After a week's "vacation" from blogging, due to the demands of Thanksgiving, I wanted to write a piece about Traditional Knowledge and its place in archaeology - and indeed, in science in general. My purpose here is to help prepare myself for a Telus Science Cafe, which I have been asked to participate in. The Cafe is held the Ironwood Stage and Grill tomorrow, on October 25th. Four Inuit Elders are visiting Calgary for this event, at the invitation of the Telus World of Science. They are: Jamesie Mike, Simon Nattaq, Annie Nattaq and Meeka Mike. All belong to Tusaqtuut, an organization they established that is dedicated to preserving traditional Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit or knowledge.
Archaeologists have been using traditional knowledge for as long as the discipline has existed. David Boyle, Canada's First professional archaeologist, visited Huron villages over 100 years ago, asking questions about the artifacts he was finding at Archaic and Woodland sites in southwestern Ontario. Sadly, in the intervening decades, many First Nations and Inuit communities were subjected to residential schools and government modernization programs which forever changed many aspects of their traditional lives. But, what impact does this have on the validity of traditional knowledge? Does decades of the pressures of assimilation mean that traditional knowledge has been lost? How much of this knowledge has been passed onto younger generations of indigenous people?
As archaeologists, traditional knowledge offers many potential insights into the past. When I began my own traditional knowledge project in the Arctic, I was amazed at the amount of information many Elders were providing. They recalled thousands of place names, stories, and events - all of which they could spatially reference on NTS Topo Maps. They also remember specific ways of doing things - such as hunting seals, preparing hide clothing, making kayaks, and so on. These do not appear to be half remembered random facts - rather they are hung on an elegant conceptual framework involving three basic principles - Life, Technology, and Environment. You can listen to Joe Karetak explain these principles in the accompanying video clip, which I will be posting later today.
Today, Inuit ride snow machines, hunt using GPS and high powered rifles, watch satellite television, and life in Euro-Canadian style houses. Yet my research has led me to conclude that this veneer of technological similarity with mainstream Euro-Canadian culture obscures the continuation of important cultural values and ways of doing things.
Many of the Elders I work with were born into a traditional life on the cusp of change. Their concern is that the knowledge they possess will not be passed on to their grandchildren. May Elders see this knowledge as providing moral guidance to young people who are confronted with many challenges in today's world. Therefore, rather than simply use Traditional Knowledge for the purposes of interpretation, archaeologists can make a positive impact in aboriginal communities by documenting this information for the next generation to access. In my case, this has led me to conceptualize Traditional Knowledge research as a form of social capital and community outreach, and not just as a source of analogies for interpreting archaeological data. I believe this is one of the ways that archaeology can positively impact on the socioeconomic and cultural lives of indigenous peoples.
After listening to Phil Fontaine, former National Chief, Assembly of First Nations, speak in Red Deer last year about his experiences at the residential school I gained a deeper understanding of just how much of their culture had been destroyed and the difficulties they are having trying to rebuild it. Like the Elders you are communicating with, Mr. Fontaine is also very concerned that his culture may be lost forever to the changing world. I think that the role archaeologists and anthropologists are playing in helping to regain lost knowledge is an important one. Really, archaeologists are lucky to have such an insightful living resource to help in understanding the culture. I believe that archaeology is more than just digging up artifacts; it is a way of rebuilding the histories of the people that left the artifact behind.
ReplyDeleteIn an age where we are considering that even chimpanzees have a cultural past and do archaeological digs to learn more about them, we can certainly put an effort into preserving living cultures well into the future. The traditional knowledge that the Elders have is more than just fading stories, it is a tapestry of an entire people and we are blessed to have access to such in depth knowledge.
It's sad to think of traditional knowledge being lost in the near future. Culture history is an important aspect of almost any group in the world; something to take pride in. In my museum and heritage studies classes we've talked extensively about how the destruction of artifacts and symbols or a culture is a way of "erasing" a peoples sense of community in order to control or devastate them. Although physical artifacts are probably less of a concern in this case, residential schools were just another way of wiping out a sense of history and community. It's very saddening.
ReplyDeleteI think as archaeologists it is definitely important to dig deeper (no pun intended) than the physical artifacts, and to make sure that our findings are used in reconstructing past life ways, in order to educate people about the past. Archaeology is a discipline that has the opportunity to help people stay in touch with their history.
