Week 11: Indigenous Epistemologies

 

Nicholas Galanin, Operation Geronimo, Silkscreen, 2013

Source

    Indefinitely people think differently from one another and there is no way around this fact of life. People choose to either share their ideas or keep them a secret. Through this exchange each idea needs to be placed in a category of knowledge. To place ideas and thoughts into said category, this term is epistemology. Epistemology is used to separate opinion from fact, and epistemology is still debated in the academic fields. And there is a need from this debate because it has placed a social scale on knowledge. Margaret Kovach, an Indigenous scholar points out the difference in knowledge is how it’s used and gained through the Cree culture. 

    In her writing, “Epistemology and Research: Centering Tribal Knowledge” epistemology has an Eurocentric influence. This influence can be seen in the highest esteem of academia because all knowledge must be cut and dry, there is no wiggle room and cannot afford for a small detail to be out of place. This idea of epistemology being this way has left out the Indigenous way of thinking.  Western ideas must come through something that has to be seen, felt, or heard. “Indigenous epistemology emphasizes its “non-fragmented, holistic nature; focusing in the metaphysical and pragmatic, on language and place, and on the value of relationships”, Kovach explains. It is the fact that Cree natives believe in holistic and metaphysical as a source of information. Which in turn their culture is ignored or criticized by the western idea of knowledge. 

    The information source whether it be from “dreams, prayer, ceremony ritual, and happenings” 1 does not discredit the information gained because information must be processed through one person. And that is an idea that even western epistemology has to acknowledge because information is intertwined with a person’s culture and identity. Eurocentric societies have the tendency of looking down on other cultures that have taken in information from scared source like dreams. However, western culture also has a whole segment on dreams and it's scientific knowledge provided by the admiration of Sigmund Freud and other reputable figures. This clearly displays a hypocrisy within western culture for looking down on information gained in the same action. There can be an argument that western society sees dreams different, but both cultures deem that dreams are a guiding point to a person's identity. In turn, knowledge given through sacred sources is a legitimate way of gaining knowledge.

Bibliography

Margaret Kovach, "Epistemology and Research: Centring Tribal Knowledge," Indigenous Methodologies: Characteristics, Conversations, and Contexts (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009).