NDN Science Show

This is a special episode where Annie, Turtle, and their fellow grad-student Kaya DeerInWater come together for a "workshop" on the idea of bringing worldviews together for biocultural restoration. We talk about Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Scientific Ecological Knowledge, how these are different/similar, and some examples of successful projects we've come across in our graduate studies. Interestingly enough, we didn't really do much of a workshop... mostly due to the 50-minute timeframe we were working with. But also because we put this together on short notice and overestimated how much we could actually get done. It worked out well though! We were able to get through the content and at least engage with the audience a little bit. The audio was recorded live so bear with us on some of the strange sound levels you might encounter. This is a cool episode and we hope you enjoy it!

Main Ideas:

- Knowledge Integration

- Knowing a Sense of Place

- Two Eyed Seeing

- Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)

- Scientific Ecological Knowledge (SEK)

- Onondaga Lake in upper New York

- Black Oak, Wild Rice, and Blue Camas Restorations

- The Challenges with the Words We Choose (Indigenous?)

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Links & Resources:

Indigenous & Western Sciences: Bringing Worldviews Together

AISES National Conference

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Today we talk about the Decolonization Movement and how this is something that's much larger than one word alone. We both agree that the exact word you choose isn't so important, but understanding the meaning behind the word is what matters most. So, we dive into exploring what the word decolonize means and where it comes from, and also some of the different kinds of decolonization that exist and where we might be able to apply these lessons in our own communities. We don't have all of the answers, but we're constantly curious about questions like: Why is decolonization important? Who colonized and who got colonized? What impacts has this had on the world? When did colonization happen? When did the Decolonizing Movement begin? There's a whole lot more and we realized pretty quickly that we can't cover everything in an hour-long episode, so we did our best to stay focused on a few main points.

Here's some of the stuff we talked about:

- IndigiFacts

- Definitions of Decolonize

- Land Relations... family or property?

- Decolonization Methodologies

- Space, Time, and Cultural Awareness

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Links & Resources:

Decolonizing Methodologies by Linda Tuhiwai Smith

Indigenous Research Agenda

Indigenous Methodologies by Margaret Kovach

#1 Pollutant of the Earth's Oceans

Where was Planet Earth 230 Million Years Ago?

Online Etymology Dictionary

Being Indigenous: Resurgences against Contemporary Colonialism

Google Scholar

The Art of War

Cultural Clarity Article

Decolonizing Indigenous Archaeology

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Being Indigenous in the modern world is a challenge that we face every day on reservations in the United States, and it's something none of us are prepared for when we're children. This is such a huge topic that we decided to revisit this subject from time to time. In today's episode, we explore some of the challenges of being Indigenous in the modern world as we see them, some of the opportunities, and also what our three tips are for being Indigenous in the modern world. Before we talk about all that though, we share a couple of scientific facts of the day. This is something we'll be doing as often as we can, but also as briefly as we can because although we love science, NDN science isn't all about facts. But facts are fun so we decided to include some interesting science stuff at the beginning of each episode.

Main Ideas:

- Peafowls, Peahens, and Peachickies

- Hibernating Bears and Superheroes

- Rites of Passage and Coming of Age Ceremonies

- The challenges of setting priorities, growing up, and getting shit done

- Rights and Responsibilities, and Opportunities for Change

- Three Tips for Being Indigenous in the Modern World

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Links & Resources:

Peacock Terminology

Hibernation

Thanatology

The Hero's Journey

Wisdom Sits in Places

Decolonizing Methodologies

Seasonal Rounds/Cycles

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On today’s show, we have a conversation about his story. Brett has experienced some amazing things in his life and we only touch the surface in this interview. He shares about his journey with music, being diagnosed and almost dying from cancer, and the healing journey that brought him to where he is now. Brett’s an amazing guy and I’m stoked that he came on the show. He’s also a good friend and brother and he’s helped me heal in more ways than one.

Some of the things we talk about are:

- How Brett and I met and some of our adventures

- His initial love and passion for music from a young age

- Brett’s battle with cancer and trying to heal with Western medicine

- How ceremony saved his life and brought his family together

- The things that inspired him to go to college and become a scientist

- The difference between responsibilities and relationships

- The awesomeness of birds and the holistic nature of change

- Life isn’t just about ourselves, it’s about the bigger picture

- Family has the power to bring us together, even with different worldviews

- Linear vs cyclical perspectives and change through paradigm shifts

- How worldview influences individual and social perceptions of science

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Links & Resources:

Blood Struggle by Charles Wilkinson

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Today we explore the difference between food sovereignty and food security, and why these concepts are so important for Indigenous peoples. We also talk about commodities and rations, food deserts and reservations, re-indigenizing your food pallet, and a whole lot more. We start off by diving into our own experiences with food sovereignty and how we both got involved in this movement in different ways. Annie shares her story about her experiences in New York with strong Indigenous women, and Turtle kinda just rambles along and does his best to keep up. He had a mild cough when recording this episode, so his voice is a little raspy and he’s not all there at times. But this is a fun episode on an important topic that’s at the forefront of the decolonizing movement around the world.

