Waldorf in Indigenous Spaces

Teaching Waldorf Teachers in Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Appreciation

by Joaquin Muñoz

For two weeks in August, I was blessed and honored with the opportunity to work with an amazing group of educators in Toronto, Canada. The instructors, all members of the Haudenosaunee Nation and teachers at the Everlasting Tree School in Oshweken, Ontario, shared their understanding and experience of using Waldorf education to work with the children of the Six Nations Reserve.

Along with direct training and professional development, I was able to sit with each of these educators and chat about their pedagogy and practice. I was also able to visit the school and chat with students and parents about their experience of the school. In this article, I reflect on the experience of working with these Indigenous educators, and their work in the field of Waldorf-inspired education.

There were many interesting and powerful themes that arose during the workshops provided to us. Among the main components of our learning this summer were notions of resilience, of gratitude, and of approaching Indigenous communities to develop relationships and learning. I have written extensively about the week spent at the Rudolf Steiner Center of Toronto (see links at end) and catalogued many of the activities and discussions engaged there. I will briefly chronical some of the main discussions, and consider future endeavors in the field of indigenous education and Waldorf initiatives.

Historic Trauma, Historic Resilience

Sean Thompson, a teacher at the Everlasting Tree School provided a powerful insight on notions of intergenerational trauma, a topic that came up frequently during our week. The impact was clearly evident in the faces of the thirty teachers who participated when he noted that “if there is a thing like ‘intergenerational trauma’ then there must also be something like ‘intergenerational resilience.’” We can work in our schools to help overcome the legacy of historic trauma by considering the ways it impacts all people, not just Indigenous folks. In this consideration, we may come to see that we can be helpful to students by incorporating and considering Indigenous knowledge, language and culture as methods to support the strength and well-being of peoples.

In so doing, we can help students persevere in the face of trauma, aggression and oppression and to succeed in the fulfillment of their own potential and special gifts. By utilizing techniques and knowledge of Indigenous peoples, we can live into practices that connect people to themselves, and to their culture, in order to develop into their fullest manifestation of themselves.

This practice is not only useful for Indigenous youth, or youth of color; sharing this knowledge and practice is a useful tool for students of European descent, as means to develop a deeper understanding of the history of the people around them. In this way, all can contribute to the well-being of everyone else.

Cultural Appropriation vs. Appreciation

A question that arises in the incorporation of Indigenous learning and knowledge in the classroom was the question of cultural appropriation versus cultural appreciation. The concept has been used and described in so many different ways. A simple definition of cultural appropriation would be one Maisha Z. Johnson uses, where she notes that cultural appropriation looks like “taking from a marginalized group without permission, and usually without respect for or knowledge about their culture.”

This definition is useful, in that it points out the problem of a lack of permission, the lack of respect, and the lack of knowledge. If we add to this the problem of intending to honor, support or appreciate a culture, but in actuality, the impact hurts them, we are coming closer to the heart of cultural appropriation.

With too little knowledge, respect, or permission, we can be hurting people way more than helping them. And it is important to remember that members of the culture get to make that call. When cultural appreciation actually enacts an erasing or dehumanizing of people, we must listen to them when they tell us so. Our teachers during our Indigenous learning week were hugely helpful in this space as well, calling on us to work in the long term space of relationship development with communities. Our goal is not to just take the “beautiful fruit” of a culture, but to “see the whole tree” as Chandra Maracle stated.

Giving Thanks

Another major theme that arose during our week with our experts was giving thanks. Many people felt that the greatest force permeating this week was one of gratitude. The gesture that has been brought to us by our Haudenosaunee teachers asked us to consider the notion of gratitude from a refreshed, and powerful perspective.

From the very beginning of our week, we were immersed in a Haudenosaunee way of thanks, of gratitude. On the very first day, we listened to the Thanksgiving Address in Haudenosaunee language, with only pictures to orient our thinking. In this exercise, we were challenged to determine the significance of all we had heard and seen. As a non-speaker of Haudenosaunee, it was evident to me that what we had witnessed was important, and profound, but my first interpretation was not one of gratitude. I assumed that what I had seen and heard was a telling of the creation of the universe. It was only after hearing the interpretation and translation from Amy Bomberry, Chandra Maracel, and Sean Thompson that I understood the significance of what I had just heard, and perhaps more important, recognized a need in myself that is dormant: the need to have gratitude, the need to revere.

