Prior Thanksgiving: The Challenge to Engineering of the Words That Come Before All Else

In this chapter, I begin with an exploration of the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address, which is also known as the words that come before all else. In the first section, I consider the Address itself. I focus on the notion of gratitude, in part guided by Robin Wall Kimmerer’s thoughtful approach. In the second section, I look at the implications that ideas contained in the Thanksgiving Address may have for engineering education and for the practice and conceptualisation of engineering, itself. In the third section, I give an example of how learning might change if engineering students were introduced to the Thanksgiving Address.