Bringing research back home: exploring Indigenous Melanesian tok stori as ontology

Abstract

Indigenous knowledge is generally understood to be knowledge developed by a particular group in their specific environment over an extended period of time. In academia generally, bodies of knowledge of differing origins are not often understood. This article employs ontology as a ground for developing relational clarity in the academy by considering two oral traditions—talanoa (a Polynesian conversational form) as represented in research and Melanesian tok stori (a Melanesian form of discursive group communication) understood through an Indigenous Solomon Islands ontology. The discussion of tok stori offers a window into the complex ontological thinking required of the academy when seeking to learn from the knowledge of Mala’ita Solomon Islands specifically, and from Indigenous groups generally. The value to the wider research community suggests that bringing research back home through approaches constructed on the way people act can capitalise on the logic of aligning ontology and practice in research.