World View and the Decision
Making Process

A world view is all of a society's paradigms
(patterns of thoughts and behaviors) taken
together. It is a comprehensive image of
reality and humanity’s relation to it.

A specific world view is influenced by its
immediate environment.

In Canada, world views find their origins in
different cultural traditions each with
particular value assumptions.
Aboriginal World View
 Traditional Aboriginal societies within
North America were founded on holistic
and spiritually-based world view known
as the Sacred Circle.
 Social organizations within the Aboriginal
societies reflect a basic interrelatedness
with each other.
Some basic assumptions are:
 Indigenous cultures developed political based on
equality and harmony.
 Power, authority and decision making were
decentralized.
 The natural autonomy (personal freedom) of the
individual and sovereignty of the group were
upheld as societal absolutes.
 The Sacred Circle represents the belief, “Everything
the power of the world is done in a circle”. The sky
is round……The wind in its greatest power
whirls……The sun comes forth and goes down
again in a circle.. Even the seasons form a great
circle in their changing…..The life of man is a circle
from childhood to childhood, and so it is in
everything where power moves (Oglala Sioux)
European Worldview
 European societies tend towards a linear,
analytical and secular (not concentrated
with religion; worldly) worldview.
 Eurocentric cultural developed political
organizations based on patriarchy, male
dominated social systems, with decedents
through the male line, and competition.
 Power and decision making were
centralized
 The rights and personal freedoms of the
individual were deemed to be of
paramount value.
Traditional Aboriginal
Institutions

When the peoples of Aboriginal North America
societies encountered the first European immigrants,
they discovered that these newcomers to the
continent were similar to and yet also different from
themselves.

Commonalities

Aboriginal and Euro-Canadian peoples share many
things in common. Both groups are comprised of a
diversity of cultures, with each cultural group
possessing a unique history, language and spiritual
belief system. Just as there never developed a single
European language, a single Aboriginal language
never developed either. Euro-Canadian languages
include French, English, German, Ceitie and Swedish.
Aboriginal languages include Cree (with at least
three dialects spoken in Saskatchewan alone).
Dakota, Eastern Aleut and Kiowa Apache.
Spiritual Interpretations
 Although traditional European societies were
generally Christian in spiritual belief system,
there developed a variety of interpretations
of Christian spirituality, including
Protestantism, Catholicism and Eastern
Orthodoxy.
 In the same way, while most traditional
Aboriginal societies were founded upon a
physical environment-centered mysticism,
there developed a multitude of
interpretations and belief systems varying
from one cultural region to the next.
Complex Societies

Both European and Aboriginal peoples developed extremely
complex organized societies.

Both groups had organized institutions centered upon family
and kinship, politics and government, economics, culture,
spirituality and all other aspects of life.
 Differences

What made European and Aboriginal institutions different
from each other lay in the values, beliefs and world views
upon which the institutions were based.

Because institutions are created by human beings, what
make Europeans and Aboriginal peoples so different from
each other were the basic values, beliefs and world views
each group of people held.

As well, although both European and Aboriginal peoples
possessed the same concepts of thought as power,
sovereignty and social contract, the interpretations of these
concepts differed greatly.
Gaining Understanding
 To better understand traditional Aboriginal
approaches to decision-making, the
following slides will provide you with
generalizations about the organization of
family and kinship and political institutions
within the North American First Nations.
 You must know that Indian cultures start with
philosophical assumptions as found in the
Sacred Circle while Eurocentric cultures start
with assumptions based on science and
technology.
Family and Kinship
Extended Family Circle


The basic unit of most traditional societies is the
extended family circle. The extended family usually
includes parents, children, grandparents, aunts,
uncles, cousins and all the persons an individual is
related to through blood, marriage or adoption.

