Indigenous Concepts Research Articles

Interrogating whiteness in International Relations: Critical Examinations of Race and Racialised Power

AbstractThe dynamics of knowledge production in the discipline of international relations (IR) frequently reproduce problematic and outdated idea(l)s about what counts as ‘proper’ scholarship, with positivist research setting the standard for legitimacy. This essay challenges the racialised hierarchies that reproduce unreflective endorsement of these (white, Western) ‘standards’ of knowledge production. Our review begins with an elaboration of epistemic whiteness as the foundation for a critical examination of race and racialised power in the discipline. We provide a timely and necessary review of the dynamics of racialised power in IR to expand the parameters of debates about race, racism, and coloniality. We introduce the concepts of Indigeneity and intersectionality as tools we can use to destabilise whiteness in the discipline. We conclude our discussion by showing how these two concepts can enable potentially transformative re-imaginings of IR, as we hope to foster new and plural ways of thinking world politics otherwise.

Towards epistemological pluralism and methodological openness in language teacher emotion research

In recent years the notion of emotional labor or emotion labor has gained prominence as an analytically robust concept to explore language teacher emotions in both western and non-western educational settings. The first aim of this article is to examine the applicability of a western concept of emotion labor to the study of language teacher emotions in the Global South/s. Through a comparative case study, we examine how Ecuadorian English-language and Kichwa-language teachers managed emotions while undertaking virtual teaching at the beginning of Covid-19 pandemic. While emotion labor was useful for explaining the former's reported experiences, for the latter, it was only through the Indigenous concept of corazonar rooted in Andean philosophy and cosmology that we could capture their drastically differing accounts. From the perspective of Epistemologies of the South, we argue for a locally sensitive way of theorizing language teacher emotions. We also aim to illustrate the significance of casing and recasing (i.e., a recursive process of linking developing ideas and the evidence that researchers gather) in language teacher emotion research through the investigation of our own analytical processes.

Representation, Settler Colonialism and ‘the Aboriginal Child’: a Politics of Subalternity?

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak famously thematised the question ‘can the subaltern speak?’ through the dual meanings of ‘representation,’ as both depiction and political proxy. This paper draws on Spivak’s analysis to question the capacity of the settler-colonial Australian imagination to represent (or recognise) the sovereignty of Aboriginal peoples – and especially of children, as infants (in-fans, literally speechless). The former sense of representation (depiction) bears implications for the second, as Indigenous sovereignty is displaced by settler representations of indigeneity – and particularly of Indigenous ‘childhood’ and ‘children’ as neglected ‘piccaninnies,’ without parentage or inheritance. Such portrayals, in this light, may even be read as continuous with colonial logics of elimination, as strategies to sever the connection to land that undergirds Indigenous conceptions of sovereignty and to thwart Indigenous futures. The article interrogates settler colonial investments in representing Aboriginal childhood in the context of recent public discourse about the constitutional recognition of First Peoples, and a political imperative to re-present the Australian ‘nation’ as post- (rather than currently) colonial. The questions that animate this inquiry include: what, if anything, can a settler-Australian politics of recognition offer First Peoples? Is it possible to represent (or recognise) Blak sovereignty through modifications to the settler constitution? And how does the settler image repertoire of Aboriginal children speak to this possibility? If that fabricated ‘Aboriginal child’ could speak, what would this ultimate ‘subaltern’ say?

Batu Baraguang: Megalithic Stone Chime Music in Luhak 50 Koto, Minangkabau, Indonesia

Batu baraguang is music performed on massive stone gong chimes found ins Luhak 50 Koto, Minangkabau, Indonesia. Very little has been written nor investigated regarding much of the megalithic remains found throughout Sumatra and Nias. The researchers employed a qualitative methodology in this investigation. As the primary data collection instruments, they utilized observation, interviews, document analysis, and data interpretation. The study adopted an ethnographic approach, which placed a strong emphasis on observational techniques. The instrument consists of six stones placed on a bamboo cushion. Rhythmic motifs are played by three people in a cross-legged sitting position. Each player hits two stone slabs that have different pitch levels. The interlocking tones produce cumulative short melodies which are recognized as discrete melodies or pieces. In this article we seek to describe the musical system as evidenced in these stone chimes, and the manner of batu baraguang performance. We deployed both qualitative descriptive methods coupled with quantitative techniques in pitch measurements. The ensemble consists of six talempong stone slabs which we call B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, and B6. The pieces are based on indigenous concepts called palau, tongah and panyudahi. Each of these corresponds to three pairs of stones performed by three players. We contend based on the findings of this research that the ancestors of the Minangkabau people in the Megalithic era already possessed an aesthetic musical identity as exemplified through the medium of this stone chime.

