Tag Archives: Indigenous epistemology

module 3: post 4 – thinking through making

Although Indigenous thinkers, scholars, voices and sources are obviously very important, I found this non-Indigenous anthropology professor’s talk extremely relevant to holistic thinking. It reminded me of the Kawagley & Barnhardt article “Education indigenous to place: Western science meets native reality” that we read in Week 7.

(The audio is not great at the beginning – you can hear people talking in the background. But if you stick with it, he has some very interesting points that seem, to me, to be informed by Indigenous ways of thinking.)

Module 2: Post 5 – Goodness in academia

This article is entitled “They Won’t Do It the Way I Can”: Haudenosaunee relationality and goodness in Native American postsecondary student support.

What a title!

It caught my attention because 1) I’m focussing – as much as possible – on Haudenosaunee people for my final research paper and 2) Goodness is a value and I’m looking at how values inform Indigenous teaching and learning.

The paper turned out to be interesting in two main ways:

1. It relates 5 Indigenous professionals experiences with providing support to Indigenous students in post-secondary institutions….

Waterman writes, “In an earlier qualitative study with 47 Haudenosaunee college graduates about their educational experiences, I asked the participants to identify any personnel who were instrumental to their degree completion. Five Indigenous participants were identified in that study (names are pseudonyms) and agreed to be interviewed.” She then shares information from these interviews; most interviewees discuss going above and beyond to support students and being undervalued by their universities. One line provides a good nutshell summary: “Behavior that might, on the surface, appear as social programming or as lacking in formal academic advising, through an Indigenous values lens is nation building” (Waterman, 2021).

2. Woven throughout the paper are bits of wisdom about how to conduct Indigenous academic research, and the tension between academia and Indigenous knowledge…

“The significance of this article lies in exposing the foundational role of IKS [INdigenous knowledge systems], goodness, and relationality in the work of these Haudenosaunee administrators. Settler colonial domination strives to make IKS invisible[…]” Waterman (2021) notes that she must balance her role as a researcher with her responsibility to her community: “I am responsible to both the academic community and my community. In other words, I make sure to conduct my academic work in such a way that I remain welcome at home.”

 

Reference

Waterman, S. J. (2021, October 7). “They Won’t Do It the Way I Can”: Haudenosaunee relationality and goodness in Native American postsecondary student support. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000352

Jessica Presta: Module 1, Post 4

For this post I wanted to share a resource for educators to support the indigenization of their programs, classrooms, and pedagogical practices. BC Campus is an online resource that aims to support the evolution of education across the province through collaboration, communication and innovation. One of their resources for this is their Indigenization project. The goal of this project is to offer open resources to educators to support the incorporation of Indigenous epistemologies into their practice, systematically decolonizing post-secondary education. Some of these resources include:

Learn about Indigenous histories in Canada:
Learn about decolonizing your course materials and teaching practices:

Module 2: Post 3 – Indigenous knowledge

This essay by Dr. Marie Battiste at the University of Saskatchewan is a wonderful overview of Eurocentric knowledge and Indigenous knowledge. The author explores the ways in which Eurocentric knowledge has sought to discredit Indigenous knowledge, and she details the recent resurgence in interest, validation, and exploration of Indigenous ways of knowing – for example, in science, law, education, and ecology.

Battiste describes how, through an “act of intellectual self-determination, Indigenous academics are developing new analyses and methodologies to decolonize themselves, their communities, and their institutions” and that “Indigenous scholars discovered that Indigenous knowledge is far more than the binary opposite of western knowledge.”

She emphasizes the need for Indigenous knowledge especially in education, for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. She writes “more and more literature has challenged the suppression of Indigenous knowledge and has underscored the importance of bringing it into the mainstream to establish a body of knowledge that can be drawn on for the common good.”

As we know, “the exclusive use of Eurocentric knowledge in education has failed First Nations children. Indigenous knowledge is now seen as an educational remedy that will empower Aboriginal students if applications of their Indigenous knowledge, heritage, and languages are integrated into the Canadian educational system.”

Battiste describes Indigenous knowledge in general, but helpful terms: “Indigenous knowledge is an adaptable, dynamic system based on skills, abilities, and problem-solving techniques that change over time depending on environmental conditions[…]”. Furthermore, “Indigenous knowledge is also inherently tied to land, not to land in general but to particular landscapes, landforms, and biomes where ceremonies are properly held, stories properly recited, medicines properly gathered, and transfers of knowledge properly authenticated”.

She also notes that “focusing on the similarities between the two systems of knowledge rather than on their differences may be a more useful place to start when considering how best to introduce educational reform.” This sentiment inspired me to focus, in my final research paper, on how Indigenous education and non-Indigenous education are similar. I won’t be directly comparing the two, but to the extent that it comes up, my goal will be to see the similarities and – where there are differences – to see what I can learn from Indigenous ways of teaching and learning, in an effort to flip the script on assimilation.

Reference

Battiste M. 2005. Indigenous knowledge: Foundations for First Nations. WINHEC.

Module 2: Post 2 – Onkwehon:we education

This paper – “A Haudenosaunee Model for Onkwehon:we (Indigenous) Education” – is like the holy grail for my research topic. I’m interested in how Indigenous peoples educate their own people and how Indigenous values, including valuing the land, inform those education processes. (Onkwehon:we means Indigenous, or first people, in the Kahnyen’kehàka or Mohawk language.)

This paper discusses the importance of Indigenous-led education that reclaims Indigenous ways of knowing, which value “experiential learning, storytelling, and interacting with the land” (Whitlow et al., 2019).

The authors detail how 22 children – half of whom are Indigenous and half are non-Indigenous – took part in three days of workshops on the Six Nations reserve, near Brantford Ontario (the largest reserve in Canada). “The workshops were led and conducted by Haudenosaunee knowledge keepers who covered a range of topics: sovereignty, food, ceremonies, treaties, historical agreements between Six Nations and Brantford, colonization, decolonization, resistance, art, residential schools, cultural pride, language, and artistic practice.” (Whitlow et al., 2019).

The researchers then followed up with participants six months later. There are some very powerful quotes from the youth who participated in the workshops. The following is one such quote that underscores the importance of place-based learning:

“’You’re just held accountable by your environment, being on Six Nations. Like you’re in their community… I think that’s like really helpful whereas maybe if we had these workshops in Brantford and you’re talking about a community that you’re not actually in, it’s not holding you super accountable. You’re in their house, so be respectful while you also inherently try to learn at the same time.’(Non-Onkwehon:we Youth)” (Whitlow et al., 2019).

Reference

Whitlow, K.B, Oliver, V., Anderson, K., Brozowski, K., Tschirhard, S. Charles, D., and Ransom, K. (2019). Yehyatonhserayenteri: A Haudenosaunee model for Onkwehon:we (Indigenous) education. Canadian Journal of Education 42(2).