Knowledge is a set of beliefs, values and practices. It encompasses different meaning and things for different people, and it these clashes of definition that divides the Western construct of knowledge from the Indigenous construct.
I believe that in the Western construct, knowledge is based on hypothesis and solution. It is through scientific fact that something has to be proved. Whereas Indigenous knowledge involves the past, present and future and it involves traditional ecological knowledge that is defined as “a body of knowledge built up by a group of people through generations of living in close contact with nature,” and it is “both cumulative and dynamic building upon the experience of earlier generations and adapting to the new technological and socioeconomic changes of the present.”
Indigenous Knowledge involves knowing your roots, where you come from and it innately tells Indigenous people how to live in a good way or what is called the good life-piimaatsiwin. It is through living the good life that we learn to respect what surrounds us, and this is where I believe the phrase “Kanoohke Weta Kaa Onciyan” (Remember Where You Come From) comes in.
When we remember where we come from, and what our roots are, I believe that is when we have truly come home.
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