De-westernising competition: ‘Harmony of competition’ in Chinese higher education

ABSTRACT The discourse regarding globalisation and particularly ‘global competition’ has appeared in a range of socio-economic areas and higher education is no exception. Global competition has been the policy context in which a range of national excellence initiatives have been developed. These have often involved competitive processes with significant funding as a core incentive for universities to participate. Several countries have implemented these to build ‘World Class Universities’ (WCU) but often this concept is linked to global rankings and a western model of what world class is. The aim of this study is to critically examine the characteristics of China’s WCU policies, particularly as a competition discourse. It aims to go beyond Western-centric paradigms to capture a more inclusive and diverse understanding of competitive dynamics across various cultural and regional contexts. The article first draws upon critical globalisation studies, then it reviews ‘indigenous’ Chinese policy concepts of ‘world class-ness’ in HE, next it examines the construction of higher education (HE) competition in the Chinese national and institutional contexts, and finally it conducts a thematic review of the main Chinese WCU policies and the strategy and implementation documents of the ‘core’ WCU institutions with respect to the indigenous concepts. Our study’s findings will contribute to a nuanced understanding of competition in HE settings – it examines and challenges the tendency of the competition discourse to reduce distinctions between national contexts.

Animal Matter in Indigenous Place-Thought: A Case from the Moon Pyramid, Teotihuacan

This article interrogates an archaeological application of the Indigenous concept of place-thought, defined by Vanessa Watts as an “understanding of the world via a physical embodiment” through studying corporeal animal forms. This latter encompasses the osteological traces of animal matter (sacrificed animals and prepared body parts) that, because of their material vitalities, provide an opportune site of engagement to retrieve ancient interpersonal relationships. Over 100 corporeal animal forms from Burials 2 and 6 are interpreted as agentive persons who brought into being the Moon Pyramid as an altepetl (water mountain) of Teotihuacan. The altepetl is a seminal place-thought in Mesoamerica intimately tied with sovereignty. The author argues that potentate apex predators (eagles, wolves, jaguars, pumas, and rattlesnakes) became part of Teotihuaccan’s community through their captive management and were buried alive to sustain the altepetl as master guardians. A zooarchaeological and isotopic investigation of corporeal animal forms provided lurid details of human–predator interactions, including differential access to the animals, esoteric knowledge about their personhood, and even deceit of that information. She concludes that providing a contextually and historically contingent, data-driven, and inter-personally centered reconstruction of ancient place-thought, though admittedly partial and from a specific perspective, should be attainable given the enhanced methods in archaeology.

Making Space for Feminist Decolonial Geographies of Peace with the Shuar in the Ecuadorian Amazon: A Case for ‘Cuerpo Territorio’

ABSTRACT This article follows urgent calls from peace and conflict studies and geographies of peace to be decolonised. Our study shows that for the Shuar communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon, the concept of peace is quite different from that of the Ecuadorian state. This study demonstrates how ‘Western’ centric definitions of the term are rooted in colonial logic and power structures. In this article, we explore what it could mean to decolonise theories and spaces for peace. Through encounters with Indigenous Shuar understandings of peace in a community-based participatory research project, we highlight the plurality of possibilities for the term. Using a decolonial lens we conclude with a call to action for scholars in those disciplines to engage with the Feminist Indigenous Latin American and Caribbean methodology and epistemology ‘cuerpo territorio’ (body-territory) to understand territory from the perspective of Abya Yala, that sees women’s bodies as the ‘first territory’. We argue that ‘cuerpo territorio’ is well suited to do decolonial work and help us step outside a Westernized understanding of peace and make strides towards the pluriverse. While typically this Indigenous concept has been used to better understand violence surrounding extraction sites, we propose that engaging with the methodology will prove useful for theoretical findings in spatial understandings of peace and its praxis.

