Sootsiman in the Blackfoot language, also known as “parfleches or decorated rawhide bags” (Lycett, 2017, p. 87), are decorated with symbols that often represent natural landscapes like mountains and rivers. The sootsiman is also symbolic of lifelong learning (Roy Bear Chief, 2022) and hold gifts of knowledge that are gathered by individuals, carried into the future and reflected on throughout their lifetime.
Creating sootsiman in a fourth-year capstone course was the foundation upon which Bachelor of Child Studies students paved new paths of understanding and viewed their personal and professional practices through an Indigenous lens. The students worked on three projects in collaboration with their community partners, Wee Wild Ones Nature Inspired School (WWO) and WilderFutures Institute (WFI), from September 2022-April 2023: Designing Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) training modules for new staff; Creating an EDI toolkit for Calgary Businesses to use for staff professional development and; Developing online Community of Practice (CoP) sessions on EDI and Child Care Licensing for educators working in child care settings in Calgary.
After reflecting on their project work and researching authentic materials and Indigenous designs the students created their own sootsiman. Holly Totten at the Maker & Media Commons located in the Riddell Library and Learning Centre, demonstrated how to use the embroidery and sewing machines and gave the students assistance as they sewed their sootsiman. The students created unique designs with paints, beads, colourful embroidery threads and technical tools. The significant teachings, resources and project experiences that students will take away from the capstone course and place in their sootsiman include written, graphic, and symbolic representations of their learning and personal growth as professionals.
Dr. Carolyn Bjartveit and her students are grateful to Espoom tah Roy Bear Chief for his teachings and help, to their community partners at WWO and WF, for their collaboration on the projects and to Brian Jackson and Holly Totten in the Maker Studio for their assistance in making the sootsiman.
Lycett, S. (2017). Cultural patters within and outside of the post-contact Great Plains as revealed by parfleche characteristics: Implications for areal arrangements in artifactual data. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 48, pp 87-101.