Indigenous peoples have been the sole occupants of the vast lands now known as the continent of North America since time immemorial. The land base provided a full range of climatic zones and an abundance of aquatic, wildlife, and vegetation resources for diverse Indigenous peoples. In Lake St. Martin First Nation, Manitoba where the focus of the research is, the Indigenous peoples are known as Anishinabek. The Anishinabek were able to survive in this vast expanse of land by using their skills and knowledge, which are the Anishinaabe Knowledge Systems (AKS), while preserving ecological integrity. Anishinabek’s survival depended on a relationship with the environment through knowledge, which was passed on over thousands of years acquired by direct human contact with the environment. This relationship has been disrupted by colonization and artificial flooding over time and has resulted in the permanent displacement of the community in the summer of 2011. Environmental changes proved to have the most negative impact in terms of changes in all aspects of Anishinabek’s lives and livelihoods. In May 2011, the community of Lake St. Martin First Nation was fully evacuated due to the artificial flooding of Lake St. Martin. This research had to come to an end, but the end has not come yet for the evacuees as they are still housed in hotels across the province and in temporary housing in April of 2012. The land is still held sacred and is seen as the giver of all life and all opportunities for well-being, healthy living, and economic prosperity. Although Anishinabek cultures have changed with modern times, this ancient and sacred relationship to the land still remains close and important to the Anishinabek and continues to be the foundation for their nation building. In Anishinaabe societies, gender has been important in the transmission of knowledge. Language was also an important component and played an important role in AKS. This research explored the role of language and gender in Anishinaabe Knowledge Systems (AKS). This research had four main objectives: 1) the sustainability of livelihoods in Lake St. Martin over time; 2) the importance of language in IKS and Indigenous research; 3) the role of Anishinabek in sustainability; and 4) the integration of AKS, language and gender in planning the new settlement of Lake St. Martin First Nation after its displacement. This research explored the livelihoods of Anishinabek by doing a comparison of activities over a time period of 100 years. The research examined gender and language in AKS by exploring the historical changes brought about by policies, technology, and environmental changes. The changes were documented and compared against the policies that were enacted. The results show that policies, technology and environmental changes directly impacted the Anishinabek’s livelihoods.