Place, empire, environmental education, and the Community of Inquiry

Place-based education is founded on the idea that the student’s local community is one of their primary learning resources. Place-based education’s underlying educational principle is that students need to first have an experiential understanding of the history, culture, and ecology of the environment in which they are situated before tackling broader national and global issues. Such attempts are a step in the right direction in dealing with controversial issues in a democracy by providing resources for synthesising curriculum though theory (curriculum content, including traditional subjects) and practice (practical learning as experiential education). Nevertheless, many place-based accounts discount Indigenous conceptions of place, which are integral to Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing, especially in relation to the ontological relationship to Land and Country. Indigenous philosophy has the potential to inform what place-based education means by students developing a ‘sense of place’ when engaging with local communities as their ‘own’ place. In this article we re-imagine the community of inquiry as a place-responsive pedagogy by learning from Indigenous philosophy, and recentring Indigenous notions of place in experiential learning. In addition to exploring the pedagogical potential of a place-responsive account of the community of inquiry, we look to the implications for teacher preparation.

Breaking the Mold: Normative Hybridity as the Key to Contemporary “Non-Western” Political Theorizing

What normative compass can appropriately ground a theory for contemporary “non-Western” societies? This question has become urgent amid the pressure to decolonize political science and academia. The hybridity of numerous contemporary non-Western societies means that political theorists cannot refuse to engage with either Western-originated or premodern Indigenous concepts and ways of thinking that bear on the local public culture. However, these normative strands alone are unsuitable for grounding a contemporary theory. This methodological dilemma can be overcome if theorists adopt normative hybridity as a methodological stance. Normative hybridity suggests that hybridity is not only a feature of the theorist’s context of reference but should also be their modus operandi. Normative hybridity already underpins relevant works in contemporary Confucian political theory. Drawing from these works, I illustrate three methods to apply normative hybridity to theory building. This novel methodological approach uniquely addresses current political theory discussions and influences non-Western policymaking.

Healthy food, unhealthy food: Indigenous perspectives on the nutrition transition

ABSTRACT Amazonian Indigenous Peoples are undergoing drastic changes in their ways of life including the quality and availability of food and its impact on their health and well-being. Indigenous populations have their own perspectives and interpretations of dietary changes unfolding in their communities. Based on in-depth interviews, observations and validation workshops we explored the way Awajún describe and problematise the concept of healthy and unhealthy food in the context of the nutrition transition. We learn that the characteristics of ‘good food' are informed by their capacity to give strength, protect health and enable them to be hardworking people. On the contrary, food that comes from the city weakens the body and may result in health problems. For the Awajún, chicken with hormones, fish preserved in cans, and powdered milk negatively affect their health. We argue that the dichotomy ‘healthy' and ‘unhealthy’ used to classify food provides information not only about Indigenous conceptualisations of health and die, but is also a critique of broader structural processes affecting their well-being. The terms, explanations and idioms used by the Awajún to talk about food, provide an insight into Indigenous perspectives and knowledge key to informing global health interventions in culturally appropriate ways.

Understanding Suicide from an Indigenous Cultural Lens: Insights from Elders in Canada.

In this study, Indigenous Elders in Canada were interviewed to explore their conceptualizations of death and dying, particularly in relation to suicide. Through reflexive thematic analysis, three key themes were developed: Indigenous conceptions of death and dying, Christian influences on views of suicide, and indirect suicide. The theme of Indigenous conceptualizations of death and dying included the subthemes of spirituality and life after death, highlighting the importance of spiritual beliefs in Indigenous culture and knowledge systems. The impact of Christian influences on views of suicide was also explored, with participants discussing the complex nature of the relationship between Christianity and Indigenous peoples. Finally, the theme of indirect suicide was analyzed, referring to deaths resulting from behaviors that do not necessarily fit within the conventional definition of suicide. Overall, this study highlights the importance of honoring Indigenous cultural knowledge in research related to suicide prevention in Indigenous communities.

