Indigenous Knowledge in the Decolonial Era
Author(s): Michael G. Doxtater
Source: American Indian Quarterly, Vol. 28, No. 3/4, Special Issue: The Recovery of Indigenous
Knowledge (Summer - Autumn, 2004), pp. 618-633
Published by: University of Nebraska Press
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IndigenousKnowledgein theDecolonialEra
MICHAEL
G. DOXTATER
rests
Western
Western
facestwodilemmas.
First,
knowledge
knowledge
of reasonto understand
thetruenatureof the
itselfon a foundation
withauitself
as thefiduciary
ofallknowledge
world,
yetitalsoprivileges
or
other
to
authenticate
invalidate
knowledge(whenit gets
thority
intellectual
aroundto it). Colonial-power-knowledge
conceptualizes
inFoucaultian
in
this
case
with
a
Western
colonization
terms,
knowledge
overitsIndigenous
ward(Fouactingas guardian
knowledge
fiduciary
cault1977;Feldman1997).I suggestthattheresultingcontradictionem-
broiderssome Westernknowledgeexpertisewithunreasonableness
ofall
ofotherknowledge.
itsignorance
Posingas thefiduciary
through
knowledge
exposesthelimitsofWestern
knowledge.
Carl
poet
Earlytwentieth-century
Sandburgposes the knowledge
landscapeas circlesin thesandthathelpexplainWestern
knowledge's
"The whiteman drewa circlein the sand,"Sandburg
conundrum.
"and toldthered man 'This is whatthe Indian
beginsimmediately,
a big
describes
thewhitemandrawing
knows.'"Continuing,
Sandburg
circlearoundthesmallerone: "This is whatthewhiteman knows."
to international
andWestern
Then,as thoughresponding
development
experts,
SandburgshowstheIndiansweepingan immense
knowledge
circlearoundbothringsinthesand."Thisiswherethewhiteandthered
manknownothing"
1971,30). Oftenitneverseemsto dawn
(Sandburg
on experts
thattherearelimitsto theirknowledge.
In theearlytwentieth
thephilosophical
ofmodernity
century
syzygy
includedthespheresofMarxianideologyand liberaltheory.
Sandburg
self-doubts
amidstWestern
poseshisviewofcolonial-power-knowledge
becameknownand
afterthehorrors
of attempted
worldcolonization
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Doxtater:IndigenousKnowledgein the Decolonial Era
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disasterslike the Titanic and World War I suggestedcertainWestern
hubris.In "Wormsand theWind" Sandburgdescribescreaturessurvivingin thedarkin an earthenmyopia."Wormswould ratherbe worms,"
he writes."Aska wormand he says,'Who knowswhata wormknows?"'
In thiswormworldwe are told thatwormslike tunnels.They like the
includes zigzag wormsthathate
dark,thoughworm multiculturalism
circleworms,and curve wormsgenerallymistrustthe squares. Social
classesincludea longerclassthatslithersfurther
thana shortclass,with
atbeing"neitherlongnorshort."In theirsightmiddle-classsatisfaction
wormwarsand didacticallyinstruct
their
less,myopicnight,wormsfight
youngnotto feelsorryfortheaged "unlessyou havea been a wormand
livedin wormplacesand readwormbooks" (Sandburg1971,72). The intellectualtone concernsonly the need to considerknowledgeof the
wormworldat theexclusionsofnonworms.
Ironically,thoughSandburgis a productof his timeand space in the
he createsa tableauthatallegorically
describesmyargument.
early 900oos,
OftenWesternknowledgeexpertsbehavesimilarly
to Sandburg'sworms.
with
seem
unconcerned
other
They
knowledgeexceptto validatetheir
own masternarrative.
The finallineofSandburg'spoem depictsWestern
vision.
tunnel
"Wormsundergroundneverhear the wind
knowledge's
overgroundand sometimestheyask 'What is thiswindwe hearof?"'
communicatesparticularcultural preColonial-power-knowledge
suppositionsthatelevateWesternknowledgeas realknowledgewhileignoringotherknowledge.To showthewormishmyopiaofthisstance,my
discussionappears in two sectionsthatdivide the intellectualnightcrawlersinto two parts.First,I examinetheoriesthatportraylargesystemsor schemasto the unfoldingof historyand human development.
