"Turn, Turn, Turn": Re-animating Multi-species Relations to Restore Indigenous Landscapes through Tactile-Kinesthetic Learning

Date and Time: 
Friday, 18 March, 2016 - 10:30
Author(s): 
Dolan
, Jessica - McGill University

How do humans "know" other biological organisms, abiotic, and geologic components of ecosystems? What are our reasons for trying to know them? Here, I join a call for scientists, anthropologists, Indigenous knowledge holders, and community members to come together to transform human chauvinism, through sharing environmental epistemologies and practices of stewardship. Ethnobiologists are ideally positioned to facilitate these conversations among communities of practice. I will provide examples of traditional knowledge regeneration projects I participated in with Haudenosaunee colleagues. They are: composting; heirloom seed exchange and education; \re-animating the living Indigenous heritage of riverine ecosystems through canoeing them and mapping toponyms; and wild plant and fungi harvest and stewardship. These are some processes through which the Haudenosaunee teach and recreate Indigenous relationships with landscapes across generations; they are also ways people everywhere can participate in restoring peace and ecological health.