Indigenous approaches to health assessment: a scoping review protocol

BackgroundHealth assessment tools developed using mainstream or Western concepts have been widely used in clinical practice worldwide. However, even culturally adapted or culturally based tools may not be relevant in other social contexts if they are grounded in Western beliefs and perspectives. The application of mainstream assessment tools, when used in Indigenous populations, can lead to the inappropriate application of normative data and inaccurate or biased diagnosis of conditions as Indigenous concepts of health differ from Western biomedical concepts of health. Thus, considering the need for culturally meaningful, sensitive, safe, and unbiased health assessment approaches and instruments over recent years, tools have been developed or adapted by and with Indigenous populations in Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand, Canada, and the United States. However, there is no existing systematic or scoping review to identify the methods and approaches used in adapting or developing health assessment tools for use with the Indigenous population in Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand, Canada, and the United States.MethodsIn response to these gaps, we are working with a First Nations Community Advisory Group in Northern Ontario, Canada, to undertake a scoping review following the 2020 JBI methodology for scoping reviews. A systematic search will be conducted in PubMed, APA PsychINFO, CINAHL, MEDLINE, Web of Science, Bibliography of Native North Americans, Australian Indigenous Health info data set, and Indigenous Health Portal. Two reviewers will independently screen all abstracts and full-text articles for inclusion using criteria co-developed with an advisory group. We will chart the extracted information and summarize and synthesize the data. The summarized findings will be presented to a Community Advisory Group, including First Nations community partners, an Elder, and community members, and their feedback will be incorporated into the discussion section of the scoping review.DiscussionThis scoping review involves iterative consultation with the Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars, First Nations Community Advisory Group, and community partners throughout the research process. This review aims to summarize the evidence on standard ethical approaches and practices used in Indigenous research while adapting or developing health assessment tools. It will inform the larger study focused on developing an Indigenous Functional Assessment tool. Further, it will seek whether the Indigenous ways of knowing and equitable participation of Indigenous people and communities are incorporated in the Indigenous research process.Systematic review registrationOpen Science Framework https://osf.io/yznwk.

The Akan Indigenous Concepts of Religion and Nyame (the Supreme Deity) and the Promotion of Inter-religious Relations in Ghana

This paper in revealing that the adoption of foreign religions has not eradicated the lingering influence of indigenous spiritual and religious values, explores the coexistence of Christianity, Islam, and indigenous Akan religious values among the Akan people. The study, employing a mixed-methodological approach, including interviews with three respondents and ten focus group discussions in Ghana’s Central Region, delved into the Akan conception of religion as a prevailing system. It highlighted the Supreme Deity’s role as the Great Ancestor, emphasizing how these concepts foster apathy towards religious differences and cultivate a trans-religious attitude among the Akan people. The findings suggest that Akan’s general indifference to religious disparities not only contributes to a tolerant society but also potentially serves as a model for interreligious harmony. This resilience is evident in the face of efforts by some Christians and Muslims to discourage trans-religious practices among the Akan. This showcases the enduring nature of Akan inclusivity in matters of religion. Keywords: Akan, Indigenous Religions, Christianity, Islam, Interreligious Encounters, Dialogue

Indigenous Knowledge and Ontological Difference? Ontological Pluralism, Secular Public Reason, and Knowledge between Indigenous Amazonia and the West

AbstractReal knowledge emerges from “impossible” worldviews. Or, put differently, it is possible to accept knowledge that is produced by people whose ontological presuppositions–their baseline assumptions about the nature of reality–one entirely rejects. How can this fact be accommodated, not by advancing a wishful post-dualism, dangerous post-secularism, or implausible ontological relativism, but by working within the tradition of secular political philosophy so that indigenous knowledge, too, can be a basis for public policy and collective action in secular societies? Via a reframing Amazonian multinaturalist perspectivism–which has so inspired post-dualist civilizational critiques–as a social theory of health and illness that informs contemporary Western epidemiology’s struggles to theorize the distribution of health and illness in mass society, this article advances a general approach to recognizing knowledge that has been developed on the other side of boundaries of ontological difference. It argues that the accuracy or efficacy of any particular indigenous knowledge-practice implies the generative potential as theory of the ontological presuppositions that facilitated the knowledge-practice’s evolution. Combining the ontological turn’s interest in the innovativeness of indigenous concepts with a proposal for superseding its incommensurable worlds and abandonment of the aspiration to more-than-local knowledge, the article shows that indigenous ideas and their underlying ontologies are more than generic alternatives to inspire Western civilizational renewal, and opens a path to their legitimization as actionable knowledge in the terms of secular public reason.

