Indigenous Perspectives:
Making Connections
By: Azita Furoghudin
Braiding Sweetgrass:
A book pertaining the message of stewardship
and the interconnectedness with nature and Mother Earth.
Connections
Indigenous worldview - Holds the same values in protecting, preserving, and being connected with nature.
The Magpie River - The book talks about the care we need to put into the Earth to maintain and protect it. The Magpie river is an example of humans following the book's views and giving the river legal personhood to be able to live.
Worldviews:
People's beliefs, opinions, and perceptions
of the world which can affect the behaviour, morals and values of a person.
Connections
Conventional Wisdom - There are many wide accepted beliefs that people follow that mirror the cultures values within the society. The example "money cannot buy happiness" can share the importance of emotional fulfilment instead of materialism that the culture prioritizes in its worldviews.
Two-eyed seeing - Uses both Western and Indigenous worldviews which emphasizes the importance of integrating diverse perspectives while worldviews emphasize the importance of interconnectedness within the social world.
Paradigm shift - Not all widely accepted beliefs are correct, just because what many people believe to be true does not mean that it is. Examples can include people believing the world was flat, or that it was at the centre of the universe.
Indigenous worldview:
The perspectives, values, and beliefs held in Indigenous societies known for focusing on
interconnectedness, spirituality, ecocentrism, and cyclical time.
Connections
Braiding Sweetgrass - The book talks about Indigenous peoples beliefs and values learned from Nanabozho, such as the west teaching him about balance, the north teaching him healing and compassion, the south teaching him to learn from nature, and the east teaching him that Mother Earth is the wisest teacher.
Conventional Wisdom - Indigenous people have always believed of the conservation of the Earth as it is an important aspect of their culture.
Indigenous:
Where living things have always
naturally existed and lived.
Connections
Magpie River - An important river as it highlights the spiritual and cultural connections that Indigenous people have with their traditional land.
Indigenous worldviews - Indigenous peoples have lived in North America ages before settlers had arrived.
Settler:
People who have immigrated
to a new place and have
permanently set residence in.
Connections
Western/dominant Worldviews - Settlers held views similar to western worldviews such as superiority and entitlement over private property, freedom, and individualism.
Naturalized - White mans footstep, the plant that settlers brought with them when they came to North America became naturalized and a valued member of Indigenous people and the ecosystem.
Naturalized:
Something that is not Indigenous
but slowly establishes and becomes one with the environment.
Connections
Braiding Sweetgrass - In the book, white mans footstep, a flower that came with the settlers became an important attribute to Indigenous people as they used it for disinfectants and helped them with digestion.
Clovis People - The Clovis people were not originally from North America, making them non-Indigenous people who became accustomed to living here.
Settlers - Just like the Clovis people, settlers have not been native to North America which makes them people who have also been accustomed to living in North America.
Academic Racism:
Ideologies that consist of hatred and prejudice towards a certain race or culture projected in classrooms.
Connections
Worldviews - People who discriminate against others have their own views about them, even if they are biased or are prejudiced against those people. Many Indigenous people have faced racism and discrimination including Tami Pierce who had experienced name calling and threats.
Clovis people - Western archeologists are denying Indigenous peoples history and limiting their timeframe of their time in North America. People who do speak out about Indigenous people coming before Clovis people get attacked online, then ignored as Paulette Steeves mentioned in the CBC podcast.
Western/dominant worldview:
The perspectives, values, and beliefs held in western societies known for focusing on materialism, individualism, capitalism, science, linear time, and anthropocentrism.
Connections
Indigenous Worldview - Has contrasting worldviews with Indigenous perspectives, this highlights the differences in beliefs and values they both hold, and example being time being linear vs. being in a cycle.
Clovis People - The Clovis people are supposedly the oldest and first people to arrive in North America in dominant western worldviews. Western archaeologists have not been acknowledging the existence of Indigenous people before the Clovis people even with evidence because of the superiority complex that many white archeologists have.
Two-eyed seeing - Two-eyed seeing uses western science to combine and use with the Indigenous knowledge. An example of western science being implemented can be the technology used when observing the health of the Halfway River, such as using tag numbers and monitoring devices to keep track of the fish.
Conventional Wisdom:
Accepted beliefs and opinions
in societies and cultures.
Connections
Clovis People - Believed by most western archeologists to be the oldest humans to live in North America which the rest of society has accepted.
Indigenous Worldviews - Stereotypes regarding the worldviews of Indigenous peoples such as all life being equally important, all living beings are interconnected, and life moving around in a circle.
Two-eyed seeing:
Perceiving the world by looking through
both Indigenous and Western worldviews
encouraging collaboration between the two.
Connections
Indigenous Worldviews - Uses the perspective of Indigenous worldviews using traditional knowledge.
Western/dominant Worldviews - Uses the perspective of western worldviews using science and logic.
Paradigm shift:
A significant change in worldviews
beliefs and assumptions.
Connections
Western/Dominant worldview - In the past, western societies many things to be true that were soon proven to be wrong, an example being smoking which was believed to be good for people including pregnant women, or that the Earth was flat.
The Magpie River - This river has proven that non-human beings can have the law protect them because they can have legal rights as well.
The Magpie River:
River located in Quebec
that gained legal personhood.
Connections
Indigenous Worldviews - With the Magpie river being a very vital role in the environment, it is very important to take care of it so that other living creatures and the environment around it does not suffer.
Two-eyed seeing - The Indigenous peoples of Quebec working together with non-Indigenous people to save the river. Both side sees the river differently than the other in terms of importance and use but both are in need of the river so they come together to give the river legal personhood in order for it to survive.
Clovis People:
Supposedly the oldest and first people of North America according to American archeologists.
Connections
Western Worldview - Believe that the Clovis people were the first people to live in North America, not the Indigenous peoples.
Academic racism - There are many people, especially archeologists who believe the Clovis people were first, even though there is countless evidence of Indigenous people before the time of the Clovis people proven by Paulette Steeves.
Indigenous worldview - Indigenous people's views on the first people who lived in Canada were not the Clovis people but Indigenous people themselves.
Paradigm shift - Archeologists such as Paulette Steeves finding more than 500 cites that date before findings of the Clovis people, proving they were not the first people to live in North America.