Gregory Cajete stands in front of a classroom full of University of New Mexico students enrolled in a graduate seminar on Indigenous nations and sustainable communities. Cajete is teaching these students about having a relationship with, and responsibility for, the environment. This way of knowing is called Native Science, and it is part of a body of evolving Indigenous knowledge based on generations of learning and direct contact with nature.
A Tewa Indian from Santa Clara Pueblo and professor emeritus at the university, Cajete is one of an increasing number of Indigenous educators helping to change how college students learn about the environment and their connection to it. These educators are not trying to turn students away from Western science, but rather teach them to use this body of knowledge, also known as Traditional Ecological Knowledge, in tandem with it.
Cajete says the movement to incorporate Indigenous knowledge into science education and change how students learn about and interact with the environment is growing. Teaching students to care for nature is especially important now, these educators say, because today’s students will be the ones working to address climate change in the future.
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