The X̱wi7x̱wa Library (pronounced whei-wha) is a centre for academic and community Indigenous scholarship. Our collections and services reflect Aboriginal approaches to teaching, learning, and research.
The book covers groups from the sophisticated agriculturalists of the Mississippi River drainage region to the low-density hunter-gatherers of arid western North America.
The approach taken by the authors allows readers to develop accurate restoration, management, and conservation models through a thorough knowledge of native peoples' ecological history and dynamics. The writings illustrate how indigenous peoples affected environmental patterns and processes, improving crop diversity and agricultural patterns.
This book shares two related studies that explored the life histories, cultural, and ecological identities and pedagogical experiences of Indigenous, non-Indigenous, and recently arrived educators and learners from across Canada. A variety of socio-ecological concepts including bricolage, métissage, Two-Eyed Seeing, and the Third Space are employed to (re-) frame discussions of historical and contemporary understandings of interpretive and Indigenous research methodologies, Métis cultures and identities, Canadian ecological identity, intercultural science and environmental education, «wicked problems», contemporary disputes over land and natural resource management, and related activism.
Is the Sacred for Sale? looks at our present crossroads in consumer society. It analyses the big questions of tourism, clarifying how tourism can support biodiversity conservation. It also offers a cross-cultural window to the divide between corporate thinking and sacred knowledge, to help us understand why collisions over resources and land use are escalating. Finally, we have a full spectrum of information for healthy dialogue and new relationships." "This book is a profound wake up call to the business world and to decision-makers who shape current policy. It poses important questions to us all and is a must read for every tourist and traveller.
With contributions from Sámi and non-Sámi scholars from Arctic regions, this book provides new insights into our understanding of the significance and legal protection of sacred sites for Sámi of the Arctic. It examines the role of international human rights, environmental law, and longstanding customary law that uphold Arctic Indigenous peoples' rights in conservation, and their associated management systems. It also demonstrates the complex relationships between Indigenous knowledge, cultural/spiritual values and belief systems and nature conservation. The book looks forward to providing guidelines for future research and practice for improved integration of the ethical, cultural and spiritual values of nature into law, policy, planning and management. As such, this book offers a contribution to upholding the sanctity of these sites, their cultural identity and the biodiversity associated with them.
This volume tackles fundamental questions: What is "environmental protection"? What should be protected? What factors inform community goals? How does the natural and cultural history of an area inform protected area design? How can the authority and autonomy of Indigenous institutions of land and sea stewardship--and the knowledge integral to them--be respected and reinforced? In answering these questions, Indigenous and non-Indigenous contributors present a comprehensive account of one of the world's most dynamic coastal environments. In so doing, they address a multiplicity of ways in which the Cree people and their territories are deeply intertwined, the complex trans-institutional processes and policies that they navigate, and the potential of protected area creation to build upon and to support Indigenous stewardship, biological conservation, and cultural heritage.
We Are All Connected” is a series that explores how we all live together in a shared balance upon Mother Earth. We Are All Connected: The Earth, Our Home- explores biomes, ecosystems and biodiversity.
This beautiful bedtime poem, written by acclaimed Inuit throat singer Celina Kalluk, describes the gifts given to a newborn baby by all the animals of the Arctic. Lyrically and tenderly told by a mother speaking to her own little "Kulu," an Inuktitut term of endearment often bestowed upon babies and young children, this visually stunning book is infused with the traditional Inuit values of love and respect for the land and its animal inhabitants.
This is the story of a determined Ojibwe Grandmother (Nokomis) Josephine Mandamin and her great love for Nibi (Water). Nokomis walks to raise awareness of our need to protect Nibi for future generations, and for all life on the planet. She, along with other women, men, and youth, have walked around all of the Great Lakes from the four salt waters - or oceans - all the way to Lake Superior. The water walks are full of challenges, and by her example Josephine inspires and challenges us all to take up our responsibility to protect our water and our planet for all generations. Her story is a wonderful way to talk with children about the efforts that the Ojibwe and many other Indigenous peoples give to the protection of water - the giver of life