Moving Beyond Widdowson and Howard: Traditional Knowledge as an Approach to Knowledge1

Traditional Indigenous knowledge is increasingly recognised and incorporated both in and beyond the university. In Canada‘s Northwest Territories, this recognition has been manifest as policy mandating that scientists incorporate the knowledge of elders and hunters into their environmental and climate change research. However, the recognition of traditional knowledge has not always been met with acceptance and understanding. This article analyses the book Disrobing the Aboriginal Industry by Francis Widdowson and Albert Howard (2008), which is highly critical of traditional knowledge. Widdowson and Howard advocate for cultural assimilation by arguing that traditional knowledge is incompatible with, and inferior to, modern Western science. In their line of reasoning, the current application of traditional knowledge transplants ̳neolithic‘ culture into modernity and stunts the ability of Aboriginal peoples to participate in modern Canadian (and dominant Western) culture. While other critics argue against the racialised and inflammatory discourse, I try to salvage insight from the authors‘ misunderstandings; Widdowson and Howard‘s failed grasp on traditional knowledge actually illuminates a fundamental problem. The problem is not in meshing Indigenous and scientific knowledge; rather, the problem is in bridging the gap between Indigenous and scientific ways of knowing. I engage the work of A. Irving Halowell, Tim Ingold and scholars of Dene knowledge and traditional lifeways to discuss how Indigenous religion and worldview create a unique approach to knowledge. In 1993, the government of Canada‘s Northwest Territories developed an unprecedented Traditional Knowledge Policy designed to incorporate traditional Indigenous knowledge into all government programs and services. 2 Originally tested in a BHP Inc. diamond mine proposal, this policy has since had larger impact in environmental studies of the subarctic areas of the Northwest Territories, where scientists have incorporated the knowledge of elders and hunters into their research on climate change. In Disrobing the Aboriginal Industry: The Deception Behind Indigenous Cultural Preservation (2008), Francis Widdowson and Albert Howard are highly critical of what is called traditional knowledge. The authors argue that traditional knowledge is incompatible with, and inferior to, Western natural science. To offer an alternative to Widdowson and Howard, I engage the work of scholars of Northern First Nations peoples to discuss how Indigenous religion and worldview is predicated on specific notions of personhood and ecology. Far from inferior to Western science, this worldview creates a unique and viable approach to knowledge which has persisted for millennia. 3 The Yamozha K‘ue Society, previously known as the Dene Cultural Center, and the government of the Northwest Territories define traditional knowledge as ̳knowledge and values, which have been acquired through experience, observation, from the land or from spiritual teachings, and handed down from one generation to another‘ (Government of the Northwest Territories 2005). This definition incorporates the realm of modern natural sciences, which attain knowledge through observation. It also includes Indigenous cosmology, ethics, oral tradition and religion. Perhaps most importantly, the definition suggests that the process for acquiring knowledge itself must be part of the equation. Deborah McGregor (Anishinabe) (2004, 391) states that traditional knowledge is a process of ̳coming to know‘. Widdowson and Howard (2008, 234), however, critique definitions of traditional knowledge, suggesting that they ̳include elements that are distinct from knowledge, such as values, beliefs, and practices‘.