TEK and Indigenous Knowledge Systems

Defining Terms:

Indigenous Knowledge Systems: Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) encompasses environmental, socio-economic, cultural, and other elements of overall knowledge held by by Indigenous peoples and practiced within Indigenous communities. TEK is one component of Indigenous knowledge systems. "Traditional knowledge" and "Native Science" are some additional names for elements of Indigenous knowledge systems. (From the Guidance Document on Traditional Ecological Knowledge Pursuant to the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA).

Traditional Ecological Knowledge: No consensus exists on a definition of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK). There is agreement that it is something lived, active, and can't be separated from its people (taken from Deborah Mcgregor 2004). TEK is a knowledge source as well as a process. It is also a collaborative process--with less focus on defining, and more focus on relationship building--that bridges "cross-cultural and cross-situational divides." (taken from Kyle Whyte 2013)

TEK & Western Science

Western science works to understand through simplifying and dividing complexity by isolating discrete parts of the whole. Western science is reductionist and objective by design--values are removed from the scientific process in an attempt to eliminate bias and encourage repeatability.

Indigenous knowledge works to understand through drawing out and embracing complexity, viewing all things in relation to others, and recognizing the world as a series of interconnected components that cannot, and should not, be divided or separated. Because of this, there are no isolated disciplines within Indigenous knowledge. TEK is holistic and subjective, and values are embraced as an integral part of understanding the world.

--From the Guidance Document on Traditional Ecological Knowledge Pursuant to the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, Feb 2021

References and Further reading:

Barnhardt, R., & Kawagley, A. O. (2005). Indigenous knowledge systems and Alaska Native ways of knowing. Anthropology & education quarterly, 36(1), 8-23.
Bussey, J., Davenport, M. A., Emery, M. R., & Carroll, C. (2016). “A lot of it comes from the heart”: The nature and integration of ecological knowledge in tribal and nontribal forest management. Journal of Forestry, 114(2), 97-107.
Kimmerer, R. W. (2012). Searching for synergy: integrating traditional and scientific ecological knowledge in environmental science education. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 2(4), 317-323.
McGregor, Deborah. (2005). "Coming Full Circle: Indigenous Knowledge, Environment, and Our Future." American Indian Quarterly. 28(3): 385-410.
Stephens, S. (2001). Handbook for Culturally Responsive Science Curriculum. http://ankn.uaf.edu/publications/handbook/handbook.pdf
Whyte, K. P. (2013). On the role of traditional ecological knowledge as a collaborative concept: a philosophical study. Ecological processes, 2(1), 7. https://ecologicalprocesses.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/2192-1709-2-7

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