Here are some of the main ideas we talk about:

- Our experiences with food sovereignty

- The many layers of food sovereignty

- Commodities, community health, and food deserts

- Farmers markets and getting to know your food

- Connecting with place and de-colonizing your palette

- Decolonizing/Reindigenizing… going back to our ways

- Food Sovereignty and Security Definitions

- Policy Reform and Scientific Revolution

- The power of sustainability

- The power of words

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Links and Resources:

La Via Campesina

Declaration of Nyéléni

What is Food Sovereignty?

Food Security Definitions (USDA) (Canada)

The Politics of Food

'Rescaling' alternative food systems: from food security to food sovereignty

Beyond Food Security: Understanding Access to Cultural Food for Urban Indigenous People in Winnipeg as Indigenous Food Sovereignty

Transforming Food Systems through Food Sovereignty: an Australian Urban Context

Food security, food systems and food sovereignty in the 21st century: A new paradigm required to meet Sustainable Development Goals

FOOD SECURITY AND FOOD SOVEREIGNTY – THE CASE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

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On today’s show, we explore the word ‘science’… what does the word science mean? Is there one kind of science? Where did it come from? These are just a few of the questions we touch on and we can get pretty deep at times, but this is a fun episode where we share our thoughts about science, its meaning, and how it’s affected Indigenous communities in the past, present, and future. In an age troubled by things like fake news, climate change denial, and a general mistrust of science and government, people are more skeptical of scientists than ever. And this is totally understandable, most scientists aren’t trained to communicate with people outside of an academic setting. We are also classically introverted and often get into this line of work because we like to be in nature or in the lab working with everything but other people. This isn’t how it used to be though, and it can’t stay this way. We need to come together as a community. We need to respect each other for our differences as well as our similarities. We need a scientific revolution that honors multiple ways of knowing, the sovereignty of Indigenous peoples, and the inherent rights of Mother Earth.

Some of the main ideas we talk about are:

- Western Science Definitions

- Indigenous Science Definitions

- A Brief Introduction to the History of Science

- Science and Religion

- Science and Research in Indigenous Communities

- Paradigm Shifts and Scientific Revolutions

Links and Resources:

NDNs on the Airwaves

Native Science: Natural Laws of Interdependence

Evolution, Creationism, and Other Modern Myths

Society of Catholic Scientists

Lamarckianism vs Darwinism

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

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Today’s episode is all about restoration… specifically, Biocultural Restoration and how this field of science brings different disciplines into a synthesized approach. This approach aims to restore and revitalize both ecosystems and the cultures that were originally responsible for them. We discuss everything from our experience with this field of study in our graduate program to definitions and paradigms that surround ecological restoration. We also go over some of the drawbacks to ecological restoration, how biocultural restoration addresses these drawbacks, and how all of this relates to bringing worldviews together and integrating knowledge systems.

Some of the main ideas we talk about are:

- It's important for everyone to have a seat at the table... this includes scientists, managers, and the community they're working with.

- What’s missing from ecological restoration... an ongoing Cultural Context

- Restoration Ecology Myths: Carbon Copy and Sysiphus Complex

- Definitions of ecological, biocultural, and reciprocal restoration

- The value of other worldviews and working together

- Integrating different Ways of Knowing

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Resources:

The Myths of Ecological Restoration

Restoration Ecology: The State of an Emerging Field

Ecological Restoration

Tropical Ecological and Biocultural Restoration

Restoration and Reciprocity: The Contributions of Traditional Ecological Knowledge

Indigenous and Western Science Workshop at SUNY-ESF

American Indian Science and Engineering Society National Conference

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On today’s episode, Annie’s traveling so I’m hosting the show solo. And one of the main ideas that we’ve talked about in our off-air conversations is the role of women in society and how there are a lot of women in science that have played massive roles in changes throughout history. We both feel like this is an important topic and who better to start things off than our moms. This time around, I interview my mom, Judy Gobert. She’s a biochemist, a microbiologist, an activist, a mom, and a grandmother. We talk about what inspired her to become a scientist and some of the projects she’s done; the challenges she’s faced growing up and the role her abusive stepfather played in the path she took; and we also talk about her outlook on Indigenous women, science, and where people can look for their own inspiration moving forward.

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Here are some of the important messages I got from this interview:

- Judy’s love for science began with her love for math

- Being an Indigenous woman is hard, but full of lessons

- Change within a system is messy – get your degree and then work toward change

- How listening to Creator guided her as a scientist

- Indigenous knowledge systems have known things that Western knowledge systems are just beginning to recognize… Indigenous Science does not need validation from Western Science

- Biocolonialism and the dangers of “science out of control”

- The power of women

- inclusiveness is an essential human value

- The importance of language

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Resources:

#MeToo

American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES)

Indigenous People's Council on Biocolonialism

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