Web log #4

Entry 4

This paper, Traditional Ecological Knowledge of Aboriginal People in British Columbia is by Nancy Turner, an Ethnobotanist out of UBC. She looks at three main themes of Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Wisdom (TEKW), sustainability, world view and communication of knowledge. She charts plant resources like edible mushrooms, seaweeds, alder and cedar and their harvesting practices. Then she takes a couple of specific examples (yellow avalanche lily and balsamroot) and traces the use, knowledge and history of the plant. It gives a non-native a food sense of the scope of knowledge held by Aboriginal Peoples.

This article begins with a story told by an elder that creates a vivid image of the Alaskan’s connection to the land and history.  Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Alaska Native Ways of Knowing then goes on to discuss exactly what it says – Indigenous knowledge systems.  The article discusses “Indigenous worldviews, Native ways of knowing, cultural and intellectual property rights, and traditional ecological knowledge” and compares them to a Western scientific perspective.  I found the diagram on page 16 particularly enlightening.  It is a Venn diagram showing the approaches that Indigenous ways of learning use in one circle and the approaches that Western science uses in another, with the area of overlap called “Common Ground”.

The intent of the article is help “move the role of Indigenous knowledge and learning from the margins to the center of educational research, thereby confronting some of the most intractable and salient educational issues of our times.”

Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Alaska Native Ways of Knowing – Ray Barnhardt and Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley, University of Alaska Fairbanks (2005)  (Published in Anthropology and Education Quarterly, Vol. 36, Issue 1, pp. 8–23)

Site #1

Nancy Turner is an ethnobotanist from University of Victoria who has written two books on the ethnobotany of plants and peoples in this coastal region. This is a commentary by her which addresses the direction of the people-place-plant connection of ethnobotany. It is succinct and has a list of pertinent resources at the end.

Site #5

The program Rediscovery is something I used as a resource when involved with outdoor education for youth. Rediscovery integrates outdoor education for youth within an indigenous model. Wilderness activities in remote settings are tied with cultural teachings and traditions.  I could see this program being used in the school system as part of an outdoor/cultural education program.