Theory of Knowledge - Course Companion for Students Marija Uzunova Dang Arvin Singh Uzunov Dang

Tuhiwai Smith explores the relationship
Linda
history and power, with the question
between
why revisiting history is such a significant
of
of decolonization. In her book, Decolonizing
part
Research and Indigenous Peoples,
Methodologies;
suggests that because colonization
Smith
in various forms, knowing the past
continues
demands for justice. “To hold alternative
enables
is to hold alternative knowledges”,
histories
says, and the teaching of these alternative
she
and knowledges allows us to find new
histories
of doing things. The process of revisiting
ways
the past—becomes key to
histories—reclaiming
decolonizing project. And yet in international
the
practice, Indigenous accounts of history
academic
still rarely acknowledged as valid. Smith
are
that the telling of these accounts becomes a
argues
act of resistance.
powerful
typical arbiters of historical facts and truths—
The
of education boards or courts of law—are
think
neutral nor often capable of dealing with
neither
ways of knowing the world. How
alternative
we build capacity to know the world from
can
different perspectives? To what extent does
truly
these different perspectives help to create
holding
more just and more sustainable future?
a
6, III.3 explores two opposing philosophies
Chapter
land management in the 1800s that still
on
in the conservation discourse today.
reverberate
Muir was one of the pioneers of modern
John
conservation and emphasized the
wilderness
of natural environments and systems.
sacredness
argued for protecting natural spaces from
He
activity. On the other side of the debate
human
Gifford Pinchot, the first Chief Forester of
was
United States, who advocated the sustainable
the
equitable use of natural resources for the
and
of all citizens. This discourse between two
benefit
leaders in the United States left out
conservation
perspectives of the Indigenous Peoples, who
the
been stewards of the land for millennia. One
had
or the other, whether for the plundering of
way
land or its protection, Indigenous Peoples
the
removed from it. Muir’s vision prevailed
were
Yellowstone and Yosemite national parks,
and
in 1872 and 1890, were “both forcibly
created
of their native inhabitants” and “created a
emptied
template that survived well into the
conservation
was an early hero of conservation, but also
Muir
ally of the Indigenous Peoples. His legacy
no
shapes environmental politics even
powerfully
and has contributed to the exclusion of
today
Peoples from their land from Yosemite
Indigenous
Kaziranga. As we have discussed elsewhere in
to
chapter, land is an important connection to
this
knowledges, beliefs, resources and
Indigenous
The process of displacement from land
history.
called deracination, and correcting for it (for
is
through land-based education) is an
example,
component of Indigenous resurgence.
important
II. Perspectives
II. Perspectives
II.3 Conservation
Making connections
History, prehistory and language
How could we harm the forest? We’re the ones that
save the forest. As long as we are here, the forest will
In Chapter 9 we discuss what it means for Indigenous
societies in the 21st century to be considered
be ne. We are the defenders of the forest. If we leave,
who will protect the forest?
“prehistorical”, because of a conception of history that
is tied to written records. The acknowledgement of
(Baiga, Achanakmar Tiger Reserve)
oral history has brought some validity to Indigenous
historical accounts. New information surrounding
the Incas’ khipu knots, which we discuss in Chapter
4, complicates this story. If the Incas are deemed to
have kept historical records, not in written language
but in a kind of material code, should we revisit
where they fall across the prehistory versus history
boundary? Ultimately, examples like these blur the
problematic line between prehistory and history, and
add weight to Indigenous accounts of the past.
next century” (Zaitchik 2018).
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