ASK YOUR RELATIVE QUESTIONS

Hi I’m not Native but I want to start an ecovillage and I want to learn the ways natives have lived with nature. The farming, the building, the hunting, the cooking, everything lifestyle so I can live the best way possible

Hey there!

There are some good writings on Traditional Ecological Knowledge, I particularly like the works of Raymond Pierotti and Daniel Wildcat, especially Red Alert!.. There is another Indigenous Devon Pena, who works around Indigenous food sovereignty. I would suggest you reach out respectfully to the Indigenous people in is area, because they would have the best knowledge of living with the land you are living in.

Decolonizing Methodologies by Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Custer Died for Your Sins by Vine Deloria, and For Indigenous Eyes Only edited by Waziyatawin and Michael Yellow Bird are all books that will provide the lens and foundation to view other resources.

Also, As Long as Grass Grows by Dina Gilio-Whitaker is good from what I hear. I haven’t read it yet, but it’s on my list. Other resources are Native Science: Natural Laws of Interdependence by Gregory Cajete, A Yupiaq Worldview: A Pathway to Ecology and Spirit by Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley, Paradigm Wars: Indigenous Peoples’ Resistance to Globalization edited by Jerry Mander and Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, and Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscapes and Language Among the Western Apache by Keith Basso.

I hope these are helpful. Again, I would highly stress they read Smith and Deloria’s work first, and For Indigenous Eyes Only.

Lastly, one more resource: History Through a Native Lens

Best of luck!

Auntie Manda

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Topics: Education|Identity|Non-Native Allies
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