Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science

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INDIGENOUS PEOPLES HEALTH RESEARCH CENTRE
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ETHICAL SPACE
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What is Ethical Space?
Roger Pooles Term
The elusive area between entities
A Space we previously thought was empty
Unseen, unspoken, undercurrent
Unstated Knowledge
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Ethicsis about human boundaries
Boundaries imposed by self
Boundaries imposed by family
Boundaries imposed by cultural imperatives such
as religion, community ethos
Boundaries imposed by collective principles
such as knowledge, law
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Broad Historic Overview

• Two Worlds circa 1492

• Engaged Fur trade

• Disengaged rupture of fur trade

• Engaged treaty negotiations

• Disengaged breach of treaty

• Engaged forced engagement

• Entangled - need to Disengage

• Re-engage futuristic - in ethical manner

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Ethical Space ...
IYSI NI KAT TU WIN How we treat each other
as human beings
The unseen, mysterious, animating force in each
of us
It is about our spirit, our mind, our heart, our
humanity
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IT IS ABOUT OUR
HUMANITY
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Western World
Indigenous World
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Undercurrent
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WHAT IS THE UNDERCURRENT?
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The Undercurrent

• An Established Consciousness

• Western mind (history, thought, values)
• (Seeks universality, mono-culture)

• A model of society / presented as the norm

• Advanced by its centers of authority, State
• apparatus

• Contains Indigenous Peoples Image

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Engagement
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Human Communities
Western Society
Indigenous Society
Ethical Space
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INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE
Kiskêyitamôhwin
Kiskey
êyi
tam
ôh
win
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KNOWLEDGE
HAS TO INFORM THE HEART
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Indigenous Experience

• Indigenous Peoples reality

• Oral histories

• Values, rights, morals

• Knowledge system / tradition

• Worldview, philosophies

• Ethos

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INDIGENOUS THOUGHT
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INTEGRITY
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DIALOGUE
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RECONCILE
Holistic Worldview / Physical Worldview
Indigenous Science / Western Science
Oral tradition / Writing tradition
Collective Organisms / Fragmentation
Natural Contexts / Artificial Contexts
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A Dialogue...
Presentation on climate change from the western
science perspective
Elders provided the experience the heart and
soul of living on the land
What emerged was the human face of climate change
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(No Transcript)
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L.H.C.
Large Hadron Collider
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WHAT IS HEALTH?
MIYOMACIHOWIN
MIYO
MACI
HO
WIN
MA
CI
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THE HUMAN
The Ethos The Enfolded Being
The Narrative, The History, The reality
The Memory Work
Who are you?
What is your gift to the world
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SHIFTING SPACES
Administrative Space
Teacher Education
Mind / Consciousness
Apparatus / work force
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OSKAPIWIS

• A servant, (functionary, operative, mover and
  shaker, butler)

• Specialized training and knowledge often from
  birth

• Serves the ethos of the community, the organism

• Anticipates and acts for the ethos, the community
  organism

• Privileged in ceremonial and community function

• Ordained by the community

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Ethical Space

• Affirm the space

• Outside the box Create new thought

• Work as Catalyst to Develop Humanity

• Vulnerability

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Indigenous Gaze
Remembers
A mirror
Measure of Society
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ITS ABOUT OUR HUMANITY
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EKOSI
wermine_at_firstnationsuniversity.ca