People leaving comments on my posts about Indigenous knowledge as a science and its relationship with Western science like, "I know Indigenous knowledge is extremely valuable and important, but I only trust verified science." You're just racist. I'm not going to be polite.
Today, many scientists acknowledge the troubling attitudes that have long plagued research projects in Indigenous communities [...] But some Indigenous groups feel that despite such well-intentioned initiatives, their inclusion in research is only a token gesture to satisfy a funding agency.
That's you. You only want tokens for optics. You can't say, "I respect Indigenous knowledge but—" No, you don't respect Indigenous knowledge. Western science is not the only "real" science and your attempts to argue otherwise are racist. There is no argument.
It's like I'm talking to a wall. All the time when I discuss my work as a wildlife & fisheries biologist, I discuss what I have learned directly from Indigenous people in my everyday work yet it's so clear that so many people hear that and think I'm bringing it up for what reason? To appear somehow progressive?
Has everyone just believed this whole time that I bring it up for optics?
Everyone nods, "of course he mentions Indigenous people," because they believe it would simply look bad for me if I didn't.
In fact Indigenous knowledge is a constant topic of conversation and point of reference when I discuss my work as a scientist who uses Western science because my work is useless without it.
I work with endangered species which are endangered solely due to continual colonial violence against people and the land. I can follow the Western scientific method all I want and publish 100 papers on how to fix salmon populations—and get nowhere without Indigenous knowledge and sovereignty.
Indigenous knowledge is not an afterthought to reference as back up to Western science. Believe it or not, we can and should lead any number of scientific projects with Indigenous knowledge.
You need to change how you regard Indigenous knowledge on a fundamental level.
bagele chilisa's book 'indigenous research methodologies' was published in 2019, btw. it's focused on decolonizing current western research practices, but obviously to decolonize you have to understand how and why indigenous sciences deserve consideration in the first place, and what counts as evidence when we look at a body of research.
