The Way of the Elders'

                                                             The Way of the Elders’

 Ma'iingan Ryan Bajan, First Nations Consultants

Books, websites, articles, even videos may convey information. We have the ability to develop some kind of understanding and awareness about a topic through study. Yet, when we talk about knowledge as it pertains to the Anishinaabe culture as a whole, this is not the way learning takes place. An education standard, a textbook, these mediums cannot animate the spirit of a teaching. In many cases, it’d be better if we didn’t use these as an option for “learning.” 

A culture should have a right to the way it shares its knowledge and traditions. As a teenager I lacked a teacher for quite some time. I listened to tapes, a meager representation, of drum music trying to learn powwow songs on my drum. Yet it would be nearly 10 years before I realized that the teachings I sought were actually owned by a group of people. I was welcomed in, and hours, days, years later I was able to grasp what was at the heart of these traditions. 

Elders are a foreign concept to Americans. We have the trend of locking ours away, sending them to nursing homes and retirement facilities. It is spending your entire life finding a gold mine then burying it deep away so no one benefits from its riches. Within many Indigenous communities, Elders are the backbone, the brain, and the educators. They create policy, they approve decisions, they teach lifelong honed traditions to the youth. Mastery of a skill or teaching can really only come by affirmation or sharing by an Elder. 

It is a polar opposite method of learning compared with classroom or static instruction. With elders, we learn by observation, listening, and the “experience.” Notes are not passed, videos are not watched. One is not entertained with fabulous instructional techniques or rewarded for paying attention. Schedules are not kept, time is not regarded. It is an exchange, gift for gift, as we recognize the teaching and person as something to be honored. 

Traditional things are unique. It would be impossible to create a list of what is traditional, yet it could be regarded as information that comes from the traditional life or ways of a certain people group or culture. When learning takes place with an elder, the learner is recognized as on their own path independent of others and yet benefiting in relationship to others. There is an established set of values that are imposed in the teaching. These are known as the Grandfather Teachings. Fourth Hill Elders embody these teachings when they share. 

An hour with an elder is transformational. There is no surface-level speak, no shallow end, there is only depth and authentic interaction. As I have stated, a culture should have a right to the way it shares its knowledge and traditions. In most cases, the elders establish this way. This process is an essential understanding as it has to do with the way people are empowered with knowledge. Sure, knowledge and teachings are constantly being stolen or borrowed and attempted to be used. One cannot be self-empowered in traditional knowledge. More specifically, if the culture is not one’s heritage, there should be significant caution in the attempt. I would say there should not be an attempt, without that empowerment and oversight. 

Entering the community of a sovereign nation and seeking the teachings of an elder is not an easy task due to how foreign it is to the American worldview. The concept of “me” or “mine” does not exist. Possessions are never owned. Even knowledge is not owned, rather we are empowered to do certain things for a time. That power dictates generosity, sharing. An exchange takes place, where the receiver of the teachings gives a token of their gratitude to the spirit of the teaching. This isn’t a metaphysical concept, rather the intentional appreciation of what will be shared, which could be different than what the receiver desired to learn. We are limited, we think we know what we need to know and we can put that knowledge on paper. Knowledge in the traditional, pre-colonized sense, is not systematic or structured. It encompasses an awareness and a harmony, a co-relationship with a natural world. 

Before one begins inputting Indigenous teachings, knowledge, and history in a classroom or workplace, first identify the intention. Identify if the heart grasps the values that cultivated such a thing, the honor it must be paid, the humility that must be possessed. Misappropriation comes from a heart of ignorance, arrogance, and the desire to appeal to the concept of “me” rather than “other.”