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Overview
Often, discussions of Indigenous methodologies and epistemologies position indigenous scientific methods as supplementary to mainstream Western science as opposed to legitimate sciences on their own. Because of this misconception, the way non-Indigenous researchers engage with Indigenous communities often ignores the scientific developments and contributions of Indigenous peoples and cultures.
To challenge this, the Indigenous Epistemologies and Methodologies Reading Group aims to assert the validity of Indigenous scientific methods. To achieve this, the reading group will be run by two Indigenous scholars at Cambridge and will incorporate the scholarship of Indigenous North Americans primarily, while also including workshops for teaching attendees how to engage with various Indigenous communities in practice.
Through this reading group, our ambition is that we de-center ‘decolonial theory’* as the primary means of engagement with Indigenous methodologies and epistemologies, recognizing that Indigenous epistemology predates colonialism and deserves to be interrogated as a stand-alone group of scientific methods.
*We follow Tuck and Yang’s scholarship asserting that ‘decolonization is not a metaphor’ and that co-opting such language while simultaneously not advancing the sovereignty of Indigenous communities depends harm to our communities.
Unit 1: Intro to Indigenous Methodologies
What are Indigenous Methodologies and how do they differ from Western ones?
Unit 1 Materials
The American Indigenous Research Association. Considering Indigenous Research Methodologies: Critical Reflections (Joe Gone). Second Annual Conference ‘A Sense of Place’, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_VI-27J4LE.
Nelson, Elias. ‘Making Native Science: Indigenous Epistemologies and Settler Sciences in the United States Empire’. Doctoral Dissertation, Harvard University, 2018. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:41129223.
TEDx Talks. Etuaptmumk: Two-Eyed Seeing | Rebecca Thomas | TEDxNSCCWaterfront, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA9EwcFbVfg&t=4s.
Tuck, Eve, and K. Wayne Yang. ‘Decolonization Is Not a Metaphor’. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 1, no. 1 (2012): 1–40.
Unit 2: Methodologies
How do we engage in scientific enquiry the Indigenous American way?
Unit 2 Materials
Nelson, Elias. ‘Making Native Science: Indigenous Epistemologies and Settler Sciences in the United States Empire’. Doctoral Dissertation, Harvard University, 2018. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:41129223.
Unit 3: Medicine and Wellness
How have indigenous groups successfully cultivated medicine and nutrition in their areas?
Unit 3 Materials
Lopez-Carmen, Victor Anthony. ‘Native Tribes Are Being Poisoned By Pesticides Made By U.S. Companies’. Teen Vogue, 12 October 2020. https://www.teenvogue.com/story/native-tribes-pesticides-chemical-companies.
McCleery, Kathleen. ‘Needed: Native Doctors. Yolandra Gomez Toya ’88 Works to Close the Gap’. Princeton Alumni Weekly, 7 March 2018. https://paw.princeton.edu/article/needed-native-doctors.
TEDx Talks. Our DNA Is Not Our Identity | Krystal Tsosie | TEDxVanderbiltUniversity, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkXWjvzjHt8.
Unit 4: Native Natural Sciences
What is an indigenous way to view environment and why is it more important now than ever?
Unit 4 Materials
‘Alexis Nikole Nelson: How Foraging Restored My Relationship With Food’. TED Radio Hour. NPR, 3 September 2021. https://www.npr.org/2021/09/03/1033865919/alexis-nikole-nelson-how-foraging-restored-my-relationship-with-food.
Fireside Chat with Shina Nova. First Light, 2022. https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=650116719568782.
Walker, Althea. ‘Cultural Burning and the Relationship with Fire’. Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Centre, August 2022. https://www.swcasc.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/2022-08/Cultural_burning_brief_FINAL.pdf.
Unit 5: Medical Sciences
How are Indigenous conceptions integrated into genetic work?
Unit 5 Materials
TEDx Talks. Our DNA Is Not Our Identity | Krystal Tsosie | TEDxVanderbiltUniversity, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkXWjvzjHt8.
Unit 6: Planetary Sciences and Technology
What are some indigenous conceptions of the planet and the future?
Unit 6 Materials
Dewey, Myron, Josh Fox, and James Spione. Awake, A Dream from Standing Rock, 2017. http://awakethefilm.org/watch.php.
Dizikes, Peter. ‘An Expanded Commitment to Indigenous Scholarship and Community at MIT’. MIT News, 25 April 2022. https://news.mit.edu/2022/indigenous-scholarship-mit-0425.
Indigenous AI 101 with Jason Edward Lewis. The Radical AI Podcast, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSgwjoKyq8k.
‘Native Land Digital’. Accessed 8 December 2022. https://native-land.ca.
Unit 7: Indigenious Tech
How are digital technologies developed and operated using Indigenous protocol and logic?
Unit 7 Materials
Indigenous AI 101 with Jason Edward Lewis. The Radical AI Podcast, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSgwjoKyq8k.
This syllabus was co-authored by London Vallery and Myesha Jemison. Design created by Myesha Jemison via Canva.