Some Thoughts on Protocol in University/Community Partnerships. NALL Working Paper.

The pilot project, "A Pedagogy of the Land" (POL), provides an opportunity to ponder the relations between aboriginal community/university knowledges in this case, the relations between an Anishinaape land-based pedagogy and the developing theorizing around formal and informal learning. Traditional aboriginal education is not limited to elders teaching children. While elders are responsible for passing knowledge to the appropriate people when they are ready, any person older or more experienced in a particular knowledge than another has the potential to be that person's teacher. Education is a community responsibility taken seriously by each and every community member who at any moment can be in the position of teaching. The learning in POL does not fit any category of the "Basic Types of Intentional Learning." It involves traditional indigenous knowledge keepers with some fluency in their language whose knowledge arises from traditional Anishinaape world view in a program that allows them to build on one another's knowledge and prepare to pass it on to others who know less. Located on an isolated island in a large northern lake, POL has the goal to recreate indigenous knowledge in a contemporary context. Over a year, students attend two summer courses with an intervening research component. As participants work through their days in traditional activities, they incorporate sacred knowledge into their every action. Comments from Anishinaape teacher, Kaaren Dannenmann follow. (YLB)