Wisdom Engaged
Traditional Knowledge for Northern Community Well-Being
Published on 21. July 2019
Book
Paperback/Softback
416 pages
978-1-77212-410-1 (ISBN)
Description
"I listened to my mum, my dad, my gramma, that is why I am still here. That is how you stay alive." -Mida Donnessey
Wisdom Engaged demonstrates how traditional knowledge, Indigenous approaches to healing, and the insights of Western bio-medicine can complement each other when all voices are heard in a collaborative effort to address changes to Indigenous communities' well-being. In this collection, voices of Elders, healers, physicians, and scholars are gathered in an attempt to find viable ways to move forward while facing new challenges. Bringing these varied voices together provides a critical conversation about the nature of medicine; a demonstration of ethical commitment; and an example of building successful community relationships.
Contributors: Alestine Andre, Janelle Marie Baker, Robert Beaulieu, Della M. Cheney, Stakawas, Katsawa, Mida Donnessey, Mabel English, Christopher Fletcher, Fort McKay Berry Group, Annie B. Gordon, Celina Harpe-Cooper, Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, Leslie Main Johnson, Thea Luig, Art Mathews, Sim'oogit T'enim Gyet, Linda G. McDonald, Ruby E. Morgan, Bernice Neyelle, Morris Neyelle, Keiichi Omura, Mary Teya, Nancy J. Turner, Walter Vanast, Darlene Vegh.
Wisdom Engaged demonstrates how traditional knowledge, Indigenous approaches to healing, and the insights of Western bio-medicine can complement each other when all voices are heard in a collaborative effort to address changes to Indigenous communities' well-being. In this collection, voices of Elders, healers, physicians, and scholars are gathered in an attempt to find viable ways to move forward while facing new challenges. Bringing these varied voices together provides a critical conversation about the nature of medicine; a demonstration of ethical commitment; and an example of building successful community relationships.
Contributors: Alestine Andre, Janelle Marie Baker, Robert Beaulieu, Della M. Cheney, Stakawas, Katsawa, Mida Donnessey, Mabel English, Christopher Fletcher, Fort McKay Berry Group, Annie B. Gordon, Celina Harpe-Cooper, Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, Leslie Main Johnson, Thea Luig, Art Mathews, Sim'oogit T'enim Gyet, Linda G. McDonald, Ruby E. Morgan, Bernice Neyelle, Morris Neyelle, Keiichi Omura, Mary Teya, Nancy J. Turner, Walter Vanast, Darlene Vegh.
Reviews / Votes
"These crucial studies provide a base of evidence for how people want to live rather than being dictated to by industrial interests in their homelands. They provide a rich vision of a lived environment." -- Robert Wishart, Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, University of Aberdeen "[Wisdom Engaged] gives compelling evidence that Indigenous health is fundamentally tied to land, language, and culture.... Wisdom Engaged shows that decolonisation means a return to Indigenous peoples of the power they once had over their own health and well-being. This is a crucial first step on the long road to reconciliation." Jeff Kochan, Canadian Dimension Magazine, November 2019 "This text will be of value to novice readers seeking an entry point to learn more about indigenous traditional healing practices. Summing Up: Recommended." S. Perreault, CHOICE Magazine, July 2020 "Wisdom Engaged examines the different aspects of traditional knowledge and its usage in daily routines that support a healthy lifestyle... Readers will encounter rich evidence of the interconnectivity that Indigenous peoples' well-being has with traditions, communities, and culture.... [Editor Leslie Main Johnson] accomplishes her goal: to center traditional knowledge in exploring methods to advance individual and community health as well as healing in northwestern North American Indigenous communities. All those interested in traditional knowledge, Western biomedicine, or Indigenous and environmental health should read this compelling book." -- Kathie Beebe, Native American and Indigenous Studies Journal, Spring 2022 "This superb volume focuses on "the role of traditional knowledge" in "healing and health" and "the interrelated web of traditions, culture, communities and wellbeing" among Indigenous communities in Northern Alberta, BC, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Alaska. Editor Leslie Johnson, a professor emerita of anthropology at Athabasca University, brings academics, elders and traditional healers together in a book highlighted by first-hand accounts such as that by Celina Harpe-Cooper, an elder in For McKay whose discussion of cranberry picking sharply reveals the local impacts of oil sands development." AlbertaViews, July/Aug 2020More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Edmonton
Canada
Publishing group
University of Alberta Press
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 226 mm
Width: 150 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
612 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-77212-410-1 (9781772124101)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Leslie Main Johnson is Professor Emerita of Anthropology at Athabasca University. She is an ethnographer and ethnobiologist who has worked with Indigenous peoples in northwestern Canada since the 1980s. Earle H. Waugh is Professor Emeritus and was Director of the Centre for the Centre for Health and Culture in the Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine at the University of Alberta in Edmonton upon his retirement.
