Module II - Everything is Connected

Essential Question: How is everything connected from the perspectives of indigenous peoples and Western scientists? What are the advantages to knowing both ways?

ENGAGE


Introduction
You don’t have to be a Zen Buddhist to recognize that, somehow or another, everything is connected. However, such understanding may come from widely divergent perspectives, depending on your cultural point of reference.

Inua II -- Van Zyle, by permission

For example, an indigenous Iñupiaq or Inuit elder living primarily by subsistence in a small village on the northern coast of the Arctic Ocean, everything is connected may be understood as Sila or Inua, the Spirit within everything that connects all life, time, energy and the physical world.

Such a view is not far removed from the geoscientist's understanding that everything is connected in the earth system; that the biosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, cryosphere, and atmosphere are all interconnected and interdependent.

Or to take it a step further, consider how peering through deep time using immense radiotelescopes, the astrophysicist sees everything is connected within the unified field theory in which the four fundamental forces of the universe were unified as one force at the instant of the beginning of our universe--the beginning of time.

Though Spirit and cosmogenic forces are not completely interchangeable perspectives, both views are not mutually exclusive either. Thoughtful consideration of these different cultural ways of understanding our world reveals distinct similarities and surprising harmony. This module, and this entire course, will focus on the overlap or intersection between these two models of understanding our world and our place in it. In order to integrate Alaska Native ways of knowing with Western scientific ways, we will begin by exploring some of the cultural roles of traditional native knowledge in Alaska.

EXPLORE

Click on this Venn diagram adapted from Sidney Stephens' Handbook for Culturally Responsive Science Curriculum.

It's a useful illustration of many of the meaningful ways in which Traditional Native Knowledge and Western Science diverge as well as the common ground they share.

EXPLAIN

• What are some differences between traditional Native knowledge and Western science?
• Describe some of the common ground shared between these two world views.

EXTEND

• What are some educational implications or opportunities presented by applying both ways?
• What other resources may be useful in integrating both perspectives?

EVALUATE

• What are some of the values of knowing both ways?