Centring localised indigenous concepts of wellbeing in urban nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation: case-studies from Aotearoa New Zealand and the Cook Islands

Nature-based solutions (NbS) offer significant potential for climate change adaptation and resilience. NbS strengthen biodiversity and ecosystems, and premise approaches that centre human wellbeing. But understandings and models of wellbeing differ and continue to evolve. This paper reviews wellbeing models and thinking from Aotearoa New Zealand, with focus on Te Ao Māori (the Māori world and worldview) as well as other Indigenous models of wellbeing from wider Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa Oceania. We highlight how holistic understandings of human-ecology-climate connections are fundamental for the wellbeing of Indigenous peoples of Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa Oceania and that they should underpin NbS approaches in the region. We profile case study experience from Aotearoa New Zealand and the Cook Islands emerging out of the Nature-based Urban design for Wellbeing and Adaptation in Oceania (NUWAO) research project, that aims to develop nature-based urban design solutions, rooted in Indigenous knowledges that support climate change adaptation and wellbeing. We show that there is great potential for nature-based urban adaptation agendas to be more effective if linked closely to Indigenous ecological knowledge and understandings of wellbeing.

There is no word for ‘nature’ in our language: rethinking nature-based solutions from the perspective of Indigenous Peoples located in Canada

Support for nature-based solutions (NbS) has grown significantly in the last 5 years. At the same time, recognition for the role of Indigenous Peoples in advancing ‘life-enhancing’ climate solutions has also increased. Despite this rapid growth, the exploration of the intersection of NbS and Indigenous Peoples has been much slower, as questions remain about the ability of NbS to be implemented while respecting Indigenous rights, governance, and knowledge systems, including in their conceptualizations. To address this knowledge gap, we draw on 17 conversational interviews with Indigenous leaders, including youth, women, technicians, and knowledge keepers from what is currently known as Canada to explore Indigenous conceptualizations of nature, nature-based solutions, and the joint biodiversity and climate crisis. Three drivers of the biodiversity and climate crisis were identified: structural legacy of colonization and capitalism, a problem of human values, and climate change as a cumulative impact from industrial disturbances. Building on this understanding, our findings indicate that shifting towards Indigenous conceptualizations of NbS as systems of reciprocal relationships would: challenge the dichotomization of humans and nature; emphasize the inseparability of land, water, and identity; internalize the principle of humility and responsibility; and invest in the revitalization of Indigenous knowledge systems. As the first exploration of Indigenous conceptualizations of nature within NbS literatures, we close with four reflections for academics, advocates, leaders, activists, and policymakers to uplift Indigenous climate solutions for a just, equitable, and resilient future.

Sacred Vā-Rhythms

This book review is a talanoa (discussion) with Winston Halapua’s 2008 text, Waves of God’s Embrace: Sacred Perspectives from the Ocean. This review is an interpretation and evaluation of the text and Halapua’s narrative musings. Readers are invited to engage with Indigenous concepts and forms of creative criticality, fronting Oceania meaning-making and sense-making through storytelling, poetry, and proverbial or wise sayings. In my review, I employ sacred vā-rhythms to engage in talanoa with key themes, ideas, and insights noted by Halapua, a well-respected religious leader and academic. I offer questions and provocations about God’s embrace and the ways in which sacred vā is framed today as being in-relationship with the more-than-human world (i.e., the fonua-vanua-whenua and moana) for Tongan as well as Oceania families across Oceania and the diaspora.

