WIsdom Seeking through an oral system
Researchers are in pursuit of understandings to questions or problems that need insights or solutions. All research is governed by a theory which gives definition to the methods and analysis. I became acquainted with the phrase, wisdom seeking, through the work of Makokis, et al. (2020) which I saw reflected in my research inquiry. Wisdom seeking is a process generated from experiences and interactions in pursuance of understandings for a question(s) (Makokis, et al. 2020). This inquiry prefaced lived experiences as the primary source of knowledge and understanding. Wisdom seeking assumes that we are constantly pursuing an understanding of ourselves within the relationships that encase us; the more we understand ourselves and responsibilities in our relationships, the better we are equipped to act with and for goodness leading to well-being. Understanding experiences does not automatically lead to wisdoms, one has to act upon those understandings so that they inform our future actions.
The wisdom seeking process, for this research is governed by Indigenous paradigms, specified by language and cultural knowledge, that flow from dynamic kinships within a certain locale. Born and raised in Calgary, living in the land of the niitsitapi (real people translated through Blackfoot), as Michif, I understand that being a good ‘visitor’, a good relative is to honour the customs and ways of the people to whose land I reside. My wisdom seeking engaged the theories, practices, and ethics of an oral system, guided by Piikani Elder, Dr. Reg Crowshoe through smudge and ceremony. My relationship with Elder Crowshoe began in 2011 and has blossomed since; I am indebted to his teachings, care, and kindness. Moreover, I carry and enact my cultural knowledge from my Michif ancestors and relatives which also influences the inquiry process.
Over the last twenty-four years, I have learned a great deal from Elders and knowledge keepers in circle and ceremony. My first experiences of understanding circle and ceremony as an oral system of knowledge validation began in 2012 when teaching alongside Reg in an Indigenous relations program. I was naïve in both knowing and doing; I still am at times but stepping into the classroom with Reg and listening to his presentation I immediately knew that I had much to learn. Since then I have been learning about an oral knowledge system. The learning of an oral systems methodology of knowledge and validation was liberating. As a new graduate student, having future teaching opportunities, the knowledge I was receiving would soon become internalized and applied to my pedagogy. This internalization started to quicken when me, Reg and Rose Crowshoe started teaching an undergraduate course at the University of Calgary. The course was held in a tipi over the course of a week; I along with the students were immersed in an education process that assimilates students into a specific ‘grade’ of cultural knowledge. The oral system grade level is the chickadees, niipomakii; this process has been the format that has contributed to my knowledge of an oral system. Teaching with Reg, I created methods for our classroom assignments, iterative student videos. He approved of these assignments for our course while teaching me the ways in which we would assess the learning through the perspective of an oral system. Over the years of teaching with Reg and Rose and applying the iterative video assignments into our class and other classes I taught, I approached Reg and Rose to ask if they would guide me in applying an oral system as methodology for my doctoral work. Through protocol, they accepted the request. My understanding of wisdom seeking through an oral system has come from my immersion with Reg and Rose and teaching these concepts in my Indigenous Studies courses. The methods accessed and the process of assessing the stories in this inquiry is informed by the oral knowledge system. Scholarship pertaining to Indigenous research methodologies has been read for this dissertation to further inform my understandings however, through direct experience I have come to understand how to be guided by an oral system.
My initial learnings lead to an understanding that an oral knowledge system has a systematic process that governs all aspects of knowledge. Circles, as a format for sharing and ceremony, were not foreign to me but I was blind to see that there were specificities of a system that governed the circle as a process for ascertaining and substantiating information. With my newly acquired understandings, I realized in some instances where I participated in circles they were untethered to an epistemology. Admittedly, even as a preschool teacher, some fifteen years ago, I was using circles in my classroom without the proper understandings. One of my most impactful realizations was making the distinction that an oral knowledge system and storytelling are not synonymous. I hear the terms, orality, oratory, oral traditions which often suggests storytelling and the skills as an orator. Storytelling is a modality for knowledge transfer and importantly stories, the telling, and transferring are governed by the knowledge system and worldview that they are produced and enacted within, this includes the written system. An oral system too, has a structure that “allows for the navigation of rights and privileges” (Reg Crowshoe, personal communication, August 11, 2020) as to ascertain specific knowledge that permits people to enact skills and responsibilities. An oral knowledge system guides the accessing, sharing, assessing, and validation of information. Information that is retrieved from stories generate natural, absolute, and practical laws; they are the maps that guide human behaviour and relationships and the processes to build and renew relational obligations. It is these stories that inform my research methodology. Through smudge, Reg and Rose have shared stories with me, they are not mine, they are there for me to access to affirm and expand my understandings.
