Indigenous Traditional Knowledge and The Night Sky
As part of our current unit on the concept of ORDER, we are looking at how we use the arts, and specifically oral and written storytelling, to explain the natural world around us.
For this, we are discussing Indigenous Traditional Knowledge, a body of knowledge which is the result of Indigenous Peoples living, learning, and interacting with the land over thousands of years.
Before Western science named stars, Indigenous Peoples across Canada had stories helping to chart the stars in the sky that served as tools for navigation. Indigenous Peoples have Traditional Knowledge that can guide and complement Western science as we study astronomy.
In this post, I have provided some web links to help with our conversations!
Please note before viewing some of the links, which come from a variety of learning resources — As we discuss Indigenous Peoples, we have reconciliation in mind. As such, we are building our own awareness of respectful and knowledgeable ways to speak about Indigenous Peoples of Canada, and about other cultures in general. Even though some of the websites below refer to Indigenous Oral History as mythology, we understand we must take care calling something simply a myth or story, with awareness these are also stories representing spirtual and cultural beliefs of great importance to a group of people.
We seek to become more aware of and to better understand valuable Indigenous Traditional Knowledge, and, with the First Peoples Principles of Learning & Ways of Knowing and Being in mind, take time as we learn to identify the connections between us, all peoples, and the nature around us.
I will add links as I find them!
Canadian Geographic Understanding the Night Sky:Stories from Across the Globe
University of Calgary Indigenous Skies
Canadian Space Agency Indigenous Moon
Night Sky Star Stories by Wilfred Buck
The Walrus Teaching Indigenous Star Stories
Science Friday Relearning The Star Stories of Indigenous People
Western Washington University Brad Snowder Collection
First Peoples Map of BC Interactive Website