Indigenous Science and Peace Studies

UPM 6001-UPEACE Foundation Course

3Credits

The UPEACE Foundation Course provides a critical and concise introduction to the broad field of “Peace Studies” for students in all UPEACE programmes. It initially addresses key conceptual and theoretical underpinnings of the origins and development of peace studies as an interdisciplinary area within the fields of international relations and political economy, as well as a basic understanding of conflict analysis. Based on a critical analysis of policies, strategies, policies, institutions, organizations and movements, the course then examines a range of core issues, dimensions, perspectives and paradigms for understanding the root causes of conflicts and violence and constructive strategies to address them and build peace in contemporary global, international, regional, national and local contexts, including: conflict management, conflict resolution and conflict transformation; alternative discourse analysis; militarization and disarmament; human rights violations and promotion; gender inequalities, gender-based violence and gender mainstreaming; structural violence, human security, development and globalization; environmental sustainability; corporate social responsibility; cultural and religious identities; media’s role in conflict and peacebuilding; strategies of nonviolence; and peace education. This Foundations course will be essential in catalyzing the awareness, understanding and motivation of UPEACE students from diverse academic programmes to relate, ground or intersect their specific areas of academic and practitioner interest with core theoretical, conceptual and analytical ideas in peace studies.

ISPE-6000-Ethnoautobiographical Inquiry - Ancestral and Historical Research 1

3Credits

The differences in personality or identity process between Indigenous individuals and typical Western individuals (at times called WEIRD in the research literature) are significant. While the Indigenous sense of self is structured through the engagement with community, the surrounding world (ecology), and spiritual dimensions, the Western sense of self is structured by normative dissociation, a splitting from the sources that nurture the sense of Indigenous selves (the Andean phrase criar y dejarse criar, to nurture and be nurtured, is emblematic for this sense of self). The exploration and affirmation of ancestral indigenous roots in all their complexity is mandatory for students engaging in Indigenous science inquiries and practices. This process acknowledges the multiplicities or hybridities of identity embodied in most individuals today (in contrast to ideals of purity and supremacy espoused by racist science). The first part of the class catalyzes the process through autobiographical writing and historical research of ancestral lines (genealogy). During the second part of class in the second semester students are expected to deepen their process and, if at all feasible, to make a pilgrimage to at least one of their ancestral sites of cultural importance.

ISPE-6002-Indigenous Knowledge & Research Methodologies

3Credits

The focus of this class is the intricate epistemological, ontological, and ethical understanding of Indigenous knowledge. At the beginning of class, the distinctions to research methodologies in the Western paradigms, where Indigenous knowledge commonly only appears partially, are highlighted. The most recent advances in Western scientific models, from participatory knowing to quantum field theories, are discussed to show emergent convergences between cutting edge Western science and Indigenous science. Objectivity, validity, reliability, and other concepts central to research are analyzed critically. This background story prepares students to engage deeply in the knowing process of Indigenous science which is one of the major intellectual traditions of humanity; it is distinguished from other knowledge traditions in that it is both a way of knowing and being that emanates from the Earth. Like western forms of inquiry, Indigenous Science includes a study of foundational literature but unlike other forms of science, the pedagogical foundation of Indigenous Science also derives from ancient rock writings that set forth knowledge and ways of merging with the earth-based, holistic consciousness. On an individual level, Indigenous science is embodied wisdom, which forms the dynamic core of the Indigenous mind process. In this survey course, students study traditional indigenous stories, learn from Elders and review literature that compares and contrasts Indigenous science with western science. These streams of thought and study merge in the meditative engagement with and research of ancient symbols, ceremonies, and sacred sites of students’ own ancestral heritage.

ISPE-6001-Bridging Paradigms – The Role of Dreams and Dreaming

2Credits

Dreams are important for bridging modern Western scientific and Indigenous ways of knowing. They have the capacity to slip past the watchdog of the modern ego-centered personality that is the anchor of Western thinking. In Indigenous understanding dreams represent unmediated communications from our ancestors and facilitate the recovery of interconnectedness and thus the potential for bridging paradigms. As basic Western and Indigenous dream concepts are understood during this class, deeper inner work emerges and mythological/archetypal images that shape our contemporary individual and collective lives are recognized and discussed. Students learn to discern and to make meaning of individual and collective dream patterns that are part of the remembrance process of their ancestral and Indigenous roots. This course emphasizes the rich Indigenous traditions of the moon and their relationship to dreams; it will assist students to become aware of their dreams, to become lucid in them and in their everyday lives. The course makes extensive use of dream journals, astronomy and astrology and group process.

ISPE-6003-Colonial History, Decoloniality & Sovereignty

3Credits

This class distinguishes the discourses of modernity (1), postmodernity (2), and Indigeneity (3) in the global context. 1) Modernity is the other side of the coin of coloniality and colonial history; part of modernity is cosmopolitanism, the universalizing practice of Western knowledge and political practices that is central to its understanding of person and society. 2) Postmodernity and decolonization are labels for the ongoing crisis of modernity/coloniality. 3) Finally, decoloniality and Indigenous sovereignty describe possibilities of a pluralistic cosmopolitanism grounded in the local ecology and traditions of different peoples. This is the framework for the affirmation of Indigenous rights and traditions and supports Indigenous futures. The goal is to develop a historical and paradigmatic understanding of Indigenous sovereignty and decolonial practices that supports students’ ethnoautobiographical and Indigenous science inquiries.

