Indigenous Knowledge is Transformative Knowledge

As I venture along this cyber-journey, I am beginning to internalize the need to address our educational system so as not to fail our aboriginal learners.   There is a need to merge aboriginal approaches with Eurocentric ones; in a holistic and inclusive fashion.  Here, Marie Battiste outlines some constructs that are cohesive with both systems:

• Pragmatic cooperation
• Strands of connectedness among diverse life forms—ecological, spiritual, human
• Humans are interdependent with nature and humans are most dependent on nature.
• Sharing and cooperation are basic precepts for life.
• Knowledge journey is central, but aided by others, both spiritual and worldly.

Marie Battiste presents an optimistic look at “post-colonialism”.  Not that it implies after colonialism but that it presents an opportunity for reconstruction and transformation.

http://www.usask.ca/education/people/battistem/csse_battiste.htm