Barnhardt, R., and Kawagley, A., (2005). Indigensous knowledge systems and Alaska native ways of knowing. Anthropology & Education Quarterly. 36(1). 8-23

In this article, Barnhardt and Kawagley describe some of the programs arising from a gathering of Alaska Native elders and educators challenged with identifying ways in which traditional knowledge and epistemologies can enrich the school curriculum and learning experiences of their students.  The article builds on the premises that contemporary Western education systems lack relevance for many aboriginal students and, for those raised with traditional stories and ways of knowing, it alienates their cultural sense of knowing and being through compartmentalization and decontextualization–approaches that are diametrically opposite to many holistic and integrated aboriginal world views. It also recognizes the benefit to all, native and non-native people alike, of the paradigm shift in recognizing the legitimacy and integrity of indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing.  It is from this same perspective that I will be examining culturally responsive, place-based learning in contemporary education.

Facilitated at least in part by having a greater majority of Aboriginal students in more of their school districts than is common elsewhere such as BC, the University of Alaska fairbanks, under contract with the Alaska Federation of Natives and funded through the National Science Foundation, developed the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative (AKRSI). This initiative has sought and developed numerous “educational reform strategies focussing on integrating local knowledge and pedagogical practices into all aspects of the education system… [that have] provided a fertile, real-world context in which to address the many issues associated with learning and Indigenous knowledge systems.”  These strategies can serve as a model for similar reforms elsewhere.