ISPE-6004-Indigenous Science Methods

3Credits

This class builds on the introductory course “Indigenous Knowledge & Research Methodologies”. It moves students from the general paradigmatic understanding of methodologies to the applied understanding of Indigenous science research methods and a decolonizing approach to knowing and knowledge. The class looks specifically at procedures of investigation and inquiry as well as documentation that are appropriate for relevant and urgent issues in Indigenous traditions and the recovery of indigenous mind process. After formulating researchable questions and designing research steps, we will focus on issues of gathering, analyzing and interpreting data. The critical discussion of objectivity, reliability, and validity serves to establish the relevance of Indigenous science research projects. Special attention will be given to the ways in which Indigenous science designs pertain to the recovery of ancestral memory and ways in which they can contribute to socio-cultural healing and the development of interventions. Students will leave this class prepared to begin thinking about their capstone project.

ISPE-6009-Model UN Conference: Committee on Indigenous Rights

1Credits

This seminar offers an applied exploration of the evolving international law regarding Indigenous rights, from the Doctrine of Discovery to the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Students will become familiar with current issues in the assertion and formulation of Indigenous rights and their protection and enforcement.

ISPE-6005-Ethnoautobiographical Inquiry - Ancestral and Historical Research 2

3Credits

The differences in personality or identity process between Indigenous individuals and typical Western individuals (at times called WEIRD in the research literature) are significant. While the Indigenous sense of self is structured through the engagement with community, the surrounding world (ecology), and spiritual dimensions, the Western sense of self is structured by normative dissociation, a splitting from the sources that nurture the sense of Indigenous selves (the Andean phrase criar y dejarse criar, to nurture and be nurtured, is emblematic for this sense of self). The exploration and affirmation of ancestral indigenous roots in all their complexity is mandatory for students engaging in Indigenous science inquiries and practices. This process acknowledges the multiplicities or hybridities of identity embodied in most individuals today (in contrast to ideals of purity and supremacy espoused by racist science). The first part of the class catalyzes the process through autobiographical writing and historical research of ancestral lines (genealogy). During the second part of class in the second semester students are expected to deepen their process and, if at all feasible, to make a pilgrimage to at least one of their ancestral sites of cultural importance.

ISPE-6006-Representing Indigenous Mind – Decolonial Representation in Publications and Media

3Credits

This course spans from the earliest representations in rock writing and earth monuments to the potentials opened up by recent developments in digital media. It uses a philosophical model of the universe which pays particular attention to the storied nature of reality and the languages in which stories are originally told. We begin our exploration with the study of ancient systems of knowledge, including rock art, indigenous symbols on utilitarian and ceremonial implements, and the surviving codices. We analyze both spoken and written forms of oral traditions. The class concludes with the discussion of decolonial representations in academia and artistic representations of Indigenous futurism. The class is designed to help students with their own academic and non-academic writing and other forms of representations. Some of the critical questions explored in this class are: What are appropriate contemporary expressions of ancient Indigenous knowledge representations? What are effective ways of communicating in academia that are consistent with Indigenous worldviews? What are effective ways of communicating in the arenas of grant applications and political discussions? To what extent are experiments in Indigenous futurism structured by the images and assumptions provided by dominant cultures? What are the opportunities provided by digital media that are consistent with Indigenous assumptions?

ISPE-6007-The Science of Archaeoastronomy & Indigenous Star Knowledge

3Credits

TBA.

ISPE-6008-Interventions – Capstone Project Preparation

3Credits

The capstone project gives students an opportunity to develop and document an intervention that they themselves author. This seminar offers support for the development of the proposed capstone project using methods introduced in the research classes of the program.

ISPE-6010-Current Issues (sacred site protection, truth & reconciliation commissions)

3Credits

This class explores specific issues from different continents that are critical in the affirmation of Indigenous sovereignty. Examples are: Truth and reconciliation commissions; the protection of sacred sites and species; definitions of tribal membership (blood quantum, lineal descent, etc.); or the protection of Indigenous languages. The class gives students an opportunity to develop ideas for their capstone project and to affirm and honor the healing interventions and defensive actions of Indigenous Elders and activists amidst the ongoing genocide, ecocide, and cultural destruction.

ISPE-7000, ISPE-7001, ISPE-700-Final Graduation Project Thesis, 8 credits, Final Graduation Project Internship, 8 credits, Final Graduation Project Capstone, 5 credits

8Credits

The Graduation Project is a concluding academic requirement intended to be a comprehensive and capstone outcome of the student educational performance. It is a higher academic exercise that enables the student to demonstrate the ability to identify a problem, determine an academic objective to address it and utilize an appropriate methodology to attain such objective. The Graduation Project is also intended to demonstrate the student’s ability to write and critically develop a professional and scholarly report.

The Graduation Project can be fulfilled through one of the following modalities:

•Thesis:  8 credits

•Internship: 8 credits (3 months)

•Capstone: 5 credits