Question #1 (part one)

The podcast hosts discuss their experiences with a course on Indigenous Ways of Knowing, focusing on the importance of land acknowledgments. They delve into the significance of acknowledging Indigenous peoples' connection to the land, the concept of reciprocity and respect, and how Indigenous perspectives on the land differ from mainstream views. They explore the impact of intergenerational trauma and the idea of decisions affecting seven generations, highlighting the importance of respecting nature and maintaining equilibrium. The hosts emphasize the need to go beyond rote recitation of land acknowledgments and truly understand and internalize the meaning behind them. Alright, welcome back to our podcast, The Learning Circle. I'm your host, Ella Webster, with Kaya Thaparagher, and Samuel Gerlach. And today we're going to be jumping into a course that we actually all took together this semester, Indigenous 303, or Indigenous Ways of Knowing, with Dr. Ramona Deeds. It's a really interesting topic for us because your hosts are from all across Canada, with a really diverse set of backgrounds and prior knowledge towards Indigenous people. So, today we're going to jump in and start talking about land acknowledgments. You've probably heard of them, you've done them in school or other professional events, but it's really easy to just read some words off the screen, I guess. We really want to get to the bottom of what it really means for each of us and why we actually do a land acknowledgment. This is something that specifically stuck with me on, I think, our first day of this class. We went through the land acknowledgment, it seemed normal, but then Ramona asked us, why? Why do we do this? Why does it matter? And the first thing in all of our heads was, well, obviously, First Nations, Indigenous peoples, they were here before us, this was their land first. But what does that really mean to us, and why is it so important that we respect that? It's a really interesting topic. I know that I was specifically struck when she was talking about that it wasn't just that this was the land they walked on. This was not just where the spirits of their ancestors were, but actually their DNA. This is where they laid their ancestors to rest. And I found that really hard-hitting and something that made me think and question how much respect I put into my own land acknowledgments and allowed me to look forward and want to do better on the next one. Yeah, I totally agree with that. I think that DNA being in the land is such an important point, so thank you for bringing that up, Ella. I also think that land acknowledgments are important because the recognition that these lands are being shared between us and their ancestors, these peoples, the Indigenous peoples of Canada have their DNA in this land. But also, the land is so much more important to them back then and now compared to how it could be to an established perspective. For instance, their culture is determined based on actions on the land. And I think that land acknowledgments are important for myself because it's acknowledging how we are guests on this land and we share with these peoples and that they may find those lands more important than we do. And I think that it's important to consider their perspectives in what we do with that land in general. Yeah, I really agree. I think that's some great points, Sam. And when I'm thinking about a land acknowledgment to me, what really stood out to me was when Ramona Beattie talked about, or Dr. Beattie, sorry, talked about the idea of relationality and reciprocity with the land and how Indigenous peoples view land as more than just an inanimate object or a resource for usage. I think it's really changed my perspective on the way I approach having a relationship with the land, treating it as an autonomous being that carries meaning and spirit. I think that's been really important in the way that I have interactions with all beings, animate and inanimate, on the land that we live on today and in the way that I use this land here. Yeah, that's a great point, Kai. I agree that sort of the way that Indigenous peoples view the land is very different. I think that this also ties into, besides just reciprocity, I think respect is what I see most important from these land acknowledgments and how it ties into myself. One of the strongest impressions I've gotten from this course is what they've taught me about respect, and I think that hiking and backpacking and being in nature, skiing, have always been activities that really ground me. It's where I go to relax. I go walk outside. In the past, I've always thought, oh, well, I should always try to keep the trails as clean as possible. However, after taking this course, I started thinking it differently, where rather than simply doing this for personal enjoyment or trying to respect nature, I do this out of respect for the fact that the land is shared amongst everyone. It's shared between ourselves, between the peoples of the past, the peoples of the future, and also shared between all the different animals who we see. And I think that I sort of ground myself in this and carry the mindset that I sort of learned from this course that respect is a two-way street, and it's to be shared amongst different peoples. To jump into what both of you have said about respect and reciprocity towards the