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Tapestry's Programs Compared to Others |
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Many people want to learn to relate to the Land in ancient ways they can feel in their bones but no longer remember. Opportunities to learn authentic ways of reconnecting to and understanding the Land exist but differ widely. Here is a comparison of those ways. The information is presented both descriptively and in a table.
Comparison Table: Ways of Learning About the Land and/or Learning How to Reconnect to It
Notes: (1) This information is biased towards opportunities available in the United States because that's what we're most familiar with. (2) The symbol "--" in a box means the question in the column heading does not apply to that particular way of learning.
Way to learn how to reconnect to the Land |
Is it in Indigenous worldview? |
Is there support for people making a transition to Indigenous worldview? |
Is the wisdom reasonably reliable? |
Is the way reasonably accessible? |
|
yes, tribal |
yes |
yes |
yes for tribal youth |
|
yes, tribal |
varies |
yes |
varies |
|
no |
-- |
no |
yes+ |
|
yes |
no |
yes |
yes |
|
no |
-- |
no |
yes+ |
|
no |
-- |
-- |
varies |
|
no |
-- |
-- |
yes |
|
yes |
no |
yes |
yes |
|
yes |
yes |
yes |
varies |
Tribal colleges of North America
Worldview: Tribal colleges are structured within Indigenous worldview, which allows them to educate Native youth with a much higher success rate than that of non-tribal (state and private) colleges. The worldview is annotated on the table (above) as "tribal" to indicate that these colleges focus on culturally-based approaches to the Land and learning, which is appropriate because they serve and are supported by specific tribes.
Support: Tribal colleges offer support to both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students, to help them reorient themselves within Indigenous (specifically tribal) worldview.
Reliability: Although tribal college faculty members are of highly varied backgrounds, many are Indigenous people and there is an increasing emphasis on making sure that land-based curricula use local tribal Elders to help structure course content and approach.
Accessibility: Tribal colleges focus on educating tribal youth because that is their specific (and critically important!) mandate. Their programs are not usually as easily accessible to non-college students and non-tribal persons as they are to tribal youth.
Additional Comments: Tapestry focuses on helping people learn the basic wisdom of reconnecting to the Land, but tribal colleges are able to transmit detailed knowledge about relating to a specific Place in specific Ways. We urge the public to support Tribal colleges as vitally important to everyone, regardless of race or culture.
Tribal Elders in North America and elsewhere
Worldview: Tribal Elders usually teach their own tribal ways and rituals within Indigenous worldview, and learning of and from the Land comes as a part of this process.
Support: Different Elders offer varying levels of support to help people orient themselves within Indigenous (specifically tribal) worldview.
Reliability: Tribal Elders are the carriers of tribal wisdom, so they are very highly reliable. [However, sometimes persons who are not tribal Elders represent themselves as such; these people are not reliable. See "shamans".]
Accessibility: It's often difficult to find out about the opportunites for learning available through tribal Elders. If an "Elder" advertises widely enough to make you aware of such opportunities, there's a good chance the person is fraudulent [see "shamans"]. Also, not every Elder is willing to teach, and the many non-Indigenous people who "want to study with an Indian medicine man" make them even less willing. Many Elders who are willing to teach do so through or in conjunction with tribal colleges.
Additional Comments: (1) Elders teach culturally-specific (emplaced) ways of reconnecting to the Land, so sometimes non-Indigenous people wind up wanting to "become" Lakota or Cherokee, or whatever the culture is of the Elder who taught them. This can have awkward consequences. (2) Elders are treasures, and Indigenous people worldwide are trying to find respectful and appropriate ways to preserve their wisdom for future generations.
"Shamans"
Worldview: Some people called "shamans" by others are authentic, but Indigenous people generally do not refer to themselves as "shamans". Most people who refer to themselves as shamans are people from contemporary modern culture who have learned some "facts" about Indigenous peoples and ways, and mistakenly believe they understand and can teach Indigenous wisdom. They also sometimes say they have been made a "pipe carrier" or have been given some other title of authority. These people do not live or work out of Indigenous worldview, even when they are well-intentioned. Too often, however, their intentions are primarily about making a lot of money.
