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Indigenous North American Cosmological and Astronomical Knowledge Perspectives and Teachings
Abstract
For tens of thousands of years, indigenous North American people have developed critical relationships with the stars, planets, and galaxies, from intelligent observation to navigation, celestial architecture and sustainable engineering. The indigenous North American people viewed the sun, the moon, and the stars as a way to integrate human behaviour and nature. Celestial objects were believed to reveal the fundamental order of the world. This book discusses the extent and importance that cosmology held within the Indigenous North American culture, how the beliefs differed between indigenous groups, and its significance in shaping our understanding of astronomy and cosmology today.
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There is a growing body of Indigenous astronomy curricula and resources from Turtle Island for Canadian K-12 science teachers. Canadian teachers, particularly non-Indigenous teachers, may be interested in teaching Indigenous astronomy and Indigenous perspectives, but may not be sure where to start or how to do so authentically. Using a framework that centers Indigenous Knowledges, we carried out a systematic survey of online curricular resources that identified 82 online Indigenous Astronomy Knowledges (IAK) and categorized them according to Indigenous tradition, media type, and language. We put this survey in context by emphasizing Indigenous astronomy and research as living and equivalent knowledge systems that can be taught on their own or alongside traditional Western astronomy. Centering this discussion around Indigenous research values, such as relationships, respect, and reciprocity, we emphasize the importance of embracing Indigenous curricula intentionally and thoughtfully to go beyond superficial “Indigenizing/Decolonizing” of the classroom. Authentic inclusion of Indigenous Knowledges could take a number of forms, including presenting Indigenous astronomical concepts and terms as valid and equal to Western knowledge, and helping students understand the interconnectedness of knowledge and the importance of relationships in science.
In this time of reconciliation, Indigenous researchers-in-relation are sharing research paradigms and approaches that align with Indigenous worldviews. This article shares an interpretation of the Mi’kmaw concept of Two-Eyed Seeing as the synthesis of Indigenous methodology and participatory action research situated within an Indigenous paradigm of relevant, reciprocal, respectful, and responsible research. Two-Eyed Seeing is discussed as a guiding approach for researchers offering Indigenous voices and ways of knowing as a means to shift existing qualitative research paradigms. The author offers practical considerations for conducting research with Indigenous peoples in a “good and authentic way.” Through the co-creation of knowledge with Indigenous communities, a collective story was produced as a wellness teaching tool to foster the transfer of knowledge in a meaningful way.
Directed by anthropologist Alexander Lesser in 1935, the Santa Fe Laboratory of Anthropology sponsored a field school in southwestern Oklahoma that focused on the neighboring Kiowas. During two months, graduate students compiled more than 1,300 pages of single-spaced field notes derived from cross-interviewing thirty-five Kiowas. These eyewitness and first-generation reflections on the horse and buffalo days are undoubtedly the best materials available for reconstructing pre-reservation Kiowa beliefs and rituals. The field school compiled massive data resulting in a number of publications on this formerly nomadic Plains tribe, though the planned collaborative ethnographies never materialized. The extensive Kiowa field notes, which contain invaluable information, remained largely unpublished until now. In Kiowa Belief and Ritual, Benjamin R. Kracht reconstructs Kiowa cosmology during the height of the horse and buffalo culture from field notes pertaining to cosmology, visions, shamans, sorcery, dream shields, tribal bundles, and the now-extinct Sun Dance ceremony. These topics are interpreted through the Kiowa concept of a power force permeating the universe. Additional data gleaned from the field notes of James Mooney and Alice Marriott enrich the narrative. Drawing on more than thirty years of field experiences, Kracht's discussion of how indigenous notions of "power" are manifested today significantly enhances the existing literature concerning Plains religions. © 2017 by the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska. All rights reserved.
The interest of nineteenth-century Lakotas in the sun, moon, and stars was an essential part of their never-ending quest to understand their world. The Spirit and the Sky presents a survey of the ethnoastronomy of the nineteenth-century Lakota and relates Lakota astronomy to their cultural practices and beliefs. The center of Lakota belief is the incomprehensible, extraordinary, and sacred nature of the world in which they live. The earth beneath and the stars above constitute their holistic world. Mark Hollabaugh offers a detailed analysis of all aspects of Lakota culture that have a bearing on their astronomy, including telling time, Lakota names for the stars and constellations as they appeared on the Great Plains, and the phenomena of meteor showers, eclipses, and the aurora borealis. Hollabaugh's explanation of the cause of the aurora that occurred at the death of Black Elk in 1950 is a new contribution to ethnoastronomy. © 2017 by the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska. All rights reserved.
The interest of nineteenth-century Lakotas in the sun, moon, and stars was an essential part of their never-ending quest to understand their world. The Spirit and the Sky presents a survey of the ethnoastronomy of the nineteenth-century Lakota and relates Lakota astronomy to their cultural practices and beliefs. The center of Lakota belief is the incomprehensible, extraordinary, and sacred nature of the world in which they live. The earth beneath and the stars above constitute their holistic world. Mark Hollabaugh offers a detailed analysis of all aspects of Lakota culture that have a bearing on their astronomy, including telling time, Lakota names for the stars and constellations as they appeared on the Great Plains, and the phenomena of meteor showers, eclipses, and the aurora borealis. Hollabaugh’s explanation of the cause of the aurora that occurred at the death of Black Elk in 1950 is a new contribution to ethnoastronomy.