Paradox and Dialectic in Cultural Knowledge Systems

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles W. Nuckolls
Keyword(s):  
South India ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Kinship System

This chapter explores the Kantian antinomies and the knowledge systems that develop out of them, then turns to antinomies that are not rationally construed, but embedded in cultural knowledge systems, like kinship. The example given is the case of the kinship system of south India, which pits different modes of solidarity against each other while insisting that both should exist as ends toward which the system should progress. The result is an analysis of antinomies as robust and powerful creators of knowledge systems by showing that knowledge systems are deeply paradoxical, and develop as dialectical structures in pursuit of resolutions that can never be achieved.

Te Waka Oranga: An Indigenous Intervention for Working with Māori Children and Adolescents with Traumatic Brain Injury

2013 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 415-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hinemoa Elder
Keyword(s):  
Traumatic Brain Injury ◽  
Brain Injury ◽  
Extended Family ◽  
Child And Adolescent ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
Kaupapa Māori

Background: Application of salient cultural knowledge held by families following child and adolescent traumatic brain injury (TBI) has yet to be documented in the literature. While the importance of the family is a well-established determinant of enhanced outcomes in child and adolescent TBI, the emphasis to date has been on the leading role of professional knowledge. The role of whānau (extended family) is recognised as an essential aspect of hauora (wellbeing) for Māori, who are overrepresented in TBI populations. However, whānau knowledge systems as a potent resource for enhancing recovery outcomes have not previously been explored. This paper describes the development of an indigenous intervention, Te Waka Oranga.Method: Rangahau Kaupapa Māori (Māori determined research methods) theory building was used to develop a TBI intervention for working with Māori. The intervention emerged from the findings and analysis of data from 18 wānanga (culturally determined fora) held on rural, remote and urban marae (traditional meeting houses).Results: The intervention framework, called Te Waka Oranga, describes a process akin to teams of paddlers working together to move a waka (canoe, vessel) in a desired direction of recovery. This activity occurs within a Māori defined space, enabling both world views, that of the whānau and the clinical world, to work together. Whānau knowledge therefore has a vital role alongside clinical knowledge in maximising outcomes in mokopuna (infants, children, adolescents and young adults) with TBI.Conclusion: Te Waka Oranga provides for the equal participation of two knowledge systems, that of whānau and of clinical staff in their work in the context of mokopuna TBI. This framework challenges the existing paradigm of the role of families in child and adolescent TBI rehabilitation by highlighting the essential role of cultural knowledge and practices held within culturally determined groups. Further research is needed to test the intervention.

Creating Digital Heritage Content

2011 ◽  
pp. 139-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith van der Elst ◽  
Heather Richards-Rissetto ◽  
Jorge Garcia
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Transfer ◽  
Knowledge Exchange ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Digital Content ◽  
Cultural Perspectives ◽  
Digital Heritage ◽  
Educational Framework ◽  
Different Levels

In this chapter, the authors focus their attention on an often overlooked aspect of digital heritage content, namely by whom how, and with what purpose such content is created. The authors evaluate digital materials that are anthropological and archaeological in nature, both digitized archives and newly created materials. In their work and efforts to understand and represent different cultural perspectives, they have encountered differences in cultural knowledge systems that have shown the need for cross-cultural consultation and communication as an essential first step in the creation of digital content for new systems of representation and knowledge transfer. Their efforts focus on developing a new educational framework that allows for knowledge exchange at different levels and between different entities, challenging the perpetuating hierarchical relationships between community and experts.

Flexibility and change in distributed cognitive systems

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 315-345
Author(s):  
David B. Kronenfeld
Keyword(s):  
Social Groups ◽  
Cultural Models ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Conceptual Systems ◽  
Knowledge Culture ◽  
Modes Of Thought ◽  
Pragmatic Knowledge ◽  
Practical Implications

An overview of one anthropological view of culture, including how it works and what it buys us, takes culture as a set of collective — differentially distributed — cognitive structures. Pragmatics is distinguished from semantics, and shown to seamlessly extend to non-linguistic knowledge. “Culture” is (flexibly and variably applied) shared differentially distributed pragmatic knowledge. Next come the role culture plays in regard to society and social living, and the role social groups play in culture. Our social universe is shown to be made up of a multiplicity of overlapping social groups. Prototype-extension is offered as the basis of the application of shared concepts to the experienced and imagined world. Types of cultural knowledge systems include: cultural modes of thought, cultural conceptual systems, and cultural models of action. The paper concludes with the approach’s practical implications for analysis, including two concrete examples: Old and Middle English watercourses, and alternative Fanti kinship terminological systems.

scholarly journals Curriculum Change and Self-Governing Agreements: A Yukon First Nation Case Study

2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Ellis Lewthwaite ◽  
Thomas Owen ◽  
Ashley Doiron
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Curriculum Change ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Yukon Territory ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
First Nation ◽  
Case Study Methodology ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Study Methodology

Recent developments in Canada’s Yukon Territory draw attention to how political changes have potential for accelerating practices in education that are responsive to Indigenous Peoples’ cultural knowledge systems and practices. In this study, through the use of case study methodology, an account of the changes that have occurred in one First Nation are presented. Further, the study seeks to identify the processes influencing the development. Finally, tensions at the classroom, school, and community levels arising from these changes and anticipated changes are described.

Imaginary passports or the wealth of obligations: seeking the limits of adoption into indigenous societies

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 326-332
Author(s):  
Darcy Lindberg
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Personal Gain ◽  
Thin Line ◽  
Kinship Relations ◽  
Indigenous Society

Adoption into an Indigenous society can be thick with obligations and relations if the adoptee understands they are entering into a legal order that organizes and regulates their new kinship relations. Implicit within these kinship orders are limits to what inclusion into an Indigenous society provides. Conversely, adoption can be used as a thin line of extraction, aiming at social capital within Indigenous communities. Adoptions void of an understanding of the legal order they should be accountable to, may be used in a way that circumvents obligations towards Indigenous stories, knowledge systems, and law, and to continue to prop up the modes of extraction of Indigenous cultural knowledge. A turn towards Indigenous laws and legal orders provide an accountability against those who may use adoption into an Indigenous society as a means for extractive, unreciprocated, personal gain.

scholarly journals “The Land Nurtures Our Spirit”: Understanding the Role of the Land in Labrador Innu Wellbeing

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 5102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonor Mercedes Ward ◽  
Mary Janet Hill ◽  
Nikashant Antane ◽  
Samia Chreim ◽  
Anita Olsen Harper ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Newfoundland And Labrador ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
First Nation ◽  
Community Learning ◽  
Policies And Programs ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Indigenous Land

We examined Indigenous views of wellbeing, aiming to understand how the Labrador Innu view influence of land on their health. The Innu live in two First Nation communities (Sheshatshiu and Natuashish) in the subarctic portion of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Their views on land and wellbeing are context specific and have not been studied; our research addresses this significant gap in literature. Findings highlight that the experience of being on the land with family and community, learning cultural knowledge, and gaining a sense of identity play a major role in enhancing wellbeing. Externally imposed policies and programs conceiving Indigenous land as a physical place only fail to understand that land sustains wellbeing by emplacing knowledge systems and cultural identity.

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