This image titled The Trackers is from the Arapaho artist Brent Learned and serves as a symbol of our curriculum in that it shows a human interacting with a wolf as an equal. The wolf is in the front, which suggests that it is providing instruction and guidance. This follows the idea of knowledge of the natural world, which is based upon relationships, reciprocity and respect which leads to understanding the importance of the lives of other nonhuman beings with whom we share this world. It also shows that Wolf is regraded as a teacher, guide, and even a creator figure in Indigenous stories.
At a cultural level, this image also illustrates the idea that many tribes lived in peaceful associations with wolves, and that these two groups may even have hunted together and even shared kills (see Pierotti 2010, Chapter 3), which is why many societies on the Great Plains used the image of Wolf Warriors as symbols of the bravest and most successful hunters, warriors and providers for their people. |
|