Indigenous Peoples as Scientists

Learning Outcomes

• Describe the goals and activities of Indigenous science and society by learning from SING Canada as a case study and considering how situatedness and mentorship are present in the research.
• Learn principles for decolonizing STEM, attracting Indigenous people to STEM fields, and how capacities are built in non-Indigenous institutions to support Indigenous expertise and sovereignty.
• Explain how Indigenous ways of knowing respectfully accommodate non-human entities and how relational frameworks and relationship-building are decolonial methods.
• Delve into Indigenous concepts, such as mana, wahkohtowin and wakȟáŋ to understand principles that can be applied to artificial intelligence.
• Gain introductory exposure to Indigenous astronomy, looking at knowledge about the stars and the universe.
• Explain community and living individual memories that Indigenous people have related to epidemics/pandemics, immunizations, and experimentation.
• Identify some of the political elements of Indigenous medical care delivery, deconstruct narratives of benevolence, and explain the connection to nation-state building through settler colonial control.

Course / Module Outline

• Becoming Scientists
• Indigenous AI - Making Relations Between Humans, Nonhumans, and Multiple Knowledges
• Towards Indigenous Science, Technology and Society
• Indigenous Peoples and Pandemics