Recognizing indigenous knowledge in the academy is meant to start another dialogue that can lead to new insights and understandings. It is not meant to replace knowledge and methodologies which come to us through a western path of reason, logic and inquiry. It is meant to add to it.
Why would we ignore the accumulated knowledge of peoples who have learned to survive in difficult environments? Indigenous knowledge is built on a foundation of a close observation of nature and patterns over centuries. This gives it an empirical base but it does not make any claims about universality. Spirituality, in an indigenous sense, enhances understanding rather than limits it.
CAUT’s policy statement on equity states: “Diverse substantive contributions to knowledge must be welcomed in the university or college. Diversity demands representation of difference in terms of vision, values, cultural mores, methodologies and epistemologies in critical analysis.”
CAUT’s role is not to question the merits of any particular body of knowledge; its commitment is to ensure that we are always creating the space within the academy for it and its supporters to exist. Comments like those expressed by Professor Klatt only serve to underscore just how much work we still have to do.
Wayne Peters
President, CAUT