Tag Archives: indigenous knowledge

Module 3.2

Participatory Action Research in Software Development: Indigenous Knowledge Management Systems Case Study

http://discover.isif.asia/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Siew_Yeo_Tariq_2013.pdf

PRISMA (participatoy Action Research in Software Methodology Augmentation) amalgamates participatory action research with and IKM (Indigenous Knowledge Management) approach. This case study looks at the development of E-Toro – a management system for the Penan who live in a remote community in Malaysia, Borneo. The purpose is to explore the benefits and barriers for rural ICT usage.

Module 3.1 – Intercontinental Cry

Intercontinental Cry is a magazine/web journal that serves to “amplify the voices and strengthen the efforts of Indigenous Peoples around the world” due to the significant lack of representation of Indigenous people in news media.

What I was particularly interested in at this point was the fact that this website is very focused on using Indigenous writers to speak on their own experiences. Much of the academic literature on Canadian First Nations, Aboriginal, Inuit, and Metis populations is written by white researchers, probably due to their familiarity with the publication cycle and their access to services that help them to gain publication. Fortunately a resource like IC helps authors with potentially less access to traditional streams of publication to have their voices heard, amplified, and shared with the world via the internet.

I think this could be a useful resource particularly at the high school level, for students to read and reflect on the impact of Indigenous voices on the Web.

Module 2 / Post 2: Indigenous Ways of Knowing

Indigenous Ways of Knowing is a short video in which Bruce Martin discusses the connection between language and culture and the different ways of knowing. Martin discusses how the English language is, at its roots, comprised of words taken from many other languages and therefore no longer has a connection to place. He also comments on how English is a language of nouns whereas Ojibwe is a language of verbs that describes their worldview. In Ojibwa culture, the world is alive and everyday things and objects that Europeans would consider inanimate are considered by the Ojibwa to possess spirit and are in fact animate. The relationship that the Ojibwa have with the world around them is juxtaposed by the lack of relationship that Westerners have with their environment.

This video is a nice introduction to considering the differences between Indigenous and Western ways of knowing. I particularly like that Martin discusses the connection between language and culture. For Indigenous peoples, the loss of their language also means the loss of their culture. I would imagine that English is an inadequate language replacement for Indigenous peoples in maintaining a connection with the land and their culture. This video has given me some things to think about as I delve into my research on Indigenous ways of knowing.

~Dan

Module 2: Post 3

Indigenous Knowledge and Sustainability

This resource, created by UNESCO serves as an excellent guide to what separates Indigenous knowledge and education from formal education. It points out that sophisticated knowledge is not confined to science, but also rich experiences and emotions relating to the environment from which the knowledge hailed. Information on this website will serve as a guide to indigenous educational tactics, and provide a base for my research on how to use technology to deliver emotional education as apposed to the formal education currently being delivered via technology, which excludes the spiritual, emotional and is weak in local knowledge.

http://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/mods/theme_c/mod11.html

Module 2, Post 5 – Food and livelihood security of Adivasi communities

The Impact of international developments on the genetic resources of the developing world greatly and deeply affect the livelihood security of rural and tribal communities that depend on them. To tackle these issues, the Gene campaign was established in 1993 as a research and advocacy organization dedicated to food and livelihood security of rural and adivasi communities.

http://genecampaign.org/

The Gene campaign works on a variety of issues such as tribal farmer rights awareness, survey and documentation of indigenous varieties of food, advocacy at the policy making levels, research on the ills of genetically modified crops, developing sustainable and self reliant practices.

Of particular interest is the paper on conserving indigenous knowledge and the hurdles posed by government machinery

http://genecampaign.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Protecting_Indigenous_Knowledge_of_Biodiversity_in_India.pdf

Module 2, Post 1 – Centre for conservation and study of Adivasi languages and culture

While studying for the research paper, I came across this great Academy for conservation and study of Adivasi culture and language based in the tribal village of Tejgadh, Gujarat in India.

http://www.adivasiacademy.org.in/intro.aspx

The Adivasi Academy does not follow a single track academic agenda, courses and research programs are created from batch to batch or project to project depending on the needs perceived for conserving tribal identity or promoting development in Adivasi areas. The projects include research on community ethnographies, language tools, healthcare programmes to tackle sickle cell anaemia and tuberculosis (prevalent in those parts) and tribal education.

Module 2.4: Aboriginal midwifery program halted

University College of the North had developed a Manitoba midwifery program with a core aboriginal focus in 2006. This program, designed to help provide birth support to mothers in communities lacking complete medical facilities, or to assist women wanting a more traditional birth experience, was nationally unique, in that they were located far from an urban centre, and focused on admitting only indigenous students.

