In a sense, the entire purpose of this handbook and the Packsack itself is to outline a relationship-based vision of critical thinking skills, which we consider to be of fundamental value to all students and graduates of a postsecondary education. [...] This is not to contradict the messages above about cultural appropriation but to say that we are carefully defining what we consider to be Indigenous Knowledges for the purposes of our classrooms and our strategic mandates in the wake of the Calls to Action. [...] We understand that you may still feel uncomfortable, but you need to approach it in the same way that you would keep abreast of new developments in your field or a topic that you need to ‘brush up on.’ The key is to acknowledge that you are not Indigenous and you are not approaching the subject as an expert. [...] Teach the Whole Student When engaging in an experiential teaching method, there are methods and models that speak to how the teacher ‘relates’ to their students, and there is a crossover between these writings and those of scholars in the field of Indigenous pedagogy. [...] Indigenous peoples have used stories as analogies to explain the connections with people and the natural world (Bighead, 1997) but, as suggested in the 20 beginning of this section, the use of story to explain our world is fairly universal, and the first approach to scientific understanding.
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Table of Contents
- List of Tables 4
- Preface: About Indigenous Knowledge 5
- Introduction 6
- Knowledge and Teaching as Relational 7
- Anxiety About Working in an Indigenous Knowledge Environment 10
- Do I Really Have to Give Up Space in my Course for This? 12
- Isn’t This Cultural Appropriation? 12
- What If I Just Teach the Medicine Wheel? 13
- Am I Expected to Use Medicines in My Classroom? 13
- Am I Allowed to Teach Indigenous Knowledge? 14
- Where Do I Start? 15
- How Do I Know I’m Doing This Right? 15
- Packsack Contents 16
- Four Ways of Navigating 16
- The First Way: Wholistic Teaching and Learning 17
- Make the Learning Experience Whole 18
- Teach the Whole Student 18
- Make the Knowledge Whole 19
- The Second Way: Communicating Through Story 19
- Storytelling as a Way of Knowing 20
- Storytelling as a Way of Teaching 20
- Storytelling as Decolonization 21
- The Third Way: Strong Relational Thinking 21
- The Interdependence of Knowledge 22
- Credible Conversations 22
- The Fourth Way: Practicing Humility 23
- Indigenous Teachings of Humility 23
- Cultural Humility 24
- Guide to the Guides 25
- References 27
- Appendix: Navigation Guides 31