This typeof schematicor paradigmaticview of developmenthas Marxian implications.I describethisview to demonstratethatgeneralized
views of human developmentexhibitcommon featuresand themes
sharedamongmanyWesternknowledgeexperts.For example,academics ImmanuelWallerstein(1995) and Eric Hobsbawm (1999) promote
theWesternknowledgemasternarrative.
Second,I reviewpopularliteratureto demonstratehow the masternarrativeis communicated-in
thiscase Diamond's Guns,Germs,and Steel (1999) and KrechIII's The
EcologicalIndian (1999). TheseWesternknowledgetheoristspopularize
progressand evolutionas Eurocentric.This view leaves no room for
knowledgeto progressor evolve.
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IndigenousscholarshiparguesagainstthehomogenizingEuro-master
narrativethatseeks to colonize Indigenous knowledge.By the 196os
professionalIndigenousscholarsconfrontedthecolonizingmasternarrative.For example,ForbesdescribedSpanishcolonizationofthesouthwest(1960), Deloria Jr.attackedculturalpresuppositionsused byWestern knowledgeto authenticateculture(1970), and Momaday affirmed
the value of Indigenousknowledge(1971). The deliberationby these
scholarscreatedan environmentfordiscoursefrom1970 onward that
was consistentwithliberaldemocracy'svalue of a deliberativereflective
and
process.I reviewan Indigenousscholarshipthatis transformative
deliberativein responding to European colonization, not reactive
and emotive. Here I cite Allen (1991), Alvord and Cohen Van Pelt
(2000), Sioui Wendayete (1992), Harjo and Bird (1997), Thornton (1998),
Mihesuah
(1998), Dickason
(1984), Cook-Lynn (1997), Churchill
(1992a), Jaimes-Geurrero(1999), and Warrior (1995). These scholars ar-
guewithintheirdisciplinesthatIndigenousknowledgeis reasonable,deliberate,and usefulformakingsenseoflife.Termsthatare used bythese
Indigenous scholars are transformativein nature ("indigenism,"
thatIndigenousknowledgeremains
"americity"),whiledemonstrating
and
thatresistunsubjugated,sovereign, ignored.Thisfactdemonstrates
ance to colonizationhas been maintainedto thepresentday.
And coincidentally,
thisresistancetendsto emancipate-or decolonize-Indigenous knowledge(Tuhawai Smith1999). Once decolonized
theprocessforenactingIndigenouslifesystemsshiftsfromperformative
cultureto a practicedculture-Indigenous knowledgeof governance,
agriculture,architecture,mathematics,astronomy,communications,
medicine,healing,and muchmore.
THE
EURO-MASTER
NARRATIVE
describeshumanand worlddevelopmentas
Colonial-power-knowledge
a static,immobile,and fixedparadigm.Ironically,Westernknowledge
thatposes thestaticworldparadigmvaluesprogressand evolution.Such
Euro-scholarshipdescribesnonparadigmaticknowledgeas an invented
inauthenticreactionto the progressiveworld paradigm. Indigenous
people are viewed as peons and hapless victimsof progress,mutely
(1995) world-system
awaitingthenextcalamity.ImmanuelWallerstein's
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intheDecolonialEra
Indigenous
Knowledge
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theory(whichignoresIndigenouspeople) and Eric Hobsbawm's(1999)
inventedtraditiontheorypromotethe Westernknowledgeparadigm.
In addition,twootherexamplesofscholarshipcommunicatecolonialI provideJaredDipower-knowledge
throughculturalpresuppositions.
ofhumandevelopmentpredicatedon "the
amond'sexpansivesynthesis
GreatLeap Forward."Finally,I reviewShephardKrech III's mistaken
scholarshipto exemplifyEuro-scholarshipthat dismissesIndigenous
scholarshipwithout engagingthe discourse. Indigenous people are
whencriticizing
the"singlecoherentnarrative
strucviewedas irrational
ture"of progressand evolutionismpopularlyupheld by Diamond and
Krech III in the Hobsbawm tradition(Hobsbawm and Ranger 1983;
Hobsbawm1993,1999).
