Abstract
This study is a collaboration between western scientists, indigenous researchers, and a Uitoto Traditional authority to understand the geology of the Uitoto territory in the Colombian Amazon. Methods from anthropology and geology were combined to conduct an ethnogeological study of Araracuara, including salient resources such as gold. We identified Uitoto metaphors appropriate to teach Earth Science and show the correspondence between Western and Indigenous science using healing clays as an example. The findings of the study provide content material for culturally-responsive, place-based curricula in the natural sciences for the local schools. Our approach could be leveraged for ethnogeology courses at the college level. Our goal is to serve the cross-cultural needs of indigenous students in the Amazon, foster cultural preservation and sustainability and advance educational practices and methodologies in geoscience that are inclusive, diverse, equitable, and inclusive.
Este estudio es una colaboración entre científicos occidentales, investigadores indígenas y Autoridades tradicionales para estudiar la geología del territorio Uitoto en el Amazonas colombiano. Métodos de la antropología y la geología se combinaron para conducir un estudio etnogeológico del sector de Araracuara, incluyendo recursos económicos como el oro. Se identificaron metáforas Uitoto apropiadas para enseñar Ciencias de la Tierra y se muestra la correspondencia entre la ciencia indígena y occidental usando las arcillas medicinales como ejemplo. Los resultados de este estudio pueden ser usados como material de contenido en las escuelas elementarias locales, para desarrollar currículos de ciencias naturales que sean culturalmente receptivos e informados por el lugar (place-based). Nuestra aproximación podría también ser usada en cursos de etnogeología en educación superior. Nuestro objetivo es servir las necesidades transculturales de los estudiantes indígenas del Amazonas, promover la preservación y sostenibilidad cultural y avanzar practicas educativas y metodológicas en geociencias que sean inclusivas, diversas, equitativas e inclusivas.
Vicente Makuritofe deceased in 2013.
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Acknowledgments
This research was supported by grants from Arizona State University’s Graduate and Professional Student Association and by the Foster Fellowship, School of International Letters and Cultures. We thankfully acknowledge Dr. Jose Maria Jaramillo and Gmas Laboratory for the X-Ray Diffraction. Mauricio Ibanez-Mejia, from the University of Arizona, generously shared his pictures of the Araracuara area in Fig. 12.2. Finally, the authors thank the Elder Vicente Makuritofe and his family in Araracuara and Bogotá, Colombia. The Elder passed away in 2013. His teachings have been preserved in many academic works.
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Londoño, S.C., Semken, S., Brandt, E., Garzón, C., Makuritofe, V. (2023). Understanding the Geology of the Colombian Amazon Through Indigenous Eyes: Useful Metaphors and Approaches for Teaching Earth Sciences in the Colombian Amazon. In: Chinn, P.W.U., Nelson-Barber, S. (eds) Indigenous STEM Education. Sociocultural Explorations of Science Education, vol 29. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30451-4_12
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