Indigenous Resistance
Synopsis
This lesson explores Indigenous resistance to extractive industries such as mining, logging, fossil fuels, and tourism across Turtle Island.
The lesson uses video case studies from unceded Secwépemc Territory in British Columbia, the San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff, Arizona, and Huichin, Ohlone Territory in Oakland and Berkeley, California, to examine how climate change and resource extraction harm more-than-human relatives.
Students will research a plant, animal, or sacred place by interviewing a family member or elder and investigating online or at a library, share their findings through an essay, story, poem, presentation, or oral report, and create an art piece honoring that relative.
Teaching Materials
Preparation:
Note that the "Tiny House Warriors" video mentions sexual assault and briefly mentions drug and alcohol use. Decide if this is appropriate for your context and students.
The lesson notes that some tribes restrict storytelling about animals to certain seasons and that mask-making should follow local cultural protocols.
Prerequisites:
Ensure students are familiar with climate change, its causes, and its impacts.
Review historical attempts to assimilate Indigenous people in North America.
Interdisciplinary Connections:
Language Arts:
Pair this lesson with excerpts from Braiding Sweetgrass or similar stories that demonstrate the Indigenous ways of knowing in contrast to Western science.
Scientist Reviewed
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