How Indigenous Concepts Guide Education in Different Contexts: Tsilhqot’in Culture Course Development

Abstract

This chapter describes the processes involved in developing the curricula for Tsilhqot’in culture courses through the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) in collaboration with the Tsilhqot’in people. It also draws on the authors’ experiences in developing textbook content and working with a community focus group. This chapter outlines the processes followed in the development and delivery of the curricula and how these have worked, including both successes and challenges, and examines how the challenges have been addressed. This chapter also reports on the ways that the Tsilhqot’in community ensures the validity of claims to oral history, reflecting on the use of language and the ability to translate from Tsilhqot’in to English and evaluating community review processes versus other forms of reviews such as “peer review” and “blind review.”