Karim-Aly S. Kassam: Biocultural Diversity and Indigenous Ways of Knowing: Human Ecology in the Arctic

Culturally diverse expert teams have yet to bring comprehensive linguistic diversity to intergovernmental ecosystem assessments

In recent years, Indigenous ecological knowledge has been receiving increased attention due to its potential to help address the devastating impacts of climate change and environmental degradation. Indigenous peoples in various contexts have become engaged in collaborative research projects with scientists and other experts to build environmentally sustainable societies. Environmental education has been another site for incorporation of Indigenous knowledge systems and ways of knowing. This paper presents one such programme designed by the Bunun Indigenous group in Taiwan to support environmental learning and reconnection with the natural world of their group as well as other Indigenous and non-Indigenous individuals willing to participate. While the programme's objective is learning with and from the natural environment (the lessons that can be adopted by non-Indigenous groups), its other objectives include re-building and strengthening Indigenous identities, cultures and ways of life, and potentially contributing to decolonisation of settler societies and reconciliation between groups.

Natural Resources and Economic Development, At Loggerheads? Agricultural Expansion, Poverty Reduction, and Environment in the Tropical Forests, Biocultural Diversity and Indigenous Ways of Knowing: Human Ecology in the Arctic, Biocultural Diversity and Indigenous Ways of Knowing: Human Ecology in the Arctic and Taming the Anarchy: Groundwater Governance in South Asia

Due to the colonial genocides that have happened (and continue to happen) in Aotearoa, Australia, Turtle Island and beyond, and Indigenous rights movements that have generated iconic, historical shifts in research praxes to improve the health of Indigenous Peoples, globally. Mental health services for Indigenous youth require an approach and design grounded in Indigenous Ways of Knowing. Through this theoretical paradigm shift, researchers in public health are starting to understand that cultural safety is critical in the delivery of FNMI (Indigenous) health services that actually provide healing and do not further harm people (deliberately or not). Still in progress, public health researchers and youth mental health service providers continue to (allegedly unknowingly) uphold the colonial legacies, highlighting an urgent need for Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Doing. As we discuss Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Doing, the reader will find descriptions of the main theoretical tenets with examples of their application. Strengths and challenges will serve as the throughline for the discussion. The paper concludes with the extension of these tenets and their potential application for mental health services for Indigenous youth.

“Indigenous” Nature Connection? A Response to Kurth, Narvaez, Kohn, and Bae (2020)

The One Health approach, which assesses the interconnectedness of animal, human, and environmental health, fails to include and amplify Indigenous knowledge and Indigenous scientists. To effectively center Indigenous knowledge next to and within the One Health approach, which is historically based in Western science, the similarities and differences between Indigenous science, specifically Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), and One Health must be explored. The objective of this project is to identify values in Indigenous science that are unsupported or underrepresented in Western science and then collaboratively ideate recommendations that Western allies can take to center and support Indigenous scientists and elevate Indigenous knowledge. From January to March 2023, the study team conducted semi-structured interviews with Indigenous knowledge keepers via Zoom video calls. American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian (Kānaka Maoli), and other Indigenous participants from the global diaspora residing in the continental United States and Hawaiian Islands were recruited through social media and referrals from Indigenous leaders who had participated in formative (phase 1) interviews completed in 2022. In those formative interviews, four themes emerged and called for further exploration of Indigenous perspectives on (1) the natural world, (2) cultural heritage, (3) value expression, and (4) reflection. These ideas were reframed into questions asked in subsequent (phase 2) interviews in 2023. Thematic identification methods were used to highlight key ideas throughout the interviews. Participants noted gaps between their Indigenous worldviews and the One Health model, particularly relating to contrasts with Western culture, holistic expression, power in action, identity and belonging, maintaining community and cultural practices, and sharing information/education. It was also noted that One Health must do more than just uplift Indigenous values to support Indigenous scientists and should instead collaborate with TEK keepers and foster practices that are inclusive and validating of other knowledge systems. Phase 2 interview responses highlighted Indigenous principles that are underrepresented in One Health practice. These principles were transformed into considerations specifically for Western-rooted scientists to improve allyship to Indigenous science and scientists. Adoption of the considerations would strengthen partnership between One Health practitioners and Indigenous scientists and promote collaboration across many ways of knowing. One Health impact statement The One Health theory encourages transdisciplinary collaboration to break down siloing and innovate solutions. Yet, One Health practice, and the Western scientific approach it takes, often excludes involvement with Indigenous ways of knowing and disclaims Indigenous knowledge keepers who have been conducting “One Health” work since time immemorial. Indigenous knowledge keepers who self-identified as cultural bridges between Native communities and Western communities were interviewed and asked to speak to values found in Indigenous science and research. The featured principles highlight some of the similarities and differences between Indigenous and Western scientific approaches. The identified values informed recommendations for Western scientists to be better allies to Indigenous scientists and to amplify Indigenous voices and science. One Health practitioners will benefit from these guidelines by navigating research in a more equitable way and by creating sustainable reciprocal partnerships with Indigenous scientists. This makes One Health more open and accessible to Indigenous and Western ways of knowing.