land, I think it was also really interesting to learn that the land makes a big difference on the experience of a lot of different Indigenous tribes and groups. It dictates how people see the world, and it's even seen in their language, as we've learned, how a lot of Indigenous language is really based in action and activities, whereas generally an English language is based more in a noun situation. So I also noticed something that you were saying when you were saying that generations past and the generations future talk about respecting our land. It really reminded me of the article written by Hannah Pasirka about the brain science behind Cree teaching. I really resonated with this article because I work in a lab that works with adults and children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, and a quote that specifically stuck out to me was, in Cree teachings, for example, it is said that an event will carry repercussions for seven generations. It is worthwhile to consider the multi-generational cycles of FASD, spousal abuse, and alcoholism in this context. I found this really interesting to reflect on our actions and how we leave our land is going to not only affect seven generations in the future, but also seven generations of ancestors, which I think is just really interesting. Again, working in this FASD lab, I see a bit of that generational impact just being how overrepresented Indigenous peoples are in the FASD world. Yeah, absolutely. I think that is a great point, and I love the way that you related that to your own experience. It's been something we've talked about a lot in my degree. I go to school for health and society here at UCalgary, and social determinants and the idea of generational trauma and that impact on the way all those social factors and all those small experiences over the life course really compound to people's life outcomes and their exposure to different opportunities and choices. I think really thinking about it from that life course theory, too, of the way that the seven generations is really such a foundational principle in the way that it determines the opportunities people have in life and their exposures and all those pieces has been really important. I know I think we'll talk a bit about knowledge later, but thinking about how they've had this idea of the seven generations teaching for so long, so much before that we developed life course theory, and really this intergenerational trauma idea of the seven generations is a really beautiful way of phrasing that before we even had that language. It's so interesting to see how that knowledge was derived before necessarily Western science took those ideas in that direction. I really appreciate you bringing that up. Yeah, this is sort of aside, but I think this kind of ties back to, I remember in first year I actually had the opportunity to do a project in a course where we looked at the social determinants of FASD, and I know I'm not exactly experts compared to either of you guys, but I do remember in first year talking about how intergenerational trauma can be tied into why we see this increase in FASD affecting indigenous peoples, and I think about sort of considering how these people have been so strongly disrespected by past settler governments and settler peoples. I think it's important to consider, and I think that I definitely learned from this course how even though I learned that intergenerational trauma is important now, I truly know how it can change people and how it can affect people for those seven generations. I think another quote which sort of ties back to what I was talking about earlier about sort of respecting nature, which I know is a far lighter topic, but a specific quote by Pepion about sort of the shared belief of indigenous ways of knowing includes respecting all things, respecting all of existence, and in concert in the principle of maintaining sort of equilibrium. I think that indigenous peoples do an excellent job of sort of maintaining equilibrium where, as Ella said, we make these decisions based on the previous and the future seven generations, and I think that's certainly a superior way to go about things than some other cultures have done. So in summary, we know that these land acknowledgments are really important, but I think it's really important for us to delve into why we respect them and what they really mean to us, more than just reading some words on a script. Yeah, absolutely. Actually, again, going back to my previous class with my degree, it's a practice that I see a lot within my faculty to not just put the land acknowledgments up on the board, but we go through, and especially I love it when we go through it as a class, but at least the prof will go through and discuss what that land acknowledgment means to them personally, what it means to their livelihood, and the impacts and the choices that they make each day, and so especially when we go through that practice as a class, at the beginning of our semester, I find it a really grounding way to actually truly reflect on that, because like you said, I don't think, I think a land acknowledgment can be easily kind of passed over when we just read word for word on a screen that you, Google it, this is a land acknowledgment for Treaty 7, but I think really thinking about what that means to us has been a wonderful practice, so thanks guys for doing that.