Matriarchies
 Most societies within pre-contact Aboriginal North
America were matriarchal.
 An organization of these societies was centered
upon the mother, her sisters and daughter.
 Within Iroquoian society, the household was
comprised of the husband and wife, the wife's
mother and mother's sisters and brothers, the wife's
sisters and brothers, her children and, if applicable,
her children's daughters.
Ownership
 Children determined their social status through their
mothers, and inherited property from them.
 Women owned the longhouse, household utensils,
farming implements, agricultural produce and
generally all the essential items within the society.
 Men owned the clothes they wore and the hunting
and military equipment they created.
 A tradition within Iroquoian society was that women
directed and controlled daily affairs within the
settlement while men were responsible for affairs
outside of it.
 Men received direction from women on how to
resolve issues affecting the family or the settlement.
Decision Making
 Women made all the decisions which
impacted or could impact upon the family.
 Men could voice their opinions on issues but
women were not obligated to act upon
these opinions.
 The oldest woman within the longhouse
possessed the right to make decisions on
behalf of the entire household. In general
practice, she relied upon the advice and
recommendations of all women elders
residing within the longhouse before
formulating her final decisions.
Power
 Women held the power of decision-making within
the family for at least one very practical reason: the
men of the society were generally away from
home for great lengths of time, whether for hunting,
fishing and gathering expeditions or because of
military conflicts with other nations.
 It fell upon women to ensure the daily functioning
of the family continued.
 Women held the power of decision-making for very
spiritual and symbolic reasons: the survival of the
nation depended upon the survival of the women.
 It was the women who gave birth to the nation's
succeeding generation. Men were in awe of
women because of this ability which they lacked.
 Further to this the belief was that the Creator gave
life to the nation through women. Women had
closer links to the Creator than men and their
dominant position within the society reflected this.
Basic Values
 The primary concern held by women
when deliberating upon issues affecting
the family centered upon needs to
maintain respect for the Ancestors,
preserve harmony within the family, and
to ensure the survival of the nation.
 In this way decision-making took into
account the past, present and future
needs of the group.
Politics and
Government
 Consensus
 Political decision-making within many traditional
societies, like that of the Iroquoian
Confederacy, operated upon a consensus
model.
 In this model, lengthy and well-considered
deliberations were held upon issues requiring
group attention.
 All group members presented their views upon
the issue at hand.
 Decisions could not be attempted until all group
members were heard from.
Power
 Although within traditional Iroquoian society only
men held formal political office, they did so as
representatives of their households and villages and
not as representatives of only themselves.
 They did not have the liberty to vote on group
issues as they wanted.
 The household leaders, the women, selected the
men who would hold office and further directed
the men as to what they could or could not say in
meetings and how they could or could not vote.
 In reality, women were the actual political decisionmakers with men having the responsibility to carry
out these decisions.
 It was not uncommon, however, for women to
approve of decisions made by certain highly
respected and wise men.
Consultation
 The political decision-making process was
extremely complex.
 Consensus on issues had to be obtained from all
levels of society.
 These levels were from smallest to largest, the family
group, the village, the clan (groups of related
families), the nation and the confederacy.
 Issues affecting the village were relatively easy to
resolve, as only a small number of people had to
reach agreement or decisions. Issues affecting the
nation were also relatively loyal to each other.
 The most serious challenges to achieving group
consensus occurred at the confederacy level.
 The confederacy was comprised of five nations.
Although they were bound to each other through
political and kin-group ties, each nation prized its
independence and self sufficiency.
Complications
 To complicate matters, Iroquoian tradition was
that the Mohawk, Seneca and Onondaga
nations were "the elder brothers" of the
confederacy.
 Although each of the nations held a place of
equality within the circle of the confederacy, in
practice the opinions and ideals of "the elder
brothers" had a bit more authority than that of
the Oneida and Cayuga.
 The Tuscarora, although adopted into the
confederacy during the mid-1700s were viewed
as "junior members" of the group, with only a
small amount of influence.
Dissent Harmony & Safety
 If consensus was reached upon an issue, all
group members were expected to abide by
the group's ruling.
 Freedom of dissent was a fundamental
value within the society and individuals
could decide to ignore group rulings.
 This was allowed by the group only as long
as the individual did not disrupt the harmony
within the group and did nothing to place
the safety of the group in jeopardy .
Harmony & Safety Over
Dissent
 If consensus was not reached upon an issue, no
action would be taken upon that issue and a
group ruling would not be sought. To avoid
bitterness and dissension within the group based
upon conflicting viewpoints, an issue would not
even be discussed in a full-group meeting unless
there appeared to be a reasonable chance of
achieving consensus upon it.
 Issues which did not receive consensus were
either left to be resolved at a later date or were
simply forgotten about.
 In practice, all group members resolved such
issues for themselves and subsequently acted
upon their decisions. The fundamental rule was
that the harmony and safety of the group must
always be upheld.