Gathering Stories, Gathering PedagogiesAnimating Indigenous Knowledges through Story Aubrey Jean Hanson (bio), Anna-Leah King (bio), Heather Phipps (bio), and Erin Spring (bio) This paper brings together four Indigenous and non-Indigenous teacher educators to consider the pedagogical possibilities of Indigenous children's literature in our work with pre-service teachers.1 In this paper, we take up an invitation to consider Indigenous literary arts in relation to pedagogies, land, sovereignty, and Indigenous ways of knowing. Specifically, we do this by sharing pedagogical examples of the ways in which various picturebooks and oral stories work within our classrooms. Over the past year, we have had opportunities to collaborate and co-write in two cities. While we come from different backgrounds, communities, and positionalities, we were brought together by our shared investment in the power of picturebooks as rich pedagogical resources to spark conversations about many of the themes and topics we seek to share with our students—such as land and place, intergenerational kinship networks, community relations, language revitalization, cultural identity, and Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing. Each of us strongly believes that Indigenous children's literature, including picturebooks, offer an opportunity to reiterate to pre-service teachers that "Indigenous literatures matter because Indigenous peoples matter" (Justice, Why Indigenous Literatures Matter 211). For many of our students, picturebooks are a first foray into Indigenous Education. Our students come to our classrooms with varying understandings and lived experiences of colonialism and Indigenous knowledges. Regardless of our students' prior experiences, they are required to weave Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing into their professional practices. For example, Alberta has a new Teaching Quality Standard that was implemented in the fall of 2019. Teachers are now evaluated on their ability to "develop and apply foundational knowledge about [End Page 63] First Nations, Métis, and Inuit" (6). As we share within this paper, we have found picturebooks and oral stories to be a safe entrypoint into this material; they offer insight into particular communities, places, cultures, and identities in an accessible and celebratory way. These texts also have a depth and complexity to them that facilitate conversations about the sometimes-difficult learning we engage in. To make this argument within this paper, we move through four examples of picturebooks and stories within our own teaching practices. Picturebooks open up important opportunities and questions in our teaching. The visual and verbal texts of picturebooks carry multiple meanings that can be read in different ways. Likewise, we have found there to be interesting conversations to be had about the differences between a text that exists on the page and an oral story: does putting a (live) story (spirit) into a book, impaling it on the page, cut off its life force? What happens when an oral culture, which is tied to lifeways and traditions, is recorded in print?2 Is it ethical to share information, such as spiritual customs, in picturebook form? Questions such as these guide our practice with pre-service teachers. We know from Lumbee scholar Bryan McKinley Jones Brayboy that "Oral stories remind us of our origins and serve as lessons for the younger members of our communities; they have a place in our communities and our lives" (439)—how meaningfully do these lessons transfer via the page? Many of our pre-service teachers are afraid of making mistakes, especially early in their journeys, but they need to learn to sit with this discomfort and to take pedagogical risks within the classroom. We believe that discomfort is when deep learning and epistemological and ontological shifts occur. Part of our role as educators is to point our students toward the wealth of resources and tools that are available to them, including Indigenous literatures, and to help them negotiate how to critically evaluate these sources for classroom purposes. While we always encourage our students to collaborate with colleagues, Indigenous community members, and knowledge-keepers, we are well aware that asking Indigenous people to carry the weight of teaching continues to rely on extractivist and exploitative ways of gaining knowledge. Indigenous picturebooks, such as the ones illustrated below, contain cultural knowledge that can help begin the conversation. Through texts, we can...

