Showing papers on "Traditional knowledge published in 2009"

Indigenous ways of knowing and the study of environmental change

Abstract: (2009). Indigenous ways of knowing and the study of environmental change. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand: Vol. 39, No. 4, pp. 151-156.

“It's so different today”: Climate change and indigenous lifeways in British Columbia, Canada

Abstract: Indigenous Peoples of British Columbia have always had to accommodate and respond to environmental change. Oral histories, recollections of contemporary elders, and terms in indigenous languages all reflect peoples’ responses to such change, especially since the coming of Europeans. Very recently, however, many people have noted signs of greater environmental change and challenges to their resilience than they have faced in the past: species declines and new appearances; anomalies in weather patterns; and declining health of forests and grasslands. These observations and perspectives are important to include in discussions and considerations of global climate change.

Reclaiming aboriginal knowledge at the cultural interface

Abstract: Many studies and papers have explored and critiqued the “what” and the “why” of working at the cultural interface of mainstream curricula and local Indigenous knowledge, but this project sought to understand the “how”. Participants went beyond explorations of “cultural items” and worked in the overlap between the New South Wales Department’s Quality Teaching Framework and Indigenous Pedagogies drawn from local lore, language and the sentient landscape. Indigenous knowledge was used not merely as content, but to provide innovative ways of thinking and problem solving in the field of design and technology. The methodology for the study was based on a significant site in the local river system. The focus of the action research study shifted in the early stages from the students to the teachers, who required a radical shift in their thinking in order to set aside deficit logic, or stimulus-response approaches to teaching and learning, to embrace sophisticated Indigenous ways of knowing.

Traditional peoples and climate change

Abstract: Indigenous and other traditional peoples are only rarely considered in academic, policy and public discourses on climate change, despite the fact that they are and will be greatly impacted by present and impending changes. Symptomatic of the neglect of indigenous peoples, the recently released IPCC II (2007) report summary on climate change impacts makes only scarce mention of indigenous peoples, and then only in polar regions and merely as helpless victims of changes beyond their control. The IPCC III (2007) report on mitigation of climate change does not consider the role of indigenous peoples at all. This view of indigenous peoples as passive and helpless, at best, is not new, with roots going back to colonialism and reoccurring in contemporary discussions of development, conservation, indigenous rights, and indigenous knowledge.

