Their Connectedness

Indigenous Pedagogies: Land, Water and Kinship by Anna Lees and Megan Bang
Bank Street Occasional Paper Series #49, May 9, 2023

This gathering of papers by indigenous teachers and scholars is for everyone in schools. Editors Anna Lees and Megan Bang explore the ways that Indigenous pedagogies address and allow us to raise a new generation of children who understand deeply their kinship relationships within their communities and to find a role within these. Knowing the teachings of indigenous wisdom opens possibilities for children to see their connectedness to the land, water, and people as a gift to be claimed and used for the good of the earth and its inhabitants. While on one hand the messages are simple – design curriculum on and with land, water, and human communities – there are complexities that exist within most current schools’ cultures that include heavily prescribed curricula delivered in building-based settings that are governed by regulatory limits on access to the natural world. These papers invite conversation and excitement about introducing the many first steps that are available exactly where we are already situated. The authors make visible what is already in process through indigenous ways of knowing and encourage engagement for our students for reasons that are political, ethical, and ultimately, necessary.