This chapter introduces the epistemology and ontology of Indigenous ways of knowing. In order to understand the complex concepts, principles and philosophy of Indigenous worldview, much of the discussion is in the context of the Blackfeet (or Pikuni) knowledge. I share my individual experiences in learning Blackfeet (Pikuni) ceremony as a way of conceptualizing the challenges of understanding Indigenous ways of knowing. The holistic view introduces the belief of all existence being interrelated and having a life force. The chapter reviews the nature and relations of being through animate expression of power, dreams, and personification of the inanimate. The Indigenous origin narratives and oral tradition demonstrates the nature, origin, and scope of Indigenous knowledge through eons of observation and experience. The paper underscores how Indigenous philosophy emanates from the connectedness of cultural values, kinship, social norms and belief systems. The way Indigenous people preserve and protect intellectual property and sacred matters is keenly, integrated into rituals and rites of passage. Spirituality and the quantum nature of energy permeating in constant movement and patterns reveal the ontological nature of Indigenous ways of knowing. Power in places of the landscape reveals the significance of nature in understanding sacredness of knowledge. Elder storytelling and knowledge of the language are essential to comprehending Indigenous ways of knowing. In the end, Vine Deloria, Jr. calls for synthesis of all knowledge.

At first glance, it seems odd that a paper should be concerned with the place of story-telling in scientific studies when researchers such as ethnographers have long used this technique. However, the growth of knowledge generated through the extensively used classical research inquiries of qualitative and quantitative approaches has created a kind of mandarin and sheltered culture where anything that does not fall within these paradigms is received with skepticism, making it possible that indigenous ways of knowing, such as story-telling, be accepted feebly by the scientific communities. The argument presented in this paper is that to remove stories from empirically accepted research tools is to silence indigenous communities by depriving them of using a mode consistent with their culture and their ways of understanding the world they live in. Supporting this argument are discussions and examples focusing on aspects such as the nature and structure of stories; the social meaning of stories; potential benefits of using stories; methodological challenges in using story-telling as a research tool; the nature of story-telling and accompanying challenges of using new technologies such as photovoice. It is concluded that researchers who are skeptical about using story-telling are in danger of mimicking forces which have destroyed the cultures of many indigenous communities and silenced these communities with their strange and foreign ways of knowing. Using story-telling is a way of averting the use of mainstream theories that do not respect indigenous identity, culture, experiences and ways of knowing. Recommendations point to the need to bring together researchers and scholars whose current interest is in indigenous communities to discuss a number of issues including (i) story's dependability, (ii) the relationship between the researcher and the narrator who claims to have the right to narrate, (iii) authorship of stories, and (iv) intelligibility. When issues such as these are still being considered, it is an indication that story-telling is still evolving into a potent research tool.

"You Must Unlearn What You Have Learned"Or, How Yoda, Decolonization, and Indigenous Digital Media Fit Together Alix Shield (bio) In Star Wars: Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Master Yoda explains to Luke Skywalker that in order to truly master the ways of "The Force," he must make space for other ways of thinking: "You must unlearn what you have learned," says Yoda. Almost forty years later and set after the fall of the Empire, Star Wars fans fell in love with the character of Baby Yoda (or Grogu) with the 2019 release of The Mandalorian. For many Indigenous artists and creators, Yoda and Baby Yoda represent the parallels between "The Force"—the universe's energy field—and Indigenous ways of knowing; in fact, over the past two years Baby Yoda has inspired Indigenous artists around the world, and has been reinterpreted through art, beadwork, and memes.1 If we consider Yoda's words in the context of conversations around decolonization, Star Wars becomes a surprising but effective entry-point into Indigenous digital media. In this essay, I speak to my experiences teaching INDG 222: Introduction to Indigenous Digital Media in the Department of Indigenous Studies at Simon Fraser University, located in Burnaby, BC, on the unceded territories of the Tsleil-Waututh (səl'ilw'ətaʔɬ), Kwikwetlem (kʷikʷəƛ'əm), Squamish (Sḵwxwú7mesh), and Musqueam (xʷməθkʷəy'əm) Nations. In INDG 222,2 we cover topics including Indigenous data sovereignty, Traditional Knowledge labelling,3 digital repatriation,4 Indigenous video games and podcasts, and more; it's a course that integrates theory, hands-on digital humanities skills training and digital literacy, and critical thinking. The course provides a solid introduction to a range of topics related to Indigenous new media and the digital humanities, and also encourages students to question the colonial foundations and structures that undergird much of the technology and media we engage with on a daily basis. As a settler [End Page 75] scholar teaching New Media (NM) and the Digital Humanities (DH) from an Indigenous Studies perspective, I focus here on the central role of decolonization in this course—and refer to the wise words of Master Yoda as our decolonial Jedi master. introductory position As an English/Scottish-descended settler scholar teaching in Indigenous Studies, it's necessary for me to clearly state my self-positionality as an outsider to Indigenous knowledges, cultures, and ways of knowing. I must also acknowledge the deeply problematic settler histories from which I have personally benefitted, and that continue to negatively impact the lives of Indigenous peoples today. Though I was born and raised in Vancouver on unceded Musqueam, Skwxwú7mesh, and Tsleil-Waututh territories, it wasn't until I started my PhD at Simon Fraser University in 2014 that I began to understand the histories of genocide, dispossession, and assimilationist legislation that had contributed to my own comfortable upbringing. In my doctoral research, I attempted to engage in what Métis author Maria Campbell describes as kwaskastahsowin, or "putting things to right," to address the lasting impacts of colonial editorial interventions in Canada's publishing industry.5 My PhD combined elements of Indigenous Studies, English, and the Digital Humanities, and approached two key twentieth-century works of Indigenous women's writing in Canada (Legends of Vancouver and Halfbreed) with aims of acknowledging and ethically redressing their colonial histories of publication. In the classroom, I draw on the important lessons learned from my doctoral research, and also from teachings shared with me over the years from respected Indigenous faculty and mentors. I also look to the work of settler scholars like David Gaertner (UBC), who continue to model respectful, innovative approaches to teaching Indigenous Literatures and New Media. In my classes, we begin our work by acknowledging the Indigenous lands upon which we are gathered, and by positioning ourselves in relation to those lands. Anishinaabe scholar Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm argues that understanding one's position shows an awareness "of the colonial history that may come to bear upon the process and upon [one's] relationships with Indigenous writers" (32). As a settler scholar, [End Page 76] my position in relation to teaching Indigenous topics is...