Hobsbawm describeshuman developmentas transformative
by nathat
human
ture.The transformation
Marxian
develparadigmsuggests
opmentoccurs throughrevolution.In this view human development
Imevolveswithina paradigmaticboundarycalled the world-system.
manuelWallerstein
describesa synthetic
and artificial
world-system
parthe
French
that
followed
Revolution
The
world-system
adigm
(1995,94).
was born fromimperialand colonial progressand the rise of nationThe world-system
of nation-states
cut across
statesin liberalmodernity.
geographicand culturaldemarcationswithpoliticalboundaries.Wallersteindescribestheseboundariesas thegeopoliticaland geoculturaldomain of capitalisteconomics(1991,40). But by 1848,a yearWallerstein
calls the "world revolution" (1995, 210-18), liberal modernists and revo-
lutionarysocialistsengageda discourse.This dialectical"radicaltransformation"
paradigmgovernsall humandevelopment(1995,216).Agent
and reagent,thesis and antithesis,and conservativeand liberal all
Similarto Wallerstein,
in TheInvenprogresstowarda highersynthesis.
tionofTradition(Hobsbawm and Ranger,1983),Hobsbawm statesthat
culturaltransformations
wereinventedfrom
manynineteenth-century
oftheliba "mythological
past,"in thiscase forEuropeannation-states
eralera (283).
Hobsbawm focuseson the IndustrialRevolutionera thathe characterizes as "mass-producingtradition."Demonstratinghegemonyto
massotherstatesand to theircitizens,the nation-stateworld-system
rituals
to
and
conferral
coronation
ceremonies,
anthems,
flags,
produces
mythologizetheirpast (see 1983,1o,31,79, 130). Hobsbawm also distin-
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621
guishesthe"liberal"erafromthe"traditional"era thatcorrespondswith
theline drawnto demarcateantiquityfrommodernityaround the year
Hobsbawm1998,147).A mythological
1800(Anderson1983,193,194;
past
The inventionof tradition
becomes an inventionin liberalmodernity.
forEuropeans meantthat"new traditionswere readilygraftedon old
ones" (Hobsbawmand Ranger1983,6). However,Hobsbawmsignalsthe
industrialrevolutionof the 18oos as the "GreatTransformation"
of human development.
The GreatTransformation
was thebourgeoistriumphovertheproletariat.This createdtheenvironmentfortheenactmentof historicaltraditionin Russiain 1916.These Europeaneventsin the18oos,writesHobsbawm, "separatesthe period since the eighteenthcenturyfrom all
previoushistorysincethe developmentof agriculture"(1998,147). The
Marxianparadigmrequiresthatsocietybe divided-along lines of labor,class,and property.
Consequently,Indigenouspeople (called peasantsby Hobsbawm) possess "peasantconsciousness"that"restson the
of theirrelationto namutualrecognitionbypeasantsof thesimilarity
to
to
and
ture, production
non-peasants.Ideallyhumanityis thelimitof
thisconsciousness,and thepoliticalactionwhichcorrespondsto itis the
briefbut vast millennialsweep or surgewhich,in theoryat least,embracesthewholeworld"(1998,150).Human developmentis governedby
an inescapableparadigmofstruggle.Hobsbawm'sgrandsweepofall history,thoughphilosophicallyMarxist,appears in writingby JaredDiamond (1999) and Shephard Krech III (1999). The progress paradigm sur-
vivesthephilosophicaldynamictension.
In Guns, Germs,and Steel (1999) JaredDiamond describeshuman
evolutionas perpetual.All human development,untiltheEurasianNeolithicRevolution,was miredin magic,religion,and ritual.Europeans
took advantageof theirenvironmentin theirevolutionto freethemselves fromreligio-politicalstrictures.In this case humanityevolved
fromAfricaprogressingnorthward,eastward,then southward.Diamonddescribesthestruggle
forlifein all humanconflictsuch as theInca
"rebellionagainstthe Spanish" (1999,77). Human conflictcan also be
linkedto competitionbetween "farmerpower and those withoutit"
linksdevelopmentchronologically,
(93). Diamond inextricably
marking
evolutionas an archingprogressovera periodofsevenmillionyears(181,
188).The inevitablediffusionof innovationslikewriting,weapons, and
germsare congruentwiththe "GreatLeap Forward"but are withinthe
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paradigm of human evolution.Despite claimingdiversity,Diamond
triesto demonstrate
theinevitability
ofcompetitionand struggle,
which
are irresistible
motivationsforall humanityeverywhere
overtime.
Diamond describesa staticEarth,continentsunchangedformillions
of years.Notwithstanding
mountaintopsea fossilsand the inabilityby
humansto excavatethedepthsoftheoceans or underice caps,Diamond
all humanity's
GreatLeap occurred11,oooyearsago in
sayswithcertainty
the Eurasian "fertilecrescent"(Diamond 1999, 52, 135). Of the world's
MediterraneanclimatesthewatershedoftheTigrisand EuphratesRivers
is environmentally
suitedfortheGreatLeap Forwardof agriculture.
