Photographer: Ivan Bandura.
By Pauline Ross, and Mitch Gibbs.
We recognise that Indigenous peoples and Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) about the biodiversity in Land and Sea Country has endured for thousands of years. It has taken hundreds of years since colonisation and a growing climate change and biodiversity crisis for the Western academy to begin what some call an “epistemic Indigenous turn”. In Australia, Indigenous first peoples are deeply connected to Land, Sea and Sky being one of the oldest continuing cultures on the planet, estimated to be 65,000 years old.
In this perspective piece we explore how to advance this turn to Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) and how to foster deep respect between the knowledge held in Western academy and in particular Western science and the knowledge embedded in Indigenous communities, especially in Australia. We introduce the idea of a “boundary spanner”, someone, Indigenous or non-Indigenous who breaks down the barriers or “boundaries” between Western science and Indigenous communities. The work of Indigenous boundary spanners is critical and there is a pressing need to make their contributions more visible. Like many places around the globe, Australia is at a turning point. We can choose to enter a new dawn, one where IKS is respected, and the Western academy learns how to work with and alongside Indigenous communities. Or one where we repeat the mistakes of the past; where Western science is too overly eager to engage, and Indigenous communities are not sufficiently prepared.
To solve environmental problems, we must support boundary spanners in Western academies to face the challenges they will encounter and shape a future where there is trust and real respect.
Relational Thinking 