Support: "Shamans" are often confused to begin with, and many of their programs do not offer adequate support to people who are thrown into often unsuitable situations (that are still not in Indigenous worldview).
Reliability: The reliability of the wisdom offered by people who call themselves by titles such as shaman or pipe carrier ranges from marginal to fraudulent, depending on the person and program.
Accessibility: Shamans advertise widely, so they are very highly and easily accessible. They can't make money otherwise.
Additional Comments: There are authentic Indigenous Shamans. The term refers to the Indigenous "medicine people" of Siberia. The term has also come to be used to refer to authentic Indigenous "medicine people" of other cultures, which is part of what makes use of the term "shaman" so confusing. The description of "shamans" above refers to those non-Siberian persons who refer to themselves with the term in their publicity.
Indigenous Authors
Worldview: Indigenous authors include people such as Vine Deloria, Jr., N. Scott Momaday, Linda Hogan, and Leslie Marmon Silko. Their works are often novels and poetry, for wisdom is shared through Story in Indigenous culture as often or more often than it is through "rhetoric" (such as this webpage). Indigenous artists, playwrights, and filmmakers also share Indigenous worldview through Story, and because Indigenous worldview is Earth-Centered, these Stories almost always transmit the Land's voice and wisdom in important ways.
Support: It is not, of course, possible for an individual author to provide personal support to the non-Indigenous person trying to make a worldview shift as he or she reads the author's work. Some non-Indigenous people say they have trouble internalizing the wisdom they sense in the writings of Indigenous authors. In part, it seems this is because they have trouble making the worldview shift and are trying to understand the Story from within contemporary modern worldview.
Reliability: Indigenous authors who write out of Indigenous worldview are highly reliable.
Accessibility: It is usually easier to find books by Indigenous authors than it is to find opportunities to learn from an Elder. Many bookstores stock such work only as "Native Studies" or "Regional" books, however, which reduces their visibility to the mainstream public.
Additional Comments: Indigenous authors, filmmakers, artists, and poets are extremely important and need the support of book orders and DVD sales to make sure their voices matter to the media industry.
"Shaman" Authors
Worldview: "Shaman authors" refers, here, to people who call themselves shamans, pipe carriers, or other titles of authority, and who make a living by teaching what they claim is Indigenous wisdom. The worldview presented in and by the books of such authors is not Indigenous. Support, Reliability, and Accessibility issues are the same as for "shamans," and they are usually the same individuals with the same information in both their writings and workshops.
Land-Based Learning
Worldview: Land-Based Learning is a popular new type of educational program that integrates agricultural science, sustainability, land management, society, and politics. These important programs are structured within and taught from contemporary modern worldview.
Support: not applicable (Learners do not need to shift worldview, so support is not necessary.)
Reliability: not applicable (These programs do not purport to teach Indigenous worldview, so their reliability in doing so is irrelevant.)
Accessibility: Accessibility is comparable to that of tribal college programs in terms of age and time investment (they are geared primarily to youth), but it is different in that they are also geared toward members of the dominant culture and so available to a larger population.
Additional Comments: Land-Based Learning programs are an important and positive development.
Environmental Education
Worldview: High-quality environmental education programs and media materials are offered by state and private universities, museums and other institutions, and by organizations from Sierra Club to the Audubon Society. These important programs are structured and delivered within contemporary modern worldview.
Support: not applicable (Learners do not need to shift worldview, so support is not necessary.)
Reliability: not applicable (These programs do not purport to teach Indigenous worldview, so their reliability in doing so is irrelevant.)
Accessibility: These programs are designed to be highly accessible to the general public.
Additional Comments: The Environmental education programs of public institutions and organizations are vitally important to the public's burgeoning understanding of the environmental crises currently facing us all.