In Canada, Indigenous peoples’ lives are shaped by relationships with their families. These relationships are defined by traditional Indigenous conceptions of connectedness with the earth, communities, and the many relations that occur within these contexts and are based on what is termed Indigenous ways of knowing. These relationships are also described through a concept of Western social constructivism. Social constructivism is an ideal mate for Indigenous ways of knowing in the practice of family counseling because it recognizes the importance of culture and context in understanding what occurs in human interactions when constructing knowledge based on this understanding. Indigenous ways of knowing have been of recent and growing interest to family mental health practitioners and policy makers who are seeking to support clients in decolonization processes. Family service providers who work in a Western social service or health care setting have an interest in exploring forms of sociocultural theory and practice, such as Indigenous ways of knowing, in order to address and further the practitioner-family interaction and to benefit both individuals and communities in a responsible and sustainable manner. Using current and historical literature, this article presents a summary of issues and guidelines for a hybrid approach that brings together Western and Indigenous approaches for family service workers (such as counselors, social workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists), and a set of guidelines for practical application. Implications of how these practices can positively impact and promote community mental health in the current climate of recovery from colonialism and cultural genocide are presented.

In Canada, Indigenous peoples' lives are shaped by relationships with their families. These relationships are defined by traditional Indigenous conceptions of connectedness with the earth, communities, and the many relations that occur within these contexts and are based on what is termed Indigenous ways of knowing. These relationships are also described through a concept of Western social constructivism. Social constructivism is an ideal mate for Indigenous ways of knowing in the practice of family counselling because it recognizes the importance of culture and context in understanding what occurs in human interactions when constructing knowledge based on this understanding. Indigenous ways of knowing have been of recent and growing interest to family mental health practitioners and policymakers who are seeking to support clients in decolonization processes. Family service providers who work in a Western social service or health care setting have an interest in exploring forms of sociocultural theory and practice, such as Indigenous ways of knowing, in order to address and further the practitioner-family interaction and to benefit both individuals and communities in a responsible and sustainable manner. Using current and historical literature, this article presents a summary of issues and guidelines for a hybrid approach that brings together Western and Indigenous approaches for family service workers (such as counsellors, social workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists) and a set of guidelines for practical application. Implications of how these practices can positively impact and promote community mental health in the current climate of recovery from colonialism and cultural genocide are presented.