Indigenous peoples have been the sole occupants of the vast lands now known as the continent of North America since time immemorial. The land base provided a full range of climatic zones and an abundance of aquatic, wildlife, and vegetation resources for diverse Indigenous peoples. In Lake St. Martin First Nation, Manitoba where the focus of the research is, the Indigenous peoples are known as Anishinabek. The Anishinabek were able to survive in this vast expanse of land by using their skills and knowledge, which are the Anishinaabe Knowledge Systems (AKS), while preserving ecological integrity. Anishinabek’s survival depended on a relationship with the environment through knowledge, which was passed on over thousands of years acquired by direct human contact with the environment. This relationship has been disrupted by colonization and artificial flooding over time and has resulted in the permanent displacement of the community in the summer of 2011. Environmental changes proved to have the most negative impact in terms of changes in all aspects of Anishinabek’s lives and livelihoods. In May 2011, the community of Lake St. Martin First Nation was fully evacuated due to the artificial flooding of Lake St. Martin. This research had to come to an end, but the end has not come yet for the evacuees as they are still housed in hotels across the province and in temporary housing in April of 2012. The land is still held sacred and is seen as the giver of all life and all opportunities for well-being, healthy living, and economic prosperity. Although Anishinabek cultures have changed with modern times, this ancient and sacred relationship to the land still remains close and important to the Anishinabek and continues to be the foundation for their nation building. In Anishinaabe societies, gender has been important in the transmission of knowledge. Language was also an important component and played an important role in AKS. This research explored the role of language and gender in Anishinaabe Knowledge Systems (AKS). This research had four main objectives: 1) the sustainability of livelihoods in Lake St. Martin over time; 2) the importance of language in IKS and Indigenous research; 3) the role of Anishinabek in sustainability; and 4) the integration of AKS, language and gender in planning the new settlement of Lake St. Martin First Nation after its displacement. This research explored the livelihoods of Anishinabek by doing a comparison of activities over a time period of 100 years. The research examined gender and language in AKS by exploring the historical changes brought about by policies, technology, and environmental changes. The changes were documented and compared against the policies that were enacted. The results show that policies, technology and environmental changes directly impacted the Anishinabek’s livelihoods.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This study was an evaluative case study of a Science and Indigenous Knowledge Systems Project on the Project (SIKSP) at a Western Cape University, South Africa. It was an internal evaluation from the perspectives of the project participants, with the aim of assessing (1) the opportunities and challenges faced by the participants (in-service teachers), (2) the effectiveness of an argumentationbased strategy (DAIM) used by some of the in-service teachers to integrate science and IKS, (3) the manner in which the trained teachers actually taught using the DAIM, and (4) the impact of SIKSP on the participants’ professional development and research capacities. I used a hybridised version of Stufflebeam’s (2003) context, input, process, product (CIPP) as well as Guba and Lincoln’s (1989) Constructivist evaluation models to guide the study, within a constructivist-pragmatist paradigm. I used a questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, reflective diaries, and document analyses to collate the data from 22 in-service participants, as well as from the project director. The analyses were done using mixed methods, though largely dominated by qualitative approaches. The results suggest that: through the use of multiple sources of engagement in conceptual, practical, and discursive activities, SIKSP enabled the participants to change their views about science and IKS – from a largely positivist to a more dualistic worldview that considered IKS as a source of valid knowledge in science classrooms. SIKSP activities also enabled the participants to acquire the largely student-centred, discursive, interactive DAIM approach of teaching and learning to effect an inclusive science-IK curriculum. The teachers used DAIM to teach science, mathematics as well as socio-scientific topics, each teacher applying it differently. SIKSP had many positive impacts on the participants – psychological, social, intellectual, pedagogical and professional. Through SIKSP, many participants obtained higher degrees, advanced professionally, and some have become researchers in science and IKS; with two of the postdoctoral fellows now carrying on similar research at other universities in South Africa and beyond. An unanticipated outcome of SIKSP was the creation of the African Association for the Study of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (AASIKS) which is now pursuing an inclusive science-IKS vision at a much larger scale. Overall, in the view of the participants, SIKSP was very successful project, and its DAIM approach, though difficult to master, has many advantages that could be explored in-and-out of science classrooms.

MA (eSiswati) / Sikhungo I-MER Mathivha Sefitwilimi Tendzabu, Buciko Nemasiko

MAAS / Department of African Studies / This study explored into the effects of traditional medicine on reproductive health of rural women. Negative reports associated with traditional medicine due to bogus traditional practitioners expose most women to the harmful consequences of concoctions supplied and administered on them. However, factors such as people’s great confidence in traditional medicine and high costs associated with conventional Western medical treatments lead most rural women to traditional medicine usage. The study examined women’s perspectives on traditional medicine, factors which led rural women to use traditional medicine, meanings that people make about women and reproductive health, reproductive health implications of using traditional medicine as well as remedies for ensuring that traditional medicine is safe for women’s reproductive health. The study was grounded on the critical and socio-cultural theory. An explorative qualitative research was used. Data was collected through open-ended questions, observation as well as focus group interviews and then analysed using the thematic analysis method. The study participants consisted of rural women, traditional healers, elderly people and Western-trained doctors who were all sampled using non-probability sampling methods. The findings of the study showed that African traditional medicine plays a pivotal role in reproductive health care by offering readily available, cheap, culturally-oriented and accessible health care for most rural women. However, it was noted that the use of African traditional medicine by unqualified practitioners and the incorrect usage of the medicine by patients resulted in negative results that could lead to death or barrenness. Thus, the study recommends an introduction of a regulatory framework on the production, storage, use and trade of African traditional medicine. / NRF

