ERIC Number: EJ683405
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2004
Pages: 19
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0095-182X
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
The Community within the Child: Integration of Indigenous Knowledge into First Nations Childcare Process and Practice
Ball, Jessica; Simpkins, Maureen
American Indian Quarterly, v28 n3-4 p480-498 Sum & Fall 2004
What does Indigenous knowledge mean in the evolving contexts of First Nations communities? How do Indigenous processes of knowing in both a traditional and modern sense become integrated into early childhood care and development programs? How does the incorporation of Indigenous knowledge in community programs such as childcare impact cultural identities at the level of individual members and the community as a whole? These questions were asked as part of a research study undertaken with twenty-seven First Nations early childhood development (ECD) graduates and thirty-one childcare administrators, parents, and community Elders from three diverse groups of communities in British Columbia (BC), Canada. This article describes the research and highlights some of the approaches taken by First Nations community members to understand and work with Indigenous knowledge in community program development. Two university researchers traveled to each of the three groups of First Nations communities in rural areas of BC. Together they conducted free-flowing, conversational interviews with individuals and groups and also observed activities and materials in the childcare program operated by the participating First Nations. The interviews predominantly consisted of listening to accounts of how the interviewees saw culture as part of their own process and practice with young children. The incorporation of Indigenous knowledge is less about finding "the truth" or getting "the facts" and more about asking or discussing ideas about truth and cultural facts, how they are constructed in the first place, and how they continue to be deconstructed, reconstructed, and applied. (Contains 40 endnotes.)
Descriptors: Indigenous Knowledge, Indigenous Populations, Early Childhood Education, Foreign Countries, Canada Natives, American Indians, Cultural Education, Research Methodology, Child Care, Interviews, Cultural Influences
University of Nebraska Press. 1111 Lincoln Mall, Lincoln, NE 68588-0630. Tel: 800-755-1105; Fax: 800-526-2617; e-mail: presswebmail@unl.edu; Web site: http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/catalog/categoryinfo.aspx?cid=163
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A