Tag Archives: australia

Module 3 (Post 4) – Indigenous Cultures and Astrophysics

This article from National Indigenous Television, News, and Programs (a division of Australia’s Special Broadcast Service), explores how Indigenous oral histories have preserved scientific knowledge for generations. Krystal de Napoli, a Gomeroi astrophysicist, explains how the Dreaming stories of Torres Strait Islanders contains ancient knowledge about stars and astronomy.

I really enjoyed this read and thought it did a wonderful job of explaining how stories can contain multitudes of knowledge from many different interconnected subject areas and allow for a deeper understanding of the environment.

You can find the article here.

Module 2 (Post 1) – Living Knowledge

The Living Knowledge Project is an Australian-based research project that was developed to find the most effective way to integrate indigenous knowledge into the secondary science curriculum. The page that I have linked to here is dedicated to the history of ‘both ways’ education, where students are exposed to a mixture of western and indigenous education.

https://livingknowledge.anu.edu.au/html/educators/07_bothways.htm

Module 1: Post 2 – A field of poppies

This brief article caught my attention as I looked for information about collectivism and Indigenous cultures:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/19/indigenous-culture-relies-on-knowledge-sharing-we-need-new-leaders-to-reflect-that

The writing style seems Indigenous to me; it had a slightly different rhythm than I’m used to. I found it oddly soothing. It’s about moving toward an antidote to individualism and competition. About standing tall and proud, while avoiding the pitfalls of the ego. About a rising tide lifting all boats.

The author, Carla McGrath, is part of IndigenousX, an Indigenous owned and run media organization.