Although it is well established that psychotherapy is remarkably effective, the change process in psychotherapy is not well understood. Psychotherapy is compared with medicine and cultural healing practices to argue that critical aspects of psychotherapy involve human processes that are used in religious, spiritual, and cultural healing practices.…

The importance of traditional healing practices for First Nations people has created interest in traditional ceremonies, including sweat lodges, which are increasingly incorporated into programs serving Aboriginal people. Despite the fact that traditional healing practices have always been valued by Aboriginal people, there is virtually no…

This research focuses on two elements of contemporary American Indian natural resource management. First, the authors explore the capacity of tribes to manage natural resources, including the merging of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) with Western science. Second, they analyze tribal management in the context of local and regional…

This paper draws upon a case study of education in the small Caribbean state of Saint Lucia (population 154,000) to examine how local knowledge and values can influence the education policy process. It is argued that recent research development initiatives have strengthened the ability of Saint Lucia to mediate international education agendas to…

This study addresses ways Khmer refugee elders utilize traditional herbal medicine with Western biomedicine in the treatment and prevention of illnesses. Methods include semi-structured and informal interviews with elders and family members, semi-structured interviews with local health care providers and Khmer physicians, and participant…

English has become the dominant global language of communication, business, aviation, entertainment, diplomacy and the internet. Governments as well as some scholars appear to be accepting such a spread of English uncritically. However, we argue that the increasing dominance of the English language is contributing to neocolonialism by empowering…

Cultural differences in perceptions of individuality, collectivism, reality, place, time, space, mass, relationships of order, causality, and the metaphysical may explain why mainstream society has not recognized American Indians as geniuses or intellectuals. Some past and present Native geniuses are profiled. Perhaps Indian people should give…

Empiricism is culturally defined in that culture shapes sensory knowledge. Hawaiians recognize senses beyond the five that Western culture recognizes. Hawaiians are not unempirical; they draw conclusions of their own from their empirical experiences. It is time to validate other ways of knowing, long suppressed in the U.S. educational system. (TD)

This article sets out to discuss the impact that urban living has had on the lives of young Indigenous people. It will seek to discover some of the problems that occur when there is a meeting of two cultures, in this case the Indigenous culture of Australian Aboriginal people and the mainstream culture that has been derived largely from west…

A growing body of empirical data suggests that there may be a true psychological distinction between academic and practical intelligence. If there is, then conventional ability tests used alone may reveal substantially less than we want to know about people's competence in everyday practical situations. Evidence to this effect is reviewed from…

Central American health beliefs and practices are largely influenced by religious and indigenous worldviews. Study assesses the use of ethnomedical approaches and the illnesses for which these approaches are used among 76 Central Americans. Results indicate the importance of understanding and integrating cultural and spiritual influences on…

Despite the multi-categorical concept of giftedness having widespread acceptance throughout the world, cultural giftedness does not appear to be widely recognised or provided for. This paper examines what cultural giftedness means for Maori (the indigenous people of New Zealand) and describes how a culturally responsive learning environment can…

Utilising Nakata's (2007) description of the "cultural interface", two Indigenous researchers and one non-Indigenous researcher examine their development of Indigenous research in and with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities conducted from within an institution of higher education. The authors reflect on their experiences in…

This article presents steps taken by Penn State's Interinstitutional Consortium for Indigenous Knowledge (ICIK) to engage communities and transform the academy. ICIK provides opportunities for faculty, staff, and students to network with others who share a vision of the academy as a place where multiple ways of knowing are valued and respected.…

Examines the tradition/Westernization debate against the background of India's exposure to Western ideas through its higher education system. Proposes a shift from a centralized, bureaucratic educational-administration model to a managerial- professional model that synthesizes Western and indigenous perspectives. Self-knowledge and responsiveness…