Traditional Knowledge

ENGAGE
Traditional Native Knowledge
The Native understanding of Spirit understood from a western point of view encompasses the known universe and world. Spirit is essence. A tree has a spirit because it is part of what has been created, and a rock has a spirit for the same reason.
Inua is the inner spirit of living beings. We breathe and have life so we have an Inua – a soul spirit. Sila, to my understanding, encompasses the Inua, (inner spirit), but expands it to the forces like wind, air, the cosmos. Sila is like a God force – all over at the same time, moving and intelligent.

EXPLORE
In People of the Arctic it is very obvious how tied to the land the people are in their total being.
ENGAGE
Traditional Native knowledge systems differ from Western science knowledge systems primarily in the approach they each take to looking at the world. One is holistic and the other is part to whole. The values of the Native knowledge system are to respect the entire whole, while the Western value system is to know the whole.  They compliment each other by striving to understand problems through observation, gathering of information, and predicting outcomes based upon the data gathered.

Alaska Native Science Commission
EXPLAIN

    Native knowledge systems help western science understand local environments while western science helps Native people understand the long-term effects that may be caused by environments far away from theirs.
EXTEND

 ANSC and AFN perspectives help inform me by highlighting the major concerns of Native people and environments. They not only inform of issues, but also accentuate the proper protocol of how outsiders might “properly” come into an area and conduct an investigation.

EVALUATE
I personally do not see how Native people can be left out of science at any level. The Aleut people had very sophisticated knowledge of the human body, and all Native tribes knew the plants of their area and how to use them. Their stories have been handed down so there is longevity showing how the environment or the people have changed over time. One science would be deficient without the other.