Abstract
How do educators prepare the next generation of adults and leaders in an era of radical climate disruption, ecological tipping points, economic volatility, and social and political inequity? In other words, should there be a new type of education for a dystopian future? Although the world has never been a stable, serene place, the changes to the Earth globally and the social disruptions happening in this second decade of the twenty-first century are unprecedented and alarming. The present epoch has been called the Anthropocene, a time of human domination of the Earth. This new epoch requires educators to completely rethink the purpose and goals of education, especially in terms of preparing young people for a viable and hopeful future.
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Notes
- 1.
Jon Rehyer et al., eds., Honoring Our Children: Culturally Appropriate Approaches for Teaching Indigenous Students (Flagstaff, AZ: Northern Arizona University, 2013); Kelsey Sheehy, “Graduation Rates Dropping Among Native American Students,” U.S. News & World Report, June 6, 2013; Education Week, Diplomas Count 2016: High School Redesign (Bethesda, MD: 2016).
- 2.
Etymology Online, www.etymonline.com; Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (New York: Continuum, 1970); Md. Mahbubul Alam, “Banking Model of Education in Teacher-Centered Class: A Critical Assessment,” Research on Humanities and Social Sciences 3, no. 15 (2013): 27–31.
- 3.
Greg Cajete, Native Science: Natural Laws of Interdependence (Santa Fe, NM: Clear Light Publishing, 1999), x; Rose von Thater-Braan, “What Is the Native American Learning Bundle,” 2014, http://silverbuffalo.org/NSA-ScienceOfLearning.html.
- 4.
Marie Battiste, Decolonizing Education: Nourishing the Learning Spirit (Saskatoon, SK: Purich Publishing, 2013); Rose von Thater-Braan and Melissa K. Nelson, “Grandfather How Do I Learn? Exploring the Foundations of Diversity,” documentary film, 2013, https://vimeo.com/71449994.
- 5.
See Joan Roach, “By 2050 Warming to Doom Millions of Species,” National Geographic News, July 12, 2004.
- 6.
Adam Hadhazy, “‘Second Brain’ Influences Mood and Well-being,” Scientific American, February 12, 2010; Joseph Ciarrochi et al., Emotional Intelligence in Everyday Life: A Scientific Inquiry (New York: Psychology Press, 2001); Andy Fischer, Radical Ecopsychology: Psychology in Service of Life (New York: State University of New York, 2013); Catherine Baumgartner, Embodied Ecologies website, http://embodiedecologies.moonfruit.com; Lynne C. Manzo and Patrick Devine-Wright, Place Attachment: Advances in Theory, Methods, and Applications (New York: Routledge, 2014).
- 7.
Robin Kimmerer, “Mishkos Kenomagwen, ‘The Lessons of Grass’: Restoring Reciprocity with the Good Green Earth,” in Melissa K. Nelson and Dan Shilling, eds., Keepers of the Green World: Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Sustainability (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2017); Leanne Simpson, “Land as Pedagogy: Nishnaabeg Intelligence and Rebellious Transformation,” Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 3, no. 3 (2014).
- 8.
Dan Moonhawk Alford, A Report on the Fetzer Institute-sponsored Dialogues Between Western and Indigenous Scientists, presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness, April 11, 1993, http://hilgart.org/enformy/dma-b.htm; David Bohm, On Dialogue (New York: Routledge, 2004).
- 9.
Sage LaPena, presentation at annual Bioneers Conference, San Rafael, CA, October 24, 2016.
- 10.
Melissa K. Nelson and Nicola Wagenberg. “Linking Ancestral Seeds and Waters to the Indigenous Places We Inhabit,” in Jeannine M. Canty, ed., Ecological and Social Healing: Multicultural Women’s Voices (New York: Routledge, 2016); Winona LaDuke, “Slow, Clean, Good Food,” Indian Country Today Media Network, September 30, 2016.
- 11.
Daniel R. Wildcat, Red Alert! Saving the Planet with Indigenous Knowledge (Golden, CO: Fulcrum Publishing, 2009).
- 12.
The Cultural Conservancy, “Guardians of the Waters: Preserving and Regenerating Water Guardianship,” www.nativeland.org/guardians-of-the-waters.
- 13.
The Cultural Conservancy, “Native Foodways: Protecting the Sanctity of Native Foods,” www.nativeland.org/native-foodways; Wendy Johnson and Melissa K. Nelson, “Wild and Cultivated Foods: A Collaboration,” Whole Thinking Journal (Center for Whole Communities), no. 8 (Spring 2013): 30–33; Jane Brody, “Babies Know: A Little Dirt Is Good for You,” New York Times, January 26, 2009.
- 14.
Melissa K. Nelson, “Mending the Split-Head Society with Trickster Consciousness,” in Melissa K. Nelson, ed., Original Instructions: Indigenous Teachings for a Sustainable Future (VT: Inner Traditions, 2008); Leanne Simpson, Lighting the Eighth Fire: The Liberation, Resurgence, and Protection of Indigenous Nations (Winnipeg, ON: Arbeiter Ring Publishing, 2008).
- 15.
Jeannette Armstrong, Constructing Indigeneity: Syilx Okanagan Oraliture and Tmix Centrism, doctoral dissertation (Griefswald, Germany: Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University, 2009); Rowen White, presentation at Cultural Conservancy Harvest Festival, Indian Valley Organic Farm and Garden, College of Marin, CA, October 8, 2016; Wes Jackson, Becoming Native to This Place (Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint, 1996).
- 16.
Enrique Salmon, “Kincentric Ecology: Indigenous Perceptions of the Human-Nature Relationship,” Ecological Applications 10, no. 5 (October 2000): 1,327–32; Dan Hart, “White Shamans and Plastic Medicine Men,” film, 1995, www.iupui.edu/~mstd/e320/white%20shamans%20video.html; Toby McLeod, “Pilgrims and Tourists,” film, 2014, http://standingonsacredground.org/sites/default/files/Pilgrims-Tourists_SOSG-teachers_bookmarked.pdf.
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Nelson, M.K. (2017). Education for the Eighth Fire: Indigeneity and Native Ways of Learning. In: EarthEd. State of the World. Island Press, Washington, DC. https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-843-5_4
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