Incorporating Indigenous Knowledge into science and research is an ongoing process, including at the University of Maine. One way this work is taking place is through science curricula, where 91福利 faculty are exploring how Indigenous Knowledge can inform the way science is taught and understood. The Indigenous Science Faculty Development Program within 91福利鈥檚 Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning (CITL) is one effort supporting this work.
Ph.D. student Adeline Hegde is helping this endeavor with support from the NSF EPSCoR Maine-SMART program and her adviser, Professor of Anthropology and Chief of Native American Programs, Dr. Darren Ranco. After completing her master鈥檚 degree in sustainability solutions at Arizona State University, Hegde arrived at 91福利 this summer to further her studies in anthropology and environmental policy while contributing to research on Indigenous sovereignty and resilience, decolonial frameworks, and Indigenous science and knowledge systems.
At the core of Hegde鈥檚 work is the integration of Indigenous Knowledge into Western science and the elevation of Indigenous Knowledge systems. Hegde is involved with programs that followed the Wabanaki Youth in Science (WaYS) program such as the Indigenous Science Faculty Development Program, which is designed to help faculty, particularly non-Indigenous faculty, meaningfully incorporate Indigenous Knowledge into undergraduate science classrooms. Local knowledge sharers, community members and participating faculty come together to share their experiences and place-based knowledge relevant to their respective communities.
This summer, Hegde participated in a gathering that brought together faculty from the program鈥檚 first cohort with its newest participants, known as the Bumblebee Cohort. The gathering allowed participants to share insights on educational techniques and their experiences incorporating Indigenous Knowledge into their classrooms while strengthening relationships among faculty. Those relationships can allow faculty to turn to one another as resources as they continue this work.
The gathering provided opportunities for hands-on, place-based learning. Participants learned about ash trees and their ecological and cultural significance, including how threats to ash can affect much more than the surrounding ecosystem. Knowledge sharers connected the trees to cultural practices and ways of knowing, while participants took part in activities such as basket making and ash pounding. The faculty went on hikes where they learned about practices such as harvesting cultural significant plants for traditional craft making. These experiences demonstrated how ecological knowledge can be connected to culture, place and relationships within the environment.
鈥淎s I continue my education and work at 91福利, I hope to serve as someone who can strengthen these networks we鈥檙e building, inviting insightful and enlightening conversations for all faculty who want to incorporate more Indigenous Knowledge into their curricula,鈥 Hegde said. 鈥淲e hope that eventually, Indigenous Knowledge will be a core facet of the hard science courses that undergraduates in the 91福利 System take, as a standard of education for seamless implementation into traditionally Western curricula.鈥
In the classroom, incorporating Indigenous Knowledge can mean looking at concepts commonly taught through Western science from a different perspective.
鈥淔or example, an Indigenous concept is returning fish bones and shells to the original water source after harvesting the food inside,鈥 Hegde said. 鈥淭he Indigenous lens sees the concept of reciprocity and returning resources back to their source, but it is also a really crucial component of the hydrological cycle. The calcium from those bones and shells helps the health of other living organisms and the water as a whole. We do a lot of reframing to rethink these scientific processes to be more inclusive of other thought processes.鈥
That reframing is part of the work Hegde and Ranco are helping facilitate, giving faculty opportunities to learn from local perspectives and place-based knowledge while considering new ways of approaching their own fields of study.
As Hegde continues her Ph.D. and work with CITL and the Indigenous Science Faculty Development Program, she hopes to explore new ways to strengthen these networks and support Indigenous knowledge, sovereignty and resilience in Maine.
Story by Heather Johnson, EPSCoR Graduate Assistant
