Skip to main content
Ingenium Logo

You are leaving IngeniumCanada.org

✖


This link leads to an external website that Ingenium does not control. Please read the third-party’s privacy policies before entering personal information or conducting a transaction on their site.

Have questions? Review our Privacy Statement

Vous quittez IngeniumCanada.org

✖


Ce lien mène à un site Web externe qu'Ingenium ne contrôle pas. Veuillez lire les politiques de confidentialité des tiers avant de partager des renseignements personnels ou d'effectuer une transaction sur leur site.

Questions? Consultez notre Énoncé de confidentialité

Ingenium The Channel

Langue

  • Français
Search Toggle

Menu des liens rapides

  • Ingenium Locations
  • Shop
  • Donate
  • Join
Menu

Main Navigation

  • Browse
    • Categories
    • Media Types
    • Boards
    • Featured Stories
  • About
    • About The Channel
    • Content Partners

Star stories: The making of the Indigenous Star Knowledge Project

Share
4 m
Jun 15, 2021
Categories
Indigenous
Media
Article
Profile picture for user Lindsey Kirby-McGregor
By: Lindsey Kirby-McGregor
University of Ottawa
A tipi in the distance at sunset.
Photo Credit
Lindsey Kirby-McGregor
Wilfred Buck’s ‘Tipis and Telescopes’ event near East Selkirk, Manitoba, supported by the Manitoba First Nation’s Education Resource Centre.

Wilfred Buck has been bringing people together around Indigenous star knowledge for a long time. Known as “the Star Guy,” he worked as a science facilitator bringing Cree-centered star knowledge to First Nations across Manitoba as part of the Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre (MFNERC), from which he recently retired. Via MFNERC, Buck hosted an event called ‘Tipis and Telescopes,’ where he gathered people with an interest in the stars to take part in sweatlodges, share star stories, and observe the night sky. I was lucky enough to attend Tipis and Telescopes near East Selkirk, Manitoba, in May 2019.

Image gallery

The East Selkirk site of the Tipis and Telescopes event with a view of the field, two sweatlodges, and two tipis.
Photo Credit

Lindsey Kirby-McGregor

Tipis and Telescopes included sweatlodges and star story telling, as well as stargazing.

A person tends to an outdoor campfire fire, with a view of one of the Tipis and Telescopes sweatlodges in the background.
Photo Credit

Lindsey Kirby-McGregor

At the Tipis and Telescopes event, a participant tends to the sacred fire with a view of one of the sweatlodges in the background.

Image of

A few years ago, Buck brought tobacco to Annette Lee, an artist and astronomer who leads the Native Skywatchers Indigenous Astronomy Revitalization initiative. This gift formalized a partnership between the two, which led them to become co-curators of an exhibition about Indigneous star knowledge at Ingenium – Canada’s Museums of Science and Innovation. Eventually, with Ingenium, they came up with an idea for an event that would bring together star knowledge keepers, Indigenous researchers, scientists, and educators, so they could join in ceremony together and share stories, as well as develop educational tools to share with others. This led to the creation of the Indigenous Star Knowledge Symposia series, a collaboration with Ingenium and the University of Ottawa’s Institute for Indigenous Research and Studies. The series is supported by:

  • the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
  • the United States Embassy and Consulates in Canada Virtual U.S. Speaker Program
  • the Canadian Science & Technology Historical Association
  • the National Research Council of Canada
  • an advisory circle including: Buck, Lee, local Algonquin partners Elder Peter Decontie and Kitigan Zibi Education Sector Director Anita Tenasco, Mi’kmaq educator Carola Knockwood, and Daniella Scalice, the Education and Communications Lead for the NASA Astrobiology Program. 

Later, the Indigenous Star Knowledge Project also connected Buck with Shawn Wilson. Like Buck, Wilson is from Opaskwayak Cree Nation but now lives on Bundjalung land in eastern Australia. Wilson is widely acclaimed by academics for his 2008 book, Research is Ceremony: Indigenous Research Methods, and subsequent publications. Buck has published and taught extensively on Indigenous — especially Cree — star knowledge.

When Buck and Wilson began discussing star knowledge with each other, Wilson recalls Buck asking him how we could regenerate such knowledge if it had been lost to colonization. This point, from Ingenium’s first of a series of Symposia on Indigenous Star Knowledge, struck me the most. I had asked Buck the same question when we first met; I had asked him whether many of the people he met while travelling as the Star Guy knew about the stars, or had star stories of their own. He told me that some did, but many didn’t, but not to worry. This knowledge, he said, had been acquired in ceremony, and could be regenerated the same way. This understanding permeated the event of September 21, 2020, which focused on the way ceremony and protocols underpin the regeneration of Indigenous star knowledge. This idea continued to influence the subsequent events in the series, which were held on December 21, 2020 and April 28, 2021.

