Weaving Indigenous Science into Ecological Sciences: Culturally Grounding Our Indigenous Scholarship

Abstract

1 School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, College of Environment, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA. 2 School of Social Work, Indigenous Wellness Research Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA. *Correspondence to: Jessica Hernandez, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, College of Environment, University of Washington, Anderson Hall, Box 352100, Seattle, WA 98195 USA. E-mail: jhernan@uw.edu. Michael Spencer, School of Social Work, University of Washington, Box 354900, Seattle, WA 98105 USA. E-mail: mspenc@uw.edu. KEY WORDS: indigenous science, indigenizing, ecology. Human Biology, Winter 2020, v. 92, no. 1. doi: 10.13110/humanbiology.92.1.05. Copyright © 2020 Wayne State University Press, Detroit, Michigan 48201 introduction Weaving Indigenous Science into Ecological Sciences: Culturally Grounding Our Indigenous Scholarship Jessica Hernandez1 * and Michael S. Spencer2 * Indigenous peoples are the original stewards of their native and ancestral lands, having maintained the balances of their ecosystems since time immemorial. However, as a result of colonization, imperialism, and the mass genocide of Indigenous peoples, environmental systems have been drastically changed. Since Western ideologies such as capitalism and Western science were introduced, Indigenous stewards and their knowledge systems have been invalidated and often ignored in environmental and ecological discourse. Their complex nature-culture nexus has been dismissed and suppressed, and European men have been given the credit for their discoveries and nuances in environmental and ecological discourse(Wildcat2009).Forinstance,JamesCook is considered the pioneer of oceanography and navigation, and Giffford Pinchot is considered the father of forestry. However, oral Indigenous history recounts how Indigenous people navigated the oceans before colonialism (e.g., Polynesians) and served as stewards of their forests (e.g., Amazonian tribes) (Anderson 2009; Walker 2012). Despite having generations of knowledge formation based on fijirst-hand observations, Indigenous peoples have been left out of these conversations and discourses. In this special issue of Human Biology, titled “Indigenous Science and Ecology,” we weave together fijive articles that demonstrate the nuances of Indigenous scholarship in the ecological and environmental sciences. These articles uplift Indigenous ancestral knowledge that has led these authors to contribute Indigenous perspectives within their respective fijields. This special issue highlights how Indigenous peoples can indeed lead us to more holistic and efffective ecological andenvironmentalsolutionsinachangingclimate. Given the drastic changes we continue to face as a result of climate change, it is imperative now more thanevertoliftupIndigenousvoices,perspectives, and knowledge systems. Climate change impacts Indigenous peoples’ culture-nature nexus, furtheringtheinjusticestheyface (Maldonadoetal.2014). These injustices come from centuries of oppression , violence, and desecration they have endured under postcolonialism. Despite the genocide and forced assimilation tactics used in the past, and which continue to be used today, against Indigenouspeoples ,theirteachingshavebeenpreserved in their communities through oral traditions and cultural practices (Lauer 2012). Their resiliency demonstrates how Indigenous peoples can be the focal point of any effforts to adapt to and mitigate climate change. Including Indigenous voices in climate change narratives and discourse can lead to holistic solutions, as our fijive articles contend. 000 ■ Hernandez and Spencer While some of their teachings were in relation to their living conditions in the past, Indigenous cultures offfer knowledge systems that can adapt to new climates, spaces, times, and environment, as demonstrated by the contributors to this special issue. These adaptations are seen through the eyes of Indigenous peoples who are also forcefully displaced as a result of climate change, ongoing militarization, and other results of settler colonialism (Laidlaw et al. 2015). This furthers our conclusion that Indigenous peoples’ teachings can serveassolutionstotheenvironmentalcrisisweare currently facing in a changing climate, due to their resilienceandadaptivecapacity(Aftandilian2011). Our special issue demonstrates how Indigenous science can help heal our Mother Earth, and our fijive peer-reviewed articles do an outstanding job of displaying this through their authors’ current research, analysis, and critical lens. These fijive articlesweaveIndigenousscienceintoenvironmental and ecological discourse, amplifying Indigenous perspectives, voices, and ways of knowing. It is important to note that Indigenous science cannot be defijined by one sole defijinition, because it consists of all Indigenous knowledge systems— local, regional, and global.While some Indigenous knowledges share similarities with others, they differ based on the geographic location of each tribe, nation, or community. This is because Indigenous knowledgesystemsareplacebasedandnotsocially acquiredthroughWesternsystems(e.g.education) (Singer...