RESEARCH AND LEARNING IN TWO WORLDS: THE DICHOTOMY OF UNDERSTANDING INDIGENOUS SCIENCE AND CONTEMPORARY WESTERN SCIENCE FOR PROTECTION OF HERITAGE

Reservation lands, and Indigenous Ancestral Lands located within The United States’ national monuments and public lands, have vast resources for education, research and learning in both the non-Native Western philosophy of laboratory work and fieldwork for study in the geosciences and the anthropological disciplines. The nontraditional philosophy of the anthropological and geosciences contemporaneously exists with traditional Indigenous knowledge and wisdom from the first Indigenous people who lived there and were the first custodians of the lands before European and American contact. There is a dichotomy of Indigenous Science and Western Science overlapping in the sciences in lands belonging to the Indigenous People of this country. There are often tenuous relationships between Tribal Communities and the involvement of contemporary relationships between the respective Indigenous Communities and academia with research institutions, because of the lack of oversight and review boards.

The involvement of contemporary relationships between the respective Indigenous Communities and academia and research institutions and involvement of tribal members have been expedited recently, because of the Fossil Fuel lobbyist and the industry from the previous United States Presidency’s intent to rescind previous public lands proclamations by previous United States Presidents. (https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/presidential-proclamation-modifying-bears-ears-national-monument/) Destructive fossil fuels extraction still threaten Indigenous Lands and heritage currently, for example, in the Chaco Canyon Region in northcentral New Mexico, The Bears Ears National Monument in southeast Utah and The Grand Staircase Escalante in southern Utah. The subjects of land protections, and public lands expansion, have been emphasized by the new United States President and the historical nomination of Interior Secretary Debra Haaland, in Secretary Haaland being the first Native American Cabinet Secretary. The challenges of Indigenous Scientists and students, navigating and being seen as an equal have been slightly improved but many challenges remain. A lot of work and challenges still remain for Indigenous Scientist who live in both worlds of Western Philosophy and Traditional Philosophy in advancing our communities in our survival and the advancement of our civilization.