farming and family• Photos by Laura Stahl

Work as play, play as work?

Photos by Laura Stahl

Building the Yangjuan Primary School

• An effort to bring education to a rural area underserved by schools

• Founded in 2000• ~300 students, nearly all Nuosu• Min ban gong zhu

Yangjuan Primary School

Grades K-6 First graduating class, June 20058 Classrooms

Principal: Sha Kaiyuan Seven Permanent TeachersSix Temporary Teachers

Benefits and consequences of building the Yangjuan Primary School

• Increased school attendance• High quality education available locally; students need not

leave their home (culture) for education• To continue their education, students must leave their

homes• Supplemental education opportunities• Increased exposure to strange foreignersBotanical illustration, taught Summer 04 by UW undergraduate Rachel Meyer and Taiwan student

Environmental education initiatives

Botanical Illustration

Ethnoentomology

Locally relevant curricular content

• Music • Art• Writing exercises

Art projects using local materials

Writing exercises

Locally relevant curricular content

Cool Mountain Education Fund

• Established in 2005 as 501(c)3• Three purposes:

– to support education at the primary school

– to fund scholarships for post-primary education

– to develop educational enrichment opportunities at the school

Operating and supporting a school

Cool Mountain Education FundCurrent Projects

• Scholarships for graduates of Yangjuan Primary School• Workshops for teachers

Teacher Training

Objectives:1. To lead teachers

in exploring how local knowledge could be incorporated into their teaching

2. To model innovative, student-centered teaching methods appropriate to the New Curricula

（新课程）

Teacher Training: Community Investigation

Sharing traditional games

Digital picture slideshow

Teacher Training: Resource Bank

Effects of the Yangjuan Primary School

How does the school affect power relations and social relations generally?

Students of the Prefectural Middle School In Xichang

Mgebbumo

Mgebbu Affine

Mgebbu AffineNote: Actually no

bias toward Mgebbu in test scores or scholarships.

These young women from Yangjuan are working as hotel attendants. Other former students were recruited to work in a Shanghai factory. How does the new school affect employment aspirations?

Does primary education suffice for kids, or do they need more schooling to reap ‘rewards’? What are these rewards, and how do different people define them?

Schooling and Migration

Seeking schooling

Chickens for Living Expenses

Seeking Schooling

Going to Middle School: Family Portrait.

Now a factory worker inShanghai

Teachers

NGO worker; research assistant

Store wall in Baiwu

“At all levels of Government the most important responsibility is the successful

implementation of education.”

Thank you!

Questions or comments?

Email tamiblu@u.washington.edu

Interested in joining the Cool Mountain Club at the University of Washington?

Email lastahl@u.washington.edu

Community members are welcome.