From Kingston to Johannesburg - A Letter from the Editor Page 1 of 3

The Words, The words...

Robert Lovelace, Four Directions Aboriginal Centre

Robert Lovelace is a member of the Ardoch Algonquin First

Nation and the Manager of the Four Directions Aboriginal
Student Centre. Mr. Lovelace has been involved in Native
politics for over twenty years and has an abiding interest in
preserving the fundamental values of Aboriginal culture. At
"Four Directions" Mr. Lovelace provides personal counselling
and is responsible for program develop-ment. He also teaches
Aboriginal focused courses in Geography and Development
Studies at Queen's. Recently, Mr. Lovelace presented at the
Shepard Family Lecture (Trent University) and at the People
and the Planet Conference (Queen's).

Recently I was checking a translation of a short phrase written both in English and Algonquin. The
phrase was the recognition that the rights of the holder of a certain certificate, as an Aboriginal
person, were protected by Section 35 of the Canadian Constitution Act, 1982. While the
translation succeeded in both languages in as-serting the intended fact, I was once again struck
by the variance in the actual meaning and spirit, which the two languages convey. In English, the
statement could be expressed as a simple statement of the law. Any condi-tions beyond being the
person referred to in the certificate did not exist. On the other hand in Algonquin there were subtle
and not so subtle conditions of birthright, social and public recognition and self-identification in
rela-tion to the identity issue. As the idea of "rights" does not exist in Algonquin epistemology this
idea must be per-sonified as well. The idea in English of "protected by" can only be translated as
"sheltered within", once again putting the emphasis on the subject rather than the object.

For some time now I have been considering why the Elders in my community know so much more
than my col-leagues in academia. Lila Steele who lived over 100 years in a house not far from
where she was raised as a child knew more about plants and their uses than anyone I have ever
met. Lila practised medicine without a li-cense and never charged for her services. She combined
the innate knowledge of "life giver" and "care giver" with the learned cornucopia of
pharmaceuticals at her fingertips. Lila, and men and women like her, not only saved the Algonquin
people from extinction but they also "doctored" the settlers to prosperity. Lila saw her in-sights and
abilities as gifts. She could not conceive of them as a professional's advantage or even as
something she had earned.

Fred Antoine taught me how to prepare a hide for tanning. For every moment that Fred spoke in
his lifetime there were thousands of moments of silence. When Fred taught me how to flesh a hide
and break the grain he no longer hunted himself. He could have, but he had chosen no longer to
take life. Fred showed me how to control the natural process of putrification by swamping the hide.
We would then clean the hair and fat and by cross graining the outer skin make it supple instead
of rawhide. Washing and ringing, washing and ringing ac-companied by all the sweating and
grunting and finally it would be ready for smoking. All in all, it would be sev-eral days of pretty hard
work to do up three or four hides for the smokehouse. When they were done they were a light

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From Kingston to Johannesburg - A Letter from the Editor Page 2 of 3

yellow-tan and we ran our hands over them like they were still living. No one smoke tans hide in
our com-munity any longer. The knowledge is still there but at the end of this generation it will be
gone; gone to school, gone to university, gone to work in the city, gone. This will not be like Fred's
silence, abundant with the wisdom and knowledge of the daydream but the silence of extinction. It
will be the extinction of a practice that passed down from men like Fred to the boys who hung
around his workshop for the last thirty thousand years.

Western science is trustworthy and the technologies that it informs are dynamic. Cradled in the
ideology of prog-ress Western science has become the dominant school. There seems to be both
in theory and practice a belief that no matter how fallible a process or outcome Western science
can respond, clean it up and move civilisation ever further. In fact, in the modern mind Western
science and civilisation are synonymous, as inseparable as law and the nation state, economy
and wealth. Together these form an objective universe and are expressed in languages that place
the emphasis on the object rather that the verb and subject. The sheer weight and dyna-mism of
Western science and its dependence on object based languages is annihilating the diversity of
this earth. For the sake of fuelling trend markets, moving producers and consumers to make and
meet their desires, medicating those who are sickened by it, Western science has wedded the
Windigo. They feed together on themselves and at the fringes on the unique multiplicity of
indigenous knowledge and resources.

