Colonial Education and Traditional Knowledge

Colonial residential schools aimed to change how Indigenous peoples understood, used, and valued land. Indigenous students were taught that land was property and colonial education naturalized the dominion of men over nature and other living beings. This theme examines this attempt to fundamentally alter Indigenous perceptions and relationships and asks how people managed this collision between TEK and the colonial education in relation to land and other species and how it impacted students and their families.

This theme will compare boarding school experiences in Michigan, Finland, and Sweden in the 20 century, and specifically focus on science teaching and vocational training that shape students’ relationship to the environment. It includes Doran’s dissertation work centering on the role that colonialist rhetoric and practice assumed within the schools and explores ways in which Indigenous students and parents struggled to preserve individual traditions, and how these experiences affected their communities through generations. Sources include oral and written reminiscences, letters, syllabi, and lesson plans. Team leaders: Lahti & Fur.

Photo credit: Gunlög Fur