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Decolonizing Education: Native Americans

This guide was originally created for the use of instructors and students in the reACT Decolonizing Education Experiential Learning Program funded by the 2022-2023 TLTC Curriculum Grants. Specifically: ARCH460; ARCH478; ARCH601; ARCH678; CHBE473; ENCH648

WAYS OF KNOWING

Guide to Native American & Indigenous Communities. UC Merced. 

Indigenous Research & Knowledges in North America: Indigenous Ways of Knowing, University of Colorado. 

First Nations, Metis and Inuit – IndigenousOntologies (FNMIIO) by National Indigenous Knowledge and Language Alliance (NIKLA). 2021. Working list of Indigenous Names to better reflect how Indigenous people currently prefer to refer to themselves. This is a living document that will be updated and change as more information is gathered or realized in the course of research and/or consultations.

YOUTUBE PRESENTATIONS

Indigenous Ways of Knowing and BeingMohawk Elder, Pat Green discusses key moments in Indigenous history and present holistic Indigenous ways of living. Participants learn how rituals in modern culture come directly from Indigenous cultures and the rites of passage. Reflecting on Indigenous voices across Canada, Pat introduces the teachings of the medicine wheel as a way for families and caregivers to guide their children and clients towards greater well-being. The event was moderated by Surrey Place clinician Natalie Healey.

Indigenous Ways of Knowing & Doing Across the Academy - Davida Wood | Ashoka U Big Idea
What happens when education has been a root cause for many problems faced by indigenous communities but is also a necessary part of moving forward? Davida Wood, Director of First Nations Initiatives at Yukon College, raises this and many other critical questions necessary for a more just and equitable 21st-century higher education. Listen to Davida’s story about her institution’s journey towards improvement. This video was filmed at the 2019 Ashoka U Exchange. The Exchange is Ashoka U’s global gathering for social impact educators. Every year, we bring together 650+ faculty, staff, administrators, students, and thought leaders for three days of inspiration, learning, and community building for social innovation and change-making education. Ashoka U is the higher education initiative of Ashoka – the world’s largest community of changemakers. Since 2008, Ashoka U has worked with more than 500 colleges and universities to help build a world where everyone is a changemaker. Learn more about Ashoka U at www.ashokau.org/ Talk.

Research, Data, & Indigenous Ways of Knowing 
Throughout Canada’s history, as well as during British and French encroachment on to the 50+ nations and confederacies that call Turtle Island home, western forms of research and ways of knowing have been utilized to dictate, control, and put forth differing myths in relation to not only Indigenous nations but their ways of knowing and understanding the world around them. This Lecture will seek to deconstruct this issue and bring forth understanding of what can occur when Indigenous ways of knowing are fully and equally included. This lecture was recorded on May 11, 2022.