Aboriginal pedagogies at the cultural interface

Abstract: This research project investigates two questions and proposes two answers. The first question asks how teachers can engage with Aboriginal knowledge. The proposed solution involves applying a reconciling theory of Cultural Interface to staff development. The second question asks how teachers can use Aboriginal knowledge productively in schools. The proposed solution lies in the application of Aboriginal processes rather than content, specifically the application of Aboriginal pedagogies. In investigating these questions participants sought to incorporate authentic Aboriginal perspectives in the curriculum in ways that increased intellectual rigour and supported mainstream academic success for Aboriginal learners. I propose that this outcome is currently blocked by an oppositional framing of Aboriginal and western knowledge systems, caused by shallow perceptions of Indigenous knowledge as being limited to token cultural items. This tokenism serves only to highlight difference and marginalise Indigenous thought. I propose that these issues can be addressed by introducing a reconciling theory for working with multiple knowledge systems and by focusing on Aboriginal meta-knowledge, particularly native knowledge of pedagogy. So the dual aims of this thesis are to demonstrate how teachers can embrace deeper Aboriginal knowledge through reconciling processes, and how this knowledge can be integrated into daily classroom practice. This problem is explored in Aboriginal communities and their schools across Western New South Wales, Australia. A tool for integrating the common-ground pedagogies of multiple worldviews has been developed and incorporated into the regional education strategy as part of the study. Participating teachers engaged with this knowledge through training activities, planning days and trials, then reported on their activities via wiki, email, and informal interviews. The results of their work speak to the question of how to meet the New South Wales Department of Education and Training’s mandate of incorporating Aboriginal perspectives across the curriculum (DET, 2009). The reconciling principle that grounds the work is the theory of Cultural Interface, the dynamic overlap between systems previously defined as dichotomous and incompatible. The Aboriginal pedagogy framework used for the project is drawn from local language, stories and cultural experiences and supported by the literature about Aboriginal ways of learning. This is combined with the best available western models of pedagogy used in the region, with the overlap between the diverse systems determining the teaching and learning methods used in the study. The methodology employed in this work was an Indigenous standpoint methodology developed through a process of auto ethnography. This resulted in a methodology that was named ‘Research as Business’ grounded for the purposes of this study in a metaphorical framework of traditional carving processes. The sections of this thesis are also organised around the carving process: 1. Place, Story, Protocol and Wood 2. Bringing the Tools 3. Rough Cutting 4. Carving the Shape 5. Grinding 6. Smoothing The figure below represents visually some of the actions that occur within this cultural process, using photographs taken during some of my carving activities that took place during the project. [Image] Figure 1: Visual representation of carving process The practical goal of the study is Indigenous knowledge production, with products placed in the Aboriginal community for community ownership, use and benefit. Those knowledge products have been found to be effective tools for engaging students, teachers and community with Aboriginal processes for successful learning. These results support my claim that when knowledge is deep there are more similarities than differences between culturally diverse systems, and that a reconciling approach to engaging with these knowledge systems facilitates school-community dialogue and cooperation, as well as opportunities for increased student engagement and improved learning outcomes. This thesis is characterised by an imperative to ‘walk the talk’. Thus the content and meaning are reflected in the form. The text represents a dialogue and ongoing negotiation for meaning at the Cultural Interface between Aboriginal and western knowledge. Parts of the text are written with Indigenised genres and voice, and parts are written with westernised genres and voice. However, each contains aspects of the other as well. For example, academic metalanguage and structures sometimes appear in the oral-style sections. Similarly, in the academic writing, Indigenous ways of imparting knowledge influence the structure. For example, the academic imperative to explain, reference and justify a concept in detail at the moment it is introduced is often eclipsed by the Aboriginal protocol of introducing knowledge in incrementally deeper stages at the ‘right moment’ rather than immediately. Sometimes important items are repeated several times, when they are concepts that require repetition at different stages of learning for deeper levels of understanding. For example, a gesture shown to me by an old man is described three times during the thesis. This kind of spiralling repetition is familiar to me personally as a highly effective Aboriginal way of learning, and does not seem too far removed from one of my non-Aboriginal supervisors’ instructions for academic writing – “Tell ‘em what you’re going to tell ‘em. Then tell ‘em. Then tell ‘em what you told ‘em.” As such, the written style of this thesis represents an attempt to reconcile dual intellectual systems, mirroring the integrative ethic of the research study itself. During my research, a Law Woman told me the things I need to reveal about our higher knowledge, not the content but the processes for working with it, to bring about an awareness of the depth and capacity of Aboriginal intellect. So I share in this work as much as possible my processes of knowing as they occur in the act of researching and reporting. The knowledge produced/revealed in my research is, as with all bodies of knowledge, an entity with its own spirit. It appears to me as a serpent winding around a series of objects – club, boomerangs, spear, a shield and nine stones. There is a pattern on the serpent’s head that is mirrored on the shield. [Image] Figure 2: The thesis as a shield The shield shape is a powerful metaphor based on the shape formed by the overlap of two circles. This represents the concept of dynamic Cultural Interface between different knowledge systems. For me this is paramount Law from Dreaming actions that spark creation events, both past and present. I hope to bring that Law, which may be found in many cultures, into the project of Aboriginal education reform. This will allow genuine engagement in ideas like ‘partnership’ and ‘walking together’. The pattern on the shield shows the structure of the total thesis in its non-verbal form. The triangular parts represent the field work done with teachers and the analysis of that work. If I translate the entire shield pattern into a diagram with parts labelled in English, it looks like this: [Image] Figure 3: The thesis as a diagram This thesis is an attempt to translate as much of the research knowledge as possible into verbal concepts, then into print. The text translates specifically the knowledge of the shield pattern into a linear sequence of verbal learning (based on my carving process). The thesis is centred on the two questions represented in the middle of the diagram, but as the solutions to those problems are contained in the three rings around the outside, a lot of space is given to inducting the reader into this knowledge before addressing the research questions specifically. As the answers to the questions are contained in Aboriginal knowledge processes and Aboriginal concepts of synergy and balance, these are outlined in great detail. The Indigenous methodology and auto ethnography processes are given precedence, making transparent my own transformative journey in the research and offering this as an example of productive engagement of Aboriginal concepts and processes within mainstream education. The intent of this is to show that these are not only effective in primary and secondary schooling, but in tertiary education as well.

