The Use and Misuse of Indigenous Science

ABSTRACT

Knowledge about the use of the term “Indigenous science” (IS) is valuable to technical and scientific communication in the larger goal of exposing colonial, appropriative legacies. Using rhetorical content analysis, we analyze 61 instances of IS in US-based news articles and find that IS is often represented as an ongoing activity, connected to food production, and related to higher education activities. However, IS is rarely defined and Indigenous people are not always cited/quoted.

KEYWORDS:

• Indigenous science
• traditional ecological knowledge
• Indigenous knowledge
• multiscience
• journalism
• content analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ehren Helmut Pflugfelder

Ehren Helmut Pflugfelder is an Associate Professor in the School of Writing, Literature, and Film at Oregon State University. His research focuses on the intersections of scientific discourse, technical writing, risk, and rhetorical theory and he teaches courses in scientific and environmental writing, writing pedagogy, rhetoric theory, and technical communication. He is the author of Communicating mobility and technology: A material rhetoric for persuasive transportation (Routledge, 2017), Geoengineering, persuasion & the climate crisis: A geologic rhetoric (The University of Alabama Press, 2023), and multiple research articles.

Olivia Goodfriend

Olivia Goodfriend is currently a master’s student in the Environmental Arts and Humanities program at Oregon State University. Her research focuses on science communication, queer ecology, and queer representation in STEM. Previously, Olivia conducted research in a wildlife disease ecology lab where she studied arboviruses in ruminant species; she has published in journals such as Viruses, Parasites and Vectors, and the Journal of Wildlife Diseases.

Carlee Baker

Carlee Baker is a master’s student in the School of Writing, Literature and Film at Oregon State University, where she studies rhetoric and composition. Prior to attending OSU, she earned a bachelor’s degree in English and Political Science from Montana State University and later worked for the Montana Federation of Public Employees during the 2021 Legislative Session. Her current research focuses on rhetorics of politics, environment, activism, and power.