(Image above: Artwork depicting Ojibwe cosmology.
CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2851171)
by Grace Bischof
On September 30th of this year, Canada held its first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. This day serves to honour Survivors and those who lost their lives at residential schools, as well as their families and communities. It is essential to continue along the path of reconciliation, including acknowledgement of the ongoing trauma that residential schools cause on the Indigenous community. One aspect of the healing process is for those of us who are not Indigenous to learn about, and truly appreciate, Indigenous culture.
As astronomy enthusiasts here at PVL, I thought this would be a good opportunity to reflect on astronomy within Indigenous culture and to take a look at the universe from outside the typical European-centered lens. I will provide links to this information below, as well as YouTube videos by Indigenous people, as it is important to hear this information from Indigenous people themselves.
Many Indigenous cultures used the sky for both practical and spiritual purposes. The movement of celestial objects were used for time-keeping and navigation. Patterns were found amongst constellations and Sky Stories were developed from these patterns, often used as a way to ponder our place in the universe. In Anishinaabe culture, they refer to themselves as star people because of the belief of a cyclical life – humans come from the stars and will go back to them when passing on to the spirit world. Sandra Laronde, who is Teme-Augama-Anishinaabe, created a dance to capture this idea. The dance opens with Sky Woman, an important figure in Anishinaabe mythology, coming through a hole in the sky and bringing the gifts of life.
Hilding Neilson is Mi’kmaw and a professor at the University of Toronto in the department of astronomy and astrophysics. Neilson incorporates Indigenous astronomy into his teaching because current astronomy curriculum ignores the knowledge acquired by Indigenous people. He uses “Two-Eyed Seeing”, which integrates both Western science and Indigenous teaching, resulting in a fuller understanding of astronomy. Neilson also reflects on current-day astro-colonialism. Large telescopes are built on Indigenous territories and their use comes with many ethical dilemmas. Neilson says, “In the end, it's just a matter of, we have to respect Indigenous rights first and worry about thirty meter telescopes later."
Wilfred Buck, known as “the star guy”, is a member of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation. Buck is an Indigenous star lore expert, working as a science facilitator at the Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre. Similar to Hilding Neilson, Wilfred Buck emphasizes the importance of teaching the Indigenous perspective in astronomy. For example, the Cree name for the Northern Star is Keewatin (‘Going Home Star’) or Ekakatchet Atchakos (‘stands Still’). Having this perspective when teaching astronomy both educates and allows Indigenous children to connect to their cultural roots. Buck acknowledges that topics such as cosmology and quantum physics were reflected on by Indigenous people, emphasizing the complex understanding First Nations people had about the night sky. Buck now travels to schools, equipped with a planetarium dome, to share this knowledge with others.
Linked below are the articles which provided the information for this blog post
Articles:
Indigenous skies: https://science.ucalgary.ca/rothney-observatory/community/first-nations-skylore
Sandra Laronde: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/unreserved/we-come-from-the-stars-indigenous-astronomy-astronauts-and-star-stories-1.5861762/we-call-ourselves-the-star-people-trace-explores-anishinaabe-star-story-through-dance-1.5864935
Hilding Neilson: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/unreserved/we-come-from-the-stars-indigenous-astronomy-astronauts-and-star-stories-1.5861762/indigenous-astronomies-and-astro-colonialism-1.5865387
Wilfred Buck: https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/indigenous-astronomy-1.5077070
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/unreserved/from-star-wars-to-stargazing-1.3402216/cree-mythology-written-in-the-stars-1.3402227
Videos:
A video by Wilfred Buck explaining the Story of the Northern Lights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd18NxiH_BQ
Hilding Neilson on Indigenous perspectives in astronomy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gjj3UZc7GBc
Resources:
https://www.nativeskywatchers.com/