Indigenous Knowledges and the Story of the Bean

Abstract: In this article, Bryan McKinley Jones Brayboy and Emma Maughn explore epistemic tensions within an Indigenous teacher preparation program where students question Western systems for creating, producing, reproducing, and valuing knowledge. Grounding their argument in a rich understanding of Indigenous Knowledge Systems, the authors advocate for an approach to training Indigenous teachers that recognizes the power of Indigenous Knowledge Systems, considers diverse knowledge systems equally, and equips teachers to make connections between various schooling practices and knowledge systems. Through the "story of the bean," in which an Indigenous student teacher reconceptualizes a science lesson from a more holistic perspective, the authors illustrate the wealth of understanding and insight that Indigenous teachers bring to the education of Indigenous students, and they depict the possibilities for pre-service teaching programs in which university staff honor the inherent value of Indigenous perspectives.

Integrating Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Ecological Science: a Question of Scale

Abstract: The benefits and challenges of integrating traditional ecological knowledge and scientific knowledge have led to extensive discussions over the past decades, but much work is still needed to facilitate the articulation and co-application of these two types of knowledge. Through two case studies, we examined the integration of traditional ecological knowledge and scientific knowledge by emphasizing their complementarity across spatial and temporal scales. We expected that combining Inuit traditional ecological knowledge and scientific knowledge would expand the spatial and temporal scales of currently documented knowledge on the arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus) and the greater snow goose (Chen caerulescens atlantica), two important tundra species. Using participatory approaches in Mittimatalik (also known as Pond Inlet), Nunavut, Canada, we documented traditional ecological knowledge about these species and found that, in fact, it did expand the spatial and temporal scales of current scientific knowledge for local arctic fox ecology. However, the benefits were not as apparent for snow goose ecology, probably because of the similar spatial and temporal observational scales of the two types of knowledge for this species. Comparing sources of knowledge at similar scales allowed us to gain confidence in our conclusions and to identify areas of disagreement that should be studied further. Emphasizing complementarities across scales was more powerful for generating new insights and hypotheses. We conclude that determining the scales of the observations that form the basis for traditional ecological knowledge and scientific knowledge represents a critical step when evaluating the benefits of integrating these two types of knowledge. This is also critical when examining the congruence or contrast between the two types of knowledge for a given subject.

Climate change and small island developing states: a critical review.

Abstract: This paper reviews published work and projects on climate change and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), covering impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation. As a critical review, this paper does not seek to be comprehensive, but it extracts key ideas and discusses key material to evaluate the current state of knowledge on SIDS and climate change. Illustrative examples and references, rather than a full listing, are used to support points. The main way forward suggested for the future is better integration of top-down and bottom-up approaches to ensure that data and methods are based on local interests while acknowledging and integrating local and traditional knowledge with other forms of knowledge. Placing climate change into appropriate contexts is also important along with filling in prominent knowledge gaps, especially moving beyond the current focus on Caribbean and Pacific SIDS.

