Indigenous ambassadors of the nuclear system fail to walk it back to Creation Without any doubt the nuclear industry is blasphemy to the Sacred Pipe Without any doubt the nuclear industry is blasphemy to the Four Sacred Elements: Water, Rock, Wind, Fire Without any doubt the nuclear industry is blasphemy to the Four Orders of Creation: the Four Sacred Elements, the Plant and Tree Nations, the Animal Nations, Human beings It is within our human metaphysical belief systems where our very beliefs of morality are embodied Once embodied through teachings, ritual, and ceremony the purpose of the metaphysical moral system remains intact and anchored in its place where subsequently when humans create new inventions they then walk them back to the knowledge inherent Without any doubt the nuclear industry is blasphemy to all the Anishinaabeg: stand for sing for dance for pray for Don’t be a failed human being Walk it back to Creation and reason (mind) Walk it back to Creation and feel (heart) Debwewin AuthorLynn is an author, advocate, artist, and public speaker. Her work encompasses both anti-colonial work and the celebration of Indigenous knowledge. She challenges Canada’s practices, policies, and laws of colonial genocide such as the land claims and self-government process, sex-discrimination in the Indian Act, the continued destruction of Akikpautik / Chaudière Falls–an Anishinaabeg sacred place, and Canada’s lack of policy addressing Indigenous women and girls with disabilities who are bigger targets of sexual violence.
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9/12/2022 0 Comments Cultural Appropriation DetectorKnow your rights! Since the arrival of the new comers to Turtle Island, explorers, cartographers, botanists, lumber men, trappers, linguists, anthropologists, and sociologists have appropriated Indigenous knowledge for their own interests without regard for the wellness of Indigenous people or the Land. Unfortunately, the appropriation of Indigenous knowledge continues to this day. Prime ministers, corporations, journalists, academics, and many Canadians continue to think the Indigenous mind and our knowledge systems are an entity they can mine, take from, and modify to their liking without requesting permission, or offering respect and remuneration to Indigenous Nations and people. In this way colonization continues. That said, there is a relationship between intellectual property, copyright, fair dealing, plagiarism, and cultural appropriation. Here are some detection tools that will prove useful in identifying it. First though, a disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. It is important that you do your own research, your own critical thinking, and hire a lawyer if required. . . . Read my biographical note: www.lynngehl.com/biographical-note.html
Contact me, subscribe to my blog, and/or my newsletter: www.lynngehl.com/contact.html 3/15/2018 4 Comments Angry Bitches Unite!Settler people must stop judging Indigenous women in petty and dismissive ways such as nasty name calling. Recently, I had a few experiences that were really telling of questionable settler thinking and a sure indication that they remain unaware and ignorant of the legitimate manifestations of structural oppression and how best to address it. One individual called me “needy”, another called an Anishinaabe women “a wimp” and further “too angry”. There is so much I could say that is wrong about settler people name calling, regardless I will remain with offering a bulleted point list as I am sure I can make my position succinctly.
If you lack the intellectual ability to understand Indigenous women and ALL the knowledge we have, have the intelligence to listen versus silence them through name calling. Lynn Gehl, Ph.D. is an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe from the Ottawa River Valley. In 2017 she won an Ontario Court of Appeal case on sex discrimination in The Indian Act, and is an outspoken critic of the Algonquin land claims process. Recently she published Claiming Anishinaabe: Decolonizing the Human Spirit. You can reach her through, and see more of her work, at www.lynngehl.com 1. A colonized ally stands in the front. A decolonized ally stands behind. 2. A colonized ally stands behind an oppressive patriarchy. A decolonized ally stands behind women and children. 3. A colonized ally makes assumptions about the process. A decolonized ally values there may be principles in the process they are not aware of. 4. A colonized ally wants knowledge now! A decolonized ally values their own relationship to the knowledge. 5. A colonized ally finds an Indigenous token. A decolonized ally is more objective in the process. 6. A colonized ally equates their money and hard work on the land as meaning land ownership. A decolonized ally knows that land ownership is more about social hierarchy and privilege. 7. A colonized ally projects guilt. A decolonized ally knows it is their work to do. 8. A colonized ally projects emotions. A decolonized ally knows Indigenous people have too much to deal with already. 9. A colonized ally has no respect for Indigenous intellectuals. A decolonized ally knows Indigenous people have their own intellectuals. 10. A colonized ally has no idea they need to decolonize. A decolonized ally understands they have to continually decolonize. 11. A colonized ally has no idea of the concomitant realities of Indigenous oppression. A decolonized ally understands the many, layered, and intersectional oppressions Indigenous people live under. 12. A colonized ally speaks for Indigenous people. A decolonized ally listens. 13. A colonized ally takes on work an Indigenous person can do and is doing. A decolonized ally takes on other work that needs to be done. 14. A colonized ally makes things worse. A decolonized ally understands. 15. A colonized ally says, “It is time to get over it.” A decolonized ally realizes one’s relationship to the harm is subjective. 16. A colonized ally appropriates another nation’s Indigenous knowledge. A decolonized ally does the hard work to uncover their own Indigenous knowledge. 