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.
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