Decolonizing education with Anishinaabe arcs: generative STEM as a path to indigenous futurity

This paper introduces a generative framework in which translations of Indigenous knowledge systems can expand student agency in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Students move from computer simulations to physical renderings, to repurposing STEM innovation and discovery in the service of Indigenous community development. We begin with the math and computing ideas in traditional Anishinaabe arcs; describe their translation into software and physical rendering techniques, and finally their workshop implementation with a mix of Native and non-Native students. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of pre-survey and post-survey data indicate increases in students’ understanding of Indigenous knowledge, their creative ability to utilize it in moving from algorithmic to physical designs, and their visions for new hybrid forms of Indigenous futurity. We use these findings to argue that culture-based education needs to shift from a vindicationist mode of admiring ancient achievements, to one that highlights students’ agency in a generative relationship with cultural knowledge.