Recognizing Traditional Environmental Knowledge
This paper goes over an interview with Matha Johnson, then Research Director of the Dene Cultural Institute (DCI). The conversation touches upon TEK in schools, challenges and opportunities faced by the DCI in its early years, and the future of TEK in resource management.
From Introduction:
"Western science’s failure to recognize traditional environmental knowledge (TEK) was first made obvious to Martha Johnson more than ten years ago when she was working as a high school teacher in Povungnituk, an Inuit community in northern Quebec. She remembered realizing that “as a non-Aboriginal trying to teach science from a Western perspective, it wasn’t working. So I asked myself, “How do the Inuit perceive the environment?” Johnson began experimenting in learning techniques to find ways of tapping the knowledge passed down among the Inuit. In one exercise, she gave students a diagram of the Arctic food chain and asked them to make the links. One practically illiterate boy made the connections without any problems. Later, Johnson pursued a Master’s degree in Environmental Studies and Anthropology at the University of Toronto. Her major paper examined Inuit folk ornithology, comparing Inuit classification of birds to Western groupings. Johnson’s grassroots experience with Aboriginal communities and her formal studies helped her recognize the holistic nature of TEK. “It combines biology, linguistics, social sciences, and other disciplines and connects them in an interdisciplinary way to examine how people perceive their world, live within it and use its resources” she comments. Johnson spoke about traditional environmental knowledge, the reasons behind its growing recognition, and current research in this field during an interview in Ottawa early this year. She is now Research Director of the Dene Cultural Institute in Canada’s Northwest Territories. The Institute works with Dene communities to preserve and promote this Canadian aboriginal group’s culture, through research and education. Much of the Institute’s work has focused on TEK through research and the publication of a book entitled Lore: Capturing Traditional Environmental Knowledge, edited by Johnson. The book was based on papers produced from a 1990 workshop on TEK, organized by the Dene Cultural Institute. IDRC funded the workshop as a cultural exchange between researchers in developing countries and those working in Canadian aboriginal communities. Community-based projects on TEK in the Amazon Rainforest, the African Sahel, the South Pacific and Southeast Asia were represented at the workshop. The Institute also invited aboriginal community members and researchers from northern Canada’s Belcher Islands. Workshop participants discussed the problems of gathering TEK and integrating it with Western Science to improve natural resource management. They also experienced Dene culture through food, music and dance. The participants’ papers, outlining their project’s research methodology, were incorporated in Lore."
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The full text of this paper is available from the Community Development Library.
Carter, Deborah. “Recognizing Traditional Environmental Knowledge.” Ottawa: International Development Research Centre Reports 21, no. 1 (1993).
Higher Education in the Northwest Territories.
Hilyer’s chapter provides a historical overview of higher education in the Northwest Territories, along with some of the challenges to early institutions. The text outlines the history of the Adult Vocational Training Centre, Thebacha College, and Arctic College. In a 1992 survey of Arctic College students, 58% of students were women, 14% of students brought their children to campus, 75% were of Aboriginal origin, and they came from 58 different communities in the territories. For first languages, 65% had English, 8.5% Inuktitut and 2% North Slavey and Dogrib.
Read more about the history of education and curriculum development in the Northwest Territories.
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Hilyer, Gail M. “Higher Education in the Northwest Territories.” Higher Education in Canada: Different Systems, Different Perspectives, edited by Glen A. Jones, 301-323. New York: Garland Publishers, 1997.
How to Get it Across: some ideas for integrating local content in the school curriculum.
The research team currently has no hard information about the date and origins of this document, but it is with a collection of items from the early 1980s pertaining to curriculum development in the Sahtú region by Cynthia Chambers and others with the Linguistic Programs Division of the NWT. The document makes reference to NWT local education authorities and is NWT-specific.
This 7 page document seems to be a guide for local curriculum supporting teachers to build specific content to fit into the core curriculum for their classes. It recommends a close assessment of audience (e.g. age, reading level), resources, and distribution. It makes suggestions for reaching young children: such as keeping to “practical, hands-on and real experiences” until the ages of 10-12 when abstract history and cultural heritage can be related (3). Interestingly, it comments that time references like “long ago,” or “before there were white people here” will allow children to place these histories in the same category as fairy tales and myths. Conversely, situating history with respect to a child’s grandmother, or showing a picture, will help them relate more directly to the content.
