Visioning A Mikmaw Humanities

Since the Renaissance, liberal education has as its core tradition a Eurocentric multidisciplinary humanism--the study of literature, art, philosophy and history--grounded in ancient Greek and Latin texts. In what may be termed cognitive imperialism, the academy has largely ignored Aboriginal perspectives of humanity. In this volume, Mi'kmaw and non-Mi'kmaw scholars, teachers and educators posit an interdisciplinary approach to explicate and animate a Mi'kmaw Humanities. Drawing on the metaphor of a basket as a multilayered metaphor for engaging postsecondary institutions, these essays reveal historical, educational, legal, philosophical, visual and economic frameworks to develop a knowledge protocol that can direct, transform and enrich conventional Humanities within the complex dynamics of territory, energy, stewardship, alterity and consciousness.