17. A colonized ally will loath this truth offered. A decolonized ally will recognize the hard work telling this truth is. Additional ally resources are available here Lynn Gehl is an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe from the Ottawa River Valley. She has a section 15 Charter challenge regarding the continued sex discrimination in The Indian Act, and is an outspoken critic of the Ontario Algonquin land claims and self-government process. She recently published a book entitled Anishinaabeg Stories: Featuring Petroglyphs, Petrographs, and Wampum Belts, and her second book, The Truth that Wampum Tells: My Debwewin of the Algonquin Land Claims Process, will be published in March 2014. You can reach her at lynngehl@gmail.com and see more of her work at www.lynngehl.com. Please like and share this blog. 2/25/2013 4 Comments Protecting Indigenous Knowledge © Dr. Lynn Gehl, Gii-Zhigaate-Mnidoo-Kwe Processes of colonization have been harmful to Indigenous people. Not only in terms of the denial of access to land and resources to live a good life, but also in terms of the way knowledge has been gathered, interpreted and constructed into institutions, policy, and law; as well as the process of dissemination. This colonial process of knowledge production is no longer acceptable practice as Indigenous people have had enough. There has been a paradigm shift in the academic world. Today, it is expected that Indigenous communities and people be included in defining and determining research questions, defining and determining research methodologies, and defining and determining the process of interpreting data. We are also involved in defining and determining acceptable means of disseminating the knowledge. Standards of best practices must apply. The Tri-Council Policy is a world model for ethical academic research. Chapter ten of the policy is dedicated to offering guidelines regarding research with Indigenous communities and people. Interestingly, the Tri-Council Policy clearly states that it does not override or replace the ethical guidelines that sovereign Indigenous Nations have in place – both oral and written. As such, in many situations it is necessary for researchers to undergo two research ethics review processes before moving ahead in their research. The Mi’kmaw Ethics Watch is one such Indigenous body which assures Mi’kmaw Indigenous knowledge is both respected, and protected from outsiders doing harmful and interfering research. If you are in a cyber-net community conducting research of any kind without the full and informed consent of the people, you are engaging in unethical research practices. Keep in mind here that community is no longer defined as on the ground. Rather, it is more broadly defined. While it may be argued that news reporting research is not bound to the rules of the Tri-Council Policy, but rather the rules of journalism where knowledge and information obtained in public settings such as social media outlets is publishable by law, this rationale is poorly and incorrectly applied to Indigenous communities, Indigenous knowledge, and Indigenous intellectual property. In this situation the laws and policies of Indigenous Nations − again, both oral and written codes of ethics − override the rules of western journalism. Further to this, Article 31 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, an international norm that has force, states: “Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, as well as the manifestations of their sciences, technologies and cultures, including human and genetic resources, seeds, medicines, knowledge of the properties of fauna and flora, oral traditions, literatures, designs, sports and traditional games and visual and performing arts. They also have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their intellectual property over such cultural heritage, traditional knowledge, and traditional cultural expressions.” For news reporters to enter into our spaces, communities, cyber-net communities included, and mine our minds and experiences for knowledge, while at the same time not asking Indigenous people for guidance in shaping the research, or asking for guidance in how the research should be disseminated; and further to gain economically from the knowledge yet give nothing back to the people, is unethical. Furthermore, for a news reporter to argue otherwise based on the rules of western journalism as the rationale that guides their work is unethical, not to mention an oxymoron. Let’s face it, if you are truly interested in serving Indigenous people, and our needs and our knowledge, it makes no sense to simply ignore our rules and laws of ethics. Indigenous moral codes operate through an internal locus of control, meaning individuals are socialized in a way where we are expected to govern our own behaviour from the inside, rather than through external apparatus such as police, fines, written laws, courtroom proceedings, and judges. In situations where a person’s moral code is not working, community members and allies will come forward and tell you where to go, and where precisely to put your desire for knowledge, the goal being to end unethical research. The Idle No More movement gained currency through the tools of social media. Our Facebook groups, Facebook Fan Pages, and Facebook Event pages are more than simply places for you to mine for knowledge through your narrow models of research, while at the same time offer nothing back in return for the knowledge. If you are engaging in this method of research, this is analogous to the colonizer mining Indigenous land for resources where Indigenous communities gain nothing in return. Dr. Lynn Gehl is an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe from the Ottawa River Valley. She has a section 15 Charter challenge regarding the continued sex discrimination in The Indian Act, she is an outspoken critic of the Ontario Algonquin land claims and self-government process, and she recently published a book titled Anishinaabeg Stories: Featuring Petroglyphs, Petrographs, and Wampum Belts. In her spare time she carves nickel-sized turtles. You can reach her at lynngehl@gmail.com and see more of her work at www.lynngehl.com |
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