Indigenous Wisdom or Intellectual Tourism? Problematizing the Use of Indigenous Knowledge in Academia

Mar 26 2025 6:00 - 7:30PM
ESB 1013

Seminar

Speaker: Aaron Brien
Description/Abstract

As Indigenous scholarship grows in academia, emerging Indigenous scholars face the challenge of navigating institutional expectations while remaining true to their communities and knowledge systems. How can universities meaningfully integrate Indigenous perspectives without co-opting them? How can Indigenous scholars lead this work without being tokenized

This colloquium explores how Indigenous knowledge can shape research, teaching, and scholarship in ways that are ethical, empowering, and community-centered.

Register here: https://ubc.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1zAe1QU6mALefnE 

 - Wednesday, March 26th, 2025

 - Catered reception 5:30 PM

 - Panel Discussion 6:00-7:30 PM

Earth Sciences Building, Room 1013

(2207 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC)

Key Questions:

  1. Is the Institutional Validation of Indigenous Knowledge a Form of Recognition or Domestication? Who Decides What Counts as Knowledge?
  2. Who Gets to Define Rigor? Challenging Western Notions of Validity with Indigenous Ways of Knowing.
  3. When Indigenous Knowledge Is Validated by Academia, Does It Gain Legitimacy or Lose Sovereignty?
  4. Indigenous Knowledge or Intellectual Window Dressing? How Do We Keep Academia from Just Playing Indigenous?
  5. Can Collaboration Between Indigenous and Academic Knowledge Systems Create New Pathways of Understanding, or Does It Risk Diluting the Integrity of Both? 

Aaron Brien (Apsáalooke) is a member of the Big Lodge Clan, Night Hawk Dance Society and child of the Whistling Water & Big Lodge Clan. He was born in Sheridan, Wyoming, and was raised on the Crow Reservation’s Center Lodge (Reno) District. He studied at Salish Kootenai College and the University of Montana as an undergraduate and earned a master’s degree from the University of Montana’s Department of Anthropology. 

He serves as Native American Studies: Tribal Historic Preservation Faculty and Research Coordinator for the Indigenous Research Center at Salish Kootenai College. He is now the Director of the Crow Tribal Historic Preservations Office. His early contributions to cultural heritage emphasize Indigenous approaches to archaeological documentation and interpretation. His work represents the future of Indigenous cultural heritage management, and he is helping to promote the next generation of archaeologists the importance o