Insights on First Nations Humanities

• Published in: The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education
• Main Author: James (Sákéj) Youngblood Henderson
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit, The University of Queensland 2005
• Subjects: Special aspects of education; LC8-6691; First Nations
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1326011100004063; https://doaj.org/article/26e5e180f5ce402e94ca2a011f8e0da1

Abstract The question of what is humanity and how it is expressed has endless and dynamic answers. My paper is an attempt to construct and explain the answer based on the insights Indigenous humanity expressed in the continent called North America. The four fundamental insights are organised around the concept of creation as ecology, the insights of embodied spirits, the implicate order, and transformation. These complementary insights inform the depth of Indigenous worldview. These insights are replicated and revealed in structure and meaning of Indigenous languages, ceremonies and stories. These cognitive insights suggest a starting point for reflecting about whatever is most significant in Indigenous humanities in curriculum.