Native Knowledge
Working with Local Experts and Elders
Creating and implementing community-based studies is a collaborative process involving local/cultural experts as much as possible throughout the process. It involves an exchange of information and perspective in which the classroom teacher comes to understand what local knowledge is valued and held locally and by whom. It then involves the connection of these experts and their knowledge to classroom practice.
Sometimes, creating such rich partnerships and exchanges is often easier said than done. On the one hand, teachers may not know where to start, who to ask or what to ask for. They may feel rebuffed in their first attempts or may feel that the answers they receive are unrelated to their question or that this information is not as significant as the curriculum they are mandated to teach. On the other hand, cultural experts may feel unaccustomed to such inquiries; may have had bad experiences in the past; may feel that the teachers aren’t truly listening; or may feel uncomfortable with the school or what is expected of them.
While it's beyond the scope of this web site to deal in depth with these complex issues, we have chosen an article by Roby Littlefield to help provide pointers for working with Elders in classrooms and also provided the following links:
The Process of Interviewing by Rachel Craig (www.ankn.uaf.edu/interview.html)
Integrating Elders in Northern School Programs by Cathy McGregor in Sharing Our Pathways Vol. 6 #4 (www.ankn.uaf.edu/SOP/sopv6i4.html#elders)
Teaching and Learning Across Cultures: Strategies for Success by Ray Barnhardt (www.ankn.uaf.edu/TLAC.html)
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The Website for National Science Foundation Grant No. ES1-9910219
Last Modified on November 8, 2002 by Sidney Stephens
