Indigenous students are underrepresented in science, and the exclusion of Indigenous knowledge from Western education may be a contributor. Recently, Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers have called for a better integration of Indigenous knowledge systems into Western science. One suggestion from the literature is to integrate Traditional…

This book uncovers the social and educational experiences of an increasing yet understudied population of young immigrants in the US, focusing on multilingual students who speak one of three Indigenous languages: Zapotec, Mixtec and P'urhépecha. It explores students' ethnoracial identities, Indigenous language use and transnational practices and…

This article examines the role that Indigenous language learning and use can play in the establishment of false or spurious claims to Indigeneity. These acts of "race shifting" are situated within the political discourse of "Truth and Reconciliation" and serve to enable settlers to situate themselves in positions where, both…

Mapoyo, a Carib language of Venezuela with only one native language speaker, is very close to becoming dormant. Recent interest in the revitalisation of the language has led to classes being imparted in the elementary school and to teachers trying to learn the language and to reinforce it in the school. However, in 2013 when there were 3 speakers…

This article looks at what origin stories teach about the world and what kind of material presence they have in Southwestern Amazonia. We examine the ways the Apurinã relate to certain nonhuman entities through their origin story, and our theoretical approach is language materiality, as we are interested in material means of mediating traditional…

This article provides a descriptive account of the workings of an Indigenous-led teacher training initiative in the Peruvian Amazon (Formabiap) and considers the extent of its transdisciplinary pedagogic approach, with a special focus on the ontological and epistemological stakes of intercultural knowledge exchanges in the context of contemporary…

Globally many minority and Indigenous communities are searching for ways to reclaim languages that have been marginalized by socioeconomic and political processes. These efforts often involve novel literacy practices. In this article, we draw from ethnographic data in Mexico and Nepal to ask, what are the opportunities and constraints of teaching…

This coda begins by briefly discussing the constructs at the heart of this special issue -- materials use, classroom discourse, materiality, and materials -- highlighting how the compilation contributes to the expanding definition of language learning and teaching materials. I then discuss two interrelated guiding questions of this compilation --…

There is a relationship between language and the environment. Languages shape worldviews, inform behaviours, and are not disconnected from local political, sociocultural, and ecological contexts. English has an enduring colonial, imperialist, and assimilationist legacy and can be easily delinked from context, culture, and place. In this article,…

Working from the premise that learning to live well in our places is quickly becoming a necessity of human survival, in this article we weave together divergent experiences of our shared place, the Wabanaki Confederacy or Eastern Canada, and literatures and literacies of that place. This article is methodologically framed using the concept of…

For decades social researchers have explored indigenous knowledges and practices, yet decisive input by Quechuan peoples in the research process has remained minimal, nearly non-existent. This non-participatory approach to research about Quechuan peoples, cultures, and languages has reproduced asymmetric relationships between subject and expert,…

With the (re-)discovery and gradual transcription and translation of native-language primary sources in the twentieth century, a new branch of Mexican ethnohistory developed around Mesoamerican native-language research. This scholarship has profoundly reshaped the understanding of a history that for centuries had followed a Eurocentric paradigm.…

In this article, we examine the "Calls to Action" of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada (TRC, 2015a) in light of their implications for conscious ally-building in teacher education. Guided by the Anishinaabemowin language, the Medicine Wheel, and the Seven Grandfather Teachings, we ask what we can do to move from…

Territorial acknowledgments of Indigenous peoples, places, and settler-colonial histories have become a common practice among settlers in Canadian universities and activist spaces. While these territorial acknowledgments are assumed to be a move toward reconciliation, no research examines what the practice accomplishes pedagogically amongst…

This article addresses the invisibilization of the existence of indigenous teachers in the Colombian ELT (English language teaching) field. Their existence, which is admittedly a phenomenon that lacks quantitative saliency, offers opportunities to reflect on the epistemological asymmetries that traditionally have linked the Colombian ELT field to…