Grantee Research Project Results
Final 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
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 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:
In 2004, the Akwesasne Task Force on the Environment, Inc. (ATFE, Inc.) received funding from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Science to Achieve Results Program to begin a three year project entitled Iakoti’satstenhserá:wis ne Ohwéntsia (literal translation “they provide strength to the earth”) to work with teachers at the Akwesasne Freedom School (AFS) and environmental staff in the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations) Confederacy to develop intervention materials and educational programs that 1) promote traditional cultural and subsistence practices; 2) identify culturally sensitive strategies to decrease health risk associated with exposure to persistent toxic substances; and 3) restore healthy relationships with the natural world. When Haudenosaunee children engage in traditional cultural practices such as gardening, hunting, fishing and berry picking, they have the potential to be exposed to low level, chronic bioaccumulative toxicants such as PCBs. To protect community health, the Iakoti’satstenhserá:wis ne Ohwéntsia Project worked to transfer expertise about environmental risk and cultural practices to teachers and students at the AFS through teacher training and during in-class workshops with students, while they were actually engaged in subsistence practices.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
Funding provided by the EPA provided a unique opportunity to transfer a tremendous body of knowledge about language, culture, and skills needed to maintain healthy relationships between people and the earth to a new generation of Mohawk students. From July 2004 until March 30, 2008, ATFE, Inc. staff worked to find ways to maintain, support and restore traditional cultural practices and prepare youth who engage in culturally important subsistence practices to protect their health and the health of future generations. Twenty professional development days per year were provided for each of the three years of the project. ATFE, Inc. and AFS staff offered training to 12 teachers, 3 staff, 10 assistant teachers and 2 environmental research scientists. A total of nine elders and knowledgeable community members were asked to share their knowledge with the target audience. In addition, a full time cultural 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 Mohawk language and skills associated with traditional cultural practices. They are now better able to protect their health at the same time they participate in traditional cultural practices such has 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. In addition, a library of resources related to this work have been created including posters, books, pictures and charts written in the Mohawk language that will be shared with other immersion schools and educational programs throughout the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.
All goals and objectives of this grant have been met:
1. Intervention strategies based on oral tradition in the Native language have been designed (see bibliography of resources).
2. Intervention strategies are sustainable if, and only if, remediation and restoration of the injured natural resources continues to progress and provided that the AFS is able to locate continued sources of funding to support elders and cultural educators in the future. Youth and teachers have acquired some skills and knowledge about traditional cultural practices impacted by contaminants. As a result, they have been empowered and are better able to understand and articulate impacts to these cultural practices. However, because the language and skill required to practice these cultural traditions is extensive, the ongoing support of elders and knowledge holders continues to be required to teach and sustain these practices.
3. Partnerships have been built between 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, stronger partnerships have been strengthened with three other Mohawk communities and five other Haudenosaunee Nations.
4. Relationships with elders and knowledge-holders in the community of Akwesanse have been strengthened. Elders and scientists 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.
5. Communication strategies used in this project have been effective and culturally appropriate knowledge has been shared primarily through oral tradition, exclusively in the Mohawk language. Student evaluation has shown that skills and language have been transferred to the upcoming generations. However, repetition is essential to maintain both skills and language.
6. The goals and objectives of the project team were evaluated on a regular basis by all participants, ranging in age from young children to elders who hold expertise in traditional cultural practices. Oral and written feedback in both the Mohawk language and in English, have been obtained from participants. In addition, by working closely with teachers, we have begun to develop strategies to evaluate effectiveness of teaching methodologies used with the youth. Oral presentations by youth, as well as sharing skills through teaching younger students, proved to be an effective evaluation strategy at the school.
Conclusions:
Cultural revitalization associated with environmental restoration is often a neglected but critical element of risk based work that needs to be done in Native communities. Provisions of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) have named First Nations/American-Indian Tribes as natural resources trustees. In addition to providing for remediation, CERCLA states that natural resources trustees can recover for natural resource damages caused by the release of hazardous substances. Trustees can seek costs associated with restoring the natural environment to the condition that existed prior to the injury and can seek compensation for the loss or reduction of the use of the resource from the time of the initial injury until restoration is completed. Research done in the Mohawk community of Akwesasne, like many Native Nations, has focused on injuries to human health and the environment. Prior to this work, little time and few resources have been devoted to language-based, culturally-sensitive risk communication and promotion of cultural practices as part of the restoration process. The "Iakotisa’tstentsera:wis Ne Ohontsia ̶ Reducing Risk by Restoring Relationships” project has allowed community based cultural and environmental experts in Akwesasne to work for three years at the cutting edge of research focused on community education, empowerment, restoration and healing. Elders, environmental technicians, teachers and youth have been empowered to understand risk issues and take action to protect their health while simultaneously engaging in subsistence practices. This work, however, is only just in its infancy since cultural practices cannot fully recover until the contaminated resources used for subsistence and cultural practices are healthy, sustainable and thriving at levels similar to those found prior to release of toxic substances. In addition, the impacted community must be confident that the resources are healthy and safe to eat. Research focused on restoration must be supported so that the language, knowledge and skills associated with traditional cultural practices in Native communities can be reintegrated into daily life and continued for generations to come.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 8 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
Aboriginal, American Indian, community support, contaminant dynamics, contaminant transport, cultural impacts, raditional ecological knowledge, technology transfer, ecology and ecosystems, hazardous substance contamination, hazardous waste, hazardous, Health Risk Assessment, human exposure, human health risk, Indigenous knowledge, international cooperation, Mohawk, Native Americans, native, outreach material, RFA, risk assessments, scientific discipline, superfund, technical outreach, traditional environmental knowledge, waste, health
, 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 contamination
Relevant Websites:
Progress 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.