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The following is a presentation given by the TENRM faculty at The Washington Center for the Improvement of Undergraduate Education

Conference on February 22, 2002.

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Environmental Education in a Tribal College: An Emergent Learning Community

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Environmental Education in a Tribal College: An Emergent Learning Community

Phillip Duran, Ted Williams, Sharon Kinley, Roberto Gonzalez-Plaza, Northwest Indian College,

Gigi Berardi, Lynn Robbins, Western Washington University

Environmental Science Education is a colossal task for at least three reasons: the history of

neglect and under-funding of reservation Indian education, the phenomenal changes taking place in "mainstream" science and

science education and the outstanding perception that "science" is the only

knowledge that describes reality coherently...

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The meltdown of scientific reductionism

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TENRM derives its essence from the personal (tribal) identity of the students, from faculty and the community advocating non-coercion and non-abandonment and from systemic, non-linear "science" learning. We hope to graduate self-reliant, psychologically independent human beings who work for the welfare of their communities.

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Articulation (H. Nouwen)

The person who can articulate the movements of inner life, the person who can name experiences is no longer a victim of the system, psychologically,

and no longer a victim of itself

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Coexistence & compassion

Coexistence of science & Indian knowledge (in the sense of orchestrate) (“integrate”)

Coexistence of spirits realized in compassion ( the source of authority)

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What are we doing today ? First, Phillip Duran will discuss an Indian

college theory of being

Second, Gigi Berardi will review the fundamental principles of the program

Thirdly, Ted Williams will discuss the challenges of the program

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The Circle, the Powers

“You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the

World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round…”

-Black Elk (Oglala Lakota)

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The Sacred Directions

East

South

West

North

Turtle Turtle Island

Turtle Island

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The Seasons of Life

Child

Adolescent

Adult

Elder

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Cardinal Virtues (Lakota)

Bravery

Fortitude

Compassion

Wisdom

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The Times of the Day

Sunrise

Noon

Sunset

Night

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Sacred Plants

Tobacco

Sage

Cedar

Sweet Grass

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Four Sides of the Human Being

Spiritual

Emotional

Physical

Mental

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Human Development

Protection

Nourishment

Growth

Wholeness

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Native Science

EARTH

All Things RelatedEverything Has Spirit

Natural Law Preeminent

Change is Constant

All Matter Vibrating Energy

System of Cycles

(Earth is our Mother respect)

Renewal

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Western Paradigm

EARTH

Take more than you need

Accumulation for profit

Linear patterns of behavior

Individualism

Conquest / Control

Earth a Resource

(Earth is a Commodity control)

Consumption

Development

Preeminence of written law

Individualism

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Westward Expansion

Indian LandIndian Land

Indian Land

Indian Land

Loss of land base

Broken Treaties

Depopulation

•Land transferred to settlers

•Tribal unity destroyed

•Native religions outlawed

•Children severed from parents

•Subsistence to dependency

•“Kill the Indian, save the Man”

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Mending the Sacred Hoop

identity crisis

tuberculosis

unemployment

poverty

housing alcohol mortality

invisibility

short life expectancy

diabetes youth suicides

sacred sites

religious freedom

hazardous waste

sovereignty

life patenting

broken treaties

political conflict

educationadoptions

assimilation

Indian values

FAS

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Indigenous Education

relevantholistic

compassionate

spiritual

ecological

communal

experiential

practical

oral

“All My Relations”

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Motherhood

“[The mother] studies the family life of the birds, so exquisite in its emotional intensity and its patient devotion, until she seems to feel the

universal mother-heart beating in her own breast.”

-Ohiyesa (Dakota)

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Child’s First Lesson

“In due time children take of their own accord the attitude of prayer, and speak

reverently of the Powers. They feel that all living creatures are blood brothers and

sisters; the storm wind is to them a messenger of the Great Mystery.”

-Ohiyesa (Dakota)

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How Science is Changing

From “Geology” to “Earth System Science”

Earth a Single System (of subsystems)

Quantum Theory and Views of Reality

From “steady state” to expanding universe

“Environmentalism” vs. Traditional Knowledge

From“Unrelated” Phenomena to Complex Adaptive Systems

Separate Disciplines Merging into Meta Domains of Knowledge

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Educational Paradoxes

Non-Linear “Science” using Linear Resources

Natives Fear of “Science” but not Nature

Experiment vs. Experience vs. Reality

Land-based Education in a Temporal Environment

Tribal Graduates for a Consumer Society

Tribal Identity amidst Mainstream Ideologies

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Returning to the Circle

"Upon suffering beyond suffering, the Red Nation shall rise again and it shall be a blessing for a sick world. A world filled with broken promises, selfishness and separations. A World longing for light again. I see a time long after the skies have grown dark and dirty and the water has become bad smelling. I see a time of seven generations when all the colors of mankind will gather under the Sacred Tree of Life and one whole earth will become one circle again." - Chief Crazy Horse

and the beginning

The End…

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“When people live far from scenes of the Great Spirit’s making, it’s easy for them to forget his laws.”

