Thoughts On Cajete

1
Thoughts On Cajete

• Lecture 9,10

2
The Anasazi Plate and Split Head

• The plate a 1000 year old artifact depicting
  relationship, a human figure and a sandhill crane
  as an integrated whole, designed as a positive/
  negative image, simplistic complexity
• Split Head a miserable little figure showing
  relationships out of balance, literally the
  relationship from oneself to oneself (half happy,
  half sad) and metaphorically to the world
• Indigenous education to create flowing, balanced
  psychological, cultural, ecological relationships

3
Truth and Human Superiority

• P.19 for truth is not a fixed point, but
  rather an ever-evolving point of balance,
  perpetually created and perpetually new.
• Is truth, therefore, not an absolute?
• Is truth the equivalent of knowledge?
• P.63 re eco-philosophy Human superiority is
  only an expression of the superiority of life
• P71 our human intelligence, a microcosm of the
  intelligence of the Earth and the Universe
• Is this, then, the human superiority?
• Submitted by Gail Miller

4
Biophelia The concept that humans have an
instinctual understanding of and the need for
affiliation which underlies the transfer of
knowledge from one generation to the next.
(Relationship oriented.)

• Food gathering Procurement and preparation is
  both function and ritual, as are vessels.
• Gardening Concept of stewardship that plants
  have individual and vital needs such as for rich
  soils, sunlight and water. Reciprocity of care.
• Architecture Buildings are reflections of the
  resources and the landscapes of the land.
  Artistic forms and technologies are a product of
  a long-negotiated relationship to the land and
  resources.

5
Similarities between western biological concepts
indigenous knowledge
We are all kernels in the same corn cob


6
The Creeping Bent Kentucky Blues by John
Monczunski http//www.nd.edu/ndmag/ I
convinced myself that my past lawn failures were
due to "bad attitude." In the old, laid-back
neighborhood I just didn't care, and there was no
peer pressure to make me mend my ways. On those
rare occasions when I did perform life-enhancing
activities for my lawn, like watering or
fertilizing, I was inconsistent and half-hearted,
and it showed. The turf knew I wasn't fully
committed to it, and so it wasn't committed to
me.
7

The technology of Native farming was only one
dimension of such practiced relationship. This
practiced relationship and responsibility to care
for food plants such as corn is related in the
following story of the Tuscorora Corn Spirit In
a time long past, the people of a village which
had become known for its plentiful corn harvests
became negligent of their compact with the Corn
Spirit. The people had become used to the
bountiful harvests and took corn for granted.
They neglected to weed their gardens, store their
seeds properly and give thanks to the Corn Spirit
for their gardenspage 131
8

In the intimate relationships with their
plants, Native people became sensitive to the
fact that each has its own energy. Coming to
know, or understanding the essence of a plant,
derives from intuition, feeling, and
relationship, and evolves over extensive
experience and participation with green nature.
Cajate -page 110
9
The Creeping Bent Kentucky Blues by John
Monczunski "Wutcha got here is a mixture," Doc
said. "See these funny, twisted blades? That's
bent grass. Likes to be mowed nice and short. But
this here is blue grass. You should keep it mowed
higher. What's right for one is wrong for
t'other." He assured me that it was this
incompatibility that doomed the lawn, certainly
nothing I did, said or thought. A transfusion of
blue grass seed, he said, would eventually
dominate the lawn and solve the problem. Since he
absolved my guilt, I wrote him a check for the
procedure.
10

Euro-American techniques vs. Native Permaculture
Europeans had customarily taken random handfuls
of wheat, rye, or barley seed from a sack and
strewn them upon the ground. This practice
resulted in a limited range of self-hybridized
grain types with little control possible over
genetic qualities. Indigenous farmers, who
planted corn kernels individually, learned that
persistent selections of seeds for particular
qualities enabled them to control the diversity
of their crops. -143
11
Humans are a Part of Nature and Use it in
Sustainable Ways

• Native peoples traditionally live a kind of
  communal environmental ethics.
• Stemmed from the broadest sense of kinship with
  all life.
• The ecology of Native communities- living and
  nurturing these relationships

12
Key Elements of the Ecology of the Community

• Environment- the frame of reality that formed the
  learning experience
• Guidance- All adults were teachers and mentors
• Kinship- Importance of family, responsibility,
  respect, and the foundations of relationship and
  kinship
• Diversity- Exposed to different people of all
  types within a close-nit community
• Special Status- All indigenous communities-
  children concerned to be special. Children have a
  direct connection to the spirits. Bringers of
  light and good fortune

• Ethical Models- Morals and ethics modeled by
  family and community
• Clear Roles- Everyone knew relationships with
  other people, nature and things of society
• Customs and Practices
• Recognition- Naming, rites of passage, etc
• Unique Ways of Learning- Recognized people learn
  in different ways
• Community Work- Interdependence associated with
  all major events and tasks
• Spirit- A sense of sacred permeated all aspects
  of Indigenous community

13
Humans are Seperate From Nature

• Western Science conflicts with Cajetes views of
  the Ecological Community
• Many ecologists see people as separate from the
  environment and use it at their disposal. And
  that people are generally bad for the
  environment.
• They cite examples of the Megafauna extinction in
  the Southwest, the killing of the Caribbean Coral
  Reefs for the basis of their theories.

