Since COVID-19 started many indigenous elders have died, raising fears that the pandemic may inflict irreparable damage on Indigenous ancestral ontologies.
This presentation shows how Amazonian indigenous ontologies could help in changing anthropocentric attitudes and transitioning from the COVID-19 crisis. Global efforts to address crises are often characterized as ‘blueprints’ devoid of political and cultural specificity.
Indigenous ontologies are based on a systemic understanding of complex environments, integrating numerous variables qualitatively over an extended period of time.
Co-producing knowledge, through greater community participation and trust in traditional practices, is then crucial to overcoming the current crises.
This could represent a turn away from human/nature dualisms that are prevalent in modern cultures and society, contribute to a shift in knowledge systems and support a more inclusive transition and reconstruction of societal systems.
This presentation was given as part of the Development Days hosted by the Finish Society for Development Research in 2021.
