Indigenous Knowledge and Education: Sites of Struggle, Strength, and Survivance Paperback - 2008

Indigenous Knowledge is resiliently local in character and thus poses a distinct contrast to the international, more impersonal system of knowledge prevalent in Western educational institutions. In the words of Mik'maq scholar Marie Battiste--a leading proponent of Indigenous Knowledge and a contributor to this volume--Indigenous Knowledge expresses "the vibrant relationships between the people, their ecosystems, and the other living beings and spirits that share their lands." Indigenous Knowledge and Education argues that such knowledge has much to offer schools and students in the United States and beyond.

The volume examines a wide range of Indigenous cultures and educational settings, including Native American, Haitian, Mexican, African, and Australian. The essays are grouped into three themes that exemplify many Indigenous cultures: struggle, strength, and survivance--the latter a notion of survival that emphasizes remembrance, regeneration, and spiritual renewal. Each of these themes is explored in a rich array of articles and capped with new essays by Marie Battiste, Gregory A. Cajete, and Bryan McKinley Jones Brayboy.

A wide-ranging and persistently stimulating volume, Indigenous Knowledge and Education casts contemporary theories and debates about education in a new--and essential--light.

Contributors: David Wallace Adams, Lilia I. Bartolome, Marie Battiste, Bryan McKinley Jones Brayboy, Gregory A. Cajete, Fernando Cardenal, Munir Fasheh, Sandy Marie Anglas Grande, Josiane Hudicourt-Barnes, Susan M. Kardos, Richard Katz, Kenneth Liberman, K. Tsianina Lomawaima, Richard Maclure, Valerie Miller, Leona Okakok, and Ramon Eduardo Ruiz.

Edited by Malia Villegas, Sabina Rak Neugebauer, and Kerry R. Venegas