Cultural views are known to play a critical role in the identification, diagnosis and intervention of developmental disorders, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Indigenous views regarding the nature and causes of ASD have often been overlooked. Based on the paucity of research on indigenous perspectives on ASD in South Africa, as well as the alarming rise in the incidence of ASD, the purpose of the study is to investigate the views held by members of the Sepedi group in South Africa regarding ASD. Research relating to ASD has mostly been conducted in other countries or according to Western or conventional scientifically proven positions. The study attempts to answer the following primary research question: “What are Sepedi cultural views regarding the nature, cause/s as well as intervention of Autism Spectrum Disorder?” The theoretical framework that was utilised during the study was that of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS). Furthermore, the study was approached from a phenomenological paradigm. A qualitative approach as well as case study design were followed, and purposive sampling was used. The first method of data collection was a focus group and subsequently, semi-structured interviews were conducted. The data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis to pinpoint recurring themes. These five themes are (1) Indigenous African Views, (2) Participants’ views of causes, (3) Circumstances surrounding diagnosis, (4) Personally coping with ASD, and (5) Intervention with a child with ASD. Results obtained from the study could be utilised within a diagnostic, intervention and educational approach that is uniquely South African. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Educational Psychology / MEd / Unrestricted

Generalizing Belnap's system of epistemic states [Bel77] we obtain the system of disjunctive factbases which is the paradigm for all other kinds of disjunctive knowledge bases. Disjunctive factbases capture the nonmonotonic reasoning based on paraminimal models. In the schema of a disjunctive factbase, certain predicates of the resp. domain are declared to be exact, i.e. two-valued, and in turn some of these exact predicates are declared to be subject to the Closed-World Assumption (CWA). Thus, we distinguish between three kinds of predicates: inexact predicates, exact predicates subject to the CWA, and exact predicates not subject to the CWA.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The U.S. has a problem: it is not effectively utilizing all the bright young minds available to its science & engineering workforce. In 2012 the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) reported that a million more STEM professionals in the U.S. workforce were needed over the next decade. PCAST reported that the situation is far worse for underrepresented students, who make up 70% of undergraduate students but only 45% of the STEM degrees. Recent reports suggest women in science and engineering have made small gains, while historically underrepresented ethnic groups (Blacks, Hispanics, American Indians) continue to be significantly underrepresented. The lack of diversity in the U.S. workforce is not reflected in the USA population nor is it reflected in the undergraduate student population. As the U.S. aspires to retain a leadership role in research and development in an increasingly diverse and globally interconnected society, this disparity is unsustainable. What if having more culturally interesting, more culturally responsive STEM classes is a way of increasing the diversity of the science and engineering workforce in the U.S.? This study focuses on a topic that has been generally overlooked by the STEM educational community, but one that is directly relevant to student engagement and learning outcomes: the role of culture as a variable in student learning. This study examines how different pedagogical approaches shape student outcomes in Astronomy 101 courses. In a comparative study two different pedagogical approaches were analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods in a semiexperimental nonequivalent group research design. The theories of culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP), active learning theory in STEM, and Indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) ground this approach. The findings of this study show important gains for all students. Underrepresented minority students (URM) in the course with increased culturally responsive pedagogy were exceptionally engaged and learning gains soared. By measure of the concept inventory, the URM students in the course with increased culturally responsive pedagogy outperformed all other students in the study. As the U.S. will have a non-white majority by the year 2045 and diversity in STEM faculty lags there is a need for tangible, evidence-based, culture-based curriculum and pedagogy. There is a problem and based on the evidence found in this study, there is a way to fix it. / The U.S. has a problem: it is not effectively utilizing all the bright young minds available to its science & engineering workforce. In 2012 the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) reported that a million more STEM professionals in the U.S. workforce were needed over the next decade. PCAST reported that the situation is far worse for underrepresented students, who make up 70% of undergraduate students but only 45% of the STEM degrees. Recent reports suggest women in science and engineering have made small gains, while historically underrepresented ethnic groups (Blacks, Hispanics, American Indians) continue to be significantly underrepresented. The lack of diversity in the U.S. workforce is not reflected in the USA population nor is it reflected in the undergraduate student population. As the U.S. aspires to retain a leadership role in research and development in an increasingly diverse and globally interconnected society, this disparity is unsustainable. What if having more culturally interesting, more culturally responsive STEM classes is a way of increasing the diversity of the science and engineering workforce in the U.S.? This study focuses on a topic that has been generally overlooked by the STEM educational community, but one that is directly relevant to student engagement and learning outcomes: the role of culture as a variable in student learning. This study examines how different pedagogical approaches shape student outcomes in Astronomy 101 courses. In a comparative study two different pedagogical approaches were analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods in a semiexperimental nonequivalent group research design. The theories of culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP), active learning theory in STEM, and Indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) ground this approach. The findings of this study show important gains for all students. Underrepresented minority students (URM) in the course with increased culturally responsive pedagogy were exceptionally engaged and learning gains soared. By measure of the concept inventory, the URM students in the course with increased culturally responsive pedagogy outperformed all other students in the study. As the U.S. will have a non-white majority by the year 2045 and diversity in STEM faculty lags there is a need for tangible, evidence-based, culture-based curriculum and pedagogy. There is a problem and based on the evidence found in this study, there is a way to fix it.

