Grantee Research Project Results
2005 Progress Report: Iakotisa'tstentsera:wis Ne Ohontsia: Reducing Risk by Restoring Relationships
EPA Grant Number: R831044Title: Iakotisa'tstentsera:wis Ne Ohontsia: Reducing Risk by Restoring Relationships
Investigators: Arquette, Mary , Thompson, Darrell , Arquette, David , Sargent, Elvera , King, Joyce , David, Leroy
Current Investigators: Arquette, Mary , Thompson, Darrell , Arquette, David , Sargent, Elvera , King, Joyce
Institution: Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force , Akwesasne Freedom School , Akwesasne Task Force on the Environment Inc.
Current Institution: Akwesasne Task Force on the Environment Inc. , Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force
EPA Project Officer: Hahn, Intaek
Project Period: April 1, 2004 through March 31, 2007
Project Period Covered by this Report: April 1, 2005 through March 31, 2006
Project Amount: $450,000
RFA: Lifestyle and Cultural Practices of Tribal Populations and Risks from Toxic Substances in the Environment (2002) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Environmental Justice , Climate Change , Tribal Environmental Health Research , Human Health , Safer Chemicals
Objective:
The objective is to transfer expertise about environmental risk and cultural practices to teachers, students, and Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force (HETF) staff responsible for environmental management through hands-on training sessions and direct interactions.
Progress Summary:
Twenty professional development days were used to provide training to 12 teachers, 3 staff, 10 assistant teachers, and 2 environmental research scientists based at the Akwesasne Freedom School. A total of nine elders and knowledgeable community members were asked to share their knowledge with the target audience. In addition, a full-time educator provided the bulk of the day-to-day training of teachers, staff, and students. As a result of this work, more than 100 youth, teachers, teacher assistants, and environmental scientists have learned about toxic substances at the same time they have learned valuable skills associated with participating in traditional cultural practices. They now are better able to protect their health at the same time they participate in traditional cultural practices such as fishing, planting, gathering, hunting, food preservation, and the gathering and use of traditional medicines. Workshops have been completed with teachers and research scientists totally in the Mohawk language, using oral tradition and hands-on participatory response techniques to share meaning. A focus in Year 2 of the project has been the origins of traditional cultural practices, integrating historical knowledge about the natural world with impacts arising from toxic substances.
Accomplishments to date include:
- Designing intervention strategies that are based on oral tradition and that are sustainable; in essence the youth and teachers will become the trainers of others after the Science To Achieve Results (STAR) grant ends. This has empowered and strengthened the teachers and youth at the school, as well as assisted Haudenosaunee scientists in better articulating impacts to traditional cultural practices.
- Partnerships have been built with six different agencies and programs in the community of Akwesasne as more and more individuals have come to the school to share their expertise with teachers and students. In addition, partnerships with three other Mohawk communities, as well as five other Haudenosaunee Nations have been strengthened.
- Nine elders have provided hands-on training sessions identifying ways in which traditional cultural practices can be maintained and restored at the same time that exposure to toxic substances is decreased. A full-time educator provided 20 professional development days to teachers and teacher assistants, as well as day-to-day implementation of hands-on classroom based activities.
- Effective and culturally appropriate communication strategies have focused this year on transmitting knowledge through oral tradition.
- The goals and objectives of the project team were evaluated on a regular basis by all participants. Oral and written feedback, in both the Mohawk language and in English, have been obtained from participants. Working closely with teachers, we also have begun development of strategies to evaluate effectiveness of teaching methodologies used with the youth.
Future Activities:
Future activities include a continuation of participatory educational programs based on oral tradition to successfully prepare youth and community members who engage in culturally important subsistence practices to protect their health and the health of future generations. Direct interactions and hands-on participatory workshops will occur with younger ages of children. Draft curriculum will be edited and finalized. Evaluation processes will be designed to include youth. Editing of the Haudenosaunee Environmental Protection Process (HEPP) document will continue and it will be field-tested in member Nation communities.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 8 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
indigenous knowledge, traditional environmental knowledge, cultural impacts,, RFA, Health, Scientific Discipline, INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION, Waste, Health Risk Assessment, Risk Assessments, Hazardous Waste, Ecology and Ecosystems, Hazardous, outreach material, contaminant transport, contaminant dynamics, human exposure, native americans, technology transfer, human health risk, technical outreach, community support, hazardous substance contaminationProgress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.