|
Indigenous
Peoples Specialty Group
Sponsored Session, 2008 Annual Meeting,
Association of American Geographers
Boston, Massachusettes, April 15-19 2008
| Title: | Indigenous Geography and Education: Negotiating pedagogy in the classroom and the discipline |
| Description: | In the last decade, works by Cajete, Delorai & Wildcat, and others have called for decolonizing indigenous education into a more integrated, holistic, and culturally sound approach that address the needs and worldviews of indigenous students. Vine Deloria Jr. (2001) wrote, "Where traditional Indians and modern science are quite different is in what they do with their knowledge after they have obtained it." Indian students must consider two additional aspects of education: how what they receive will impact the preservation and sensible use of Indian lands, and how it will affect the continuing existence of the tribes. "We can characterize modern Indian students as fulfilling the function of scouts in the old hunting culture. They did not direct tribal activities as much as they provided information upon which the community could act."
Inasmuch as recent scholarship in Indigenous Geography has produced theoretical, epistemological and methodological challenges to Human Geography, the translation of these innovations into pedagogy is challenging. There are three aspects to this situation: What does the Indigenous tell us about approaching geography and education in the first place? How do non-indigenous and indigenous scholars translate geographic education into appropriate frameworks for indigenous students; and How do we translate the principles of indigenous geography and indigenous studies for those non-native teachers, scholars and students who have little exposure or understanding of indigenous approaches?
This session engages academics and educators in Indigenous Studies, or those who teach indigenous students, in a panel discussion/workshop on indigenous approaches to knowledge and education. |
| Anticipated Attendance: | 75 |
| Organizers: | |
| Chairs: | |
| Participants: | | Panelist: | Jay T. Johnson | | Panelist: | Brian J. Murton | | Panelist: | Drew Kapp | | Panelist: | G. Rebecca Dobbs | | Panelist: | Mark H. Palmer |
|
| Sponsorships: | Indigenous Peoples Specialty Group
Geography Education Specialty Group
|
|