I have been interested in this program for many years, first as a student who desperately wanted to enter midwifery in a time before midwifery was a viable university program (UBC, McMaster & Ryerson Universities all now have well developed 4-year programs). This program was plagued with issues, including having problems recruiting and retaining students, and difficulties having students deliver enough babies for graduation (there is a mandatory minimum birth attendance required). Ultimately only 8 students graduated from this program, with the majority of them being non-aboriginal. Instead of meaningful examination of why or how indigenous students were not attracted to or able to stay in the program, the province determined that it was best to overhaul the program and move it under the umbrella of the University of Manitoba’s broader medical program.

Based on the information released, it does not seem that this program was given evaluation to allow it to succeed.

Decolonizing Pedagogies

While searching for articles relating to teaching practices that would support the learning of both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students in educational settings, I came across the “Decolonizing Pedagogies Teacher Reference Booklet”.

The booklet was developed as part of a project (Aboriginal Focus School, Vancouver School Board) and discusses the concept of decolonizing teaching and learning approaches. The author, Heather E. McGregor, explains clearly what it means to decolonize pedagogies, why it’s necessary, and what are the challenges associated with it. In addition, she provides readers with two samples demonstrating how teachers have implemented decolonizing pedagogies in their classrooms.

McGregor states that decolonizing pedagogies can benefit all students (Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal), however, in order to create opportunities to challenge and deconstruct “colonial understandings”, it is important that:

Teachers and students have access to appropriate materials and resources.
Learning activities foster collaborative interactions, reflection, discussions and a sense of belonging and identity.
Teachers deconstruct dominant perceptions of history, such that alternative histories are included to support Indigenous knowledge and enable students to create meaning, counter stereotypes and myths, and gain a better understanding of colonial oppression.

This resource would be helpful for anyone looking to gain a better understanding of what “decolonizing pedagogies” means and how different strategies can facilitate the deconstruction of colonial knowledge such that it creates a space for Indigenous knowledge and self-representation.

Module 1 / Post 3: Indigenous Knowledge

Indigenous Knowledge and Pedagogy in First Nations Education: A Literature Review with Recommendations is a great starting point for my research into Indigenous ways of knowing. This article looks at various definitions of Indigenous knowledge, its structure and diversity, and Indigenous learning processes. The author also makes recommendations for honouring Indigenous knowledge and pedagogy in education. The author also provides an annotated bibliography (along with web links) focused on Aboriginal education resources. Unfortunately, not all the links work.

~Dan

Module 1 | Post 3 Educated and Clueless

This should have been the first post. I have had the experience of feeling clueless with regard to my understanding of the perspective, culture and means to relate and connect to indigenous people on many occasions. It started in my own community where the Shuswap nation lived on the edge of town but I knew nothing of them beyond the boundary of the the reserve lands, a place we did not go and were forbidden by our parents to enter. There was a brief reference to First Nation culture in our school teams and games where we divided the school into Nootka, Haida, Nisga and one more that I no longer remember and likely a name that is no longer used. It was as if they did not exist and even though I had very well educated parents who had a number of friends from the First Nation community, I as a child and young adult do not remember any stories or cultural references that were shared and incorporated into my education. I learned greek myths, norse myths, irish myths and even a few chinese myths but none from the First Nations of BC.

In highschool, one boy was from the local reserve and I remember only that he was the lone representative from his community though there must have been many youth his age that could have come to the school. In college, he was given an apartment and well funded for his education and I remember discussions of resentment that his education should be ‘for free’ while the rest of us paid for ours. I did not cross the ‘border’ between he and I and ask questions though and the opportunity to understand or at least inquire was lost.

Despite my utter lack of education and understanding of my own country, I remained very interested in the plight of indigenous in other places and eventually went to work in southern Mexico because I wanted the chance to learn more about the Mayan and the ecological and economic challenges they face. After 4 years of education in a degree that focused on indigenous issues in Latin America, I was ill prepared to deal with the realities of the Mayan and the complexity within each community and region that made the efforts of outsiders bent on improving the situation ridiculous. If anything, much of what we did made it worse and most of this due to a poor understanding of the culture, worldview and actual needs of these communities. Marker’s article (2006) on the limits of multicultural discourse rung true for my own experience, not only in Mexico but for a number of projects I have participated in since upon return to my own home and place in BC. In Hare’s article too, the idea of two-worlds is true and I agree with him that all Canadians would benefit from the inclusion of indigenous knowledge in our education (2011). Had I learned from indigenous knowledge as a child, I believe I would have had a far richer understanding of the Shuswap area and its history, the people who shared the valley with us and this would have greatly improved my own ability to travel, grasp and integrate the understanding of others into my work abroad and greatly increased my capacity as a professional in both the education and the resource management sector.

References

Marker, M. (2006). After the Makah Whale Hunt: Indigenous Knowledge and Limits to Multicultural Discourse. Urban Education, 41(5), 482-505.

Hare, J. (2011). Learning from Indigenous knowledge in education. In D. Long and O. P. Dickenson (Eds.), Visions of the heart, 3rd Edition (pp. 91-112). Toronto, ON: Oxford University Press.