Embracing Sacredness in Education

Indigenous Psychology and the Seven Daily Walks

Authors

  • Arthur W. Blume

Keywords:

colonial education, daily educational walks, spiritual centeredness, decolonization, decolonizing education

Abstract

Indigenous American Psychology believes that the universe (“Creation”) is sacred and that its entities share in that sacredness. Learning from the sacred universe, a lifelong process necessary to becoming a healthy human being, is viewed as a sacred activity. Viewing Creation as sacred, along with the assumptions of interdependence and egalitarianism of Creation’s sacred entities, suggest important implications for educational processes and content. The paper that follows introduces how these concepts and values may help to transform and decolonize education, altering how, what, and why we educate. Although it may take generations to transform societies into equitable and just social systems, it is posited that Indigenizing learning may provide an effective method to educate toward a more just society.

Author Biography

Arthur W. Blume

Arthur (Art) Blume, Ph.D., is an American Indian psychologist and Professor of Clinical Psychology at Washington State University USA. He has been honored with the Trimble and Horvat Award for Distinguished Contributions to Native and Indigenous Psychology, a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship, and an appointment as President’s Professor to the University of Alaska Fairbanks Center for Alaska Native Health Research. He has served as president of American Psychological Association’s (APA) Division 45 (2020) and of the Society of Indian Psychologists (2016-17), on the 2021 APA Presidential Task Force on Psychology and Health Equity, and most recently as an Indigenous consultant for the World Health Organization. He has been published extensively in the areas of multicultural psychology, including 10 authored and edited books. A recent book, A new psychology based on community, equality, and care of the Earth: An Indigenous American perspective, was awarded an American Library Association Choice Award for an Outstanding Academic Title in 2021.

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Published

2023-05-05

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2023): Kinship Worldview: Indigenous Authors Going Deeper with Holistic Education

Section

Featured Articles