5/26/16 David Newhouse Professor, Indigenous Studies, Trent - - PDF document

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David Newhouse Professor, Indigenous Studies, Trent Univeristy

Sandra Taylor Hedges, 2011 Installed St. Lawrence College

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§ Iroquoian/Haudenosaunee

idea/ideal

§ The Good Mind is a mind balanced of reason and passion

(emotion and spirit)

§ ever mindful of the dance between them § ever desirous of and striving for peac § Ethos § Indigenous peoples live in

world of visible

• interdependencies. As

human beings, we are only

• ne of the sentient beings of

the world and in some traditions

§ Our life goals are to find

ways to live well with

• thers..

§ Our traditional knowledge

systems are designed to provide us with the knowledge necessary to live in this world.

§ The truth test for knowledge

is whether or not it helps us to live well in this world

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§ The Condolence Ceremony § Restore Balance of Reason and Passion § Clears Eyes § Clears Ears § Clears Throat § 1857

An Act for the Gradual Civilization of Indians

§ 1876

The Indian Act

§ 1952 The Indian Act Revised § 1969

Statement of Indian Policy of the Gov’t of Canada

§ Known as ”The White Paper” § Withdrawn 1971

§ I want to get rid of the Indian

• Problem. I do not think as a

matter of fact, tht the country

• ught to continually protect

a class of people who are able to stand alone.

§ Our objective is to continue

until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic and there is no Indian question, and no Indian Department, that is the whole object of this Bill.

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§ Removes right to vote, to assemble, to travel, to worship, to

publish, to initiate legal actions, to borrow, to direct a business

• r trade for profit, to wear traditional dress or practice

traditional ceremonies, to speak our own languages, to educate

• ur own children, to govern or control membership in our own

community….

§ Indian land...sold by government officials. Recognition of those

Indian lands and hunting, fishing and trapping rights agreed to by treaty ws witheld

§ 1947 A Plan to liquidate the Indian Problem in 25 Years

§

Delia Opekokew, The Firs t Nations: Indian G

• vernments

in the Community of Man, 1982

§ Suppression of Indigenous Intellectual Traditions § Recasting of Indigenous Thought as savage and primative § Presenting European Knowledge as True § Presenting European Knowledge Methods as only true ones § W

e are all treaty people…Every Canadian is a signatory to those agreements, and those agreements have a meaning.

§ Two generations ago, there

were only a handful of indigenous people in higher education in this country . Today , there are more than 30,000. An educated indigenous middle class is prepared to take the lead

§ John Ralston Saul, Globe and M ail, Oc t 31, 2014 John Rals ton S aul calls for all Canadians to be idle no more

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§ Ethos: confident, assertive, political, insistent § Structuring F

• rce

§ Blending Aboriginal ideas and theories § and § Euro-American ideas and theories § Not adaptation but fusion*

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§ Urbanization § Institutionalization § Re-traditionalization § Self-Governance § Reclamation of Identity expression § Textual Transformation

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§ Awareness of the history of colonization § Desire to mitigate its worst effects § Desire to create a new world § Fusion of Aboriginal and W

estern Ideas

§ Acquiring Skills and Knowledge to do so § Determined, Disciplined, Political

‘Take what is useful and helpful to you and use it in ways that are useful and helpful to others’ Ernie Benedict

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§ Use Indigenous ideas and theories as key informing principles and

foundations of everyday life

§ Indigenous ideas are foundational to Indigenous life § Relatively new to our

western consciousness

§ cultural knowledge § low on hierarchy of

knowledges

Time/Relations Behaviours Self/Other Care jealousy resentment negativity Inferior Fear=drive for force/power Caring eyes Caring ears Caring mind Caring behavior Knowledge Feeling Vision Respect Red Yellow Black White

Learning /T eaching T

• ol
• Experiential Component
• Community
• Interdependence
• Careful and Caring
• Fear and Power
• Energy
• Roles & Responsibilities
• Choice and Freedom
• Peace

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§ Medicine Circle § Theory of Life § Principles: § Interconnectedness § Cyclical

www.thesilen tc an

• e

.c

• m

/a ni shi na ab e-m e di ci n e- wheel.htm l 20

§ Integrative Science § Principle of Two-Eyed Seeing § learning to see the strengths of Indigenous and W

estern ways of knowing and learning to use both together

§ intentionally and respectfully bringing both ways of knowing

together to create a better world

§ foundational principles for Centre for Integrative Science,

University of Cape Breton

§ Mi’kmaq § all objects possess the sparks of life (mntu), every life form has

to be given respect. Just as a human being has intelligence, so too does a plant, a river or an animal. Therefore, the people were taught that everything they see, touch or are aware of must be respected, and this respect requires a special consciousness that discourages carelessness about things.

§ The existence of mnt in every being extends legal personality

beyond that present in other Canadian legal traditions. The need for respect, demonstrated by their awareness of the need for cooperation from the natural world, also has legal implications.

§ John Borrows, Indigenous L ega l Tra dition s in Can ada, Re port for th e L aw Com m ission of Canad a, 200 6

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§ Inuit Qaujimajatuqanigit

(IQ)

§ Inuit Qaujimajatugangit

Kaimajiit

§ oversight body of Inuit Elders § The most fundamental laws entrenched in Inuit society that

respect one’s place in the universe, the environment and in society .

§ These laws speak to interconnectedness in the world and the

spiritual supports available to aid in survival.

§ The natural laws are best described as the core laws of

relationship that govern how one connects to other people and how one connects to the environment as described previously .