14
Native Science Debate and Risk Society

• This knowledge debate ties into one of the major
  tenants of Risk Society Theory
• Peoples Trust in Western Science
• This debate creates a Lay Person Vs Western
  Scientist View on Native Science
• Western Science sees itself as the only way to
  know where as peoples lack of trust in science
  has led to seeking alternate ways of knowing
  about the environment.

15
Indigenous Education

• Path to becoming a person of knowledge
• Finding ones face, heart, foundation
  relationships
• Windows Mirrors opening a window on a culture
  and reflecting similar aspects back to you
  making the cultural bridge
• Success of indigenous education when the youth
  are happy, healthy whole in their culture

16
Pueblo Idea of Emergence

• Humans have evolved in various forms and shapes
• We have come through successions of worlds
• When we emerged we walked a sacred path guided by
  the 2 crowns
• Had to learn to survive in a new world
• We moved on the rainbow path and settled in many
  places

17
Reverence for Earths Gifts

• Greg Cajete said in his talk that the
  cultivation of corn is one of the first steps in
  the establishment of indigenous societies.
• Basic food, such as corn, is deified, ex Corn
  Mother.

18
The commonly used motif, of Corn Mother and her
Corn Children, two perfect ears of corn, each of
a different color yet related through common
ancestry, is another example of the metaphoric
way the intimate interconnections of plants,
humans, animals and all life are portrayed
through Pueblo pottery. -Native science, p.
114
19
Representations of Corn Mother
The Virgin of Guadalupe as Corn Mother
Cherokee Corn Mother
Hopi Corn Mother
20
Because all aspects of everyday life is
interrelated and therefore important, the vessels
to store and serve food is constructed with
ceremony. This sentiment, called right
relationship, also extends to the collection,
preparation, and eating of food and foodstuffs
from ones natural environment. -Native Science,
p. 114-115.
21
(No Transcript)
22
Metaphoric Mind vs Rational Mind

• Metaphoric Mind natural mind, relates to
  intuition
• Rational mind scientific rationalism, blocks
  the metaphoric mind

23

• Relationism reflects the Navajo Ke Philosophy
• Indigenous education IS environmental education
  (?)
• All curriculums should be rooted in a philosophy

24
Becoming a Person of Knowledge
Find

• Face (self knowledge)
• Heart (passionate spirit)
• Foundation (work that expresses heart and face)
• Relationship To -
• Self
• Family
• Tribe
• Place
• Cosmos

Goal To become complete as a person.
25
Translation Problems?

• Tah-vwoots vs Sun
• Medicinal Plants
• Matter is Alive
• Indigenous Classification

• Earths Axis
• Chemical Synthesis
• Emc2
• Carl Linnaeus

Is the problem one of translation? Just because
the same language isnt used to describe
phenomena doesnt imply that the phenomena isnt
being described. Is it science or folklore? Some
of the above scientific examples dont work as
well as originally thought (and dont reflect
common understandings). Does this discredit
science in the same way that indigenous knowledge
has been discredited?
26
My thoughts on Native Science are many, but one
thing has interested me on this subject The idea
of an "ecological person" (pg. 63) how that
would apply to western society. Cajete writes
that education should play a part in developing
this type of person, (based on the thoughts of
Skolimowski), someone who learns of values and
his/her place in nature. I know this idea is part
of native cultures, but I wonder how it would
work in our society. I can't help but think of
people who are given labels like "tree hugger."
In our society, it seems as if we regard this
idea of "finding face" as nice but unrealistic.
Our goals are always to look toward education as
teaching us a specialized trade so that we can go
into that field and make a living. Cajete's
writings also remind me of my undergrad
Humanities courses (Humanities was my major). In
my capstone class we discussed the idea of
education placing too much emphasis on
specialization. We agreed that it is good for
education to interdisciplinary, that students
say, studying medicine, should take an elective
in a class such as philosophy. They should learn
that studying for a specialized field is good,
but so is learning the philosophy of what it is
to be human (an idea that was harder for me to
define than I thought it would be). I find
"Native Science" to be very interesting. I can't
help but wonder what it would be like to grow up
in a culture that teaches me to use my senses in
order to communicate with nature.
27
Cajete lectures

• Cajete re-enforced the idea of relationism in
  his lecture and in Native Science it seems to be
  related to the concept of Native spirituality.
• Are they the same thing?