In this article, I tell the autoethnographic stories of epistemological tensions emerging from my entanglement with Indigenous and Western ways of knowing in my journey towards my doctoral research in social work. I link these tensions to broader socio-political and historical tensions that tie together the West and the Global South. I highlight the sharp contrasts and contradictions as well as the nuanced contestations in the production of knowledge. I follow a chronological order to organize my narratives into four parts. In the first part, I describe my experiences of walking in two worlds. In the second part, I explore how I knew what I knew, depicting my indigenous ways of knowing. In the third part, I examine Western ways of knowing, depicting the subjugation of my indigenous ways of knowing. In the final part, I address the hybrid ways of knowing that I embody by walking in many worlds.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Native science is ... a map of natural reality drawn from the experience of thousands of human generations.... [and] can be said to be 'inclusive' of modern science, although most Western scientists would go to great lengths to deny such inclusivity. (Cajete 2000, p. 3) As institutions, science and science education alike have rarely included the perspectives and contributions of indigenous peoples pertaining to the natural world. Yet, people worldwide have benefited from the traditional ecological knowledge of indigenous communities. Western science and technology, though broadly worthwhile, have been a source of global environmental damage (Wildcat 2009). Research has shown that indigenous ways of knowing can help students develop complex and multilogical understandings of the natural world (Aikenhead and Mitchell 2011; Cajete 1999; Chinn 2007; McKinley 2007). In particular, students can learn from native knowledge systems how to live in more sustainable ways (Kincheloe and Steinberg 2008; Wildcat 2009). In this article, we describe a lesson on climate change that explored possibilities for a more multilogical science education. Ninth- and tenth-grade science students investigated collaborations between Inuit elders and Western scientists working to understand how climate change alters bird migration patterns. The lesson connects to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States 2013) and the nature of science (see box, p. 34). We conclude by discussing possibilities for integrating indigenous knowledge in science education. Comparing sea ice and observations To begin exploring how indigenous people and Western scientists collaborate to understand natural phenomena, class started with a quick activity focused on Inuit understandings of sea ice. Using the Inuit siku (sea ice) atlas (see On the web), I, the first author, created 15 cards with either pictures or descriptions of different sea ice conditions (see On the web). Cards with pictures were separated from the cards with descriptions, which also had the Inuit term for each condition. Working in groups, students tried to pair pictures with their correct term and description. Students then shared their experience with the class. Many noted how difficult the task was and were surprised there were so many different kinds of sea ice. We discussed the many ways of knowing about a natural phenomenon and how traditional ecological knowledge (or indigenous ways of knowing) represents a highly complex system for documenting (in writing or orally), sense of, and responding to natural events. We then prepared to explore how climate change affects ecosystems using bird populations as a case study, drawing from both Inuit and Western science knowledge and practices. Students were first asked to share their own observations of birds and bird behaviors. Since birds are ubiquitous, students living almost anywhere can draw on their personal experiences to connect with the lesson. During initial discussion, students described seeing birds seeking food, eating at bird feeders, and swarming a hawk. We then introduced the driving questions for this activity: How do we learn about changes in nature? and How can changes in climate affect an ecosystem? Students wrote in their science notebooks their initial ideas about the questions, including making observations, taking pictures to compare how things have changed, and asking people what things were like in the area a long time ago. Then, we provided students (divided into groups of three or four) a set of observational scenarios including both indigenous and Western science observations related to temperature patterns and birds. The indigenous observations were made by Arctic groups, including the Inuit, Inuvialuit, Yupik, and Saami, and were selected from Krupnik and Jolly (2002) and Huntington et al. (2005). Their qualitative observations addressed changes in the climate and how these changes affected animal migrations and the ability of the elders to predict the weather over time (Figure 1). …

The use of data intensive health research has allowed for greater understandings of population health. When conducting data intensive health research, engaging and involving the community is essential for conducting meaningful research that is responsive to the public’s needs. Particularly, when engaging Indigenous communities in research, there is a need to understand historical and ongoing impacts of colonialism and recognize the strengths in Indigenous Peoples’ knowledges and experiences while supporting Indigenous leadership and self-determination in research.This article describes the approach our research team/organization used to engage and involve Indigenous people living with HIV in three research projects using large, linked datasets and looking at HIV outcomes of Indigenous populations in Canada. The foundation of these projects was simultaneously: 1) supporting Indigenous people living with HIV to be involved as research team members, 2) developing research questions to answer with available datasets, and 3) integrating Indigenous and Western ways of knowing.We have identified important considerations and suggestions for engaging and involving Indigenous communities and individuals in the generation of research ideas and analysis of linked data using community-based participatory research approaches through our work. These include engaging stakeholders at the start of the project and involving them throughout the research process, honouring Indigenous ways of knowing, the land, and local protocols and traditions, prioritizing Indigenous voices, promoting co-learning and building capacity, and focusing on developing longitudinal relationships. We describe keys to success and learnings that emerged. Importantly, the methodology practiced and presented in this manuscript is not a qualitative study design whereby research subjects are surveyed about their experiences or beliefs. Rather, the study approach described herein is about engaging people with living experience to co-lead as researchers. Our approach supported Indigenous people to share research that addresses their research priorities and responds to issues relevant to Indigenous Peoples and communities.