PS 21-34 - Fusing Indigenous and Western knowledge systems in the tide of global change

Abstract: Background/Questions/

Methods: Indigenous people and their communities are disproportionately impacted by Anthropogenic global change, while their wisdom provides valuable insights into the causes, consequences and remedies, and their voices often go unheard. Contemporary Western science is often heralded as a solution to global change threats, while the complementarity of science and Indigenous Knowledge (IK) is often overlooked and misunderstood. To address these challenges, our team leveraged a small grant from the Way Forward/Bringing Theory to Practice foundation to bring together multiple Wabanaki Indigenous cultural knowledge keepers, young environmental advocates, and a contemporary Western science scholar to co-create and deliver six webinars exploring the intersectionality of IK, contemporary Western science, and environmental advocacy/activism. The sessions emphasized six distinct yet interconnected themes: fusion of science and IK, community-based science, emergent pathogens, toxic environments, climate change, and culturally-responsive mentoring. After each session, participants were offered a voluntary survey through which they self-reported how that session impacted their awareness of how global change affects ecosystems and Indigenous communities, willingness to support Indigenous communities, comfort applying the principles of respect, reciprocity and responsibility to their interactions with Indigenous peoples, awareness of and interest in translational science professions, and formation of new social connections.

Results/

Conclusions: We successfully brought together multiple Wabanaki Indigenous cultural knowledge keepers and young environmental advocates representing three different organizations to co-create and deliver six webinars—four fully online and two in hybrid format (offered online and in-person). A voluntary survey offered after each session revealed increases in participants’ self-reported awareness of how global change impacts Indigenous communities, increased comfort applying the principles of respect, reciprocity and responsibility to building relationships with Indigenous communities, increased willingness to engage in activism on behalf of Indigenous communities and environmental issues, and formation of new social connections. Despite receiving predominantly positive feedback and advertising channels that collectively reached >1000 people per session, attendance was low (< 25 people per session) and disproportionately represented people with higher levels of education (50% had at least some college). Broadly, these findings suggest that programming that explores the intersectionality of IK, youth activism, and contemporary Western science has strong potential to 1) build diverse and strategic alliances for environmental action, 2) foster cultural awareness and empathy and 3) educate the public about the impacts and strategies for addressing global change effects on diverse communities. Innovative strategies are needed to broaden participation and thereby amplify the impacts of such programming.