First Nations University

Description

This is a picture of the First Nations University of Canada in Regina.

Sociological Interpretation

It symbolizes the culture and ethnicity of the first nation’s people in the form of an educational institution. One striking feature of the building is the tipi which symbolizes the building as a gathering place or community of those who enter its structure. According to Knuttila, 2008, ethnicity is often part of political struggles between outsiders and insiders (p.329).

This picture illustrates Knuttila’s very idea as the building is a separate entity from the University of Regina. With this struggle there comes funding issues of the university, non-recognition of their social structure in the broad society and differences in educational views. This conflict may be a result of racist idea’s and beliefs which benefited the dominant classes with distribution of resources and exploitation of first nations. These racial differences lead to inequality, seen through the eyes of the conflict theorist.

On the contrary; for a specific “race” or social group to survive, its culture must be transmitted, reproduction facilitated, the young cared for, spiritual needs met, and institutions created to carry out these functions. This is the one of the main functions of this building. It also provides social order because it maintains a shared set of values, norms, and beliefs that give to the stability of the social structure. This describes functionalism within this interpretation.

With the diversity of ethnic groups and culture among society, we see certain groups emerge with more power and authority while others have small roles in the bigger context of society. This university can be seen as one of the non-dominant subcultures, yet it still serves an important role to the first nation’s people around Canada. This is contradictory to the conflict theory which argues that institutions function for the interests of the dominant class and classes.

In conclusion, the mere presence and function of this building mean that we can ascribe a functionalist view to it. With its function of benefiting first nation people and its independence of culture and social order we can see it is well integrated into society. It is also true that we can ascribe much conflict theory into the same picture. The First Nation’s University of Canada is funded by the University of Regina, and therefore is subjugated. Likewise, the building is for this particular culture, however, it is clear that the idea of “universities” is much of a European ideology. Can we conclude that this is another attempt to assimilate and control this social institution? These conflicting theories make the accurate interpretation of this picture almost impossible.