Indigenous Pedagogies in the Oral Traditions of Belle Deacon

Abstract

Abstract:This article examines how Indigenous oral traditions and pedagogies inform coursework for elementary education preservice teachers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Education. Oral traditions and "story" methodologies are used with students during the process of examining key relationships, worldviews and pedagogies in a story told by the late Deg Hit'an Elder, Belle Deacon, entitled "The Old Man Who Came Down From Above the Second Layer of This World" (also titled, "The First Man and Woman"). Course pedagogy engages Sarris's (1993) critical storytelling model, Archibald's (2008) "storywork" praxis and is validated by Brayboy's (2005) TribalCrit framework.