Self‐determination through self‐education: culturally responsive schooling for Indigenous students in the USA

Abstract: In this article, we outline culturally responsive schooling (CRS) for Indigenous youth and situate this concept within a larger history of US federal and community‐based efforts to educate Indigenous youth in the USA. We examine what we know from the research literature about the impacts of CRS among US Indigenous youth. In exploring the research, we rely on national datasets of Indigenous youth's achievement on standardized tests, qualitative approaches to examining CRS in schools serving Indigenous youth in the USA, and case studies of successful efforts at CRS. We pay special, though not exclusive, attention to the evidence regarding Indigenous students' reading and literacy skills since this is an area that is particularly revealing of what happens when CRS is not engaged. We will argue throughout this paper that a growing body of literature points to the fact that community‐ and culture‐based education best meets the educational needs of Indigenous children.

Community conserved areas: policy issues in historic and contemporary context.

Abstract: Indigenous and community conserved areas (ICCAs) are natural and/or modified ecosystems containing biodiversity values, ecological services, and cultural values, voluntarily conserved by indigenous and other communities through local or customary laws. They are found in both terrestrial and marine areas; they range in size from 30,000 km2 indigenous territories in Brazil. ICCAs should be recognized for what they may contribute to national and global conservation systems, but there is little documentation of their potential or discussion of their policy implications. Here I examine the historic and contemporary context of ICCAs, provide examples, and raise policy issues related to: assessing the conservation benefits of ICCAs, integrating traditional knowledge into protected area management, finding the right mix of governance regimes, and dealing with challenges faced by them.

Indigenous Ecological Knowledge as Situated Practices: Understanding Fishers’ Knowledge in the Western Solomon Islands

Abstract: In this article, we draw on research among fisherfolk of Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands, to examine certain episte- mological assumptions of the "indigenous knowledge" concept. We describe how approaches to knowledge in Roviana differ from prevailing models of knowledge that distinguish between cognitive aspects and other modalities of knowing. For many Roviana fishers, ecological knowledge is not analytically separated from the changing contexts of everyday activities such as navigating and fishing. Inspired by Roviana epistemologies, we argue that a practice-oriented approach provides a more sympathetic and informative the- oretical framework for understanding knowledge and its role in contemporary marine-resource conservation efforts. The theoretical and methodological implications of the perspective are illustrated with examples from an ongoing marine conservation project in the western Solomon Islands that integrates indigenous knowledge, remote-sensing techniques, and Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies. (Keywords: Indigenous ecological knowledge, practice theory, Oceania, field methods, western Solomon Islands)

Local Knowledge, Subsistence Harvests, and Social–Ecological Complexity in James Bay

Abstract: Ecosystems are complex and difficult to predict and control. Western science-based societies have tended to simplify ecosystems to manage them. Some indigenous and other rural groups who interact closely with a given resource system seem to have developed practices that are adapted to live with complexity. This paper examines how indigenous Cree hunters in James Bay, subarctic Canada, understand and deal with ecological complexity and dynamics, and how their understanding of uncertainty and variability shape subsistence activities. The focus is the Canada goose (Branta canadensis) hunt which is adaptive to shifts and changes in local and regional conditions. Ecological understandings of Cree hunters allow them to account for and deal with a very large number of variables at multiples scales. The Cree deal with these variables qualitatively, an approach consistent with some scientific ways of dealing with complexity, such as adaptive management and fuzzy logic.

Australian Indigenous students: addressing equity issues in assessment

Abstract: This article provides the background and context to the important issue of assessment and equity in relation to Indigenous students in Australia. Questions about the validity and fairness of assessment are raised and ways forward are suggested by attending to assessment questions in relation to equity and culture‐fair assessment. Patterns of under‐achievement by Indigenous students are reflected in national benchmark data and international testing programmes like the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study and the Program for International Student Assessment. The argument developed views equity, in relation to assessment, as more of a sociocultural issue than a technical matter. It highlights how teachers need to distinguish the “funds of knowledge” that Indigenous students draw on and how teachers need to adopt culturally responsive pedagogy to open up the curriculum and assessment practice to allow for different ways of knowing and being.

