Integration of indigenous and local knowledge into sustainability education: a systematic literature review

Abstract

Grounded in the relationship between sustainability and epistemological justice, this paper presents a systematic review of literature regarding the incorporation of Indigenous and local knowledge into sustainability and environmental education. The search includes articles published in English and Spanish between 2016 and 2020, with SCOPUS and WoS indexation. Based on methodological and thematic criteria, the original corpus of 182 unique articles was reduced to 20 and analysed using a qualitative thematic framework. The results show: i) pathways of integration that differ in how legitimacy is distributed and actors’ agency recognized; ii) challenges associated with actors moving across frames of reference and lack of resources and support; and iii) specific features of Indigenous and local knowledge better suited for integration and the positive outcomes of this integration for students identity and learning outcomes. These findings are useful to orientate future research and educative experiences aiming to articulate indigenous and western knowledge in sustainability education.

Keywords:

• ESD
• indigenous and local knowledge
• traditional ecological knowledge
• scientific knowledge
• epistemic justice

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Programa Extraordinario de Becas de Postgrado– Doctorado en Educacion – UMCE and DIUMCE 34-2021-PGI (Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación, Chile). We thank Alyssa Grube for assistance in language support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Translated by the authors

2 Translated by the authors

3 Translated by the authors

4 Translated by the authors

5 Translated by the authors

6 A complete list of the selected articles can be found in Appendix 2

7 The details about study’s location and cultural groups involved in each case can be found in Table 3, Appendix 2

8 Translated by the authors

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Programa Extraordinario de Becas de Postgrado - Doctorado en Educación – UMCE.

Notes on contributors

Sofía Druker-Ibáñez

Sofia Druker-Ibáñez is an anthropologist, currently a Doctoral Candidate in the PhD in Education program at the Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación. Her doctoral research, conducted within the Physical & Analytical Chemistry Research Laboratory, PachemLab, aims to develop a transdisciplinary didactic model for EDS grounded on articulations between indigenous and local knowledge and scientific knowledge about sustainability within a framework of epistemological justice. She is a lecturer on the Universidad Católica Silva Henriquez and the Universidad Academia de Humanismo Cristiano in topics related to diversity in education, community and school relationships, and history. Her research interest includes epistemic and environmental justice, sustainability, transdisciplinary, education and diversity, literacies, and de-coloniality

Lizethly Cáceres-Jensen

Lizethly Cáceres Jensen, PhD, is a Professor at the Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación (UMCE). She is currently a Senior Lecturer in Analytical Chemistry and Instrumental Methods of Analysis Instruction in the School of Chemistry Education. Besides, She is a Senior Lecturer in Interdisciplinary Pedagogical Research in the PhD in Education program at UMCE. She is co-founded the Physical & Analytical Chemistry research Group and the Physical & Analytical Chemistry Research Laboratory, PachemLab. Her research interests include evaluation of the environmental behaviour (kinetics of adsorption, adsorption-desorption, degradation, and transport) of organic and inorganic pollutants in soils, and the prediction of the adsorption behaviour of organic pollutants in soils, by means of QSAR statistical models, and of their transport to underground layers, by means of mathematical models (Hydrus-1D). Currently, she has been concerned with developing Education for Sustainable Development (EDS) through Real Environmental Problems and ICT based learning. She has also contributed to the design of new Analytical Chemistry courses for future Chemistry Education in the framework of EDS.