The notion of gratitude, of the act of reverence, was one that extended to all objects and beings. To draw on the work of Edward Benton-Banai, the need to extend respect and thanks to all beings, living and non-living, in the past, present and future. Gratitude must be extended at all times, to all things.

The Meaning of Law & the Wampum Belt

During our time with our Haudenosaunee teachers, we also took the time to consider the meaning of law. In Western views, law often connotes restriction, confinement, or punishment. It was incredible to hear the story and history of the Wampum belt which represented the Great Law. While responsible for delineating behavior, the Great Law needs to be read with a different lens. “Law” Sean Thompson told us, “is the great, the large goodness and right-ness.” And fundamental to the large goodness and right-ness is the connection and relationships shared by people. Like the Wampum belt that represents it, it is the path, the way.

In learning the history of the beads, belts, ties, and colors, we learned of their significance as markers of relationship and responsibility. It was interesting to see and hear the stories of the various belts, and how they represented relationship between Haudenosaunee, members of the Six Nations, and to relationships with non-Natives, including the Dutch, French, and British. What is amazing about these representations is the significance of each color, each design, each bead.

Each one represented a powerful reminder to involved people of the supreme responsibility for maintaining the relationship it represented. This is not a call for perfect, pristine harmony and peace; it is a call to remember the connection forged by the relationship and value it. To think and consider the connection and relationship above anything that might be gained from desecrating the relationship. Ultimately, it designates an equal engagement and involvement of sovereign, mutually respecting peoples.

For the Future

What may be the biggest gift given to us in the week was a powerful framework by which to learn about Indigenous languages, cultures and histories. If we borrow from the Thanksgiving Address shared by Sean Thompson on the very first day, we have a way to envision a path forward. We know then, that every culture has words, phrases and beliefs about what it means to approach the world and make sense of it. From the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address, we know that there are terms that denote the winds, birds, animals, people, trees, plants, and relationships. Knowing the word is not sufficient, however. One must learn the meaning, the significance, and the symbolism of each term.

Thus, we can begin a study of the language, history, or culture of the peoples around us by attempting to learn more of their worldview, their knowledge, and the way they understand knowledge. And what we immediately must see is the complexity of the worldview. It is in this complexity that we must enter, and learn from, with the greatest respect.

What Waldorf Education Is

In many respects, the greatest service that was provided to us in these two weeks has been the opportunity to come together in reaffirming what we love about Waldorf education. In discussions, in art projects, in engagement with teachers and students in warm and caring ways, in the deep considerations of spiritual impulses and implications, many of us found powerful kinships. There was a great deal of deep thinking and reflecting on what our activities, what they produce, and how they impact our students. We constantly spoke of the importance of connecting with our students in meaningful ways, and of the need to build authentic community with those around us. In this way, we saw the ways that Indigenous knowledge and belief can connect to, and enhance, Waldorf education practices, and at the same time, the ways that Waldorf education can enhance Indigenous knowledge and understandings.

Joaquin Muñoz, PhD, is assistant professor in the Education Department at Augsburg University. He holds his BS, MA, and PhD from the University of Arizona.

References

Benton-Banai, E. (2010). The Mishomis Book: The Voice of the Ojibway. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press.

Johnson, M. Z. (2015). What’s wrong with cultural appropriation? These 9 answers reveal its harm. everyday feminism. Retrieved from: https://everydayfeminism.com/ 2015/06/cultural-appropriation-wrong/.

Munoz, J. (2018, August). Indigenous Waldorf Week at Rudolf Steiner Center Toronto. Rudolf Steiner Center Toronto Blog; https://www.rsct.ca/Blog. Joaquin’s reports may be accessed most easily at these URLs: www.rsct.ca/Indigenous-Week-Day-One www.rsct.ca/Indigenous-Week-Day-Two www.rsct.ca/Indigenous-Week---Day-Three www.rsct.ca/Indigenous-Week-Day-Four www.rsct.ca/Indigenous-Week-Day-Five