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Biomedical Engineering: Indigenous Engineering & Resources

Indigenous Engineering Resources

Engineering students and faculty at the University of Waterloo are increasingly asking for support and guidance in developing research strategies and skills to locate sources by Indigenous scholars and about Indigenous knowledge within their fields. Engineering librarians are available for consultations to explore your research questions with you, work with you to locate additional sources and approaches to finding answers, but we are clear that we are not Indigenous, and are missing important context, information, and backgrounds to fully support people in this type of learning. The faculty of Engineering's Elder-in-residence is William Woodworth, and he is an invaluable person to ask for support in your learning and information seeking needs. The IPCA Knowledge Basket also provides a really helpful Toolkit as a starting point for working respectfully. 

The University of Waterloo's Library recognizes that library systems are built on colonial frameworks that historically do not represent Indigenous peoples which contributes to harm. The information provided on this guide was to provide links to Indigenous-engineering relevant resources, and represents a start in decolonizing the approach to information that is colonial in mindset. I encourage you to look at the Indigenous Engineering guide, the Indigenous Research guide, and to examine when, how, and why we make the decisions we make about the information that guides learning and education in Engineering. I also strongly suggest looking to the Office of Indigenous Relations and the Indigenous Research team.

Suggested Reading

These sources are not fully encompassing, and do not reflect many Ways of Knowing, or many non-academic ways of sharing information and knowledges. It is important to be specifically aware that when sharing Indigenous Knowledges, the Indigenous Knowledge Policy Framework clearly defines that Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their own knowledges - "Nothing for us, without us".
 
The sources below were compiled from different people, situations, and contexts and are not meant to be fully representative, but rather provide a place to start. We would specifically like to thank Randy Hermann for his sharing of resources. 
 

Indigenous Research Methodologies

Dr. Shawn Wilson asserts, "Indigenous research methodology means talking about relational accountability. As a researcher you are answering to all your relations when you are doing research.” (From What is an Indigenous Research Methodology? In Canadian Journal of Native Education, 2001, p. 177).

“If Coyote with mismatched eyes had spent time with the Sto’:lo and Coast Salish Elders, he would have learned that to see clearly from the eye of the oral tradition, he needed to understand the cultural ways that stories were told and taught to children, that storytellers not only learned stories from master storytellers but also by being connected to land, that stories can become a teacher, and that we can live life through stories.” ~ Jo-ann Archibald Q'um Q'um Xiiem, Indigenous Storywork

“Know the ways of the ones who take care of you, so that you may take care of them.
Introduce yourself. Be accountable as the one who comes asking for life. Ask permission before taking. Abide by the answer.
Never take the first. Never take the last. Take only what you need.
Take only that which is given.
Never take more than half. Leave some for others. Harvest in a way that minimizes harm.
Use it respectfully. Never waste what you have taken. Share.
Give thanks for what you have been given.
Give a gift, in reciprocity for what you have taken.
Sustain the ones who sustain you and the earth will last forever.”
~ Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass