I came across the book Potlatch as Pedagogy: Learning Through Ceremony in a small bookshop in Ketchikan, Alaska. In it, Indigenous educator Sara Florence Davidson and her father, Haida artist Robert Davidson, share stories from their family that weave together how potlatch gatherings build community collective knowledge.
Nine sk’ad’a (learning) principles emerge from these stories:
- Learning emerges from strong relationships
- Learning emerges from authentic experiences
- Learning emerges from curiosity
- Learning occurs through observation
- Learning occurs through contribution
- Learning occurs through recognizing and encouraging strengths
- Learning honors the power of the mind
- Learning honors history and story
- Learning honors aspects of spirituality and protocol
This is the second time that Indigenous methods of teaching and learning have captivated my attention, this time on the heels of running a conference. My last tasks before escaping on vacation in Alaska were to compile surveys and distill the conference day into an Impact Report, which we share back to the conference community and with partners and sponsors. I rewatched the conference video generously made by Time Magic Studios, reliving the day and why it mattered.
With my brain still debriefing the Conference and the Davidson book in hand, I began reflecting on its core questions:
How do we use gatherings to share and redistribute knowledge?
How might we implement a model for learning that is “holistic, relational, practical, and continuous”?
Sara Davidson shows us the way, naming these principles and giving us examples of how they’ve worked in the context of community and schools. They resonate with our conference experiences as well:
- Relationship building and networking were by far the most important reason people appreciated the conference. Through the lens of the book, I’m reflecting on how important it is to create a space in which individuals reflect on and refresh their sense of identity and collective culture.
- “Learning must be applicable to the students’ lives outside of school,” Sara Davidson reminds us in her explanation of authenticity. Conference learning must be applicable to the attendees’ lives outside the Conference space. I’m reflecting on how we support presenters to integrate the sharing and redistribution of knowledge into their sessions.
- Learning happens in context, one shaped by history, individual story, spirituality and protocol. The contours of a gathering reflect the contours of local culture and the context in which challenges and solutions emerge. This is as true for a conference as it is for any gathering. Through the violence of colonialism, Indigenous cultures were kept alive through gatherings, through narratives told and heard and shared further. I’m reflecting on how we use gatherings to share our stories while also changing the narrative that has limited our progress for too long.
In explaining her collaboration with her father, Sara Davidson quoted him: “We are all connected to the past by a thin thread. And when we come together as a group, then those threads form quite a thick rope.” When we gather, we have the potential to form something powerful.
I’m grateful for this book to inspire reflection, for the privilege of living on the traditional and contemporary territories of the Coast Salish people, and the opportunity to work with inspiring Native nonprofit leaders as a part of Native Action Network’s nonprofit learning network.