19 Indigenous Knowledges
Decolonising the curriculum and embedding sustainability intersect in many ways. Indigenous knowledges sit at one intersection. We need to ensure — against the grain of various exclusionary and marginalizing dynamics — that our teaching includes the perspectives of a variety of Indigenous scholars, creative practitioners, activists and other voices. Within the classroom, the term ‘Indigenous’ is often best used as a stepping stone to something more specific (an essay, a writer, a community, a history). At the same time, we can also reflect on commonalities and diversity within Indigenous thought and practice. We can also reflect on the construction and operation of indigeneity as a category of law and policy. Angles include:
- Epistemologies, ontologies, cosmologies. What variety of ways of being and knowing are there? (see also Case Study #5 Sumak Kawsay)
- Social movements and alliances. How is extractivism being resisted by Indigenous groups?
- Sovereignty. How do Indigenous nations articulate alternatives to Westphalian sovereignty and settler colonialism?
- Diverse economies. What alternative forms of economic life currently exist alongside capitalism?
- Indigenous futurisms. How do various Indigenous writers imagine the future?
- Contextualising and critiquing indigeneity. Where does the concept come from, what does it do, what is done with it?
