The settler colonialocene: Meg Parsons, ‘Indigenous knowledge and politics of recognition in the Colonialcene’, Political Science and Public Policy, 2025, pp. 330-339 | settler colonial studies blog

The settler colonialocene: Meg Parsons, ‘Indigenous knowledge and politics of recognition in the Colonialcene’, Political Science and Public Policy, 2025, pp. 330-339

08Mar25

Abstract: In this chapter, I commence by proposing the reframing of the Anthropocene to the ‘Colonialcene’ as a means to recognise the historical and ongoing impacts of colonialism on Indigenous peoples and ecosystems (their more-than-human kin). I move on to provide an overview of Indigenous Knowledge (IK), detailing its inherent holistic nature and its place-specific characteristics that shape environmental governance and management approaches as well as ethics and values. I identify three main approaches to recognising IK employed by researchers and policymakers, especially in settler colonial societies. I contend that efforts to extract IK to supplement scientific data overlook the holistic and dynamic nature of IK and its interconnections with Indigenous sovereignty. Accordingly, efforts to recognise IK in environmental research and policies must adopt decolonising praxis and seek to recognise and empower Indigenous peoples’ sovereignty as well as their knowledges to address the social and ecological crises facing societies in the Colonialcene.

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