§ The essential beliefs that underpin these relationships include: •

W

• rking for the common good • Being respectful of all living

things • Maintaining harmony • Continually planning/preparing for a better future

§ Inuit Qaujim ajatuqangit Educ ation Fram ework for Nuna vut Curric ulum , 200 7 24

§ Institutional Response: new category of knowledge § Disciplinary area § Body of Knowledge § Set of Methods § Set of Truth tests § Set of Knowledge holders

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§ global phenomenon § organizations § journals and peer reviewed literature § congresses, symposia, workshops § guides § reports § health care: traditional

healers

§ criminal justice: sentencing

circles, restorative justice

§ education: indigenous

pedagogies

§ ec dev: community

economic development

§ Elders and Elders councils § Governance: traditional § Williams: Linking Arms Together § Peacemaker: GAYANASHAGOWA The Great Binding Law § Henderson: The Mikma’q Concordat § Biimadziwin as Good Political Theory

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§ 1969 - Indian Eskimo Studies Program § 1977 - First Elder appointed: Fred Wheatley

, Anishinaabe

§ 1981 - Jake Thomas, Chief, Cayuga § 1986 - Shirley Williams, Anishinaabee § 1993 - Edna Manitowabi, Anishinabee § 1999 - PhD in Indigenous Studies, IK foundation § 2007 - Skenadowenah Swamp, Chair in Indigenous Knowledge

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§ Key organizational policies and processes § Mission § Knowledge/Subject Area/Discipline § Personnel § Appointment criteria § Tenure criteria § Performance measurement § Promotion criteria

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§ Can we transmit IK via university courses? § What is IK research? § What constitutes an IK publication? § How do we evaluate IK scholars? § What is a ‘hybrid scholar’? § Role of non-Indigenous

scholars of IK

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§ The Good Mind § Reason and Passion § The Enlightenment Mind § Reason over Passion § ‘truth traditions’

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§ spirituality § texts: Primary to tertiary and oral and written § boundaries: What is not to be explored and why § Community stewardship § Teaching IK vs Teaching about IK § legitimacy § Borrows: Common Law § Saul: Canadian Political

Culture

§ Sioui: Canadian History § Treaty process: 1975 James

Bay Agreement et al

§ Land Claims process § Nunavut public policy

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§ John Ralston Saul 2008 § Canada is a Métis nation § heavily influenced and shaped by aboriginal ideas § Egalitarianism § a proper balance between individual and group § a penchant for negotiation over violence § all Aboriginal values that Canada has borrowed § …..and called its own?

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§ has not disappeared § is present in unexpected places § institutions of transmission reinforced and reinvented § Indigenous Knowledge § is part of a post-colonial agenda § reclamation of cultural heritage § decolonization of mind and thought § recognition of self-determining

development

§ protection against further colonization § legitimization § critique

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§ No well accepted definition § No unproblematic definition § Firmly established on the

intellectual landscape

§ Engaged in a dialogue with

western science

§ W

• rldview and Knowledge

are intertwined

§ Knowledge is holistic, cyclic,

and dependent upon relationships and connections to living and non-living beings and entities

§ There are many truths and

these truths are dependent upon individual eperience

§ Everything is alive § All things are equal § The Land is sacred § The relationship between

people and the spiritual world is important

§ Human beings are the least

important in the world

§ Sim pson, L . (2000). Anishin aabeway s of k nowing.

§ All things exist according to the principle of survival; the act of

survival pulses with the natural energy and cycles of the earth;

§ this energy is part of some grand design; all things have a role

to perform to ensure balance and harmony and the overall well- being of life;

§ all things are an extension of the grand design, and, as such,

contain the same essence as the source from which it flows (Gitchi-Munitou);

§ and this essence is understood as “spirit,”

which links all things to each other and to Creation.

§

McKenzie, B., & Morriss ette, V . (2003). Social w

• rk

practic e with C anadians

• f Aboriginal background: Guidelines

for respectful social work.

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§ Physical and Spiritual Realm

exist and are interconnected

§ Physical realm and Spiritual

realm are mutually influential

§ Have a reciprocal

relationship with others

§ Must honor our relationships

with other life

§ Indigenous Science

integrates a spiritual

• rientation

§ Human beings have an

important role in the continuation of the nature processes of the world

§ Acting in the world

sanctioned through ceremony and ritual

§ Cajete, G. (2000). Nativ e scien ce: Nature la ws of interdependence.

§ body of knowledge about the world and how to live within it § practices, skills, customs, worldviews, perceptions § theoretical and factual understandings § method for determining truth § method for transmitting § not just a set of knowledges § but a way of doing things § of living in the world § approaching the world § An orientation to the world

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§ holistic, integrated way of understanding § focuses on whole and relationships § rather § than parts in isolation

Ethical F

• undation

§ IK carries a sense § of responsibility § to maintain land § loss of land means § loss of knowledge § The truth we are told by

• thers

§ The truth that we reason

through our minds

§ The truth we sense through

• ur bodies

§ The truth we feel through

• ur emotions

§ From: Truth: A His tory and G uide for the Perplexed, Felipe Fernandez-Armes to, 2001

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§ Anishinaabe concept § links mind and emotion, § Something is true if both

heart and mind are in agreement

§ Human beings have § Bodies, § Minds, § Emotions, § Spirits § Each have their truths § That which is true is that

which allows us to live well together in the world we find ourselves.

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§ Does it help us to live well together?

Rick Mosher, 2012