UMass Amherst Partnering with Indigenous Communities to Launch $30M NSF Center for Braiding Indigenous Knowledges and Science
The five-year, $30 million international Science and Technology Center based at UMass Amherst will focus on addressing the impacts of climate change, the threats to cultural places and the shift in our food systems.
Karl Rethemeyer, Dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences writes: Known as the Center for Braiding Indigenous Knowledges and Science (CBIKS), the Center will focus on connecting Indigenous knowledges and conventional "western" science, a process Mi'kmaq people call 'etuaptmumk' (two-eyed seeing) and which Professor Atalay's team refers to as 'braiding knowledges.' Indigenous knowledge is critical to addressing the complex, evolving challenges brought on by climate change and the related and dire impacts on our land and water relations of aquatic and terrestrial wildlife and natural environments; the danger posed to irreplaceable archaeological sites, sacred places, and cultural heritage; and the challenges of changing food systems, all of which disproportionately affect Native American, Native Hawaiian, Alaska Native, First Nations/Métis, and other Indigenous communities.
CBIKS includes 57 Indigenous partners distributed across four continents. The program is the first STC grant at any UMass system; NSF is providing $30 million in funding for CBIKS over the next five years. It is also the first STC ever awarded by NSF to the social sciences.
As you will see over the next few years, the grant will transform part of our physical environment as we construct a long house to support the project. The grant is an obligation to live up to the promises in our land acknowledgement by redoubling our efforts to include Indigenous people in our community.