Indigenous Epistemologies

 Keith Braveheart image source 

“There is no Lakota Word for Art. I am only doing what I was born to do.” (1) These are the words of Keith Braveheart, the artist featured above. Words that seem to highlight one of the main points of this week's author Margaret Kovach in her article “Indigenous Methodologies Characteristic, Conversations, and Contexts.” Kovach speaks on the importance of language, ritual and metaphysics in the attempt to understand indigenous methods of research and knowledge. The colonization of the Americas created a displacement from the land, language, and culture for many indigenous people. For some, like Kovach, this has created a duality of Western and indigenous culture that is difficult to untangle so by studying indigenous epistemologies Kovach hopes to better understand her Plains Cree roots. (2)

Indigenous epistemologies are like a choreographed dance between the cosmos and the people. It is important to remember that the epistemologies differ from tribe to tribe because the people, land, and language are not homogenous. Each tribe has devised their own way of listening to and caring for the universe around them and in turn the universe lays bare its knowledge. When this happens the land and people are one (holistic). Kovach reinforces this holistic ideation by stating that “[w]hat we know flows through us from the ‘echo of generations,’ and our knowledges cannot be universalized because they arise from our experience with our places...they hold our identity.” Being able to speak the language is central to understanding these frameworks as is the place itself. For many indigenous populations the connection to the land is understood through the language which cannot be separated from thought. Kovach talks about her own difficulties in understanding Plains Cree culture because she is not yet fluent in the native language. It is especially hard to disentangle herself from the Western binary culture in which she has been raised because the Plains Cree language is non-binary. (2)

Indigenous epistemologies are also steeped in both spirituality and ritual. Once again, these two ideas are intertwined holistically and cannot be separated from each other. The knowledge is gained both from the metaphysical world as well as passed down through ritual. There is a reciprocal relationship between the stewardship of the land and its ability to provide both sustenance and knowledge. Unlike Western culture, indigenous people often listen to the metaphysical manifestations of knowledge through dreams, fasts, sweats, and ceremonies.(2)

Unci’s Last Dollar, Mixed Media, 2009//Acrylic, Paper and Gold Leaf on Board, Dahl Fine Art Center Permanent Collection (image source)

When looking through Keith Braveheart’s website a common theme I encountered was this duality of culture and the conflicted emotions it has created. Braveheart speaks about the complexities of religion and the dueling nature of the heart. His grandmother is the person depicted in the painting above. Unci was her name. He tells how she would respectfully go to church, but first and foremost she spoke Lakota. She never gave up attending ceremonies and continued to be a traditional Lakota even though she attended and spoke frequently to the priest. The cross on the slot machine represents this duality. For the Lakota people a cross is often just a design but sometimes it can represent the number four. There are times when it does represent Christianity but not always. Braveheart’s art has a tendency to grab your attention with bright happy colors, but closer examination reveals a darker subtext. The very top painting in this post did not have a write up on his website, but it seems to carry the same undertones of the one below. It appears that the figures are melding with the environment around them, and they kind of resemble the hoodoo rock formations found in the desert southwest. When you look closer you see a tiny skull head. It makes you wonder what is really going on here. One is smoking a cigarette which wouldn’t be considered odd because of a common connection between indigenous people and the sacred tobacco plant, but there is also the figure drinking something that may be alcohol or may be poison. It’s like little easter eggs of Western Civilization have been added to intentionally break the holistic melding of people and environment. It’s almost as if Braveheart is illustrating how the West has disrupted but not entirely succeeded in separating his people from the land. (1)

Sources
  1.  Keith Braveheart, “Paintings Portray Modern Lakota Life With an Ironic Twist,” in Keithbraveheart.com, accessed November 4, 2021, https://www.keithbraveheart.com/blog/2018/9/21/paintings-portray-modern-lakota-life
  2. Margaret Kovach, "Epistemology and Research: Centring Tribal Knowledge," Indigenous Methodologies: Characteristics, Conversations, and Contexts (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009).