Abstract
Intercultural conflict exists in science education and research, I argue as a result of differences between the Western scientific worldview and the Indigenous worldview. Native Americans are the most underrepresented group in STEM, and this has been the case, in my personal experience for over two decades. Western science is not universal or acultural, Indigenous peoples have their own ways of knowing founded on different philosophical assumptions and recognizing metaphysical phenomena and explanations that are rejected by Western science and the positivist/post-positivist paradigm. Through the power of colonial privilege, scientists, science departments, and science disciplines have been able to erect barriers that exclude alternative perspectives such as the Indigenous worldview and, as a result, often exclude Indigenous peoples themselves. This is a work of advocacy that seeks to make these barriers visible and calls for recognizing and removing them and promoting respect for alternative ways of knowing that could both inform and extend Western peoples' understanding of and approach to the world.
Disciplines
Biological and Physical Anthropology | Higher Education | Indigenous Education | Science and Mathematics Education | Social and Cultural Anthropology
Recommended Citation
Williams, Deborah H., "A Critical Approach to Analyzing and Addressing Worldview-Based Cultural Conflict Between Indigenous Peoples and Western Science in Education and Research" (2025). Sabbatical Projects. 46.
https://scholarspace.jccc.edu/sabbatical_projects/46
Included in
Biological and Physical Anthropology Commons, Higher Education Commons, Indigenous Education Commons, Science and Mathematics Education Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons