Tag Archives: Land

Module 4: Post 5 – Mapping and Indigenous Knowledge

Throughout my cyber-travels, I wanted to find diverse ways in which traditional knowledge can be shared. This travel highlights how Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping can be utilized alongside Indigenous Traditional Knowledge. In the past, mapping has played a significant role in colonizing Indigenous lands. Some of these shared resources begin to change this narrative and center Indigenous people reclaiming mapping. According to the article by PBS Decolonizing the Map: Creating the Indigenous Mapping Collective, they identify how mapping can be used to center Indigenous knowledge.

“Today many Indigenous communities across Turtle Island and beyond use cartographic mapping to track traditional knowledge of their lands and waters. These maps can show sacred sites, the paths of moose or caribou, the best areas to find a particular species of fish, where to pick traditional medicine and much more. Maps are often used when major projects such as mines or oil rigs are proposed on Indigenous land; they illustrate potential impacts these projects could have on the environment and the communities’ way of life.”

With access to online technology platforms, mapping is a space which allows more people to create, shape, and share maps than ever before. In 2014 the Indigenous Mapping Workshop began, and by 2020 the virtual Indigenous Mapping Collective was created to share knowledge and resources with one another. Through this collective, there have been connections to Google, and Canada’s Indigenous Lands have been added to Google Maps and Google Earth.

A collection of Indigenous Studies GIS Resources are available through Carleton University’s Library.

 

Module 4: Post 3 – Indigenous Knowledge and Climate Change

I stumped across the website Climate Atlas of Canada and an article called Indigenous Knowledges and Climate Change. The article discusses the connection between the land and how the “world is out of balance” due to the disregard for traditional Indigenous knowledge. The report and the video provide a short documentary of the Indigenous worldviews regarding culture and climate change. The article addresses how climate change is not just an environmental issue but a colonial issue rooted in politics, capitalism, and western ideologies.

The article discusses Indigenous ways of knowing are shaping climate solutions. It also guides some of the efforts that are being undertaken taken titled “Seven generation solutions.”

 “What we’re trying to teach is that traditional knowledge is not just for Indigenous people, it’s for everybody… All you have to do, really, is start to respect and understand traditional knowledge of Indigenous peoples and you will see there will be a groundswell of new creative and innovative ways and means in which to address these challenges that we face today in the world.”

This website provides an interesting perspective on how sustainable technology can be used within Indigenous communities to solve climate change. The article addresses how these solutions are rooted in a return to the land and, therefore, rooted in decolonization. This article is connected to my research project as it outlines how traditional knowledge and practices can be used to combat more significant issues such as climate change. The medium of the message and the sustainable technology practices are ways in which technology is integrated with these local knowledges.

This is a similar article, Climate Changed: First Nation balances Western science with traditional knowledge, which identifies how fake “beaver dams” can be used to restore stream flow for wildlife. “It’s not just about the watershed and the water — it’s about restoring the culture,”. . . “The Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) culture is directly connected to the land and the water. So, by restoring the watershed, we are actually helping to restore the culture.”

module 4: post 2 – Six Nations protests

In trying to learn about the Haudenosaunee people near me, I watched this documentary on youtube:

It focusses a lot on the very tense protests against housing developments on Haudenosaunee land in 2006, near Caledonia, Ontario and the leadership of the Clan Mothers in that protest.

My thinking this week has been shaped by Indigenous women leaders specifically. 🙂

Module 1: Post 2 – Wanuskewin

This website through Wanuskewin Heritage Park provides an online learning series titled: Kiskeyihtamowin: Learning Through Experiences.  This website (although paid for through my school division) provides Indigenous Ways of knowing relevant to my geographical location that are aligned to my local Saskatchewan curriculum. The resource was developed by elder teaching, archaelogy, and from Indigenous stories and teachings.

Wanuskewin Heritage Park has been a gathering place for many Indigenous Peoples from the Northern Plains just outside of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The park allows people to relive the stories of those who have lived on the land before us.

The website provides educators with opportunities for in-person programming, allowing school children to explore the area’s history prior to pre-contact.

https://wanuskewin.com\