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 Nuosu Quick Facts: 2,000,000 population Of 7.5m Yi 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 Classrooms Principal: Sha Kaiyuan Seven Permanent Teachers Six 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 foreigners Botanical 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 Fund Current 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

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 Affine Note: 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 in Shanghai 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? Interested in joining the Cool Mountain Club at the University of Washington? Community members are welcome.