Browsing by Subject "Indigenous knowledge"

This dissertation focuses on the intellectual and political trajectory of the Taller de Historia Oral Andina (THOA), an autonomous indigenous working group in which I participate, alongside other Aymaras and Quechuas from Bolivia. Grounding itself on the recuperation of ancestral knowledges of the ayllu and its reconstitution, this group has been seeking to decolonize knowledge and therefore society at large.

I have used an oral history methodology, revaluing the word and knowledge of the forefathers and foremothers. They are the inheritors and experts of the movement of caciques and representatives of communities and ayllus, who in the early twentieth century focused on defending their territorial rights on the basis of old colonial titles against the attacks of the landowning oligarchy. Using this methodology, I have questioned such principles of Western research as subject-object, Cartesian rationalism, the instrumental character of research, social discrimination, and epistemic racism in academia.

Guided by the Aymara axiom of qhip nayr uñtasis sarnaqapxañani, looking back to walk forth, as a pluriversal way of thinking that points the contemporaries to their immediate past and deep communal memory, out of whose relation critical sense emerges, it was possible to articulate the process of "Reconstitution and Strenghtening of the Ayllu," whose objective is the reconstitution of political and social organizing forms of thought, as well as the "renewal of Bolivia."

The concept of complementary duality is a salient aspect of Aymara and Quechua ontology, since together with triadic and tetralectic models, these are principles structuring ayllu knowledge, social organization, and politics. These principles are very different from the paradigms of dialectical materialism or the politics of "left" and "right." Despite colonial practices and colonialism, these principles still govern ayllu or communities, as paradigms learnt in the experience of work and needs, through the long observation of the cosmological movement and integration with animal and plant kingdoms, with mountains and vital or energetic fluids making up beings in the environment, all of which are considered as brethren and protecting parents.

Aymara and Quechua thought are wholistic and integral. Among their most important axes are parity and complementarity. These constitute a kind of vital codes, which in a way similar to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) are found in almost all beings, in their most diverse modality, and therefore are the guarantors for the transmission of values and survival.

The THOA belongs to the range of lettered indiginous thinkers, such as Felipe Waman Puma de Ayala and Juan de Santa Cruz Pachacuti, as well as of the work Dioses y hombres de Huarochirí, the couple Katari-Amaru, or Eduardo Leandro Nina Qhispi - creator of the principle of brotherhood, who proposed the "renovation of Bolivia" -, among others who through our actions reivindicate the wisdom of the ayllus, which expresses a different way of doing politics. Bolivia's current President, Evo Morales, would be the starting point of that model, whose goal is the suma jaqaña or "good living".

There is growing recognition that conventional Western approaches to fisheries governance and management are globally falling short in addressing many social and ecological challenges. Calls to “reinvent” or “reimagine” fisheries institutions through adaptations of ecosystem-based approaches increasingly intersect with interest in the “integration,” “bridging,” or “weaving” of knowledges and values held by Indigenous peoples with Western approaches. Generally, the intent is to improve decision-making processes and management outcomes, and to better recognize Indigenous rights following national and international legislative commitments such as UNDRIP. However, without appropriate strategies these efforts can echo harmful colonial histories, further marginalize Indigenous communities, and fail to restore fisheries of concern. Reimagining fisheries institutions will fundamental systemic changes to dominant worldviews, including how we approach multiple knowledges, conceptualize social and environmental relations, and even the very question of what constitutes “good” fisheries governance.The purpose of the dissertation is to consider what it means to pursue “integration” of Indigenous and Western scientific ways of knowing for improved fisheries governance and management and to meaningfully recognize Indigenous rights and knowledges. I present a case study of salmon in Clayoquot Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island (WCVI). Salmon are highly valued by WCVI coastal communities and are integral to the wellbeing of local Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations, but are at risk of extirpation. The federal government, through Fisheries and Oceans Canada, is tasked with recognizing Indigenous knowledges and the recently formalized commercial fishing rights of five Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations into WCVI fisheries. Development of the five Nations’ fisheries within a context of multiple overlapping Indigenous and Canadian actors and authorities presents a particularly entangled challenge for local governance reform and directly confronts colonial legacies and the historical distribution of power between Canadian and Nuu-chah-nulth governance structures. In this dissertation, I present the findings of research built through five years of partnership with Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations and Ha’oom Fisheries Society and based in the Tla-o-qui-aht hahouthli (traditional territory). The methodology includes a combination of archival and place-based methods informed by approaches in critical geographies and Indigenous relational practice. The broader goal of our partnership is to support ongoing efforts to mobilize Nuu-chah-nulth knowledges and values in WCVI salmon governance and management for productive, healthy, and abundant salmon fisheries. In presenting the work, I first review the case study context with attention to colonial histories of BC salmon fisheries. I then present a literature review summarizing primary concerns and recommendations from other efforts to “integrate” or mobilize Indigenous and Western ways of knowing in fisheries. With these recommendations in mind, I detail the case study findings considering the mobilizations of knowledge and governance relations in WCVI salmon governance. I first identify pluralistic approaches to Indigenous and Western ways of knowing in Tla-o-qui-aht’s internal management and governance structures. I then consider how specific relational approaches to knowledge coproduction and institution building support local decision-making and knowledge mobilization in the entangled salmon governance arrangements of Clayoquot Sound. Finally, I consider how the five Nations’ fisheries are impacted by and strategically respond to colonial structures and knowledge hegemonies in State fisheries management, with implications for disrupting feedbacks between colonialism and conventional Western fisheries science. Throughout, I discuss insights regarding strategies for Indigenous rights implementation and knowledge mobilization which transform governance and power relations in small scale, multispecies fisheries. The dissertation chapters collectively contribute to the following findings. First, Nuu-chah-nulth governance structures approach fisheries management through knowledge pluralisms and should be recognized as legitimate and capable governing bodies for self management. Second, relational strategies to partnership building between rightsholders and governance actors support coordinated decision-making, adaptive management actions, increased local capacity, and robust knowledge co-development, especially in when reflecting Nuu-chah-nulth embodied relational practice and with deference to Nuu-chah-nulth governing authority. Finally, strategically utilizing pluralisms and relational partnerships to challenge knowledge hegemonies and the settler state’s authority can disrupt feedbacks between colonialism and conventional Western fisheries science and offers a potential avenue for decolonization in the context of a resistant bureaucratic structure. The findings of this dissertation also contribute insight regarding broadly applicable steps forward through alternate pathways of information, understandings of relation, and arrangements of governance. Pluralistic approaches to knowledge and governance conducted in collaboration with Indigenous scholars and communities should be prioritized in efforts to mobilize multiple knowledges in the management of fisheries. Indigenous leadership and power sharing through co-governance are imperative to these approaches. Broadly, knowledge pluralisms and more-than-capitalist relational reimaginings present promising avenues for meaningful fisheries reform.