Sayt-k’il̓hl Wo’osim̓ (Common Bowl) of Knowledge Mobilization Projecct

Welcome to the Educational Studies (EDST) 591 blog for our Sayt-k’il̓hl w̓o’osim̓ (Common Bowl) Knowledge Mobilization Project. This blog introduces some of the work of our Social Justice and Indigeneity M.Ed. cohort in the Department of Educational Studies at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in an Indigenous epistemologies and curriculum course from Summer 2015.

Our cohort, would like to acknowledge the Musqueam Peoples and their Ancestors by thanking them for allowing us to study in one of the most beautiful places in the world, where sky, ocean and mountains meet. We acknowledge our privilege to be guests in their unceded territory.  T’ooyaḵsiy̓ n̓ism!

In our class, we explored Indigenous epistemology and curriculum as it applies leadership in K-12 and post-secondary contexts. We drew upon the Nisga’a concept of the Sayt-k’il̓hl w̓o’osim̓, which means “Our Common Bowl”, given our facilitator’s (Amy Parent’s) cultural ancestry. The Nisga’a people have always organized their lives and society around a concept called According to Chief Joe Gosnell (2003) “understanding this concept means that since everyone relies on the same resources and community, all must contribute. It is about sharing energy, wisdom, spirit, joy, sadness, and it touches all aspects of life” (para. 52). We extended this principle into our course so that we could share our resources in the spirit of cooperation and reciprocity for our common bowl through this knowledge mobilization blog. It is our intent for this blog to be of assistance to our communities, educators and schools.

The categories buttons below will guide you to a number of resource summaries of books, video’s, websites, lesson plans and projects that cover several themes related to Indigenous epistemology and curriculum.

Feel free to share and comment as you explore our blog. We hope that you find this blog useful in your work.

Image Source: “Running Raven” bowl designed and created by Morgan Green, Tsimshian, Native Northwest.com; photo taken by Amy Parent