Indigenous Science for a World in Crisis

Abstract

A growing body of work illustrates that community-based archaeology can contribute in valuable and meaningful ways to communities, including helping individuals and groups to heal from historical trauma. Yet the current political climate makes it challenging, even dangerous at times, to engage in such work. In what is being called the ‘post-truth’ era, there is concern that science is under attack, and I argue that the threat is heightened for Indigenous science. For Indigenous communities and archaeologists, efforts to work in partnership to bring Indigenous perspectives into public view can make one a target for bullying, aggression, and hostility. This can be damaging and have serious negative repercussions including producing further trauma for communities and individuals. Drawing on Indigenous epistemologies, I propose a model of ‘braiding knowledge’ to create space for multiple ways of knowing that complement each other, arguing that such symbiosis is necessary for our contemporary forms of knowledge production, particularly in the current political climate. I provide the example of Archibald’s approach to ‘Indigenous storywork’ as one method for archaeologists to explore, presenting examples drawn from research and teaching contexts to demonstrate the potential of arts-based research methods, such as graphic narratives, augmented reality, and animation. I propose these methods of storywork as worthy of further exploration by archaeologists in the current divisive political climate and as we face a world in crisis as one way of increasing science literacy. I argue that they have the capacity to ‘mobilize knowledge’, allowing archaeologists to reach diverse groups, creating space for knowledge exchange and connecting across differences.

keywords:

• Indigenous science
• community-based archaeology
• knowledge mobilization
• arts-based research
• Indigenous storywork
• public archaeology

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sonya Atalay

Dr Sonya Atalay is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She works in engaged anthropology, utilizing community-based participatory methods and arts-based practices to conduct research in full partnership with Indigenous communities. Dr Atalay’s scholarship crosses disciplinary boundaries, incorporating aspects of cultural anthropology, archaeology, critical heritage studies, and Native American and Indigenous Studies. Most recently, she has co-produced a series of ethnographic comics about NAGPRA law and practice and is exploring ways that repatriation and reclaiming of tangible and intangible heritage contribute to healing from historical trauma.