Description
Native Science: Natural Laws of Interdependence is the most recent work by Tewa scholar Gregory Cajete. This text presents the reader with a handbook for understanding, experiencing, and feeling the natural world. Cajete explores and documents the Indigenous view of reality by looking at art, myth or storytelling, ceremony, symbol, and Native science in the physical world. Throughout the text, he discusses the many levels of meaning in astronomy, cosmology, psychology, agriculture, and healing. He stresses the fundamental relationship of Indigenous people to their environment in this discussion of the philosophy of Native science or ethnoscience. This work includes a chapter about plants, food, medicine, gardening, and the contributions of Native food to the world. This philosophy of Native science covers the worldview of Indigenous peoples and their commitment to maintaining the environment. The book is essential reading for anyone interested in the fields of science education or Native education. Gregory Cajete, Ph.D., is a Pueblo Indian from Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico, and assistant professor at the University of New Mexico's College of Education. He is the author of Look to the Mountain: An Ecology of Indigenous Education, Igniting the Sparkle: An Indigenous Science Education Model, and editor of A People's Ecology: Explorations in Sustainable Living. Recommended as Grade 10 Science resource by Saskatchewan Learning.