Natural hazards are predicted to only increase in frequency and severity over the next decade, making it crucial to avoid their negative consequences by disaster risk reduction. Reducing risks of natural hazards is not a recent invention as it has been shown that indigenous and local communities possess indigenous and local knowledge systems related to reducing disaster risks. These knowledge systems are however largely being ignored in policy and research. They are also subjected to pressures which risk altering, eroding or destroying them. In this thesis, these indigenous and local knowledge systems and the pressures that might threaten them are explored through a field study with interviews and observations in rural indigenous and local communities in northern Thailand. The findings show clear evidence of multiple and varying types of indigenous and local knowledge systems, such as knowledges, practices, and beliefs that reduce disaster risk. However, multiple types of pressures to the indigenous and local knowledge systems are also found. These pressures have in some cases already resulted in a loss of indigenous and local knowledge systems, or risk doing so in the future. The conclusion of the thesis is that these indigenous and local knowledge systems and the pressures to them should be kept in close mind in research, policy and intervention to improve disaster risk reduction and not perpetuate the current western paradigm.

Student Number : 8707660F - MA research report - School of Literature and Language Studies - Faculty of Humanities / This paper considers the interaction between the process of producing a documentary video film ‘The Medicine Bag’ and an indigenous knowledge system from the Northern Cape where herbalists or traditional healers are known as ! aixa (Qaiga). These healers use indigenous plants and other raw materials, sounds, rubbing or massaging techniques, incisions and other methods to heal or to harm members of the community. The Schwartz family, Namas who hail from this region, have for many years passed the knowledge and the skills for healing on from generation to generation. For as long as the family can remember, members of each generation, specially gifted and interested in acquiring these skills, have been selected and trained to recognise and harvest medical plants, prepare medicines and apply the various skills required to heal the sick. The raw herbs, potions and medicines have been kept in a medicine bag, made from a tanned springbuck hide. Research for a documentary video to record oral accounts and practices attached to the medicine bag, revealed various themes related to the interaction between oral accounts and the process of recording and transcribing these narratives. These themes included the absence of a fixed storyline or a single ‘correct’ text as is often assumed when one engages with written literature; shifts in meaning that occur when the physical forms of the accounts change as each recording or re-editing acquires a ‘performative aura’ and issues such as the importation of cultural authority and resources on the participants, their active participation in the process of memory and archive creation as well as the impact of the process on the filmmaker/researcher that included an enriched understanding of the scope and possibilities of working with oral texts