Indigenous Feminisms: Disturbing Colonialism in Environmental Science Partnerships

Abstract

Efforts have been under way by Indigenous peoples to reanimate governance that includes people of all ages and genders. Simultaneous initiatives to decolonize science within environmental fields must confront how settler colonial systems can continue to operate under the guise of partnership. Indigenous feminist theories aid understanding of ongoing colonialism alongside heteropatriarchy and racism with attempts to dismantle oppression in everyday practice. The author examines governance in a North American environmental science partnership consisting of Indigenous and non-Indigenous climate scientists. Using a mixed-methods social network approach, the author evaluates central actors in the national-scale climate science organization on the basis of intersectional identities, relational ties, and structural leadership roles. Findings indicate that Indigenous women and youth were not among core governance dominated by elder Indigenous men and White women. However, Indigenous women consistently bridged distant members back into the group and provided less visible labor to support the organization. These did not translate to decision-making roles. The author argues that Indigenous values of relational reciprocity and self-determination need to supersede the rhetoric of diversity in environmental fields. The case demonstrates the importance of inclusive Indigenous governance to decolonize environmental partnerships and the potential lack of legitimacy should unexamined notions of tradition be used to obscure settler colonial dominance.

Doing feminist collaborative event ethnography

“…We hope that this article demonstrates ways in which research teams should be attentive to labor in designing a feminist political ecology team, and to recognizing power and privilege in praxis. Moreover, we recognize more work is needed in feminist political ecology -not only to address power, but specifically to attend to settler-scholar logics (Dhillon 2020).…”

“…In our call to revisit integrating feminist methodologies in team-based FPE, we suggest that feminist political ecologists should continue to recognize epistemic and ontological norms of knowledge production within research teams and in their home institutional contexts -this is also a central concern for decolonizing methodologies (Dhillon 2020;Todd 2016;Tuhiwai Smith 2013). FPE can demonstrate the integration of insights from feminist scholars in studies of power (Ahlborg and Nightingale 2018: 383;Nightingale and Rankin 2014;Rocheleau 2008).…”

Indigenous-Settler Climate Change Boundary Organizations Contending With U.S. Colonialism

“…This perspective is consistent with the findings of social network analysis of gender relations in Indigenous-settler climate partnerships. Dhillon (2020) found that Indigenous women and youth were not well incorporated into the governance structures of a climate science boundary organization where decision-making roles were dominated by Indigenous men and white women.…”

“…In particular, Native American women experienced intersectional inequalities even in partnerships that aimed to do otherwise (cf. Dhillon, 2020). Network members also regularly work through layers of insider/outsider dynamics (Jacob, 2006;Smith, 1999Smith, /2012.…”

Political ecology 1: From margins to center

“…But decolonial FPE is more historical and spatial in its accounting for colonialities that exist to this day and are reproduced in academic scholarship and collective action (cf. Dhillon, 2020).…”