The Land
Worldview: The Land teaches people, itself. It touches anyone who hikes, gardens, or even drives through beautiful scenery, although some people are more open to it than others are. One could argue that the Land operates out of Indigenous worldview, but it would be more appropriate to say that Indigenous worldview arises from the Land itself, to begin with. If one listens to the Land well and deeply, one begins to learn Indigenous worldview because that's where it comes from.
Support: People of contemporary modern culture do not understand the Land very well when it reaches out to them, nor do they know how to respond to it. In other times and places, people passed down the traditions and ways that helped youth learn how to understand and respond to the land appropriately as they grew up. Today, the only places we know of to get this type of learning support are: tribal colleges, tribal Elders, Indigenous authors, and Tapestry.
Reliability: What the Land teaches people about itself is, obviously, highly reliable! The caveat is that people of contemporary culture sometimes don't know how to interpret the Land and therefore misunderstand it. So an untrained person must be cautious and use discernment in assessing information from the Land.
Accessibility: At least in most areas, the Land is highly accessible. There are some urban areas where layers of human-made debris extend many feet down beneath the surface, however, and in such places it may be important to find trees and other living organisms that are in direct contact with the Land itself in order to access its wisdom.
Additional Comments: (1) Learning from the Land happens most readily in silence and solitude. Though the land reaches out to people, most of them today need to be taught how to understand what they sense. It is our experience that many people are looking for someone to tell their experiences to so they can learn in this way, but that "shamans" are often the only resource they can find. We have learned that some people also try to figure out the ancient wisdom by themselves, but this is nearly impossible to do from within Western worldview. (2) "Open space" and "wild areas" are more important than many non-Indigenous people are willing to acknowledge, although there is increasing mention of the "spiritual importance" of land in public documents.
Tapestry
Worldview: Tapestry provides a learning environment for the general public that is within Indigenous worldview. Tribal colleges and Elders also teach within Indigenous worldview but their programs are sometimes not very accessible to the general public.
Support: We facilitate entry into, and exit
from, "Indigenous worldview space" so visitors unfamiliar with Indigenous worldview can get the most meaning possible from the experiences
they have in our programs and events. This is not easy for us or for our visitors, because powerful things require effort. We therefore urge anyone thinking of working with us to read our page of suggestions on how to make the most of your experience when you visit.
Reliability: The wisdom gained through our programs is reliable because it comes from either the Land itself or from Elders and other reliable Indigenous persons who are invited to present programs or teach workshops.
Accessibility: We work hard to increase our accessibility. (1) We are 70 miles northeast of Santa Fe and 50 miles south of Taos (New Mexico), on a state highway. (2) We offer a variety of programs and events, of different lengths and levels of committment. (3) We have begun webcasting some of our events.
Additional Comments:
(1) Our focus is on the Land itself, rather than on any one particular culture. We do not teach culture, in and of itself. In part, this is to prevent the sort of confusion that causes non-Indigenous people to "want to become" Indian. Culture provides a way of hearing the Land, and people tend to confuse the way they hear (culture) with what they hear: the voice of the Land itself. Instead of teaching culture, we help visitors begin to see how to integrate what they learn into their own lives and value systems, so they can begin to construct their own, authentic understanding of and response to the Land. Another reason we do not teach culture is that we are pan-tribal, welcoming team members, board members, staff, Elders, and visitors from Indigenous cultures around the world. Each Indigenous person's ways are respected and welcomed, but none is privileged over the others as "more right".
(2) We do not teach "about" the Land. We "teach" by creating a space in which people can learn from the Land for themselves, and we provide the support and resources they need to make sense of and respond to what they learn. This kind of learning system is both traditional Indigenous and also cutting-edge contemporary education theory.
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More Information about How We Work
 Learning in Community
The Wisdom of the Land
Indigenous Worldview in Our Programs
Helpful Comparisons to Others' Programs
When You Visit
Why Indigenous Worldview
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