How much of our prejudices worm their way into our thoughts about American Indians?
Folks thought that brain structures determine how people think and act, and scientists in the 1840s looked at Indian skulls to determine their behaviors. Continue reading
An intriguing talk at a recent conference I attended discussed the Republican Brain.
Seems that scientists have been studying how people respond to different scenarios and then measure their responses, both on a written questionnaire and by looking at brain images.
Guess what? Continue reading
I’ve been reading stories about the Dawes Act on Facebook all week, in part because February 8 marked the anniversary of its passage (some 125 years) and folks have been sharing posts.
Indian Country Today Media Network has been running a series about the Act, which, in effect, parceled out Indian territory into individual chunks that could be managed by the Indians or sold or traded to non-Indians. Continue reading
When my kids were little we loved the irreverent storybooks by Jon Scieszka, particularly the Stinky Cheese Man.
So I was delighted to discover at Powells, the best-bookstore-ever, that Scieszka and Lane Smith penned a book called Science Verse.
The book promises to make science fun.
With poems. Continue reading
As the discussion of Self noodles through my mind I begin to think aloud about Indigenous ways-of-knowing.
And let me clear: I am a novice on a long journey to understanding what this means. My desire is to be humble and modest as I approach the topic. Continue reading
FInding the buried mummy
How would we approach life, discourse and communication if we were able to put our Self in abeyance? On hold?
I listened to a talk recently about how selves–our egos, I guess–get in the way of understanding.
Although the talk was in the context of Buddhism, my mind rushed to Indian Country, where I believe the Self is less important than we might imagine casually. Continue reading
Jonah Lehrer’s piece on Groupthink skewers the efficacy of brainstorming while lauding the idea that water-cooler conversations that bring together folks from disparate backgrounds can lead to creative thinking. Continue reading
When I do a mini-lecture on Groupthink I unpack the case study from the Cuban Missile crisis.
Social psychologist Irving Janis coined the term Groupthink in 1972 to describe what happens when a leader is surrounded by folks who agree with her unquestionably—even when she is wrong. Continue reading
Our new book on American Indians and popular culture arrives in February, right on the heels of ruminations about how politics and science are fused.
Because my work examines how Native American cultural values are treated in mediated discourse within scientific controversies, I contributed a chapter on Kennewick Man and constructed (media) identity for volume 1, which is dedicated primarily to media and politics. Continue reading
Recently I was asked to give a talk at a conference for serious science writers and bloggers who wondered what it would take to engage more American Indians in science communication.
In traditional native circles, science isn’t separated from other ways-of-knowing: it intersects with art, culture, story-telling, healing and spirituality. In fact, as scholar Gregory Cajete (Tewa) points out, there is no word for science in most North American indigenous languages. Continue reading
Cynthia (Ištá Tȟó Tȟó) Coleman Emery's Blog 