For
Diamond this explainswhy Indigenouspeople in the Americaswere
and supportedonlya sparsepopulation"(366). In"hunting-gathering,
digenouspeople are universallycharacterizedby Diamond as reactive,
not deliberative.Minimallyagricultural,Indigenous people were no
matchforWesternknowledge'slo,5oo-yearhead startbegunin theGreat
and inventedtraditionsof EuraLeap Forward.Technological,military,
sia resultedfromwhatDiamond callstheGreatLeap Forward.'
Diamond describesthe transformative
paradigmof the GreatLeap
Forwardin termsof inventions.As an example Diamond applies the
GreatLeap Forwardto theinventionoftheJohnDeere plow.In 1837the
JohnDeere plow changedfarmingon theprairies.While Sauk and Fox
Indigenouspeople used permaculturepracticesin sustainablecommunities,theplow allowedEuropean farmersto turnthe Indigenousprairies into high-yieldcereal monocultureproduction.In order to grow
food,Sauk and Fox Indigenouspermaculture
practiceswerereplacedby
thetechnologically
innovativeJohnDeere plow. However,as a resultof
thehigheryieldproduction,withinthirty
yearsthegrowingcapacityof
the soil decreasedand produced low yieldcrops. Anotherinnovation,
becamenecessary.Coincidentally,
theSauk and Fox Inpotashfertilizer,
dians who resistedadaptationwere relocatedto present-dayKansas,
Iowa, and Oklahoma.
In Guns,Germs,and SteelDiamond describesthenecessityforall soinnovationsand inventions.In thisschema
ciety'sacceptanceofdiffused
humansocietiesadaptout ofnecessity
to survive.Diamond describesthe
necessitythisway:
When a widelyusefulinventiondoes crop up in a society,it then
tendsto spreadin eithertwoways.One wayis thatothersocieties
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see or learnof theinvention,are receptiveto it,and adopt it. The
second is thatsocietieslackingthe inventionfindthemselvesat a
disadvantagevis-a-vistheinventingsociety,and theybecome overwhelmedand replacedifthedisadvantageis sufficiently
great.(255)
inAs an importantfeatureoftheGreatLeap Forwardmasternarrative,
ventionsare adaptedby all societiesfortheirsurvival.The need to surviveconcernstheneed to move forwardand progress.
Diamond and Hobsbawm assume Indigenous knowledgerequires
congruenceto Westernknowledgeand itsmasternarrative.Hobsbawm
of
predicatesIndigenoussurvivalon learningobedienceto theauthority
feudallordsthroughpeasantconsciousness(1998,150). Diamond poses
thatsurvivalrestswith the Indigenous people who adapt to external
changeagents.Indigenousknowledgeremainsonlya local knowledgeof
local resourcesforforeignexploitation.The Westernknowledgemaster
narrativeinvitesotherresearchersto speculatethatIndigenousknowledge existsin Polynesia,Africa,Asia, and Australia.When Indigenous
knowledgedoes existin theAmericas,it onlydoes so in tropicalSouth
America,or amongecologicalCree huntersand Inuitnecromancersin
NorthAmerica(Mills and Slobodin1994;Richardson1993).The presuppositionis thatsouthof the Cree Indigenousknowledgehas been supplantedbycolonialexpansionsince1492(see Clifton1989;Purcell1998).
Europeans take retrospectiveauthorityto defineancient Indigenous
knowledgewithinthe congruenceparadigm,such as the possibilityof
Cahokian fiefdoms(O'Brien 1989). Consequently,Europeans assume
authorityto authenticate
contemporaryIndigenouscultureand determinewhichtraditionsare invented,whilededucinglifefromthe paradigm based on softcriteriaapproved throughWesternknowledge.In
thiswayKrechIII (1999) coherently
fallsin linewiththeparadigm.
Scoresof Europeanshaveprojectedonto Indigenouspeople a variety
ofthe"highestcultural"doctrines,be itnoble savagism(Rousseau et al),
stoicism(Jesuitrelations),or liberaldemocracy(Tammanymovement).