Using Chinese knowledge in internationalising research education : Jacques Ranciere, an ignorant supervisor and doctoral students from China

Abstract: The problematic of the research reported in this paper, namely the place of Chinese knowledge in educational research in Australia provides an opportunity to use Ranciere’s work to rethink the place of ignorance in the supervisory pedagogies used in internationalising education. Because its scope and character is quite variable, consideration is given to four heterogeneous but interdependent approaches to deciding what counts as ignorance. This raises several important theoretical and pedagogical questions about the correspondence between economic power, what we know and what we do with our ignorance; the agency of international students in articulating their intellectual heritage through Western educational research, and the potential of intellectual resources available from China being used by students from there when undertaking research aboard. Eight working principles are provided to inform debates among care‐full and conscientious supervisors’ interested in engaging, pedagogically with their cross‐c...

Integrating indigenous and scientific knowledge bases for disaster risk reduction in papua new guinea

Abstract: In investigating ways to reduce community vulner- ability to environmental hazards it is essential to recognize the in- teraction between indigenous and scientific knowledge bases. In- digenous and scientific knowledge bases are dynamic entities. Us- ing a Process Framework to identify how indigenous and scien- tific knowledge bases may be integrated, three communities impacted upon by environmental hazards in Papua New Guinea, a Small Island Developing State, have established how their vul- nerability to environmental hazards may be reduced. This article explores the application of the framework within the communities of Kumalu, Singas and Baliau, and how this could impact upon the future management of environmental hazards within indigenous communities in Small Island Developing States.

Arctic climate change discourse: the contrasting politics of research agendas in the West and Russia

Abstract: In this paper we explore how Western scientific concepts and attitudes towards indigenous knowledge, as they pertain to resource management and climate change, differ from the prevailing view in modern Russia. Western indigenous leaders representing the Inuit and Saami peoples are actively engaged in the academic and political discourse surrounding climate change, whereas their Russian colleagues tend to focus more on legislation and self-determination, as a post-Soviet legacy. We contribute to the debate with data from the Nenets tundra, showing how different research has employed the three crucial Western research paradigms of climate change, wildlife management and indigenous knowledge on the ground. We suggest that the daily practice of tundra nomadism involves permanent processes of negotiating one’s position in a changing environment, which is why “adaptation” is woven into the society, and cosmology as a whole, rather than being separable into distinct “bodies” of knowledge or Western-designed categories. We argue that research agendas should be placed in their proper local and regional context, and temporal framework: for example, by collaborating with herders on the topics of weather instead of climate change, herding skills instead of wildlife management, and ways of engaging with the tundra instead of traditional ecological knowledge.

Plant wealth of Northeast India with reference to ethnobotany

Abstract: The paper highlights the rich plant resources and the vast wealth of ethnobotanical information available with the various tribes of the region. A brief review of ethnobotanical and traditional knowledge system reports published by various workers from the region is given. It also highlights some important medicinal plants and its status in the wild and also discussed on the need for harnessing the rich bio-resources and translating it to economic products.

Integrating Ethno-Ecological and Scientific Knowledge of Termites for Sustainable Termite Management and Human Welfare in Africa

Abstract: Despite their well-known role as pests, termites also provide essential ecosystem services. In this paper, we undertook a comprehensive review of studies on human-termite interactions and farmers' indigenous knowledge across Sub-Saharan Africa in an effort to build coherent principles for termite management. The review revealed that local communities have comprehensive indigenous knowledge of termite ecology and taxonomy, and apply various indigenous control practices. Many communities also have elaborate knowledge of the nutritional and medicinal value of termites and mushrooms associated with termite nests. Children and women also widely consume termite mound soil for nutritional or other benefits encouraged by indigenous belief systems. In addition, subsistence farmers use termites as indicators of soil fertility, and use termite mound soil in low-risk farming strategies for crop production. In the past, chemical control of termites has been initiated without empirical data on the termite species, their damage threshold, and the social, ecological, or economic risks and trade-offs of the control. This review has provided new insights into the intimate nature of human-termite interactions in Africa and the risks of chemical control of termites to human welfare and the environment. We recommend that management of termites in future should be built on farmers' indigenous knowledge and adequate understanding of the ecology of the local termite species.