Tribal Masculinity: An Alternative of Anti-ecological Masculinity

Masculinity is considered as behavior and attributes expected out of men. It is a socially constructed concept that is shaped by gender roles, societal expectations, and power dynamics that vary across cultures and historical periods. The studies concerning men, masculinity, and nature relations emerged as a response to the essentialized notion of associating men with culture, patriarchy, oppression, and women with nature, rather than focusing on the complexity of masculinities and their relation with nature. Further, Ecomasculinity and Ecological masculinism are Western concepts and frameworks that evolved out of the studies concerning men-nature relationships. Considering the plurality of masculinity and the nuances of men-nature relationships, this paper explores the intersection of men, masculinity, and nature in Tribal society in the context of South India. The study employs textual analysis as a method to explore men-nature relationships. The text considered for the analysis is the novel Huntsman by Lakshmi Saravanakumar, translated into English by Aswini Kumar. The novel presents an indigenous tribal society rooted in the forest with interpersonal connections between humans and non-humans. The paper demonstrates how the concept of Home, Indigeneity, and life in tribal society caters to the construction of the notion of masculinity, which emphasizes caring attitudes toward nature. The perspective of indigenous society challenges the traditional notion of masculinity as dominant and oppressive. This paper argues that masculine discourse in Tribal society is counter-hegemonic, and is built on caring towards humans and nonhumans rather than domination.

Dialogical decoloniality and Tibetan conceptions of indigeneity

Current discourse on entrenched differences within the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is defined in terms of evolving concepts of nationality and ethnicity. Tibetans are recognised as one of the 55 ethnic minorities distinct from the dominant Han Chinese (who comprise over 91% of the total population). This majority-minority framework has been cemented in China’s normative thinking as a multi-ethnic nation-state. Political movements among Tibetan exiles based in India advocate for greater autonomy within the framework of the constitution of the PRC and the Law on Regional National Autonomy (LRNA). Based on ‘patchwork ethnographic’ work, this paper seeks to investigate the refusal among Tibetan exiles to associate Tibet’s collective self with the concept of indigeneity. The PRC does not recognise the existence of indigenous peoples, although it voted in support of the 2007 United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples. These two divergent conceptions of indigeneity preclude the possibility of staking greater claims to indigenous sovereignty within China. By wading into debates in the Global South on decoloniality, this article is a call to revisit assumptions that have caused a reductive reading of indigeneity either exclusively as a derivative right or through the outright refusal to recognise it. I propose the notion of ‘dialogical decoloniality’ as opposed to selective osmosis in the uptake of theoretical concepts among states-in-waiting.

A study on the role of leadership in sustainable business practices in India

In the context of global environmental challenges and the increasing importance of sustainable development, the role of leadership in steering organizations towards sustainable business practices has become crucial, particularly in emerging economies like India. This theoretical research paper explores the impact of leadership styles and behaviors on the adoption and implementation of sustainable business practices within Indian organizations. Drawing upon a variety of leadership theories, including transformational, ethical, and servant leadership, the paper proposes a conceptual framework that links specific leadership attributes to sustainability outcomes in the Indian business context. The paper begins by examining the unique socio-economic and cultural landscape of India, which shapes the business environment and the sustainability challenges it faces. It then reviews the literature on leadership theories and their relevance to sustainability, adapting these concepts to the Indian context. The core of the paper hypothesizes that Indian leaders who exhibit transformational and ethical behaviors are more likely to foster a culture of sustainability within their organizations. This is due to their ability to articulate a clear vision of sustainability, inspire and motivate employees towards this vision, and incorporate ethical considerations into decision-making processes. Furthermore, the paper discusses the role of Indian philosophical and spiritual principles, such as the concept of Dharma (duty/righteousness) and Karma (action), in influencing leadership approaches towards sustainability. It argues that these indigenous concepts can enrich leadership practices and enhance the commitment to sustainability by aligning business operations with broader societal and environmental goals. To support its arguments, the paper synthesizes evidence from theoretical models, case studies of Indian companies that have successfully integrated sustainability into their business strategies, and interviews with business leaders known for their sustainability initiatives. Finally, the paper outlines practical implications for leadership development and policy recommendations to encourage sustainable business practices across the Indian corporate sector. By bridging the gap between leadership theory and sustainable business practices in the Indian context, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of how effective leadership can drive the transition towards more sustainable and responsible business models in emerging economies.