ShepardKrechIII's rebukeof Europeanswho haveinventedThe Ecological Indian (1999) providesan importantsoberingpictureof the fragile
realityofthetruenatureoftheworld. Diamond beginshis studyby explaining how unecological Indians extinguishedthe mammoth-a
practicethathe purportsis globallyapplicablethroughthecompetition
narrative.Similarly,
Krechfocuseson theAmericas,beginninghis study
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withthedeclarationthatworldwideall pre-industrialized
Indigenoussothanhaveoccurred
cietieswereresponsibleformorewildlifeextinctions
since 1492.Land management,waterdiversion,and animal extinction
are not onlythedomain ofWesternknowledge'sstrugglewithlife.
LargelyKrech'sIndian targetsspeak mostlyto European audiences
breastfedon inventedIndians and America-as-Edenthatare fictionsof
Euro-culture.Though critiquingEuro-authors,KrechdescribesIndian
in particularVine Deloria Jr.Though
scholarsas historicalrevisionists,
DeloriaJr.has madea careerofcritiquing
KrechigEuropean"thinking,"
in
favor
is charof
Delorian
that
noressubstantive
rhetoric
critique
citing
KrechdismissesRussellMeans,
acterizedas "sound-bitesimplification."
David Lester,GilbertWalkingBull,Ed McGaa, Seattle,Winona LaDuke,
and WardChurchillalongwithDeloria Jr.In footnotestheseIndigenous
people,saysKrech,are "investedin theEcologicalIndian"(303).
Thatis thecentralfocusof Krech'scritique;however,whenKrechinventoriesEuropeanswho haveinventedtheecologicalIndian tradition,
theseexamplesare framedhistorically
bynoble savagismand paradisiacal hyperbole.The listincludesJamesFennimoreCooper,Thomas Morton,MeriwetherLewis,and Champlain(see Stavely1987).The invented
conceptionof theAmericasis Eden-like,filledwithnoble savagessucklingat MotherEarth'sbosom. Ironically,Krech'sopeningsalvo targets
Iron EyesCody,who playsthe ecologicalIndian in a famoustelevision
public serviceannouncement.The "Iron Eyes" ecological Indian persona was inventedbytheEuro-mediaindustry.
However,Codywas born
as Espera di Corti,the son of Italian and Sicilian parents(Hermann
Krechignoresthiscrucialfactwhenhe associatesRed Indian ac2000).
tivistswithan inventedgreenIndian.
RESISTING
CONGRUENCE
As we have seen Indigenouspeople are viewedas emotive,reactive,
and unreasoned.In theviewsreviewedabove Indigenouspeople stopped
evolvingand therebybecame congruentwiththe masternarrative.By
contrastI now describehow Indigenouspeople have not been passively
victimizedbut have resistedcolonial-power-knowledge
physicallyand
intellectually.
Indigenous people contend that invented or not, their knowledge is
NorthAmericanIndigenousscholars
theexerciseofself-determination.
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625
such as
are not reactiveor emotivein theirresponseto Euro-narratives
theCliftonianthesisofinventedIndians(Clifton1989;1990). Indigenous
addressesIndigenousdevelopmentfromwithin
scholarshipdeliberately
theframeofIndigenousknowledge.
colonial-power-knowledge
Indigenousscholarshipbeganconfronting
in the 1960s. Euro-scholarshiptrapped Indigenous people and their
knowledgein thenineteenthcentury(Churchill1992a). It was not until
thatemancipatingIndigenousknowledgebecame a misthemid-1900oos
sion forIndigenousresearchers.By the 1960s JackForbes,followedby
to expose the consequencesof colonizaVine Deloria Jr.,made efforts
tion.The GreatLeap Forwardafter1492containedtheshamefulrationalizingof genocide(Forbes1960; Deloria Jr.1970). Forbesstrikesat the
in 1960."The old tendencyto considerall AmericanInEuro-narrative
fromnorthto south,"Forbesarguesusingwestwardmidian migrations
gratoryexamples,"becauseof a supposed recentAsiaticoriginforall or
partof theIndians,mustapparentlybe discarded"(1960,xxi). Paradigmaticsubjugationonlycontinuesa longstandingtradition,as Forbesillustratesby itemizingdeadlyforceused to subjugateIndian people. By
1970Deloria Jr.conceptualizesinventedtraditionsas an adaptationused
byIndian people to resistcompletesubjugation:
have succeeded in buryingIndian
Over the yearsanthropologists
communitiesso completelybeneaththe mass of irrelevantinformationthatthetotalimpactofthescholarlycommunityon Indian
people has become one of simple authority.Many Indians have
because it appearsthat
come to parrottheideas of anthropologists
know everything
about Indian communities.
the anthropologists
Thus manyideas thatpass forIndianthinkingare in realitytheories
originallyadvanced by anthropologistsand echoed by Indian
people in an attemptto communicatetherealsituation.(87)
This statementseems to corroborateClifton'stheory.However,this illustrationdemonstrates
whyCliftoncan ignoreDeloria Jr.
