Western science studies the natural world by discipline: geology, botany, physics, astronomy, chemistry, zoology. ... Native American wisdom looks at the world as a whole, with humans as part of the picture.
“Elders teach by showing, telling stories,” said Sarah Cuch, a member of the Northern Ute Indian Tribe who is a guide at the Southern Ute Indian Montessori Academy. “An elk brushed against that tree, so we know he’ll be back in a couple of days. It’s a female tree and released a yellow pollen that will attract the lady deer. We’ll be here in a couple of days to hunt.”
The Powerhouse Science Center is one of three science museums in the country, along with the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, to participate in Native Universe, whose goal is to build bridges between the two diverse approaches to understanding our world, particularly in evaluating and dealing with climate change. It is the successor to a previous four-year project, Cosmic Serpent, that began the collaborative process.
“This is so beneficial to us,” said Sarah Margoles, director of education at the Powerhouse. “We serve such a diverse community with so many Native American neighbors. How can we say we serve the whole Four Corners region when we only use this one specific way of learning, this one specific way of teaching, which is from the perspective of Western science?”
During the past week, researchers and representatives from 10 tribes – Southern Ute, Navajo, Ute Mountain Ute, Cherokee, Laguna and Zuni pueblos, Jicarilla Apache, Northern Ute, Osage and Tohono O’odham – and six states have been in Durango as part of the four-year project. The Boiler Room at the Powerhouse was full of scientists with doctorates, tribal elders and, in many cases, people who were both.
Why bring Native American traditions into a science museum?
“They’re the best observers on the planet,” said Chris Cable, executive director of the Powerhouse. “Their information is deserving to be told, and we need to celebrate and experience both world views.”
In these days of climate change, the collaboration may be more important than ever, said co-principal investigator Laura Peticolas, professor and director of the University of California, Berkeley Multiverse (formerly the Center for Science Education).
“We want to trade knowledge to solve important biological and ecological problems,” she said, “because issues of sustainability are pervasive to both. They’ve been observing for thousands of years, but haven’t had a voice in mainstream Western science.”
The project is led by astrophysicist Nancy Maryboy, president of the Indigenous Education Institute, with Peticolas and David Begay serving as co-principal investigators. Begay, also an astrophysicist, is a professor at Northern Arizona University. The National Science Foundation and NASA have both awarded grants to the project, which also has the goal of creating better access to science, technology, engineering and mathematics for indigenous students and exploring new ways of understanding Earth and the universe in museum settings.
Learning from the neighbors
“We’ve been working with the Southern Utes for almost five years, teaching at their Montessori school,” Cable said. “Now we want to reach out to the Ute Mountain Utes, the Navajo, the Jicarilla Apache. But first we need to understand them better.”
For the staff at the Powerhouse, one of the challenges is teaching effectively, creating a cross-cultural experience for the students. Larry Emerson, author, activist and visiting professor at San Diego State University, said to approach it through connectedness.
“The earth is your mom, the sky is your dad,” he said about how his tribe, the Diné (or Navajo) teach their children. “The wind, plants, animals are your family, your brothers and sisters and aunties and grandparents. Rain is sacred.”
That perspective is important for the educators at the Powerhouse.
“Native voices bring an appreciation and respect for the natural world,” Margoles said. “Strengthening our partnerships will make us better teachers, better scientists and better citizens of our community.”
An education for Western scientists
Among the topics discussed this week were: Imagine Mars through Native Eyes; Western and Indigenous Food Movement, Restoring Traditional Foods, Farming and Climate Change; Mining and its Effects on Natural Resources – a close look at Pollution and Public Health; and Adapting to Climate Change – Guidance from the Past.
Shelly Valdez, president of Native Pathways and the evaluator for Native Universe, said she’s had to learn a whole new way of analyzing and presenting the results of the project, and the National Science Foundation has had to learn a more qualitative way of determining if grant parameters have been met.
“It’s an ongoing, open-ended, reflective process,” Valdez said. “Very organic, very holistic. It doesn’t fit into the tiny boxes in the NASA and NSF forms.”
The narrative, though, may tell as compelling a story as any graph or chart.
“We take away the cultural part, then talk about the science,” Begay said. “The Imiloa of Hawaii are recreating trips their ancestors took, traveling 2,000 miles in a canoe with no GPS, just using the stars, currents, waves, plants and birds.”
abutler@durangoherald.com
