What Is a Worldview?

Learning goal: I can explain what "worldview" means and describe how it shapes the way a person understands the world.

Start Here

Two people stand at the same river. One sees a resource to be managed, measured, and developed. The other sees a relative, something to be listened to and cared for. The river has not changed. What has changed is the lens each person uses to see it.

That lens is called a worldview.

What Worldview Means

A worldview is the set of beliefs, values, and assumptions a person uses to make sense of reality. It answers basic questions every culture grapples with:

•      Who am I, and where do I belong?

•      What is my relationship to the land, to other people, to the spiritual world?

•      What counts as knowledge, and how do we get it?

•      What is the purpose of a human life?

Every culture on earth has answers to these questions. Those answers shape everything: how people raise children, how they govern themselves, how they treat the land, what they consider fair or just, what they celebrate and what they grieve.

Worldview Is Not Opinion

A worldview is not a personal opinion you choose on a given day. It is learned. Families, communities, languages, ceremonies, and stories pass worldviews from one generation to the next. Most people do not think about their worldview the same way they think about a preference for coffee over tea. It simply feels like the way things are.

This is exactly why worldview matters in this course. When two groups with different worldviews come into contact, they are not just disagreeing about facts. They are working from different understandings of what reality is, what land means, what rights exist, and what justice looks like. Most of the conflicts you will study in this course trace back to that collision.

Worldview in This Course

Native Studies 20 examines issues facing Indigenous peoples around the world: self-determination, land rights, development, climate change, and social justice. In every unit, you will encounter at least two worldviews in tension with each other.

Understanding what a worldview is, and how it works, is the foundation for everything else in this course. You cannot make sense of why a community opposes a pipeline, why a people fight to keep a language alive, or why an international declaration matters, without understanding the worldview underneath those positions.

Think About It

Answer the following in your notes or journal. There are no wrong answers here. The goal is to think carefully, not to get it right.

•      Name one belief or value you hold about the natural world. Where did that belief come from?

•      Can you think of a time when two people disagreed about something and the disagreement was not really about facts but about values? What was underneath the disagreement?

•      The river at the start of this handout was seen two different ways. What worldview might lead a person to see a river as a relative rather than a resource?

Key term: Worldview refers to the beliefs, values, and assumptions a culture uses to understand reality, relationships, and the purpose of human life.

References

Sources Used

The following sources informed the content of this handout.

Saskatchewan Education. (1992). Native Studies 20: A curriculum guide for Grade 11 International Indigenous Issues. Saskatchewan Education.

Kimmerer, R. W. (2013). Braiding sweetgrass: Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants. Milkweed Editions.

United Nations. (2007). United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. UN General Assembly. https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples.html

Further Reading: Students

These resources are accessible starting points for exploring Indigenous worldviews.

Kimmerer, R. W. (2022). Braiding sweetgrass for young adults. Zest Books. [Adapted from the original for ages 14+. Explores reciprocity and relationship to land through the lens of Potawatomi knowledge and plant science.]

UNESCO. (2022). International Decade of Indigenous Languages 2022-2032. https://www.unesco.org/en/decades/indigenous-languages [Overview of why Indigenous languages matter and what the UN is doing to protect them.]

iPortal: Indigenous Studies Portal, University of Saskatchewan. https://iportal.usask.ca [Searchable database of articles, documents, and resources focused on Indigenous peoples in Canada and beyond. Free access.]

Further Reading: Teachers

These resources support lesson planning and deeper background on Indigenous worldviews.

Battiste, M. (2013). Decolonizing education: Nourishing the learning spirit. Purich Publishing. [Mi'kmaw scholar Marie Battiste examines how Indigenous knowledge systems have been suppressed by Western educational structures and how to restore them.]

Atleo, E. R. (Umeek). (2004). Tsawalk: A Nuu-chah-nulth worldview. UBC Press. [A detailed account of a specific Indigenous worldview from a Nuu-chah-nulth scholar. Useful for grounding discussions of worldview in a specific nation rather than pan-Indigenous generalizations.]

Denzin, N. K., Lincoln, Y. S., & Tuhiwai Smith, L. (Eds.). (2008). Handbook of critical and Indigenous methodologies. SAGE Publications. [Academic collection covering Indigenous epistemologies and research methodologies. Useful for teachers wanting theoretical grounding.]

Facing History and Ourselves. (2023). Resources for teaching Indigenous history and culture. https://www.facinghistory.org [Lesson plans, essays, and curated reading lists for secondary teachers. Strong on worldview, resistance, and social justice themes.]

Gabriel Dumont Institute. https://www.gdins.org [Saskatchewan-based Metis education and research organization. Curriculum resources grounded in local community knowledge.]