Content
Acknowledgements xi
i Contexts and Holistic Approaches to Northern Community Well-Being
1 Traditional Knowledge, Healing, and Wellness
An Introduction // Leslie Main Johnson
2 Making and Taking Medicine
Indigenous and Western Therapeutics in an Early Contact Eastern
Mackenzie Delta Society, 1858-1920 // Walter Vanast
3 Illness and Power in Times of Contact
Gitxsan and Witsuwit'en Narratives of Healing // Leslie Main Johnson
4 "Our Food Is Our Medicine"
Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Plant Foods for Health and Well-Being
in the Canadian North and Alaska // Nancy J. Turner
5 Cranberries Are Medicine
Monitoring, Sharing, and Consuming Cranberries in Fort McKay // Janelle Marie Baker and the Fort McKay Berry Group
6 Huckleberries, Food Sovereignty, Cumulative Impact, and Community Health
Reflections from Northern British Columbia, Canada // Leslie Main Johnson, Darlene Vegh, and Ruby E. Morgan
7 Conditions for Well-Being
Sustainatibily of an Inuit Subsistence System in a Globalized World // Keiichi Omura
8 Inuvialuit Nautchiangit, Relationships between People and Plants
A Project to Document Traditional Plant Knowledge // Inuvialuit Regional Corporation
9 Community Context, Research Methods, and Cultural Ethics in the Plants for Life Project, Deli?ne // Christopher Fletcher
10 Life Transformation and Volunteerism in Teetl'itZheh
Pathway to Community Well-Being // Thea Luig
ii Northern Community Voices on Wellness
11 Sip'xw Hligetdin
Demonstrating the Strength, Education, Readiness, and Responsibility to Speak in the Feasthall // Art Mathews, Sim'oogit T'enim Gyet
12 Seaweed Harvesting and My Uncle's Stories // Della M. Cheney, Stakawas, Katsawa
13 Life at Moose Lake
Traditional Life in Fort McKay Territory and the Impacts of Oil Sands Mining // Celina Harpe-Cooper
14 Health Is Living Well According to Kaska Values
Kaska Women's Words // Linda G. McDonald and Mida Donnessey
15 Wisdom for Well-Being
Gwich'in Elders' Teachings // Mary Teya, Annie B. Gordon, Mabel English, and Alestine Andre
16 Healing and Spiritual Knowledge of Deli?ne and Plants for Life // Morris Neyelle and Bernice Neyelle
17 Words of a Traditional Healer from Fort Resolution, Northwest Territories // Robert Beaulieu
18 Pathways and Choices
Concluding Words // Leslie Main Johnson
Contributors
i Contexts and Holistic Approaches to Northern Community Well-Being
1 Traditional Knowledge, Healing, and Wellness
An Introduction // Leslie Main Johnson
2 Making and Taking Medicine
Indigenous and Western Therapeutics in an Early Contact Eastern
Mackenzie Delta Society, 1858-1920 // Walter Vanast
3 Illness and Power in Times of Contact
Gitxsan and Witsuwit'en Narratives of Healing // Leslie Main Johnson
4 "Our Food Is Our Medicine"
Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Plant Foods for Health and Well-Being
in the Canadian North and Alaska // Nancy J. Turner
5 Cranberries Are Medicine
Monitoring, Sharing, and Consuming Cranberries in Fort McKay // Janelle Marie Baker and the Fort McKay Berry Group
6 Huckleberries, Food Sovereignty, Cumulative Impact, and Community Health
Reflections from Northern British Columbia, Canada // Leslie Main Johnson, Darlene Vegh, and Ruby E. Morgan
7 Conditions for Well-Being
Sustainatibily of an Inuit Subsistence System in a Globalized World // Keiichi Omura
8 Inuvialuit Nautchiangit, Relationships between People and Plants
A Project to Document Traditional Plant Knowledge // Inuvialuit Regional Corporation
9 Community Context, Research Methods, and Cultural Ethics in the Plants for Life Project, Deli?ne // Christopher Fletcher
10 Life Transformation and Volunteerism in Teetl'itZheh
Pathway to Community Well-Being // Thea Luig
ii Northern Community Voices on Wellness
11 Sip'xw Hligetdin
Demonstrating the Strength, Education, Readiness, and Responsibility to Speak in the Feasthall // Art Mathews, Sim'oogit T'enim Gyet
12 Seaweed Harvesting and My Uncle's Stories // Della M. Cheney, Stakawas, Katsawa
13 Life at Moose Lake
Traditional Life in Fort McKay Territory and the Impacts of Oil Sands Mining // Celina Harpe-Cooper
14 Health Is Living Well According to Kaska Values
Kaska Women's Words // Linda G. McDonald and Mida Donnessey
15 Wisdom for Well-Being
Gwich'in Elders' Teachings // Mary Teya, Annie B. Gordon, Mabel English, and Alestine Andre
16 Healing and Spiritual Knowledge of Deli?ne and Plants for Life // Morris Neyelle and Bernice Neyelle
17 Words of a Traditional Healer from Fort Resolution, Northwest Territories // Robert Beaulieu
18 Pathways and Choices
Concluding Words // Leslie Main Johnson
Contributors