Troth Yeddha' Roots: Connecting the Place With the People
http://hdl.handle.net/11122/6843
Journal of the Alaska Native Studies Council, Volume 32024-03-21T13:16:12ZIndigenous Knowledge Systems and Cross-Cultural Research
http://hdl.handle.net/11122/6848
Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Cross-Cultural Research
Barnhardt, Ray
The initiatives outlined in this article are intended to advance our understanding of cultural processes as they occur in diverse community contexts, as well as contribute to the further conceptualization, critique, and development of indigenous knowledge systems in their own right. Just as those same initiatives have drawn from the experiences of indigenous peoples from around the world, the organizations and personnel associated with this article have played a lead role in developing the emerging theoretical and evidentiary underpinnings on which the associated research is based. The expansion of the knowledge base that is associated with the interaction between western science and indigenous knowledge systems will contribute to an emerging body of scholarly work regarding the critical role that local observations and indigenous knowledge can play in deepening our understanding of human and ecological processes, particularly in reference to the experiences of indigenous peoples. This article addresses issues of relevance to underserved populations in Alaska and other geographic regions inhabited by indigenous peoples. It provides a much-needed impetus toward organizing research and education support structures that contribute to the broadening of an infrastructure fostering the use of multiple knowledge systems and diverse approaches to research. The international scope of the initiatives described provides multiple benefits derived from the economies of scale associated with linking numerous small-scale populations, as well as increased applicability of outcomes associated with the extensive opportunities for cross-cultural comparison.
2015-03-06T00:00:00ZWhy Did They Do That? An exploration of explanations as to why Europeans behave as they have towards Native People
http://hdl.handle.net/11122/6847
Why Did They Do That? An exploration of explanations as to why Europeans behave as they have towards Native People
Kaliss, Tony
The purpose of this paper is to encourage deeper understanding of the Native-
European interaction by focusing on the question of Why Europeans acted as they did
towards Native peoples. I encourage this because I'm not satisfied with the answers I
have seen to this question, because answering it is central to understanding the Native-
European interaction, and, lastly, because exploring and answering this Why has become
timely and essential.
Being dissatisfied, it follows I provide my own Why answer--and I do so below.
However, it became clear in developing this paper that just as important, perhaps even
more so for encouraging a deeper understanding, is an exploration of the process of how
this basic question has been approached. This led me to several other Why questions:
Why hasn't the basic issue of European motivations been more fully explored,
considering the enormous amount that has been said and written about the Native-
European interaction? Why have so few writers, Native or non-Native, even asked Why?
Why do people begin to ask Why at a certain point in time and not another? And why are
the Why's offered inadequate--in my opinion?
All this led me to structure the paper as follows. First are some comments about
levels of knowledge. Second, I report on a survey of the works of 14 writers in which it
might be expected that the Why question would be taken up, which means discussing
both the absence and the presence of Why answers. Third, I critique the several Whys I
did find. Fourth, I give my own Why answer. And Fifth, I suggest some reasons why the
Why question has not been more asked or explored.
2015-03-06T00:00:00ZCooperative Cross-Cultural Instruction: The Value of Multi-cultural Collaboration in the Coteaching of Topics of Worldview, Knowledge Traditions, and Epistemologies
http://hdl.handle.net/11122/6846
Cooperative Cross-Cultural Instruction: The Value of Multi-cultural Collaboration in the Coteaching of Topics of Worldview, Knowledge Traditions, and Epistemologies
Arevgaq, Theresa John; Koskey, Michael
For four years (2011, 2013, 2014, 2015) two faculty members of the University of Alaska
Fairbanks’ Center for Cross-cultural Studies have collaborated to co-teach a course entitled
Traditional Ecological Knowledge (CCS 612). This course examines the acquisition and
utilization of knowledge associated with the long-term habitation of particular ecological
systems and the adaptations that arise from the accumulation of such knowledge. Intimate
knowledge of place—culturally, spiritually, nutritionally, and economically for viability—is
traditional ecological knowledge, and this perspective is combined with the needs of an
Indigenous research method to better understand and more effectively explore the proper role of
traditional knowledge in academic, cross-cultural research. This presentation and paper explores
the strategies tested and lessons learned from teaching students from a wide variety of academic
and cultural backgrounds including the social and life sciences, and the humanities, and from
Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultural origins. The instructors, too—and most importantly for
this endeavor—come from an Indigenous (John) and non-Indigenous (Koskey) background, and
though hailing from very different cultures and upbringings work collaboratively and with
genuine mutual respect to enable an understanding of variations of traditions of knowledge and
their application to academic research.
2016-03-06T00:00:00ZAlaska Native Studies 2015 Foreword
http://hdl.handle.net/11122/6845
Alaska Native Studies 2015 Foreword
Topkok, Sean Asiqłuq
The 2014 Alaska Native Studies Council (ANSC) Conference was held in March in Fairbanks,
Alaska. There were approximately 300 conference participants from local, statewide, and
national attendees. The participants were scholars, Elders, students, and organizations who
promote a deeper and more sustained commitment to integrating Indigenous perspectives into
a variety of educational settings. The Alaska Native Studies Council’s mission is to identify,
develop, and implement Native‐focused curricula, to promote and publish Alaska Nativerelated
research and pedagogical strategies, and to develop a strategic plan to help us attain
these goals.
2015-03-06T00:00:00Z