Clifton'stheorysuggeststhatIndian acculturationoccurredso long
Indians are not Indians. Based on Clifton'stheago thatcontemporary
moved
intoacculturationand is not an
Deloria
Jr.
pastbiculturation
ory,
authenticIndigenousinformant.However,Deloria Jr.is not debating
but ratherdescribesthe end resultof intellectualcolonizaauthenticity
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tion.This showshow colonizersteachthecolonizedthatknowledgearrivedwiththecolonists- otherwise,none existed.
Deloria Jr.'smain goal is to critiqueWesternknowledgethatby the
1970s characteristically
attemptedto rationalizeanything.Indigenous
describeU.S. policiesCliftondenies (Clifton1989,6)
scholarsuntiringly
suchas termination,
unprovokedattack,murder,removal,eugenics,and
kidnapping(Deloria Jr.1970,68; Churchill1992a,194;B. Johnston1988,
20; Johansen
1998,44-47). But thesegenocidalpracticeshad been reasoned as "doctrineof discovery,""moral imperative,""defenseof liberty,""defenseof democracy,"and "greatestgood forthegreatestnumber." For example,"manifestdestiny"ideologicallyrationalizesremoval
policiesagainstmyriadIndian nationsafter1775.The idea thatany act
can be "reasoned"has come undercriticismby Indigenouspeople. By
the1990sa newgenerationofIndigenouspeople beganto critiqueEuroway.
pean scholarshipin a different
in SouthAfrica,Bosnia,and East
In thecontextofself-determination
Timor,Indigenousscholarshiphas takenon thenatureofa decolonizing
literature.
Indigenoustheoristsobjectto thedepictionofNativeculture
in strictly
sacred terms(Allen 1991;Arvisoand Cohen Van Pelt 2ooo;
Doxtater1998;Slack1992;Sioui Wendayete1992a;Harjo and Bird1997).
This trendbegan in 1971whenthe GreatLeap Forwardwas resistedby
inMore ThanBows
validatingIndigenousartsand sciences,firstaffirmed
and Arrows,a documentarynarratedby Momaday (1971).Indigenous
controlofIndigenouseducationdocumentedat all levelshas provideda
platformforself-determination
throughschools (Oppelt 1990; Young
Thornton
AIHEC
1998;Mihesuah 1998;Dickason 1997;Col1998;
1999;
orado 1991; Cook-Lynn 1997; Cajete 1999; Simonelli 1999). For example,
by 1985CharlotteHeth describedissuesforthe futureof AmericanIndian studies throughIndian control of Indian education (Heth and
Guyette1985).Thislensincludesdiscretionoverfundingand creationof
teachingmaterialswhose focusis decidedwithintheIndian nation.Indigenous scholarDuane Champagne took up the challengeand produced encyclopedicsummariesof Indigenous development.For example, Champagne considersNative America:Portraitof the Peoples
(1994) a "fact-based"catalogue.Curiously,colonial-power-knowledge
promptsChampagneto segregateCanadian Indiansintotheirown section. Adherenceto all-pervasiveWesterninventionsunderliesthe importanceofintellectualresistance.
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Indigenous scholarshipchallengesWesternauthorityto interpret
knowledge,so in NorthAmerica decolonizingtheoristscreateneologisms.This dictionis inventedto describeIndigenousplace in modernity.Deloria Jr.and Forbespostulatedtheoriesabout intellectualresistance in unsubtleways.Theirworkdescribessubjugationas one-sided.
