Extract

As already noted, until quite recently, the implications of Indigenous knowledges and philoso-phies for schooling and education in Euro-American contexts have lar gely been ignored or under-explored. Yet such knowledges have important educative value for learners. Therefore, how can we read such knowledges politically, practically and pedagogically to envision new and differ- ent forms of schooling and education for youth? What are the lessons Indigenous knowledges can offer for transforming our current school systems? Is there a link between Indigenous knowledge and science education? How can we conceptualize Indigenous Knowledge as Indigenous Science for teaching about science, health, culture, arts and technology? What contributions can local cul- tural resource knowledge bring to re-visioning genuine educational options for youth? And, what are the pedagogic, instructional and communicative relevance of Indigenous philosophies, includ- ing story forms, oral and communicative practices? These are some of the tough questions that this section addresses. We do not presume to have any easy answers to these questions. What we do know is that there is an urgency for an intellectual politics of disengaging from a colonial educational lega- cy. The colonial paradigm of the production, interrogation, validation and dissemination of knowl- edge needs to be replaced. The focus on Indigenous knowledge has a politics that envisions a system of education in Indigenous traditions and philosophies at par with mainstream education. Indigenous perspectives are founded upon and express thoughts about the ways of life, traditions and cultures of local peoples. All learners can, and do, benefit from...