I see traditional knowledge as a very important part of archeology. It is a very helpful thing when an archeologist is provided with the opportunity to study and learn from both artifact remains as well as the very people that are descended from the groups that left those remains. Culture is something that is always changing. As shown in the striation records of an archeological site, as well as the development of modern technologies, no culture remains unchanged. The loss of the aboriginal cultures to the introduction of western technologies is one that took place because of missionaries, residential schools, and other interactions that were against what the aboriginals wished for. This major difference between changes because of innovation resulting from the aboriginals desire to improve the way of doing something, and change because it was forced on them against their will is what makes for a sad history.
ReplyDeleteThe aboriginal’s traditional knowledge is still there to a large extent because they want it to be there. As long as the next generation can show pride in their elder’s traditional knowledge and learn it for them selves it will continue to be passed down and hopefully not die out. This is what happened to the Barasana traditions in the Amazon when they chose to reject the British missionaries and maintain their traditional cultures.
Understanding that culture is always changing I believe that the traditional knowledge that the elders have of the cultures of their society would not change because of the introduction of western ideas. As a result of this there is no reason to question the validity being inaccurate as a result of assimilation. What one must wonder is whether that traditional knowledge will exist in the next generation if it is not passed down.
- Mandalynn Jugdev
I agree that archaeology can play a very significant role in helping people to reconnect and rediscover their cultural history and at the same time, cultures can help archaeologists to better understand the past. It seems that this is a two-way relationship that must be maintained for both sides to benefit. When ethnography was the focus of American early studies, cultures were being learned about and recorded but there was no place for an understanding of the past through archaeology and material culture. When scientific or functionalist archaeology is the focus, much is missed that could have been explained by cultures still existing using analogy. The balance must be maintained for everyone to benefit. This is why work being done, such as the mapping of traditional places, or the long now foundation are so important.
ReplyDeleteThis is not the only important factor however, an interest in ones own cultural history has to also be encouraged. I worked with a women who wanted desperately to teach her grandchildren Cree however the parents would not allow it and the kids really couldn't care less. This blocks the transmission of traditional knowledge to the younger generations. Passing on information must be the goal of the elders, the young as well as the scholars. I think the thirst for knowledge, especially in cultural heritage, must be three-fold to be successful
I think that one of the reasons that traditional knowledge is so important is the incalculable amount of information we as archaeologists can gain. So many aspects of people’s lifestyles will never preserve in the archaeological record. Using traditional knowledge can supplement information that we would never be able to detect in our excavations and provides more clues to the evidence we do have. Indigenous people are not remnants of ‘primitive’ societies and should not be viewed this way. But they can offer their unique perspective on aspects of their lives and environments that us, as outsiders, lack.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite examples of this is taken from the BBC documentary series called Human Planet. It shows Inuit people from Kangiqujuaq, Quebec who venture under the sea ice during the spring equinox in order to collect mussels. This would be very important information for archaeologists to collect since it makes up a portion of their subsistence. Without a firsthand narrative of the methods of gathering the mussels, it would be near impossible to correctly conclude this Inuit practice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0qGvC3vqaA
Archaeologically, traditional knowledge and stories passed on from one generation to the other are all very useful...Even though, it is obvious and unfortunate that such culture and traditions are lost. It is not only the case of Inuit archaeology and Inuit societies. All around the world factors such as globalization, and modernization are somehow destroying traditional values etc...In my opinion archaeology must not only be able to understand such values, traditions and their past/origins but also contribute to keeping them alive within society.
ReplyDeleteI think that the passing of traditional knowledge to future generations is the key to maintaining the way of life for many traditional groups. I also think that documenting as much of it as we can will help out future generations. As of current more and more people are not caring about traditional values and belief systems and are not learning them, but who knows in a few generations from now there might be a renewed interest in the traditional ways. If archaeologists work with the native people to record and discover the past traditions it might be useful for future generations to discover more of the past they missed out on.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it is just because it is November this reminds me of the stories told by our WWI and WWII veterans. Our parents would say they were sick of listening to their grandparents talk about the war. But now that we have fewer and fewer veterans from these wars people are starting to take an interest in preserving these stories and the knowledge they can give us. Kind of a smaller case of the above article but there is a connection.
I was in one of my earlier archaeology classes about ancient civilizations and we never touched on this topic. It was only afterwards when I had gotten to know the professor that he gave me some advice about pursuing a job in archaeology. He told me that archaeology can be a very selfish profession because in some areas of archaeology we don’t offer any public services. We extract archaeological data from the environment, societies, the archaeological record, etc. but a lot of the time it stays in Museums boxed away. He suggested that archaeologists use their knowledge in protecting the cultures we spend so much time learning about. There is so much we can offer in informing the public about societies of the past. Traditional knowledge is just as important. The earth is getting smaller due to new innovations and we shouldn’t have to wait for a culture to die before we go digging up information and sharing it.
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