University embraces Indigenous science
First Nation’s members first brought up idea with school 12 years ago
GUELPH —At first glance, Indigenous ways of knowing, which focus on relationships with nature, may seem to be in opposition to western science, with its core value of objectivity. But a new environmental science program at the University of Guelph is braiding them together.
The appearance of being opposite is somewhat of an illusion, says Jonathan Schmidt, a professor in the school of environmental science at the University of Guelph. He has been teaching environmental science for more than 30 years.
“A lot of the time what happens with western science is we make vast generalizations and we talk about the means of things, we talk about the average, we talk about what happens most often and ignore quite often the events that are outside of that average range, even though they happen,” he says.
“Whereas what I’ve found working with Indigenous scholars is that they pay very close attention to the entire range of what happens, and they have specific knowledge about — in this place, this is how this works … so there’s a very long accumulation of objective observation that is specific about a place.
“The disjunction between the two is partly more the attitude of the person looking at it than what happens in practice.”
The first year of the new Bachelor of Indigenous Environmental Science and Practice program is now underway. It’s a four-year program offered through the School of Environmental Science. Students participate in activities like listening to teachings from Indigenous elders while also studying courses like chemistry and biology.
“This is what we need for the future of society, of our research and our scientists, is to look at our social, ecological sustainability challenges or opportunities in a much more holistic way. And Indigenous knowledge systems can provide that,” says Sheri Longboat, an associate professor in the school of environment design and rural development at the University of Guelph.
Longboat was part of the working group that developed the program, and now helps with the overall development and delivery of the program.
The use of the term “science” in the name was deliberate, says Schmidt.
“We chose science specifically because science is about knowing things. And there has been a tendency equally to say, well there’s Indigenous knowledge, and then there’s real science. Indigenous science is science. It’s a form of inquiry, it’s a form of testing ideas, it’s a form of transmitting what you know, it is a science.”
“There’s a tendency to forget that western science is also built on observation and the collection of observation over time, and we codify that in particular ways, but that’s not to say that Indigenous ways of knowing are not also based on observation and the collection of that kind of data.
“But the perspective is slightly different because the perspective in western science, the objective side, is that we remove ourselves, or pretend we can, from what we’re observing and in Indigenous ways of knowing, the observer participates in what they’re observing because they are a part of it.
“They don’t draw a line between nature and us.”
The idea for the program was first brought forward to the university by members of the Chippewas of Nawash who wanted to establish an undergraduate degree program over 12 years ago.
The original group working on the idea established a basic framework for an Indigenous Knowledge for Resource Management degree program.
In 2018 Schmidt started a working group at the university to revitalize the idea and see the program through.
“This isn’t something we just wanted to add on a few courses, it was starting from scratch,” says Longboat.
“It’s not positioning one over the other, because all of us are western trained, we see the value of all knowledge, but to elevate Indigenous knowledge, which has historically not been elevated within the academy. So we elevate it to a place where it’s respected and weaved throughout the program.”
Longboat hopes more Indigenous students will join this program because for so long, Indigenous students could not bring their knowledge and world views into schools or academics at any level.
“Youth being able to couple all of their knowledge, and all of their culture, values, histories, and traditions — and then bringing science within that world view, like how strong will they be when they go back to their communities and begin transforming their communities or applying what they’ve learned?
“To me that’s the big picture. To me that’s the reconciliation part.”