Beyond the criminality of consuming the earth and the variety of human experience, the Windigo
and Western science are laying waste to the very languages that could offer an alternative to the
progressive destruction of the environment. In a word, the language of Western science is lifeless,
form without spirit, purpose without per-ception, elements on the periodic chart governed by the
laws of physics. The Algonquin scientist must speak of the world in a much different way. Ours is
an intimate language, tending toward humour and capable of ex-pressing complex ideas with little
effort. Our language is gender neutral; that is, there is no way to show prefer-ence or delineate
superiority between male and female community members. Objects can not be gendered. While
words like "ogima" indicate leadership there are no words, which describe or form an
understanding of hierarchical structures. Each person has the capacity for possessing valued
insight. It is common for there to be separate and distinct words (subject/predicates) which
describe the nuances or stages of a particular thing as in, a spotted faun, a fawn with out spots, a
doe in puberty, a doe at first breeding, a mature doe. In this regard there are over 150 distinct
words that describe water conditions. Unlike Western languages, Algonquin is verb based. This
means that most words are subject/predicate or in other words what is, is doing something to be
what it is. The language seems to recognise and be in tune with the "hum" of the universe.

Of particular interest to scientific inquiry is that our language recognises the intrinsic life force in all
things. In Al-gonquin, stones, water, air, plants, trees, animals, fish, birds and even tea pots are
seen as living beings. This language system enables an innate communion with the ecosystem.
To be animate enables one to be con-nected in a circle of reference with all things and again
connected to the spiral of existence. This way of thinking presents an Algonquin Scientist with
some difficult problems when attempting to translate Algonquin knowledge into western
methodologies. For an Algonquin Scientist to create models such as those used by Western
Scien-tists seems simplistic and even ridiculous. Algonquin Scientists must instead turn their
minds to observations of what is real, to lifelong knowings, to the intrinsic and often spiritual
connectedness within the environment. An Algonquin Scientist can not restrict knowledge to event
or situational phenomenon. For the Algonquin Scientist research is not an occupation or speciality
to be utilised topically but is rather a lifelong vocation of knowing and recognising one's place in
the universe. This knowledge is rooted in place and is shared freely from generation to generation.

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In the Western study of ecology there are several fundamental problems which are highlighted by
an application of Algonquin language. First there is the problem of researchers not being
connected to their subjects of study. Crudely stated, western researchers tend to be scientific
nomads, periodically applying the dogma of their disci-pline and limited to a redundancy of
observations prescribed by static modelling. Most of their research is ap-plied after degradation
has already occurred. Secondly, Western methodologies are approved and accepted only when
sanctioned by elite hierarchies and seldom by individual insight and observation. Altruistic values
and provocative inquiry may profoundly motivate an individual scientist but the scientific collective
is controlled by and for reputation and power. In short, western researchers have more of an
investment in theorising models than in actually implementing sound systems of managing human
behaviour within environments, which we all depend on for the survival of this planet. Thirdly,
Western researchers work within an adversarial environment where economics often win out over
protection and restoration of fragile ecosystems. Western epistemology is founded on comparing
and weighting opposition rather than understanding and achieving compliment. When applied to
environmental issues this system simply renders winners and losers defined primarily by the
success of one's clients. What is good for the shareholders is more tangible than what is good for
the next generation. An Ecosystem approach can not be served in an adversarial or competitive
system.

There was a time when the Western Scientist was inclined to learn Latin and possibly Greek. This
was done so that the "classic" fundamentals of Western Science would always form the central
core of knowledge. Anishna-bek refer to a "dish" which is shared, a metaphor for a shared
epistemology or a metaphor for an understanding of the indelible relationships in the web of life.
For certain, Scientists will not be flocking to learn Algonquin or any other indigenous language. My
hope is that in knowing that there is a difference and how valuable that dif-ference is Scientists
and people in general will reconsider the extermination of the world's indigenous people. If we
survive, we will be the scientists of the future. Like the old people Lila and Fred, what they knew
was valu-able but "how" they knew it was beyond value. It was their gift from the creator.

http://www.queensu.ca/snid/joburg/robertlovelace.htm 9/11/2006