TEK Talks
Traditional Ecological Knowledge Talks
hosted by UAF GIGSA - Margaret & Anika
Overview
We are two graduate students from the Geophysical Institute (GI) and International Arctic Research Center (IARC) with career interests in working with Indigenous People. Wanting to learn more, we decided to develop a lecture series on fostering understanding among scientists in regard to working with Indigenous People.
Background
Alaska is home to 229 federally recognized tribes and with about 21% of Alaska’s general population being American Indian or Alaska Native. For geoscientists, Alaska is an exciting place to work: Alaska contains the largest ice mass outside of Antarctica and Greenland, the aurora borealis can be observed for several months of the year, it is home to 54 historically active volcanoes, forest fires are a common natural phenomenon, and dinosaur fossils can be found at the foothills of the highest mountain in North America. Yet, as recent letters addressed to the NSF Navigating the New Arctic NSF office have shown, there are still barriers that prevent Indigenous participation within Arctic research.
Our Learning Goals:
- to increase respect and understanding of Indigenous People, their culture, and their knowledge;
- to understand the terminology and be able to apply the principles such as appropriate research ethics when working with Indigenous People (including intellectual property, self-determination, equitable partnership, and transformative principles);
- to know where to find appropriate resources and to be able to reach out to others to make meaningful connections and to collaborate across UAF.
We encourage other graduate students to create their own lecture series on Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) topics relevant to their university. We reflected on our successes and what we would do differently to create the below list.
Lessons-learned in creating a JEDI lecture series
1) Create learning goals to focus lectures within the series
2) Be purposefully progressive on the topics
3) Seek those who are pushing the field forward rather than simply highlighting local examples
4) Get keynote speakers and funding early
5) Balance representation to not overburden People of Color on issues of creating equity, inclusive spaces, and allyship
6) Ask People of Color to talk about their own work as leaders in research
7) Include students as future leaders in research
8) Zoom record to make YouTube series for a broader reach
9) Have resource links ready to share for further learning and keep a running list on the website
10) Fund graduate students as it takes considerable time to plan and manage
11) Create a space for discussion and dialogue