Provides an overview of Native American philosophies, practices, and case studies and demonstrates how Traditional Ecological Knowledge provides insights into the sustainability movement.
This edited volume explores the crucial intersections between Indigenous Land-Based Knowledge (ILK), sustainability, settler colonialism, and the ongoing environmental crisis. Contributors from cross-cultural communities, including Indigenous, settlers, immigrants, and refugee communities, discuss why ILK and practice hold great potential for tackling our current environmental crises, particularly addressing the settler colonialism that contributes towards the environmental challenges faced in the world. The authors offer insights into sustainable practices, biodiversity conservation, climate change adaptation, and sustainable land management and centre Indigenous perspectives on ILK as a space to practise, preserve, and promote Indigenous cultures. With case studies spanning topics as diverse as land acknowledgements, land-based learning, Indigenous-led water governance, and birth evacuation, this book shows how our responsibility for ILK can benefit collectively by fostering a more inclusive, sustainable, and interconnected world. Through the promotion of Indigenous perspectives and responsibility towards land and community, this volume advocates for a shift in paradigm towards more inclusive and sustainable approaches to environmental sustainability. This volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of environmental sociology, postcolonial studies, and Indigenous studies.
"Land-based education is in demand within both Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. Within this book Dr. Michell introduces basic elements of Land-based Education from an Indigenous perspective with a focus on the Woodlands Cree. Herman discusses four curriculum orientations (Positivist, Constructivist, Critical, and Post-Modern) that are connected to environment-related education so that educators have a springboard from which to ground their practice. Two Indigenous land-based educators, one male and one female, share their experiences and insights. Dr. Michell then discusses Land-based Education in terms of the Woodlands Cree Seasonal Cycle."--
Sila and the Land is the story of a young Inuk girl who goes on a journey across the North, East, South and West. Along the way Sila meets different animals, plants and elements that teach her about the importance of the land and her responsibilities to protect it for future generations.
Pathways for Remembering and Recognizing Indigenous Thought in Education is an exploration into some of the shared cross-cultural themes that inform and shape Indigenous thought and Indigenous educational philosophy.
The story of a determined Ojibwe Grandmother (Nokomis) Josephine-ba Mandamin and her great love for Nibi (water). Nokomis walks to raise awareness of our need to protect Nibi for future generations, and for all life on the planet. She, along with other women, men, and youth, have walked around all the Great Lakes from the four salt waters, or oceans, to Lake Superior. The walks are full of challenges, and by her example Josephine-ba invites us all to take up our responsibility to protect our water, the giver of life, and to protect our planet for all generations.
A paradigm-shifting book in the vein of Sapiens that brings a crucial Indigenous perspective to historical and cultural issues of history, education, money, power, and sustainability—and offers a new template for living. As an indigenous person, Tyson Yunkaporta looks at global systems from a unique perspective, one tied to the natural and spiritual world. In considering how contemporary life diverges from the pattern of creation, he raises important questions. How does this affect us? How can we do things differently? In this thoughtful, culturally rich, mind-expanding book, he provides answers. Yunkaporta’s writing process begins with images. Honoring indigenous traditions, he makes carvings of what he wants to say, channeling his thoughts through symbols and diagrams rather than words. He yarns with people, looking for ways to connect images and stories with place and relationship to create a coherent world view, and he uses sand talk, the Aboriginal custom of drawing images on the ground to convey knowledge. In Sand Talk, he provides a new model for our everyday lives. Rich in ideas and inspiration, it explains how lines and symbols and shapes can help us make sense of the world. It’s about how we learn and how we remember. It’s about talking to everyone and listening carefully. It’s about finding different ways to look at things. Most of all it’s about a very special way of thinking, of learning to see from a native perspective, one that is spiritually and physically tied to the earth around us, and how it can save our world. Sand Talk include 22 black-and-white illustrations that add depth to the text.
Discover how conservation can be made more effective through strengthening links between science research, policy and practice. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
From a variety of methodological perspectives, contributors to Living on the Land explore the nature and scope of Indigenous women’s knowledge, its rootedness in relationships, both human and spiritual, and its inseparability from land and landscape. The authors discuss the integral role of women as stewards of the land and governors of the community and points to a distinctive set of challenges and possibilities for Indigenous women and their communities.
This volume clearly distinguishes Indigenous environmental justice (IEJ) from the broader idea of environmental justice (EJ) while offering detailed examples from recent history of environmental injustices that have occurred in Indian Country. With connections to traditional homelands being at the heart of Native identity, environmental justice is of heightened importance to Indigenous communities. Not only do irresponsible and exploitative environmental policies harm the physical and financial health of Indigenous communities, they also cause spiritual harm by destroying land held in a place of exceptional reverence for Indigenous peoples. With focused essays on important topics such as the uranium mining on Navajo and Hopi lands, the Dakota Access Pipeline dispute on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, environmental cleanup efforts in Alaska, and many other pertinent examples, this volume offers a timely view of the environmental devastation that occurs in Indian Country. It also serves to emphasize the importance of self-determination and sovereignty in victories of Indigenous environmental justice. The book explores the ongoing effects of colonization and emphasizes Native American tribes as governments rather than ethnic minorities. Combining elements of legal issues, human rights issues, and sovereignty issues, Indigenous Environmental Justice creates a clear example of community resilience in the face of corporate greed and state indifference.