College of Letters & Science

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Green museums waking up the world: indigenous and mainstream approaches to exploring sustainability
(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2018) Medicine Horse, Jennifer Neso'eoo'e; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Robert Rydell
Mainstream and Indigenous Museums are ideally situated, both geographically and culturally, to educate the public about complex twenty-first century environmental issues. The most effective approaches to understanding, addressing, and adapting to these climate changes can be conveyed by museums, incorporating a holistic methodology utilizing the knowledge, observations and ideas of both Western and Indigenous peoples, and directed toward the young people of the world most impacted by climate disruption. This qualitative research was conceptualized iteratively within an Indigenous research methodology, using a combination of Western and Indigenous research approaches to create a hybrid methodology that would satisfy academic requirements, yet foster the community required to successfully answer the research question. Although a formal list of interview questions was developed, the qualitative interviews were primarily conducted in an informal conversational manner, allowing the respondents to tell their stories and include what they felt was relevant. A snowball strategy was employed to generate the potential interviews, as well as scouting potential interviews at the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) and Association of Tribal Archives Libraries and Museums (ATALM) annual conferences during the years 2011-2015. One hundred and three interviews were conducted at ten institutions; all interviews were conducted in-person on-site at the home institutions. Approximately half of the interviews were conducted at the Smithsonian Institution as the result of a Smithsonian Research Fellowship. The interview respondents were forthcoming about their experiences and observations regarding sustainability initiatives at their institutions. The interviews suggest that it is indeed possible for museums to address issues of climate disruption and sustainability efficaciously, utilizing both Western and Indigenous scientific knowledges to educate and engage the public. However, few American museums are currently attempting this task fraught with challenges, although museums are uniquely able to undertake this crucial work. The collaborative work catalyzed by the Cosmic Serpent and Native Universe NSF-funded research projects serves as a tested model to inspire museums to design their own initiatives. Citizen Science initiatives, engaging museums with their constituent youth, provide a promising way of conveying complex environmental information in a palatable manner to youth of various ages and cultural backgrounds.
Belief ways of the Apsaalooke: development of a culture through time and space
(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2016) Bull Chief, Emerson Lee; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Matthew Herman
The purpose of this dissertation is to evaluate the oral history of the Apsaalooke for connections to the four Native science foundations. I interviewed the Crow Cultural Cabinet Head to attain the stories for each religion. I then compared the content of each story to the four foundations and found the connections that corresponded. The Clan System connected to the community foundation. The Sweat Lodge connected to the environment foundation. The Sacred Pipe ceremony connected to the language foundation and the Sacred Tobacco Society connected to the spirituality foundation. Although these connections were developed, there are many more that can be made interchangeably. The four foundations of Native science and the four belief ways of the Apsaalooke complemented each other.
Exploratory research of the Big Horn Medicine Wheel acting as an indigenous place-based pedagogical instrument for learning sky-earth relationships, skywatching fundamentals, and celestial mechanics
(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2014) Merriot, Ivy T. Fisher-Herriges; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Sara Mast
This study explored the ability of the Big Horn Medicine Wheel to act as a pedagogical instrument for learning sky-earth relationships. The Big Horn Medicine Wheel is one of six large stone wheels in the northern plains that show astronomical potential. It is a National Historic Landmark and Sacred Site, created before all known histories--oral and written. Forty years ago, John Eddy and Jack Robinson proposed the first stellar alignments at the Wheel. My own study between 2009 and 2014 concluded that the Wheel's placement, its "Place," reveals extensive symmetry with celestial mechanics and offers pedagogy for learning skywatching fundamentals. My study combined the methods of Native Science and Western science. I collected oral histories, compared images of the Wheel taken by various photographers over 100 years, and tracked stars and the Sun through summer and fall seasons for five years using the naked eye, binoculars, transits, GPS, and a Meade Cassegrain 8" electronic telescope. I sought Native ceremony to prepare for the immersion of my senses in place-based cognition while allowing my intelligence to learn from "inert" materials such as stars, mountains, and stones. My results showed the Wheel accurately mirrors the sky using embedded stones on the ground to correspond to the major north polar stars over the Earth's 24,000 precessional cycle. The Wheel is perfectly situated on the shoulder of Medicine Mountain to make use of the dip in the northern mountainous horizon to cradle the precessional north polar stars as they roll through their millennia cycles, creating a stellar circle in the sky above the Wheel's stone circle on earth. I found the latitude of the Wheel is a "sweet spot" for detecting small angular changes in heliacal stars over time and for the nightly, yearly, and 5000-year circular movement of its zenith star Capella, which also holds a symmetry with the northern landscape. And I found the twenty-eight segments of the Wheel correspond to stellar grid systems based on asterisms. I make no conclusion about the builder's purpose, only about the possible pedagogical uses of the symmetry of the Wheel in its contextual Place.

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