A Global Decolonial Praxis of Sustainability: Possibilities towards Undoing Epistemic Violences between Indigenous Peoples and those no longer Indigenous to Place

Lewis Williams, Tracey Bunda, Nick Claxton, Iain MacKinnon

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    37 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Addressing our growing planetary crisis and attendant symptoms of human and human-ecological disconnect, requires a profound epistemological reorientation regarding how societal structures are conceived and articulated; named here as the collective work of decolonisation. While global dynamics are giving rise to vital transnational solidarities between Indigenous peoples, these same processes have also resulted in complex and often contradictory locations and histories of peoples at local levels which unsettle the Indigenous–non-Indigenous binary, providing new and necessary possibilities for the development of epistemological and relational solidarities aimed at increasing social–ecological resilience. The International Resilience Network is an emerging community of practice comprised of Indigenous and settler–migrant peoples aimed at increasing social–ecological resilience. This article narrates the story of the Network's inaugural summit, and provides an overview of contextual issues and analysis of particular pedagogical aspects of our approach; foregrounding ruptures between ontology and epistemology that inevitably occur when culturally and generationally diverse groups who are grounded in different daily realities and related agency imperatives come to share overlapping worldviews through learning ‘in place’ together. Developing pedagogical practices for naming and negotiating associated tensions within the collective work of decolonisation is, we argue, a critical step in enabling practices conducive towards the shared goal of increased human–ecological resilience.
    Original languageEnglish
    Article number5
    Pages (from-to)41-53
    Number of pages13
    JournalAustralian Journal of Indigenous Education
    Volume47
    Issue number1
    Early online date3 Oct 2017
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Aug 2018

    Keywords

    • decolonisation
    • indigenous
    • onto-epistemological ruptures
    • intercultural
    • pedagogies

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • General Arts and Humanities

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