Using traditional knowledge to cope with climate change in rural Ghana

Abstract: After the December 2004 tsunami off the coast of Indonesia, calls multiplied for high-technology solutions (installation of early warning systems using cutting-edge satellite and ocean buoy technologies) to prevent similar disastrous occurrences. Meanwhile news began to circulate about how indigenous communities had escaped the tsunami’s wrath by using their traditional knowledge (Box below), drawing attention to the importance of this form of knowledge to natural disaster preparedness and response. Traditional knowledge – the wisdom, knowledge and practices of indigenous people gained over time through experience and orally passed on from generation to generation – has over the years played a significant part in solving problems, including problems related to climate change and variability. Indigenous people that live close to natural resources often observe the activities around them and are the first to identify Using traditional knowledge to cope with climate change in rural Ghana

The problem of scale in indigenous knowledge: a perspective from Northern Australia

Abstract: Over the last decade, indigenous knowledge has been widely touted by researchers and natural resource managers as a valuable contributor to natural resource management and biodiversity conservation. In Australia, the concept of indigenous knowledge has gained such rapid currency that it has tended toward an essentialized and universal truth rather than remaining a diverse range of highly localized and contested knowledge. In this paper, I undertake a critical analysis of some of the current issues around the interpretation and application of indigenous knowledge and its relationship with natural resource management in northern Australia. Through a focus on how indigenous knowledge operates at a range of scales, I argue that indigenous knowledge is not adapted to the scales and kinds of disturbances that contemporary society is exerting on natural systems. Rather than being realistic about the limitations of indigenous knowledge, I argue that nonindigenous interpretations of indigenous knowledge have propelled us toward reified meanings, abstracted concepts, and an information-based taxonomy of place. The result can be the diminishing and ossifying of a dynamic living practice and the failure to recognize expressions of indigeneity in contemporary forms.

Indigenous knowledge translation: baseline findings in a qualitative study of the pathways of health knowledge in three indigenous communities in Canada.

Abstract: To acquire an understanding of the pathways of health information dissemination and use by Indigenous community members, the researchers applied an Indigenous participatory action research approach in partnership with one urban Inuit, one urban Metis, and one semirural First Nations community in Ontario, Canada. A descriptive community case study was conducted in each community through the use of focus groups, key informant interviews, and document inquiry. Results were corroborated by the communities. Each of the three community consultations generated distinct and striking data about health information sources and dissemination strategies; decision-making processes; locally relevant concepts of health, local health services, and programs; community structures; and mechanisms of interface with noncommunity systems. In addition, several crosscutting themes were identified. The participatory research approach successfully engaged community partners. These findings support the hypothesis that understanding local Indigenous processes of knowledge creation, dissemination, and utilization is a necessary prerequisite to effective knowledge translation in Indigenous contexts.

Science, Colonialism, and Indigenous Peoples: The Cultural Politics of Law and Knowledge

Abstract: Part I. Biocolonialism as Imperial Science: 1. Imperialism then and now 2. Indigenous knowledge, power and responsibilities 3. Value-neutrality and value-bifurcation: the cultural politics of science Part II. The Human Genome Diversity Project: A Case Study: 4. The rhetoric of research justification 5. Indigenist critiques of biocolonialism Part III. Legitimation: The Rule and Role of Law: 6. The commodification of knowledge 7. Intellectual property rights as means and mechanism of imperialism 8. Transforming sovereignties Conclusions: the politics of knowledge: resistance and recovery.

Native Hawaiians and psychology: the cultural and historical context of indigenous ways of knowing

Abstract: This article reviews psychological research on Native Hawaiians conducted in the 19th through the 21st centuries. The rationale is to provide a historical orientation to this indigenous group, to increase awareness of the complexities of research about Native Hawaiians, and to draw attention to emerging issues, practices, and challenges of psychological research emphasizing indigenous health and well-being. This article lays a historical foundation for future research with a renewed emphasis on indigenous knowledge and its holistic view of psychology in relationship to the land, spiritual beliefs, cultural practices, language, and community.