Read more about the history of the inclusion of local knowledge in formal curriculum in the Northwest Territories.
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“How to get it across: Some ideas for integrating local content in the school curriculum.” NWT Archives, Northwest Territories, n.d. Accession no. N-2007-014.
This item is not listed in the NWT archives item search, but was found by one of our researchers in the Cynthia Chambers Collection.
Ɂetene Ɂǝhw’ı K’e – Dene Kádeɂá, Ɂelehé Yáts’erı́yǝ, Ɂelehé Dene Gáhuretę (On the Right Track)
This is a monolingual booklet about family activities. It may be a translation of a Saskatchewan Literary Network family literacy resource, adjusted by the NWT literacy council for northern languages. There is a foreword, where the text begins:
Menı gots’éráyı̨́dı máhsı héts’ǝdı. Hǝderı ɂedı̨htl’é ɂeyı Saskatchewan gots’ę ɂedı́tl’e hots’edúhsha gáɂeghálayeda keyá kıdeyı̨́tl’e. Wáyı júhad́ néné gogha ɂawót’e gha júhad́ ɂedı́tl’e gha dǝhw’ı ke rakıdeyı̨́tl’é. Júhad́ ɂedı́tl’é gha dǝ́hw’ı ke March 2002 gú ɂeyı júhad́ Government ɂeyı tsǫ́dane hı̨́delé gáhurútǝ̨́ gá ɂeghalayeda ke sǫ́ba hé gots’érákeyı̨́dǝ gháré hǝdǝrı ɂedı̨htl’é kedeyı̨́tl’e.
Read more materials from the Northwest Territories Literacy Network: https://www.nwtliteracy.ca/resources/indigenous-languages-and-literacies
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Northwest Territories Literacy Council, Saskatchewan Literacy Network. Translated by Lucy Ann Yakelaya. Ɂetene Ɂǝhw’ı K’e – Dene Kádeɂá, Ɂelehé Yáts’erı́yǝ, Ɂelehé Dene Gáhuretę (On the Right Track), n.d.
Building Aboriginal Literacy Cards
These are a series of monolingual cards with photographs from Sahtú communities and Dene words. The introduction reads,
Dene xǝdǝ la begháré dene ts’ı̨lı̨ gha ket’ódeɁá yá ɂagóht’e. Dene xed́é k’égháré yá dene he’egúɂa, denewá ts’ı̨lı̨́ k’égháré ɂadegots’ǝdı hé ts’ı̨duwe légots’ede gháré dúle hı̨dówé gots’é bet’óts’edéhɂa. Menı begǫhlı̨ gots’é dene xǝdé k’é bet’sé gots’ǝdǝ nı́dé ɂeyı keyá dzı’ıne toréht’é kedexǝdǝ́ k’é denets’é gokǝdǝ gha.
Ts’ǫ́dane ke kugólı̨ gots’ę kugháı́ sóɂareht’e gots’é dúle t’áhsı̨ gołǫ kegokı́hɂa yá ɂakı̨t’e. Ɂeyı gháré dene hı̨sha ke hé menıdene xǝdǝ́ k’égodǝ ke ts’ǫ́dane ke kedexǝdǝ́ kúshu gha le’rakede.
Read more materials from the Northwest Territories Literacy Council: https://www.nwtliteracy.ca/resources/indigenous-languages-and-literacies
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Northwest Territories Literacy Council. Building Aboriginal Literacy Cards, North Slavey. Yellowknife: Department of Education, Culture, and Employment, n.d.
Dene Sa Ɂerı̨ı̨htł’é
This text is a blank calendar with spaces to fill in the days anew each year. Illustrations and each month’s Dene name in both Dene and English mark each page, along with the days of the week in Dene language.