-Tatanga Mani (Stoney)

“Only in reference to the earth can [the Indian] persist in his true identity.”

-N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa)

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“There is one God looking down on us all. We are all children of the one God. God is listening to me. The sun, the darkness, the winds, are all listening to what we now say.”

-Geronimo (Apache)

“If you have one hundred people who live together, and if each one cares for the rest, there is One Mind.”

-Shining Arrows (Crow)

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“We do not walk alone. Great Being walks beside us. Know this and be grateful.”

-Polingaysi Qöyawayma (Hopi)

“We may misunderstand, but we do not misexperience.”

-Vine Deloria, Jr. (Yankton Sioux)

~~~~~

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“We believed in one God, the Great Spirit. We believed in our own kind of Ten commandments. And we behaved as though we believed in them.”

-Vine Deloria, Jr. (Yankton Sioux)

“We are related, we are all one. The Indian acknowledges this and so discovers the most liberating aspect of Native science: life renews, and all things which support life are renewable.”

-Dr. Pam Colorado (Oneida)

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Principles and Adaptation of theTribal Environmental

And Natural Resources Management(TENRM) Model for Tribal Colleges

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By Gigi Berardi, Dan Burns, Phil Duran,Roberto Gonzalez-Plaza, Sharon Kinley,

Lynn Robbins, Ted Williams, and Wayne Woods

TENRM Is a NSF-Funded Project of the 

Science and Mathematics DivisionNorthwest Indian College

2522 Kwina RoadBellingham, WA 98225

NSF Grant No. DUE-9752076

http://www.nwic.edu/tenrm

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SECTION I. INTRODUCTION

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•WELCOME

•Background to TENRM

•Profile of TENRM

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SECTION II.FOUNDATIONS

OF THE TENRM PROGRAM

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•Mission of the Program

•Goals and Program Features

•Foundation Principles

•Theoretical Assumptions, and Other Guiding Principles

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Foundations of TENRM Program

First Principle Integration of Tribal & Western Knowledge – Coarticulation and Coexistence of Knowledge

Second Principle Non-Abandonment Policy and Non-Coercion

Third Principle Developmental Education

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SECTION III.STRUCTURE OF THE PROGRAM

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•Curriculum and Themes

•Courses

•Expected Competencies

•External Evaluation

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To Be the Eagles’ View

Water

Land and Land Use

Oceans

Making Connections, Finding a Balance

Bringing It All Together (Project)

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•Curriculum and Themes

•Courses

•Expected Competencies

•External Evaluation

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Biology Chemistry

Computer Applications Economics

English Humanities

Mathematics Indian History and Culture

Physical Geography or Geology Political Science

Speech Spiritual/Cultural Study

Statistics

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SECTION IV. LESSONS LEARNED

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•Student Assessment

•Program Leadership

•Building Community Through Addressing Conflict

•Retention

•Best Practices

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SECTION V.ADAPTING THE TENRM MODEL FOR YOUR SITE

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•Getting Started

•Adapting the Model

•Revisiting the Continuum of Possibilities

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CHALLENGES Of The TENRM learning

community• Living and teaching the coexistence and

paradoxes of Western and Native knowledges

• Student success and encouragement (AKA Retention)

Living as a whole community

• Program sustainability - life within the larger community

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Living and Teaching in two worlds

• What is “integration” of parallel systems of knowledge and how is it done in TENRM?

• How do faculty pay attention?Emergent Design

• The need for faculty cohesion and understanding of systems of knowledge requires significant time for faculty development and community building

Rainbow Lodge!

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How Do we address Educational Paradoxes?Non-Linear “Science” using Linear Resources

Natives Fear of “Science” but not Nature

Experiment vs. Experience vs. Reality

Land-based Education in a Temporal Environment

Tribal Graduates for a Consumer Society

Tribal Identity amidst Mainstream Ideologies

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The WHOLE STUDENTTHE WHOLE COMMUNITY

• What is “retention”? – the complex lives of Indian students – the Iceberg Model

• How non-abandonment and non-coercion live in TENRM

• Implications for faculty and students – maintaining the community under difficult circumstances – conflict, life and death

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TENRM Within the Larger Community PROGRAM SUSTAINABILITY

• Fear and lack of understanding of the ecological model of education

• Neglect and under funding of Indian colleges vs. the cost of cohort education – moving toward sustainability

• Relating to and growing into the larger college and Native Community

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Our QUESTIONSIntegrity and Sustainabilty

• How do we maintain the essence of the Native learning community as we grow into the larger community?

• How do we continue to evolve the program maintaining integrity with science, native culture and academic standards?

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Your Questions

• How do these dilemmas live at your school?

• What questions and comments do you have?

The conversation continues

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