Since this first event, considerable knowledge and stories have been shared to an international audience, and projects have continued to evolve that bring forward Indigenous star knowledge in various communities. Learn more — and view recordings of these webinars — by visiting the Indigenous Star Knowledge Symposia.

On June 22, 2021, members of the public are invited to join the next webinar, Summer Solstice: Celebration of Star Knowledge from Africa and Rapanui (Easter Island).

Tags
Indigenous Star Knowledge Project, Indigenous astronomy, Indigenous Peoples
Author(s)
Profile picture for user Lindsey Kirby-McGregor
Lindsey Kirby-McGregor

Lindsey is a member of Whitefish River First Nation who lives in Ottawa with her seven-year-old son. She holds a Bachelor of Social Work (Indigenous Specialization) from the University of Victoria, a Master of Education from UOttawa, and is completing a Master of Arts in Education focusing on program evaluation. She has supported the Indigenous Star Knowledge Project as a Research Assistant and is grateful for the opportunity to learn from all those involved.   

More Stories by

Profile picture for user Lindsey Kirby-McGregor
Lindsey Kirby-McGregor
University of Ottawa
In a field, a group of people lie on the grass looking up at the sky in front of two tipis.

Digging deeper: Regenerating Indigenous star knowledge

Stick used for cultural purposes painted with brown, white, and black markings.

The Yuin Message Stick: A piece of the Yuin nation’s continuing history

Image of an outrigger boat near the coast in open water in Hawaii with some sand visible on the shore and a small island in the distance.

Under the same sky: Conversations from the Indigenous Star Knowledge Project

Related Stories

Designed image showing stars representing children who never made it home from residential schools, an eagle representing First Nations, a narwhal representing Inuit, a beaded flower representing Métis peoples, a winding white pathway representing the Road to Reconciliation, and a circle representing being together in a spirit of reconciliation.

Canada’s Federal Interdepartmental Indigenous STEM Cluster – A Force for Cooperation, Empowerment, and Reconciliation

A black and white photograph of approximately 10 airplanes under construction in a large factory. Two workers are visible in the foreground.

The Avro Lancaster: Beyond the Second World War

Tomanowos, better known as the Willamette meteorite, American Museum of Natural History, New York City, New York. Anon., “Ça et là, par l’image.” Le Samedi, 22 February 1947, 8.

Tomanowos, a visitor from the sky or Moon: A brief look at the largest North American meteorite known today

In a field, a group of people lie on the grass looking up at the sky in front of two tipis.

Digging deeper: Regenerating Indigenous star knowledge

Stick used for cultural purposes painted with brown, white, and black markings.

The Yuin Message Stick: A piece of the Yuin nation’s continuing history

Working on a small boat near the shoreline, Heiltsuk fishers harvest roe-on-kelp from a line in the water.

Bákvḷá: A collaborative exhibition on Heiltsuk place-based foodways

Image of an outrigger boat near the coast in open water in Hawaii with some sand visible on the shore and a small island in the distance.

Under the same sky: Conversations from the Indigenous Star Knowledge Project

A group of people stand outdoors, looking up as a small white plane drops candy and gifts while it flies over the crowd.

A living legend: Saying farewell to Johnny May’s sweet tradition

High school students sit on chairs in a circle listening to a presentation.

Indigenous students contribute to exhibition on astronomy

Hudson Strait Expedition Personnel of Base "C" - October 1927

The Hudson Strait Expedition: Looking beyond the prism of provenance

Screen capture of the Digital Archives welcome page.

Ingenium’s Digital Archives opens museum vaults to the curious

Footer

About The Channel

The Channel

Contact Us

Ingenium
P.O. Box 9724, Station T
Ottawa ON K1G 5A3
Canada

613-991-3044
1-866-442-4416
contact@IngeniumCanada.org
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Channel

    • Channel Home
    • About the Channel
    • Content Partners
  • Visit

    • Online Resources for Science at Home
    • Canada Agriculture and Food Museum
    • Canada Aviation and Space Museum
    • Canada Science and Technology Museum
    • Ingenium Centre
  • Ingenium

    • Ingenium Home
    • About Ingenium
    • The Foundation
  • For Media

    • Newsroom
    • Awards

Connect with us

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest Ingenium news straight to your inbox!

Sign Up

Legal Bits

Ingenium Privacy Statement

© 2023 Ingenium

Symbol of the Government of Canada
  • Browse
    • Categories
    • Media Types
    • Boards
    • Featured Stories
  • About
    • About The Channel
    • Content Partners