Ilı́gu zá, Edáedzeného zá January, Cold month, New Year’s month
Tłı̨chédé zá, Sa nek’ǫ́ne zá February, Dog wıggles hıs stıff taıl month, Short month
Det’ǫneho zá March, Month when eagle looks for food
Naeda zá Aprıl, Easter Month
Eghé zá May, Month when bırds lay theır eggs
Tsá kats’enı̨wę zá June, Beaver Huntıng Month
Įhbé July, Summer Month
Ek’a zá August, Month when anımals are fat
Egǫ́chı̨ ghǫ zá September, Moose huntıng month
Bek’e łue dats’ehté zá October, Month for storıng fısh
Ɂehdzo zá November, Trappıng Month
To yatı̨ zá December, Month of Chrıstmas
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Available from the Ɂehdzo Got’ı̨nę Gots’ę́ Nákedı archives. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for access and see the Release and User Agreement form on the database home page.
Fort Franklin Slavey Language Program. Dene Sa Ɂerı̨ı̨htł’é. Northwest Territories Department of Education and Chief Jimmy Soldat School, n.d.
North Slavey Grow Chart, Kereyǝ Hé Gokǝdǝ Kéɂets’ı́hdz’a
This is a monolingual growth chart with cm measurements for different heights of children and corresponding images of different age groups learning to talk. For example, the baby at the bottom says, “Dúle duká ɂadehsı̨ (oo, goo, bababa)"
Read more resources from the Northwest Territories Literacy Council: https://www.nwtliteracy.ca/resources/indigenous-languages-and-literacies
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Northwest Territories Literacy Council. “North Slavey Grow Chart, Kereyǝ Hé Gokǝdǝ Kéɂets’ı́hdz’a.” Family resource poster, n.d.
Įt’ǫ́ Elá T’á Ts’éku ɂehdanagı̨la
This is a unilingual story with hand-drawn illustrations (by Philip Mercredi) and Dene text. It has no English guide, and it comes with Dene words paired with illustrations at the end of the story (for example, whı̨ and a picture of a spear).
The first section reads:
Yahnı̨́ı̨ ts’ę́ dene ke ı̨kǫ́ t’á zǫ edegogeredı́ redı. Eyu t’á dene łée sı̨́ı̨ ı̨k’ǫ́ huhłé nı̨wę gha surı́ dene nezǫ hı̨lı̨́ gots’ę edeghǫ náowhe kúlú, debelé t’á ası̨́ gháedá le. Ekáa taónǫɂǫ́ beghaé ajá kúlú k’ála daudı redı.
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Blondin, George, Jane Modeste and Fibbie Tatti. Įt’ǫ́ Elá T’á Ts’éku ɂehdanagı̨la. Developed by Dept. of Education, NWT. Copyright, Fort Franklin Band Council. 1979.
Available from the Ɂehdzo Got’ı̨nę Gots’ę́ Nákedı by permission of the Délı̨nę Got'ı̨nę Government. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for access and see the Release and User Agreement form on the database home page.
Denewá Zhı̨nę́ Hé: Dene Kedǝ Hé
This text is a collection of Dene songs and translations or adaptations of English songs. It appears to be part of the Interpreter/Translator Program at Thebacha Campus, Arctic College, like many of the other texts in this collection.
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Vandermeer, Jane, Fibbie Tatti, and Chuck Bloomquist. Denewá Zhı̨nę́ Hé: Dene Kedǝ Hé. Sahtú Slavey Language Centre, n.d.
Available from the Ɂehdzo Got’ı̨nę Gots’ę́ Nákedı archives. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for access and see the Release and User Agreement form on the database home page.
Gah Hé Tatsǫ́ Hé
This is a unilingual story about Raven and Rabbit going sledding together, among other stories. It is illustrated with Dene text. There is no English guide. The first section reads:
Łá xae ekúu, gah náke tı̨ch’a k’énałútłe gedı, t’á káłegeréhtła. Gah dechı̨tah k’énaget’á. Tı̨ch’a gonezǫ dúwé hé gókǫ́ t’á surı́ gogha máhsı.
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Available from the Ɂehdzo Got’ı̨nę Gots’ę́ Nákedı archives. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for access and see the Release and User Agreement form on the database home page.
Vandermeer, Jane, Augustine Kenny, Elsie Rink, and Fibbie Tatti. Gah Hé Tatsǫ́ Hé. Norman Wells: Sahtú Divisional Board of Education, n.d.