Indigenousknowledgeis ignored(Forbes 1960,1998; Deloria Jr.1970,
1998). ThoughForbesand Deloria Jr.challengeeach otheroverthetheoryand practiceofIndigenousknowledge,theyarguefromthecommon
platformofresistance.Deloria Jr.advocatesactivedefenseofIndigenous
rightsunderthe rule of law. Forbes,likemanywriters,searchesforthe
decolonizingverbalmodalitythatconnotesan Indigenousaspect (mode
just). As an exampleof workto translateIndigenoustheory,Forbesoffersthe notionthatthe studyof Indigenousknowledgein theWestern
Hemispherewould be called "americology."Forbes (fromthe southwest)echoesSioui-Wendat(fromthenortheast)who callstheindividual
an "auto-histoire."Sioui-Wendat
actualizationof Indigenousself-study
as "americity"(Sioui Wenfurther
describesIndigenousself-knowledge
Churchill
and
Jaimes-Guerrero
developeda dedayete1992a).Similarly,
scriptionfor intellectualresistancetheycall "indigenism"(Churchill
1992b,JaimesGuerrero1999). Finally,in Tribal Secrets(1995) Robert
Warriordeclaresthatthereis a century-long
literarytraditionof resistance in theAmericasthatgivesrise to the adventof the conceptionof
forself-determination.
"intellectualsovereignty"
whathe calls
Attacking
of Indian culture,"Indigenouswriters
the "essentialistunderstandings
expressedthe "centralconcernforcriticalreflectionin
concomitantly
themidstofpoliticalaction"(xvii,29). WarriorstudiesIndigenousliterof the "presuppositionsof the culturethat
atureforits understanding
has come to dominateboththeland and thepeople" who arehardlypassiveand unreasoned(68).
Warrior'sdescriptionof longstandingintellectualsovereigntycoinsincethe1800s.
cideswithmanywriterswho haveadvocatedsovereignty
The practiceofIroquois resistanceindicateshow widelyapplicableWarrior'sthesismaybe (Six Nations1924;Gawithra1990;Hall c.1975;Alfred
veeredintoland claims
1994,1998). Bythelate1900sself-determination
and resistanceto further
colonization,such as theecologicallythinking
activism
critiquedby Krech III (Goodleaf 1995; LaDuke
Indigenous
2000; Pennybacker
2000). Specifically,
Iroquois people defendintellec-
628
Doxtater:IndigenousKnowledgein the Decolonial Era
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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
forinventingtheir
tual and territorial
propertiesas self-determination
future(JaimesGuerrero1999; Greene c.196o; Colorado 1991;Mohawk
1977;Johnson1997;Mann 1999;Doxtater1998;Porter1998;Brant1985,
1984;Rickard1999;Niro 1992). The missionis to set the storystraight.
Euro-scholarship
ignoresIndigenousknowledgeforthepurposeofpromotingits own narrativestructuresbased on Westernknowledgethat
decideswhatis true.Hobsbawmarguesagainstan Indigenousnarrative
while supportinga Marxisthistoricalnarrativethat says Indigenous
Hobsbawm,
knowledgeis actually"peasantconsciousness."Wallerstein,
ofWesternknowledgeas
Krech,and Diamond perpetuatethe authority
or the "GreatLeap Forward."
the"GreatTransformation"
This discussiondemonstratesthreepositions.First,Westernknowledge containsa worldviewthatsees human developmentin termsof a
masternarrative
requiringthecongruenceofothercultures.Second,audetermine
fitnessforworld citizenshipis based on Western
to
thority
knowledgethatdecidesthecriteriaforwhatis reasonableand whatis not
reasonable.Westernknowledgeappointed itselfthe intellectualfiduciary.Third,bycontrastIndigenouspeople are not reactive,emotive,or
unreasonedin theirresistanceto subjugationbyWesternknowledge.In
fact,quitetheoppositeis true.
The coeval movement to recover Indigenous knowledge resides
withinthe time and space of worldwidedecolonization.In thisway I
pose thatwe havepassedthroughthecolonialand postcolonialeras.Decolonizingknowledge,the beginningstageof the decolonial era, commencesthe processforreengagingIndigenousknowledgewitha practicedcultureratherthanmerelya performative
culture.Fromhereon we
of
emancipateIndigenousknowledge governance,sovereignty,
agriculmathematics,
communications,
ture,architecture,
medicine,
astronomy,
and healing. Thus, the intellectualdiligenceof Indigenous scholars
marksthebeginningofwhatwe could now call "thedecolonialera."
NOTE
theSpencerT. andAnnW. OlinFoundation
i. Diamondpresented
Lecture
on October22, 2000,at CornellUniversity,
whererecommendations
forhis
workarecommoninhumanresearch
circles.
AMERICAN
INDIAN
QUARTERLY/SUMMER
& FALL 2004/VOL.
28, NOS. 3
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&4
629
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