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The second characteristic that Castellano outlines is that it is orally transmitted.
There's so many connotations to this certainly when we looked at our world view
comparison chart and we saw the difference between an oral culture and one that
relies on the written word. There's so many different connotations for
that. One of the things that happens when a
culture is orally transmitting knowledge, is that word, words have power.
So the word in knowledge is so powerful that to there are certain restrictions
around accessing that knowledge. And this is again part of that the
contextual nature of indigenous knowledge that one shares knowledge with someone
when that person is deemed ready to accept it.
So there's a great responsibility in transmitting the knowledge, but also in
taking up that knowledge, being ready to learn.
It's a very serious affair with some knowledge.
Because to have that knowledge means you could have the potential to harm.
And this, this is especially true around medicinal indigenous knowledge or
indigenous knowledge about running certain kinds of ceremonies.
It's not to be taken lightly and elders often have a series of trials that they
will ensure, ensure that the learner goes through to, to kind of demonstrate their
ability and responsibilities. An example that comes to mind unfortunate
example is those, those people who, will conduct sweat lodge ceremonies or
purification ceremonies without having had the proper background or training or
apprenticeship with someone who's, who's run these things over a long period of
time. So, we've seen this example where in the
Southwestern United States several people actually died With someone who is running
a sweat lodge ceremony who really shouldn't have been doing that work.
And did not allow for the certain kinds of participation that was necessary the kind
of readiness, the kind of ability to evaluate what was going on, to judge what
was, what, what those people who came to participate in this experience, were ready
to endure or not endure. And so they ended up paying the ultimate
sacrifice, and many people's lives were lost.
So that you see that it's very important when taking up a piece of knowledge that
you are able to assess the readiness and, and seriousness of that learner.
And that's what many elders are good at doing when they orally transmit that
knowledge. Another thing that's not always apparent,
is why an elder is sharing a certain piece of knowledge at a certain time.
And a story that comes to mind is this example of someone who is going to learn
about the land and hunting from a, from a respected elder, and they, they went to
visit them at their home and the elder said, well here have this tea, drink this
tea. And the person thought I don't really feel
like tea, and they, they didn't drink it. Now he, the reason that this tea was being
provided is that it actually had this effect of causing, causing mild and
temporary constipation. Which is very important when they were out
in the bush and had to sit still for a very long amount of time waiting for the
game to come. And, so if the person had just drunk that
tea, then they wouldn't have had the problems they did when they got out there.
And were, were squirming around and trying, trying to stay still and couldn't
do it. And the elder is like should of had that
tea. Another thing with the orally transmitted
characteristic of indigenous knowledge is that It, it sets up a need to have people
who are very good at remembering things. So, the, the reliance upon memory and
mnemonic devices. Becomes a skill that many in the community
were charged with. So, at a time where there's a significant
undertaking a historical event, a gathering of people.
Those people with those mnemonic devices, ability to remember things well, and
ability to put things in a way that they can re-tell it again and again at later
dates with greater accuracy. Its something that arises in that oral
culture. So word has a real implication for the
relationship between intentional people, and new-comers, or settlers, or guests, is
the, treaty relationship. So when treaty promises are made orally,
the people who where there with that tradition of, of oral culture and under,
of, of remembering things with great accuracy.
Where there in charge with remembering the words that were shared, what was being
promised by one party to the other. And we see that the written text in
comparison with notes of treaty commissioners, often there were, there
were different things that were said on the day, then what ended up in the written
text. And this is one of the reasons that the
treaty relationship is something that is talked about quite a lot and this notion
of the spirit and intent of the treaties is, brought up in courts all the time.
Because the oral record and some of the notes of the commissioners have a very
different, have a different spirit and intent than what is in the written letter
of the treaty that the, Canadian government has tried to, present as, as
the official treaty promise and record. So orally transmitted, very important,
characteristic of indigenous knowledge.
Jean-Paul RestouleAssociate Professor
