Indigenous epistemologies of childhood in contexts of inequality: Three case studies from the “Global South”

Abstract

Drawing on long-term ethnographies with children, the authors (anthropologists from the “Global South”) problematize the disconnect between homogenising discourses around “childhood”, and the localised, socio-culturally rich experiences of indigenous children. Through an anthropological lens in dialogue with post-colonial theory they explore vernacular conceptualisations and practices around childhood in three indigenous communities –two in Argentina, one in Indonesia. In doing so, they place these childhoods within local, regional and global forces, highlight contexts of inequality, and explore children’s active positionality in such contexts.

From extractivist practices and the child-as-data to an ethics of reciprocity and mutuality in empirical childhood research

“…To counteract the logic of extractivism and its manifestation of a vision of the child-as-data, childhood studies scholars are addressing the epistemic violence of extractivism with epistemic plurality, aiming at disclosing such absences. In their discussion of three indigenous communities, two in Argentina and one in Indonesia, Amigó et al (2022) highlight the everydayness of Indigenous children’s lives as they intersect the local, the regional, and the global, placing their analysis within a context of colonial oppression, structural violence, and capitalist modes of production. Their analysis of indigenous terms and indigenous ways of growing up and learning bring to light a new set of ontological realities based on indigenous cosmovisions which have been largely absented for epistemic reasons.…”