Indigenous Community: Rekindling the Teachings of the Seventh Fire by Gregory A. Cajete (review)

GREGORY CAJETE'S BOOK Indigenous Community: Rekindling the Teachings of the Seventh Fire looks at the notions and ideas of community and what they mean from Indigenous perspectives. The author provides ten chapters, all of which examine core and central themes of community and belonging and what they mean for overall health and revitalization. In this work, the community is not just a term but part of a macrosystem that connects each being and relation to the other.

In one poignant part of Cajete's work he notes that "Indigenous education recognizes the teacher within." As the author puts it, "The teacher is not separate from the outside world but is united within it beyond physical boundaries" (12). In other words, teaching is a relationship within oneself that extends itself to the community. For Cajete, the inner teacher must remain engaged, and not doing so can result in harm. Cajete's work provides insights into and about traditional Indigenous education. It weaves through the historical and contemporary experiences of schooling from Indigenous perspectives. The author also critically describes Western education, which is informed by Western perspectives as "mechanistic schooling." Here the reader gets to see a comparative analysis of the ways in which schooling, learning, and teaching differ in both the Indigenous and Western world-views, as well as the history and impact of these Western schools on Indigenous communities.

This work provides insights into common threads that connect Indigenous peoples and their understanding and philosophies of the world in which they live. The author's work demonstrates that the centrality of community is embedded in the land, the people, identity, Indigenous education, and the ancestors.

Another important theme throughout Cajete's work is reviving community as part of Indigenous resurgence and revitalization. At the foundation of this work are the community and its relationship to Indigenous education. Informed throughout by an Indigenous methodological framework and Indigenous epistemologies, Cajete's work speaks to the myriad ways in which Indigenous people make meaning and shape their understanding of their world, in spite of the impact of colonization and the loss of community. One of the strengths of this work is the multiple and holistic ways in which the author shows how the community is about responsibility, about relationships, and ultimately about identity and education. The author speaks poignantly about the systemic ways in which the community has been impacted and marginalized. According to Cajete, colonization has caused the diaspora, or the forced dissolution of Indigenous cultures and communities across North America. This puts into perspective for the reader and demonstrates how the trauma of being dispossessed, relocated, and torn from their land and the destruction and disruption of communities were caused by greed. The use of the term "diaspora" tells its own story of grief, loss, and disruption as a result of how historically Indigenous peoples have been pushed aside and subjugated. Being described as diasporic is especially telling given the fact that Indigenous peoples have become displaced in their own lands. This is a powerful theme throughout the book. At the same time, the author shows us that the strengths of Indigenous peoples and their ancestors are woven into the role of Elders and the guidance of Indigenous stories. This adds to the strength of these very communities.

Throughout the book, Cajete examines themes on teaching, learning, identity, and what it means to remember, all embedded in the pedagogy of storytelling. The retelling of stories from an Indigenous lens and the honoring of the stories and narratives of Indigenous peoples serve as guidance to moving back to health and wellness.

Cajete has examined several themes in this book and has looked at Indigenous historical and contemporary perspectives. The book is detailed and is accessible to many readers regardless of their area of interest. It is inter disciplinary, and people who are interested in environmental education, Indigenous education, education philosophies, history, law, policy, and Indigenous scholarship will find this book to be very...