A relational theoretical framework and meanings of land, nature, and sustainability for research with Indigenous communities

Abstract

What may be achieved through taking up the complex exploration of nature, land, and sustainability is a growing field of inquiry in both science and social science, particularly for those who are interested in the local environment. Meanings of nature, land, and sustainability have been either misunderstood or misrepresented within disciplinary boundaries in many Indigenous communities. To explore the meanings of things such as nature, land, and sustainability in Indigenous communities, we as researchers had better first acknowledge the spirituality and local experiences that connect one actor with other actors. A relational ontology is the conceptual framework within which I suggest meanings of traditional land, nature, and sustainability such as traditional experiences, culture, and customs, are important issues for Indigenous lives and environment. This framework may potentially guide the researcher through the critical concerns of identifying the problems of existing land, nature, and sustainability management in relation to the everyday land-based practices and traditional experiences in Indigenous regions.

Keywords:

• sustainability
• nature
• land
• relationality
• indigenous

Notes

1. The term things I use to mean both human and non-human actors, such as humans, animals, land, sky, moon, rocks, different species, traditional experiences, spiritual relationships, and so on (Aikenhead and Ogawa 2007). Things are actors; they have material agency which can influence other actor's actions (Latour 2000, Escobar 2011).

2. I use the term Indigenous with a meaning that those who have distinct language, culture, customary laws, and social and political institution that are different from the dominant ethno-linguistic group in South Asia (Mai 2010).

3. I use the term Western throughout this paper to describe the systematic rejection of alternative ontologies. The term Western refers to a mind-set, a worldview that is a product of the development of European culture and is diffused into other ways of knowing (Ingold 1996, Latour 2000).

4. Science and social science are terms I use to define areas of disciplinary study which become problematic not because of their scientific tendencies, but for their unequal structuring and separating tendencies from each other (Latour 2000, Haraway 2004).

5. Postcolonial subjects are codified discursively to create meaning for everyday living. Postcolonial theory provides a pathway towards exploring multiplicities (Gandhi 1998).

6. Antiessential is used for a process of rejection of any permanent meaning. It is a process of recognising various forms of knowing (Escobar 1999).