On Paradigm Wars and Paradigm Errors

On Paradigm Wars and Paradigm Errors

I am not a historian.  I never said I was.

I am not a political scientist.  I never said I was.

I am not a lawyer.  I never said I was.

I am not a sociologist.  I never said I was.

I am not an anthropologist.  I never side I was.

I am not a social scientist.  I never said I was.

Stop relying on your disciplinary criteria to judge and discredit my knowledge production.

When you do this you are firmly situated within a colonial paradigm.

And you engage in a paradigm error.

I did more than indigenize my work.

I produced my work through a time honoured Indigenous tradition known as Debwewin Journey.

This approach to knowledge is valid, legitimate, and has its own criteria of evaluation.

In order to enter my paradigm you need to remove your shoes, dance in a circle, feel the intelligence of your heart, and connect this feeling to the intelligence of your mind.

I am Indigenist.

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.

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