LING 355 - Linguistics

LING 355: INDIGENOUS PLANT KNOWLEDGE FROM THE LANDS
3 CREDITS

Does humanity have the necessary wisdom to live more sustainably and with greater sensitivity towards our plants and medicines? Our ancient teachers say that for every sickness there is a medicine out there to heal us. Our Ina Maka, Mother Earth, is undergoing systemic global ecological collapse brought on by human civilization. In turn, ecological collapse is causing significant socio-economic harm to human civilization, including harvesting plants, sustaining our medicines and herbs, recognition of plants, Indigenous names of plants, and indigenous ways of knowing to prepare these medicines. Indigenous knowledge refers to long-standing information, wisdom, traditions and practices of peoples or local communities present for long times predating historic intercontinental colonization. Plant Knowledge refers to identifying plants and learning to care for them, and how to use them in a systematic way. Traditional knowledge of biodiversity concerns the names, uses, and management of plants by our indigenous people. Students are introduced to indigenous knowledge of plants and their traditional uses in maintaining the health of indigenous people. These uses may include medicines, foods and teas. We examine traditional health models used among Indigenous people and explore the bridging of traditional and modern medical systems. Contemporary issues around plant uses are examined, including existing intellectual property frameworks involving Indigenous knowledge.