Knowledge And Traditional Knowledge

---WE ACHIEVE EXCELLENCE IN THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE, ACCORDING TO THIS TRADITION, WHEN WE FORM WITHIN OURSELVES QUALITIES LIKE WISDOM, PRUDENCE, UNDERSTANDING, INTELLECTUAL HUMILITY, LOVEOF TRUTH AND SIMILAR TRAITS---SOME BELIEFS ARE TREMENDOUSLY IMPORTANT IN SHAPING OUR LIVES AND GUIDING OUR BEHAVIOR/CHARACTER IS AT STAKE

There is not just one Indigenous culture, instead there is a mixture of current and traditional thoughts, ways and practices.

Instead, as stated by Native American philosophy, knowledge is founded upon one's experiences with the world and the places around them

Every person on this planet has a set of beliefs and values that they implement into their daily lives, helping them understand the world, humanity, and themselves. This set of beliefs and values can be called a worldview. The worldviews and ways of knowing of Indigenous Peoples (in this paper, specifically Indigenous Peoples of North America) have existed for centuries, yet often they remain in juxtaposition with Western (in this paper, specifically Eurocentric) ways of knowing and Western worldviews. One way of knowing is reliant on science, order, and the

It is clear that cultural tradition delivers set foundations into a person’s lifetime, giving identity and sense of belonging to a person and their social group. It allows individuals to feel part of something and understand their ancestral values and customs. Several people believe that it is very important to preserve cultural traditions because they feel as if tradition is the main enabler to a shared identity and to a construction of social consistency and unity. People also believe that conservancy of cultural traditions forms exclusive bonds within members of the community, holding people with the same background together to pass on cultural values, and excluding those who aren’t part of the culture. They think that the actual preservation of traditions means not to change the customs and traditions, to not grow from our culture, for example not learning another language because you already know your mother tongue. It is a way to group up and tag everyone in a form of an alliance, and to have better organization and awareness of where everyone comes from.

spirituality. Aboriginal spirituality is passed on orally by elders through myths and rituals. Without knowledge of their traditional languages, young people could not learn about the spiritual beliefs of their people. This spirituality was all encompassing, affecting not only their thoughts about the spirit world but also their knowledge of places, plants and animals and traditional skills such as fishing, trapping, and tanning (Blair et al., 2002, p. 96). As Steckley and Cummins have pointed out, without access to the elders’ knowledge of nature, young people lost access to the beliefs and practices their people had developed over thousands of years (2001, p. 17). Therefore, the loss of language led to the loss of traditional spiritual beliefs and

The Kamilaroi nation’s kinship is based a lot around totems, that link between the spiritual world, creation and the living world (“A Nations Identity Totems”, n.d; para 1). Totems are a system that looks at the community, how people work as a team, and the value of individual skill. (Totems, 2016). In a way totems provide people with a sense of belonging in relationships between a person and group. In Kamilaroi, totems allow individuals to understand their connection to the scared land. (“A nations Identity Totems, n.d; para 2)

The main features that identified the traditional society are sustenance depended on the natural environment as climate, soil, natural resources and area’s carrying capacity and their consistency in traditions. Moriori, The Dokota Sioux, and the Yir Yoront people all live with hunter-gathering life style, people live in their milieu and accepted little outer technology, idea, and belief. As an example, Yir Yoront people refused to accept canoe to their life, even though they are very well aware of it existence and its benefit. They had always based their cultural system on totem ideology that everything they owned is passed down from their ancestor and believed that their future will be an eternal continuity of present. People rather rely on

Crichton, through the the affects the different cultures have on each other, shows that having and applying knowledge preserves the existence of one’s culture.

The belief in kinship with creation is widely supported within most indigenous religions. In this way of thinking, there is more importance placed on the concept of “we” than there is on the concept of “I”. Here, the family or village is where strong emphasis lies. In many indigenous traditions, developing and maintaining a respectful relationship with spiritual energy is paramount. This concept doesn’t only apply to humans, but also, in many cases to the immediate natural environment as well. The oneness of the body and the land is vital. Many think of themselves as mere ‘caretakers’ of the earth, and nothing more, who has a duty to nurture and preserve it for future generations. Certain animals are seen as spiritual conduits, just as certain trees are seen to impart herbal healing secrets.

Folklore is a term used to describe the traditional beliefs and customs that every community had which were passed down the generations through word of mouth. Each community had their own folklores whereby they used oral traditions such us proverbs, tales and poems to ensure that everyone in the community, especially the children, knew and was aware of the customs. This helped develop a sense of pride and respect for the people’s culture since they understood why some of the cultural practices were done and the consequences of going against these practices and customs. Folklores may lack substantial evidences but people still keep faith in their beliefs due to the respect and trust they have for their ancestors who were actually believed to

Oral traditions are historical traditions passed down by word of mouth from one generation to another without written instruction. Oral tradition was used during

Cultural knowledge has an impact on the way people within the culture view the world, interact with each other and make decisions. It is a collection of values and beliefs that hold a culture together. World views are not independent from culture. Worldviews are a set of primary viewpoints concerning reality. The fundamentals of a person’s worldview include beliefs about knowledge, the existence of God,

Knowledge, as we all understand, can be general or specialized. We are able to gather knowledge about certain aspects of reality, branches of science, skills, traits and phenomena observable in nature. But there is another kind of “knowledge”, which is the sum of every subcategoric, specific knowledge. This knowledge is what we know about the “world” - how knowledgeable we are, how well can we navigate the seas of reality because of our knowledge about its currents, flows and hidden reefs.

Knowledge is defined to be facts, information, and skills acquired through experience or education. There are two categories that fall under knowledge; personal knowledge and shared knowledge. Shared knowledge refers to what “we know because.” It can also be defined as communicated and constructed knowledge; within culture, social norms, and semiotics. Personal knowledge refers to “I know because.” An expanded definition of personal knowledge refers to personal experiences, values, and perceptions. Shared knowledge changes and evolves over time because of methods that are continuously shared. It is assembled by a group of people. Personal knowledge, on the other hand, depends crucially on the experiences of a particular individual. It is gained